2020 Census

As a historian, I LOVE the census. I'm already looking forward to April 2022, when the National Archives will release the 1950 census. As a citizen I love the census too--the upcoming census count, which begins March 1, matters. After all, it will determine whether Montana gets a second representative to Congress!

The Census Bureau has created many resources to try to encourage people to be counted and to explain the importance of the census.

"Census Made Simple" is a 2:20 minute video about why we have a census, why being counted matters; it also emphasizes that census data is not shared--with other government agencies, landlords, or anyone. For younger students there is "Getting an Accurate Count."

I was impressed with an activity the Census Bureau created for third-fourth grade; Population Change Over Time "focuses on how the decennial census benefits students, their families, and their communities, highlighting why participation is important.

The Census Bureau has suggested activities for older students as well, from using census data to decide where to move to activities focused on women in the workforce, immigration patterns, changes in family structure, and the link between education and income.

Hope these resources are useful as we approach Census Day. It's coming up fast--April 1. No fooling.

Inquiry, primary-source based lessons at your fingertips

The Stanford History Education Group creates some of the smartest, best curricular material out there. They have twenty-five new Reading Like a Historian lessons, 24 new History Assessments of Thinking, and twelve newly revamped lessons--all for free (although you do have to register.) Among the available lessons is this one on the Carlyle Indian Industrial School. Like all SHEG lessons, this high school lesson asks students to engage in a historical inquiry by analyzing primary sources from different points of view to answer a guiding question (in this case "what was the purpose of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.)

If you teach middle or high school, and don't use SHEG's resources, I encourage you to take a moment and browse their site. You'll like what you see.

Interested in testing a fourth-grade Montana history unit?

As regular readers know, we are slowly working to put together a comprehensive fourth grade Montana history curriculum. Both the first unit (Montana Today: A Geographic Study) and the second unit (Montana's First Peoples) are available to download from our website.

I'm close to finished with a draft of the third unit (Coming to Montana) and am looking for teachers to test it with their students. (Still to come is a unit that will talk about homesteading, allotment, boarding schools, and twentieth-century immigration).

Coming to Montana investigates some of the push-pull factors that brought people to the state: European settlement in the east that pushed tribes westward, the fur trade and Montana's mineral wealth and rich grasslands. The unit is broken into 7 parts:

• Part 1: Should I Stay or Should I Go? (1-2 days)
• Part 2: Montana's First Peoples (1-2 days)
• Part 3: The Next Big Pull Factor: Precious Metals (contains 4 separate lessons, 5-6 days to do all 4)
• Part 4: Ranching (contains two separate lessons, 4 days to do both)
• Part 5: Logging (2 days)
• Part 6: the Shrinking Reservation (1-2 days)
• Part 7: Wrap-up (1 day, but you need to have done at least a few of the other lessons for this)

Coming to Montana incorporates some previously published lesson plans:

• "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and "No Smoking: A History Mystery," Lessons 3 and from the Coming to Montana: Immigrants from around the World footlocker
• Who Are the Métis?
• a streamlined version of "The Rest of the Story" (from Montana's Charlie Russell)
• "What Would You Bring?" Emigrant Families on Montana's Gold Rush Frontier, and
• "Mining Muffin Reclamation" (from the Gold, Silver, and Coal Oh My! footlocker)

But it also has material created specifically for this unit, including

• a guided research project on life for cowboys on the ranching frontier using excerpts from Teddy Blue Abbott's reminiscence, We Pointed Them North and historical photographs from our collection;
• An examination of census information to discover who lived in logging camps; 
• a math-based lesson on the Indian land loss; and
• a card-game lesson on cause and effect.

Are you interested in trying this unit out with your fourth-grade class and providing feedback? I'm should be able to have material to you by the end of February. The entire unit should take 15-20 days but I'd be happy to test individual pieces as well.

Email me if you are interested, and I'll send you more information.

Professional Development Opportunities: Spring and Summer

Save the Date!  The Fourteenth Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices will be held in Billings May 3-5, 2020. This is one of my favorite conferences--I always learn so much!

If you prefer your learning online, the Western Montana Professional Learning Collaborative is offering two Indian Education For All Online Book Club Courses this semester:

• American Indian Literature (for use in grades K-8)
  ​February 17 - April 20, 2020 ($250 plus $155 for semester credits)
• American Indian Sovereignty (a self-paced course that must be completed by May 15, 2020 ($350 plus $150 for UM Credits).

If you are interested in traveling farther afield, consider applying to attend an NEH workshop, institute or seminar this summer. The NEH "offers tuition-free opportunities for K-12 educators ... to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends of $1,200-$3,300 help cover expenses for these one- to four-week programs." Deadline to apply is March 1 and the application is competitive and requires a letter of recommendation, so start early!

Here are a few that caught my eye:

• Mesa Verde National Park and Pueblo Indian History
• Becoming US: The Immigrant Experience through Primary Sources
• Voices of the Ancients: Archaeology and Oral Tradition in the American Southwest
• Mapping Nature across the Americas
• Heart Mountain, Wyoming, and the Japanese American Incarceration
• Wide-Open Town: Kansas City in the Jazz Age and Great Depression (nothing to do with Montana history--but it sounds fun!)

There are many other topics--from Shakespeare to the 1970 Kent State shootings. Check out the full list and consider applying!

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History also offers free (including room, board, and a $350 stipend) Teacher Seminars for K-12 Educators who teach at a Gilder Lehrman Affiliate School (it's free to become an affiliate). Applications for these seminars, which include "Native Americans in American History" (led by Colin Calloway!) and "The West and the American Nation" (led by Elliott West!) Excuse the excessive punctuation, but these guys are history rock stars! Learn more here.

Finally, the Montana Historical Society is pleased to announce the availability of the 2020 Dave Walter Research Fellowship.  The Fellowship will be awarded to two Montana residents involved in public history projects focused on exploring local history. The award is intended to help Montanans conduct research on their towns, counties, and regions using resources at the Montana Historical Society. Research can be for any project related to local history, including exhibit development, walking tours, oral history projects, building history or preservation, county or town histories, archaeological research, and class projects. Awards of $1,250 each will be given to two researchers annually.  For additional information and application instructions, please visit https://mhs.mt.gov/research/about/fellowships/walter.

Applications must be sent as one PDF document to mhslibrary@mt.gov no later than March 15, 2020. Announcement of the award will be made in mid-April. Questions should be directed to Molly Kruckenberg, Research Center Manager, at mkruckenberg@mt.gov.