October Educator Conference

Deb and I are getting excited about going to the upcoming MFPE Educator conference in Belgrade! Are you considering going? As always, we'll have a table in the exhibit hall, so I hope you'll stop by and say hello.

I'm also giving two sessions, one on the 2020 Women's Suffrage Centennial (can you believe it's only been 100 years!?) on Thursday, October 17, from 1:00-1:50, and one on tools for teaching Montana geography on Friday, October 18, also 1:00-1:50.

Sessions by MHS Teacher Leaders 

I'm really excited that MHS will be sponsoring sessions by four master teachers, who are part of the MHS Teacher Leaders in Montana History program. Schedule permitting, they, and other of our Teacher Leaders are also willing to provide PD at your school! Learn more here.   

In Belgrade they are offering a range of great sessions. Ron Buck, of Shelby will be presenting "The Art of Storytelling: A Plains Indians Perspective," in which he'll show how he's adapted our pictographic art packets for use in his fifth grade classroom. (We'll be giving away copies of those packets at our booth--so more reason to stop and say hi.)

Michael Herdina, Conrad, doubles not only as an MHS Teacher Leader but also the statewide coordinator of National History Day so naturally he's talking on "Project Based Learning with Montana National History Day." (It's a TERRIFIC program for grades 6-12).

Billings middle school librarian will be providing an introduction to our resources with "Treasure within Montana Historical Society: MHS 101."

Ruth Ferris, elementary school librarian from Billings, will be presenting two sessions. The first is "Step into the Picture," one of the lessons from our newly revised Lewis and Clark Hands-on History footlocker. The second is "Why Does History Matter?" which looks at having students conduct primary source research, especially for National History Day projects.

Other Sessions of Interest

There are so many other good sessions, it's going to be hard to choose. If I could only recommend one it would be "Digital Treasures for Primary Sources: MMP, Montana Newspapers, and DPLA," presented by Jennifer Birnel of the Montana State Library. MMP (Montana Memory Project) and Montana Newspapers are both amazing resources that I think are underused.

For a full schedule, visit MFPE's "Session Search" page. To register to attend the conference, go here.

Here are a few other sessions that caught my eye:

• "A Frontier Photographer and a Naturalist, Evelyn and Ewen Cameron," presented by Lorna Milne.
• "Teaching Montana History Using Artifacts," presented by Sandra Oldendorf and Peggy Kimmet
• "A Day at the OTO Ranch: A Writing Marathon," presented by: Tamara Dalling
• "Do Treaties Matter?" presented by Mike Jetty (Come for the jokes, stay for the knowledge.) Mike did an version of this talk for us and it was mind-blowing. It's also available to watch as part of our Montana History in 9 MORE Easy Lessons series, for which you can earn renewal units from the comfort of your own home.
• "Humanties Montana: Bring Speakers to your Classroom," presented by  Ken Egan. I LOVE the Humanities Montana Speakers in the Schools program.
• Living History: A Visit With An 1879 Fur Co. Trader, presented by Greg Smith. Did you know you can bring him to your classroom through the Speakers in the Schools program?
• "Project Archaeology: Investigating Rock Art at Medicine Rocks State Park," presented by: Sabre Moore
• "Resources and Ideas for Implementing Indian Education for All," presented by: Mike Jetty, Zach Hawkins, and Stephen Morsette
• "Russell for Learning-Art and Literacy Based Learning," presented by Melissa Werber
• "Contemporary American Indian Art, IEFA, and the Missoula Art Museum," presented by Kay Grissom-Kiely
• "Lewis and Clark Amongst the Grizzlies," presented by Duane Buchi (and if this topic interests you, check out Lesson 5 from our Montana State Symbols footlocker, which compares the way Lewis wrote about grizzlies with the way Plenty Coups described them.
• "Before the Horse: Northern Rockies Lifestyle," presented by Kae Cheatham
• "Placing the Writer: Teaching with the Ivan Doig Archive," presented by Allison Wynhoff Olsen and Jan Zauha
• "Before the Park: 11,000 Years of Native Americans in Yellowstone," presented by Douglas MacDonald and Sandra Oldendorf 
• "History Lessons: Learned and Shared, presented by Bruce Wendt, a chance to share your best lessons and steal from your colleagues!
• "Other People's Stories," presented by Anne Thulson, a lecture/workshop that unpacks the history of harmful, multicultural art curriculum and presents ideas and practices from contemporary Native American art as a doorway to a more respectful and effective multicultural art curriculum.