More IEFA Resources and PD

A few weeks ago, I posted an IEFA resources roundup, asking at the end, as I always do, for folks to send me other resources to share.

Jennifer Stadum, from OPI's Indian Education department, sent a link to a CNN story, "European colonizers killed so many Native Americans that it changed the global climate, researchers say." This article translates the scientific study I mentioned in the post ("Earth System Impacts of the European Arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492") for lay people and is a much more accessible source to use with students.

The Western Montana Professional Learning Collaborative is once again offering its IEFA online book club course, "The Seven Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians." Running March 18 to May 12, the course is designed for educators interested in building background knowledge and developing lesson plans that focus on the Essential Understandings. Through readings, discussion forums and examination of high-quality teaching materials, participants will explore a variety of literature, articles and professional teaching materials and develop five lesson plans during the course and a final reflection paper (an additional final project is required for graduate credit) for the immediate integration of IEFA into their classrooms. Texts will include The Framework: A Practical Guide for Montana Teachers and Administrators Implementing Indian Education for All by Tammy Elser, Who Will Tell my Brother? by Marlene Carvel, excerpts from Do All Indians Live in Tipis by National Museum of the American Indian  and Lies my Teachers Told Me by James W. Loewen, Montana Tribal Histories: Educators Resource Guide by Julie Cajune, History and Foundation of American Indian Education by Stan Juneau, and Keeping Promises: What is Sovereignty and Other Questions about Indian Country by Betty Reid and Ben Winton. The registration fee is $175. Participants will receive 30 OPI Renewal Units or 2 Semester Credits (semester credit is offered through the University of Montana and is an additional fee of $155. The course instructor will provide a separate registration form). Find more information here and register here.

PRI's The World published "Ignored and deported, Cree 'refugees' echo the crises of today," an article by Brenden W. Rensink, Assistant Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and author of the book Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands. The article reminded me of two lesson/unit plans we have relating topic: 

• "Montana's Landless Indians and the Assimilation Era of Federal Indian Policy: A Case of Contradiction" is a week-long primary-source based unit designed to introduce students to the history of the landless Métis, Cree, and Chippewa Indians in Montana between 1889 and 1916, while giving them an opportunity to do their own guided analysis of historical and primary source materials. In this Common Core-aligned unit, students will wrestle with issues of perspective, power, ideology, and prejudice and will closely examine the role Montana newspapers played in shaping public opinion toward the tribes’ attempts to maintain economic independence and gain a land base and political recognition.


• "Sun Dance in Silver Bow: Urban Indian Poverty in the Shadow of the Richest Hill on Earth" is a PowerPoint-based lesson plan that explores the complexity underpinning the change-over (or reconfiguration) of the West (and particularly Montana) from Aboriginal lands into Euro-American hands at the end of the nineteenth century.

I saw this article on in the New York Times about Australian aborigine's use of fire and how important that is for creating habitat for animals in the outback. It reminded me of the Fire History project created by the Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Fire on the Land. (In addition to being available online, the Indian Education Department of the Montana Office of Public Instruction also sent a copy of this DVD to all public school libraries.)

Our compatriots at the Wyoming Historical Society recently published two relevant articles on WyoHistory.org: Managing Game on the Wind River Reservation and Holding on to Sovereignty: The Tribes Mix Old Forms with New. Notifications about those posts sent me down a rabbit hole, exploring their website, where I found a number of "Digital Toolkits" that I think would interest Montana teachers. "Aimed at secondary levels and above" ... "each toolkit contains:

1. A background summary of the topic.
2. Links to relevant primary-source documents—maps, photos, letters, etc.
3. Links to more detailed WyoHistory.org articles on the topic.
4. Exercises encouraging students to write about or otherwise encounter the topic.
5. Bibliographies and links for further information and research...."

Toolkits include Father De Smet’s Map: Tribal boundaries and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 and American Indians in World War I.  

Finally, Arlee teacher Anna Baldwin pointed me to this three-part video from NBA.com about the Arlee Warriors basketball team and that addresses suicide, historical trauma and other significant contemporary issues.

As always, send along anything you think is worth sharing! You are where the best stuff comes from.