Best of, Middle School

 Every spring, I ask folks to share their favorite Montana history or IEFA lesson, the one they would absolutely do again. Read on for the responses from middle school teachers with some notes from me, in brackets. Stay tuned for high school teacher's responses. Click here to read recommendations from elementary teachers. 

Ron Buck, who teaches 6-8 in Shelby, wrote: "I love teaching placed based education, and the best thing I teach involves attending a place. For instance, I teach about the Marias Massacre. I invite speakers from the Blackfeet tribe to join us and share their story. I take my students to the place of the event (which is in my county), and we walk the grounds. We look at teepee rings, the river, the hills surrounding it, and the cut banks of the river. We discuss the conditions and the setting and how this place has meaning to our history. Students engage more if they can be in the place." [If you want ideas for how to incorporate more place-based education in your Montana history class, Ron is a great resource! Feel free to email him.)   

Jennifer Hall from Eureka wrote: "My students always love the Finger Weaving activity when learning about the Métis culture. The lesson is buried in the "Discover Lewis & Clark" footlocker materials. The footlocker contains a Métis sash, music CD and a book, The Flower Beadwork People. I use these resources to introduce the culture. However, you don't need to order the footlocker to teach this lesson. I bought a copy of the book and just ask for donations of yarn from parents. On day 1, I read the book aloud to the students. There is an educator's guide to the book provided in the lesson. On day 2, we begin to finger weave. There are several You Tube videos to help students. Because it's such a big hit, we will finger weave again on Day 3. During this day, the students are more comfortable with weaving and I play the Métis music in the background. It's one of their favorite lessons of the year. I find that many students will continue finger weaving at home and during their free time.

Jennifer also recommends Montana Women at Work Lesson Plan: Clothesline Timeline. She writes: "I love this lesson for having students analyze photos. It can be used in various ways with multiple topics. Students analyze the photos and then take time to discuss the decade in which the photos were taken. Last, the students sort the photos on a clothesline timeline. As a wrap-up, the class takes a few minutes to discuss their sorting. The students get excited when they walk in the room and see the clothesline hanging across the classroom! This is a great, hands-on activity with lots of time for analyzing and discussion while viewing primary sources." Another anonymous teacher also likes this lesson. She wrote: "It really challenged my students' perceptions of Montana history in terms of both time and gender roles, and it was interesting to both watch them learn and observe their previously held notions as we looked at those together." 

Dylan Huisken, who teaches in Bonner wrote: "Something new I tried was ledger art. The Art of Storytelling materials are great, accessible, easy to use, and engaging." He also recommends the Written Document Analysis worksheets we've included with selected primary sources for every chapter of Montana: Stories of the Land as part of our Learning from Historical Document units. 

Kristopher Schreiner from Kalispell wrote to champion "hands-on history activities tied to MT history content including- atlatl training, bow and arrow practice, flintknapping, fire-making using flint and steel and friction methods, hide tanning, reverse wrap cordage from sinew, hide painting, gold panning, log cabin construction, wheat grinding, butter churning, and homestead-style cast iron cooking." [Here's a link to a lesson on Making an Atlatl.You can find a gold panning activity in the Gold, Silver, and Coal footlocker User Guide, Lesson 3.]  

Jacob Delight from Polson recommends Fire on the Land. This lesson explores traditional and contemporary uses of fire by the Salish and Pend d' Oreille tribes. His students "created posters about fire management on our reservation, the website is great and posters turned out great, worked very well in our culture/environment unit." He also recommends teaching students to take two column notes.

One anonymous teacher loved the Montana Meme Contest that the Montana History Portal puts on every year.

Another wrote: "Using the Digital Inquiry Group resources is helpful in getting students to consider perspectives in primary sources." [I second this! Everyone should at least teach the lunchroom fight, which is part of their Reading Like a Historian History Lessons. And their Civic Online Reasoning material is also dynamite. You need to register to use their materials, but it's free.] 

And another said: "National History Day!" [Learn more about National History Day in Montana here! And make sure to sign up for Melissa's online PDs. She's the bomb diggity, and you'll learn a ton whether or not you are teaching NHD.]

Best of, Elementary

Every spring, I ask folks to share their favorite Montana history of IEFA lesson, the one they would absolutely do again. Read on for the responses from elementary school teachers with some notes from me, in brackets. Stay tuned for the responses from middle and high school teachers. 

Sunburst teacher Hali Richmond wrote: "My students always loved our 4th grade Homestead Unit, especially because I do a classroom transformation with it. This year I included the patchwork quilt lesson from the Inside and Outside the Home Footlocker Lesson Plans. My students had fun creating their own paper quilts and it was a great and easy lesson to leave for a sub, which is what I had to do this year!"

