Putting Montana History on the Map

Every spring I ask teachers to share their favorite lessons and every fall I share what folks send in three posts, one for elementary classrooms, one for middle school and one for high school. These always top the most read list and are my favorites too. At the end of each of these posts I include a plea: "it's not too late! Send me your favorite lesson to share with the group," but teachers are busy and I don't usually get any responses. That's why I was so pleased to get an email from Deb McLaughlin (Belgrade High School), who wrote: "Every once in a while we stumble on to a project or idea that exceeds our wildest expectations. This project is one of those. I called it 'Putting Montana History on the Map.' ... My students loved it and it made Montana History so alive and personal."

Here are Deb's instructions: 

1.Go to http://mtplacenames.org/

Using the pull down arrow under “place names” go through the list spend enough time to familiarize yourself with the map.

2. Pick a place.

3. Locate it on your Montana map.

4. Cut and paste the history information from the web site into a Google Doc.

5. Decide what part of the town’s history you want to explore and then EXPLORE.

6. Find at least three websites that focus on some aspect of the town history, and save your research.

7. Summarize your findings in a paragraph.

8. Add the historical information from http://mtplacenames.org/, your own research (summary) and a picture that supports your summary on the map poster.

9. Label the top of the poster with your town, or place and indicate your place on the map.

10. Participate in a Gallery Walk around Montana.

Here's her rubric:

Map identification of place and labeled	10,5
History of place from website cut/paste	5
Saved Research	10,5
Three quality web sites	10,5
Summary	20,15, 10
Historically supported picture	10, 5
Gallery Walk (3)	15,10,5
Neat and organized	10, 5

P.S. It's not too late! If you have a lesson you think other teachers should know about, for any grade, drop me a line!