Free Literacy in Social Studies Workshop, Helena, Oct. 7-8

We’ve teamed up again with the Jan Clinard, Helena College, the Indian Education Division of the Office of Public Instruction, and Professor Aaron Parrett (University of Great Falls) to put on a two-day workshop focusing on reading and writing strategies to meet common core standards and integrating Indian Education for All into the curriculum. Focusing on the theme of homesteading, we’ll look at strategies for reading primary documents including newspapers, photographs, brochures, letters, and treaties, ways to encourage your students to think like historians, and ideas for improving student writing.

The workshop will be held at Helena College, October 7 and 8. Register here.  

• October 7, the workshop will run 8:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m., with a reception and behind-the-scene tours of the Montana Historical Society from 3:30-5:00.
• October 8, the workshop is scheduled for 8:30-3:30. Participants can earn 15 renewal units.

This free workshop is designed to help implement Montana’s Common Core Standards by developing Literacy in Social Studies, as described in the Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies Standards and Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects. These include asking students to

• “cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources” (RH 1);
• “evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information, including texts by and about American Indians” (RH 8);
• “write arguments focused on discipline-specific content” (WHST 1); 
• “write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events” (WHST 2); and
• “conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question” (WHST 7). 

Helena College is working with other partners to offer a second workshop in Great Falls, but this one focuses on reading and writing strategies for science and technical subjects. That workshop—co-led by long time heritage educator/English teacher/IEFA advocate Dottie Susag—will be held September 23-24 and is geared for 6-12 English and science teachers.

To register, go to http://tinyurl.com/LISSTS-MT, where you may also register for on online course called “Searching, Selecting, and Citing,” designed to enhance digital research skills and the use of web tools in the classroom.

Questions? Contact Jan Clinard, Ed.D., 406-447-6951, jan.clinard@umhelena.edu.