Susan Seastrand, who teaches on the Crow Reservation wrote: "We read the book Fry Bread and made self to text connections." 

Jodi Delaney from Helena wrote: "I am excited to use the new map overlays I purchased at the Museum gift shop for the 'Early Contact Period Tribal Homelands' activity. I have taught this lesson before, but don't have the ability to print them." [Read more about these map transparencies and why and how to purchase them.]

Heather McCartney-Duty, who teaches grades 3-5 in Teton County, recommends the "Letters from Home" activity included in Lesson 1 of The Chinese Experience in Montana, one of MTHS's hands-on history footlockers. You don't have to order the footlocker to do this lesson. She was also able to bring Mark Johnson, who created that footlocker, into her class as a guest speaker: "Having Dr. Mark Johnson come and lecture (he has great command of a class) with such depth and richness." [You can contact Mark through his website, "The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky."]

Connie Michael, who teaches in Hardin, will again teach "The IEFA lesson I taught this last year that morphed into science fair projects for the students." They took "four diverse ecosystems (trying to break Montana into four parts and tribal areas but we cheated on a few). We then studied the adaptations the animals and people had to make to live in the harsh conditions of the area; extreme cold, heat, rain, etc. We researched the Sheepeaters, the Yellowstone ecosystem for its unique habitat and resources and used STEM to see how the early inhabitants utilized their environment to survive." 

Here are responses from teachers who answered anonymously:

• I recommend the video "The Tribes of Montana and How They Got Their Names."
• "Although we were too late to enter the Montana Photo Meme Contest officially, we had a contest in our classes and the students loved it so much that we now have Meme Monday where partners examine a photo, create a meme, share and vote on their favorite. What a great way to start a lesson....I will definitely use more primary resources, especially photos and documents with my classes." 
• "Teaching from Montana: A History of Our Home!"
• "Rosebud Battlefield or Where the Girl Saved Her Brother" [This is a lesson from Part 3 of Unit 5 of Montana: A History of Our Home and is a favorite of mine as well.]
• Visual Thinking Strategies!  [Here's a PowerPoint that explains this technique.]
• Gallery walks to view sources and introduce resources. [Here's more information on gallery walks.]

 

Have a Great Summer

This is my last Teaching Montana History Post for the season (unless something great comes up that I feel the need to share.) I hope you have a great summer. And if you are traveling through Helena, please stop by and say hi. Remember: Admission to the Montana Heritage Center is always free (and we're open Saturdays and Sundays, though you won't see me).

Summer Recommendations 

Last week I shared listening recommendations--enough to keep you busy all summer. Here are some other recommendations of things to do and to think about. 

Learn more about multiple perspectives. When I first moved to Montana 31 years ago, I was a typically uninformed Midwesterner, especially about Indigenous history and culture. "Army Allies or Tribal Survival? The 'Other Indians' in the 1876 Campaign" by Colin Calloway, which focuses on the Crow and Arikara scouts who fought with the Custer was the first article that really helped me internalize Essential Understanding #1 (There is great diversity among the twelve sovereign tribes of Montana...)

The Montana Historical Society Press published the essay in Legacy: New Perspectives on the Battle of Little Bighorn, which I just learned you can access for free through Internet Archives. What brought this article to mind was a symposium Little Bighorn College held recently to mark the 150th anniversary of the Great Sioux War. One thing that jumped out at me from the Bighorn County News article about the symposium is Professor Emeritus Dale Old Horn's determination to set the record straight that the Crow who fought with the U.S. government were not "race traitors." Instead, "they were determined to survive an ongoing invasion of tribes from the east." This short article could be a great bell-ringer or an addition to a DBQ that brings in another perspective on the war besides those typically talked about: The US government and the Lakota and Cheyenne. 

Visit Montana State Parks. In partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Montana 250 Commission created an exhibit describing what life was like in specific places of Montana in 1776. Individual banners from this exhibit will be displayed at nine state parks: Montana Wild in Helena, Flathead Lake State Park, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, Bannack State Park, Travelers’ Rest State Park, Chief Plenty Coups State Park, First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park, Makoshika State Park, and Pictograph Cave State Park. Go check them out.

Join in History and Culture Celebrations. Here are just a few!

• Métis Heritage Festival, Chouteau, June 12-13, 2026 
• Rosebud Battlefield 150th Commemoration, Busby, June 17, 2026
• Montana History Fest, Helena, June 25-28, 2026
• Bannack Days, Bannack, July 18-19, 2026
• IndigiPalooza MT: Celebrating Indigenous Arts & Storytelling, Missoula, July 31-August 1, 2026
• Crow Fair Pow Wow and Parade, Crow Agency, August 14-16, 2026 

Share best practices. Yes, this is another plea for you to take time to answer my survey. I learn so much from your responses, and other teachers do too! (And I still have prizes available.) 

