Best of, Middle School Edition

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

Polson Middle School social studies teacher Matthew Dalbey taught World War I. [I hope he used our WWI lesson plan and/or scavenger hunt and other online resources.] Amber Erickson, who teaches 6-8 history in Saco, also focused on the Great War in Montana, but Amber participated in an ambitious project that had students conducting and sharing original research on ways the war impacted the people of their own county. The lesson plan was written for high school students, but Amber's students did a brilliant job. Here is the website they created to share their research.

Indian Literature Stories: my students loved the tales and comparing tribes.—Shannon Baukol, Arrowhead School District, grades 6-8 [One source of relevant stories is the Indian Reading Series. Shannon may also use our Hands-on History footlocker, the Montana Indian Stories Lit Kit, which immerses students in storytelling and the oral tradition with seven class sets of Montana Indian stories collected for the Indian Reading Series. The lit kit includes animal puppets and User Guide. NOTE: Out of respect for the storytelling customs of many Montana Indian people, this kit will be made available for use in the winter months, November through March.]

Studying homesteading in Montana using a 1910 mail order catalogue to purchase items needed on the homestead, analyzing primary sources, going on a field trip to an original homestead and having students create presentations.—Chad Williams, Hamilton Middle School 7th grade Montana History [Our Hands-on History footlocker, Inside and Outside the Home: Homesteading in Montana 1900-1920, includes Sears, Roebuck catalogs and other primary sources and replica artifacts. Another teacher recommends the footlocker on homesteaders from Western Heritage Center, "History Mystery III: The Mystery of the Old Homestead."]

I had my students make postcards about either a town in Montana, or the history of the railroads in Montana, when we studied the railroad. Students researched the history and used those facts in their postcard. The postcards were then hung up in the school for other students to see.—Cathleen Kuchera, Fair-Mont-Egan, 8th grade Montana History  

I did a homesteading day and the students had to create something just like homesteaders, we had a campfire and everything!  We had elk tenderloins, butter, cornbread, knitting and fire making.—Jennifer Graham, Philipsburg

The MHS lesson, "Blood on the Marias: Understanding Different Points of View Related to the Baker Massacre of 1870"—Anonymous

Mapping Montana, A to Z, Lesson Plan.—Anonymous

A winter count activity where each student drew a quilt square to represent an important event in their life using symbolism.—Anonymous [For lesson plans and a PowerPoint on winter counts, see "The Art of Storytelling: Plains Indian Perspectives."]

I attended a professional development seminar at the historical society last summer that inspired me with several strategies for improving students' comprehension of complex reading passages.—Zach Duval, Somers Middle School, 6-8 Language Arts [You can read more about some of these strategies here, and stay tuned: OPI has converted parts of it into an online course that will be posted soon on the Teacher Learning Hub.] 

6th Grade World Fair - students dress, become a person we have studied, and share the importance of why we study them in the modern era even though they lived in ancient times.—Jessica Henigman, Cut Bank,  6th Grade ELA and 6th Social studies [Looking for Montana characters? Check out our Montana Biographies page.]

Charles Russell PowerPoint, Gallery Walk and Poems.—Jennifer Hall, Eureka Middle School, 7th and 8th grades, U.S. History and Montana History [Find the Charlie Russell material Jennifer is referring to.] 

I recommend the IEFA lesson, "More Than Flutes and Drums."—Anonymous

I taught a lesson that compared and contrasted Pocahontas. Students were placed into groups of 3 and assigned a historical figure to take guided notes on (Capt. John Smith, Pocahontas, and Chief Powhatan) throughout the Disney movie Pocahontas and a PBS NOVA Documentary, Pocahontas: Revealed. They were given the same set of questions for both videos and they were responsible for that figure the whole time. They were all tasked with identifying forms of technology, major crops, trade items, social structures, etc., and noting names, dates, and places of importance. After completion of both videos, they shared their findings with their group members and were then asked to write their own story about Pocahontas using the information they had learned. This was a creative writing story.—Mitchell Wassam, Ronan Middle School, 6th grade Ancient Civilization and Geography.

Two different teachers anonymously recommended doing a unit using Tim Tingle's How I Became A Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story. Tim Tingle is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; OPI's Indian Education Division has created a model literacy lesson plan for his book Walking the Choctaw Road. 

Analyzing Points of View: Chief Rosebud Remembers Lewis and Clark.—Tammy Dalling, 7th grade Gardiner Montana history [This is a lesson plan created by the good folks at OPI's Indian Education Division.]

Foods Indigenous to North America. We are currently engrossed in this lesson, and will be throughout the remainder of the quarter.  I have changed and adapted this each quarter that I have gardening class, to fit the knowledge and understanding levels of the students I have at that time.  Also, I have started to adapt the fictional novels into a seasonal round, to help students visualize what is happening, and at what time of the year in the Hatchet book series, and now in the My Side of the Mountain series- the kids are LOVING it!!!—Anonymous

I used Newsela articles a lot this year for media classes.  This one about Frazer, Montana, fits in nicely with the Fort Shaw Indian Girls' Basketball Team.  Could lead to further study of the history of basketball teams in Montana.—Norma Glock, Columbus Middle School, Grades 6-8, Media/Literacy Skills [Newsela is a site that offers nonfiction text at multiple reading levels. More here.]

The students' favorite lesson is the Boarding School. I show the segment from Into the West DVD.  I show this after we study Chapter 11 Early Reservation Years.—Debbie Paisley, Montana History, West Yellowstone

P.S. Don't forget: The deadline to apply for the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation Scholarship to attend the Montana History Conference is September 9, 2018. Learn more about the September 27-29 Billings Conference and the scholarship information here.