Best of, High School Edition, 2019

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 high school teachers with some notes from me, in brackets.

Montana History Lesson lectures/videos, particularly the early history lessons. I don't have much background in paleontology and archaeology so those have really helped expand my knowledge. Its a great way to start the class.--anonymous [This teacher is referring to the lecture series we sponsored and recorded and made available online: "Montana History in 9 Easy Lessons" and "Montana History in 9 MORE Easy Lessons." I've always thought of these as professional development (and you can earn renewal credits for watching). It never occurred to me to use them as a way to bring in virtual guest speakers.] 

Am working on a lesson about the French Canadian nuns at the Catholic boarding school for my French 1 Class. Need to reread Lady Blackrobes (Lady Blackrobes: Missionaries in the Heart of Indian Country, by Irene Mahoney (2006) this summer and fine tune it for next year.--anonymous

I made a huge project that was very in depth about the Montana Landless Indians that I got from your emails. From the link you sent me I printed off the lesson plans but then turned it into a larger project for my students to go into more detail with and paired it with reading to them The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian (the edited version).--anonymous

Collaboratively with 10th Grade English--historic photos and newspapers--regarding Heart Mountain Internment Camp. --anonymous 

Betty Bennett, English teacher, Missoula, wrote, "Winter in the Blood, Blood on the Marias, the Treaty Era, and the Territorial Period."

I use Billings street names around West (Custer, Lewis, Clark, etc); challenge them to find street names that honor Native Americans. [Bruce Wendt gave a longer description of this project last year, which is well worth reading (and imitating!).]

I used the IEFA lesson plan for Two Old Women.  I really like the engaged activities that are included.--anonymous

Charlie Russell: Using Visual Thinking Strategies with the paintings.--anonymous 

Family and Consumer Science teacher Charlotte Johnson from Heart Butte created a class on pulse crops grown in Montana. 

Ceilon Aspensen, 6-12 art teacher, Shelby wrote, "I didn't teach it this year, but the "Creating Timelines and Timeline Based Lesson Plans" resource that you sent out in January was so interesting that I flagged it for planning next year. I am planning to teach my art appreciation lessons using the ideas presented in that resource."

Sense of Place unit: includes myths,  nonfiction (journal entries, essays), poetry, speeches from past chiefs, explorers, naturalists, historians as well as contemporary poets from the local area (Fort Peck, Fort Belknap, etc.). The focus is to read a variety of perspectives on how our immediate (the hi-line, Missouri river, NE MT, MT) landscape and people's experience with it shapes their understanding of place, identity, culture, etc. The students enjoyed reading "old stuff that describes where we live" and found it "cool to see how the area has changed or really not at all."--anonymous

I teach in a collaborative class. Our best lesson this year was a unit on local history research where we had students look at an archival photo of Bozeman. They had to then find the current location of the photo, recreate it, and write an essay on how things have changed between the photos. We used On the Road Again: Montana's Changing Landscape by Dr. Bill Wyckoff as a template for their writing.--anonymous

Walking history of Dillon.--anonymous [I'm not sure if this teacher had her students create a walking tour or take one--but you can find resources for studying your own town on the Educator Resources page for chapter 14 of Montana: Stories of the Land. Also, check out ExploreBig: Montana's Historic Places, a website and mobile app to help you discover Montana’s rich cultural resources.]

Stay tuned for the elementary and middle school teacher responses. And, of course, it's not too late. If you have a great resource you think other teachers could benefit from knowing about, email me!