However you spend your summer, I hope it is restorative, energizing and loads of fun! See you next fall. 

P.S. If you are changing schools, make sure to re-subscribe using your new address. 

Professional Development and Mentoring

 

Land, Leadership, and Legacy: George Washington and Montana Identity Teacher Institute

August 5 (Helena) OR August 7 (Billings)

At this FREE workshop, teachers will have the opportunity to hear from historical scholars about George Washington’s agricultural leadership, the 1880 visit by Chief Plenty Coups to Mount Vernon, and the modern-day connection to Montana’s apple orchards. Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn the importance of Indigenous perspectives in shaping regional identity and history. Educators will walk away with ready-to-use resources and insights to help students think critically about the connections between the land, leadership, and legacy of George Washington and make meaningful connections to Montana’s history and the present day. 

Attendees earn 6 OPI Renewal Units and MUST teach in a formal K-12 classroom or school setting.

Learn more and find link to register:

• Helena August 5 Workshop
• Billings August 7 Workshop

Building Wilderness Conservation Lesson Plans: A Weekend Workshop at Smoke’s Barn

Dates: September 12 & 13, 2026 (Saturday and Sunday) from 10am-4pm each day

Location: Smoke Elser’s Barn @ 3800 Rattlesnake Drive in Missoula, Montana

Cost: Free! A $500 reimbursement will be paid to each participant who completes the entire involvement experience after the final lesson plan is submitted to our Educational Administration at MCE. Lunch and snacks (Saturday and Sunday) and dinner Saturday will be provided. 

Renewal Units: 12

Hosted by Montana Conservation Elders and Teaching Primary Sources of the Library of Congress.

This weekend workshop brings together educators and leaders from Montana’s wilderness and conservation community (including author Rick Bass and legendary packer Smoke Elser) to collaboratively create high-quality, place-based lesson plans and classroom activities.

Selected participants will learn to access and use primary sources and educational materials from the previously created Montana Conservation Elders Educational Materials, Library of Congress, University of Montana Special Collections, Montana Historical Society, The National Archives, Arthur Carhart Foundation, and the Montana History Portal (which will offer a mini-workshop during the conference).

Qualified Applicants are: K–12 teachers, Tribal colleges, teacher preparation programs, Park Service educators, museum educators, and key stakeholders to work with noted experts to build lessons focused on wilderness conservation and Montana history.

Apply by June 10.

For more information contact Cheryl Hughes / cherylhug@gmail.com / 406-240-4380

Historical Thinking through Student-Driven Research

August 11-12, Great Falls College-MSU. FREE with TRAVEL STIPEND

Want to engage your class with student-driven research projects using primary sources? Want to promote more historical thinking and critical analysis? Join teachers from across the state as Lynne O’Hara, deputy director of education for National History Day and former Philadelphia public schools social studies teacher, teaches you how to facilitate student research, analyze sources, and think historically. Think of it as a two-day “doing history” bootcamp.

Eligible Applicants:

• Teach 4th-12th grade in Montana
• Can commit to teaching student-driven historical research projects using primary sources in the 2026-2056 school year
• Can commit to attending BOTH days of the August 11-12 summer institute from 9 am to 4 pm at Great Falls College-MSU.

Successful Applicants will receive:

• Meals during the workshop
• Lodging
• Travel stipends
• 12 OPI renewal units

Learn more and find link to apply here.

MentorMT Is Hiring Mentors

MentorMT offers grade- and subject-aligned mentoring for new or underprepared rural teachers, helping them build effective pedagogy and content knowledge in their grade level and discipline. Over 100 K-12 teachers will be matched with mentors next year.

The ideal mentor is an active (or eligible retired) Montana K-12 teacher with:

• expertise in content and pedagogy for your grade/subject
• 5+ years of experience in teaching or special services
• Experience with and empathy toward rural education (teachers, students, schools, communities, & resources)
• Selection and matching criteria include subject-area and grade-band compatibility, geographic location, school type, and unique applicant skills and experiences

Does this describe you? Learn more and apply today!

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, June 5, 2026.

And Speaking of Mentoring...

Don't forget to complete our year-end survey to share your favorite strategies and lessons with the Teaching Montana History community (and maybe win a prize.)  

Another Free PD

 Free registration is now open for the Smithsonian's 2026 National Education Summit.

This free in-person and online multi-day event will be held July 14–16, 2026.  It is designed to unite leading voices in education under the theme "Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union." Four session tracks will equip you with classroom-ready ideas as we prepare for the United States’ Semiquincentennial in 2026.

Sessions led by talented Smithsonian educators will explore relevant themes at the intersections of art, culture, history, and science, relating to four learning strands: 

• Cultivating the Power of Dialogue
• Designing STEAM Solutions for Civic Challenges
• Leveraging the Arts as Civic Voice
• Placing History in Context

A Professional Development Certificate of Achievement will be given to all attendees. (And if you send me yours, I'll get you certificate for an OPI Renewal Unit). 

P.S. If you haven't yet completed our year-end survey, please don't forget to do so! I rely on the Teaching Montana History community for ideas and inspiration, and the posts in which I compile your recommended lessons and strategies are my favorite to write and most of your favorites to read. Plus, you may win a prize.

Summer Listening Suggestions

 Thank you to those of you who have taken our end-of-the-year survey! There are still two prizes left to give out so if you haven't had a chance to tell us what you think of Teaching Montana History and to share your favorite lesson plan or teaching strategy, please do so through this link..

One of the questions we asked was what you'd like to see more of, and several of you said podcast recommendations. You are in luck!

Laura Dukart from Wibaux wrote in to recommend The Obit Project, "a story-driven podcast about the lives of real Montanans after they die."

Michelle Pearson, from Two Geeky Teachers, shared a list she created of dozens of recommended podcasts to help you become a better educator, from "10 Minute Teacher Podcast" to a long list of podcasts to use with students. You can find her entire list of recommended summer listening here.   

Both Michelle and Laura were responding to my call for recommendations. If you have book, podcast, or other recommendations for summer, please send them my way and I'll share them out! And meantime, don't forget to complete our end of the year survey!

P.S. If you are changing schools, please re-subscribe using your new address! We'd hate to lose touch.

 

Happy 250 Birthday, USA

The Montana 250 Commission has been busy looking for ways to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US including a lot of educational programming. They've funded the Civics Bee competitions, National History Day, prizes and teacher training, and traveling exhibits. They've also worked with OPI to sponsor the Seal of Civic Literacy and the Montana Challenge. If you teach middle school or high school and didn't have your students participate in any of these programs this year, consider them for next year!  

Seal of Civics Literacy and Montana Challenge

I especially want to draw your attention to the Seal of Civic Literacy and the Montana Challenge. 

The Seal of Civics Literacy is only open to high school students. 

To receive the Seal, students must

• complete the OPI's version of the U.S. Naturalization (USCIS) test with a score of 80% or higher.
• complete the required .5 credits of Civics courses during high school as approved by the Board of Public Education.
• EITHER perform 40 hours of community service OR perform 20 hours of community service while also passing the Montana Challenge test created by the Montana Historical Society and the Sons and Daughters of Montana Pioneers.

This spring, 161 students took the naturalization test but only 62 were awarded the seal. I'd love to double this number in December, so start thinking about how to incorporate this into your government classes in the fall! (Find out more about the Seal of Civic Literacy--including links to study guides--here.)

The Montana Challenge is open to any student grades 6-12. It was the brainchild of the Sons and Daughters of Montana Pioneers, who wanted a test of Montana history, geography, and government knowledge modeled on the US citizenship test. This spring, 414 students took the Montana challenge and 128 passed, winning a $25 gift card from the Sons and Daughters. They have provided funds to purchase another 150 gift cards in December 2026 for students who pass the test. (If more than 150 kids pass, they will be distributed by random drawing.)  Put this on your calendar for fall semester as well (no gift cards in 2027!) Here's more information about the program. 

Represent Montana in Washington, DC

A big national initiative to recognize the anniversary is the Great American State Fair. Windfall is looking for people (especially teachers!) to staff the Montana Pavilion. They are paying $30/hour plus travel, accommodation, daily per diem, and transportation in/around DC are provided. 

They are hiring nine staff for each of the following date ranges:

• Wave 1: Travel dates 6/23 and 6/30; booth dates 6/24-6/29 (6/24 will be on-site training)
• Wave 2: Travel dates 6/29 and 7/6; booth dates 6/30-7/5
• Wave 3: Travel dates 7/5 and 7/11; booth dates 7/6-7/10

Learn more and apply here.

Lesson Plans for the Anniversary

The Montana 250 Commission gathered a bunch of lesson plans to improve civics education and teach students about the history of the revolution, including this Montana Office of Public Instruction lesson plan, The Declaration of Independence and the "merciless Indian savages".  As you begin to plan for next year, check out their Civics Education Resources.

P.S. If you haven't completed the end of year survey, please do so!