The Professional Development Opportunities Just Keep Coming

If you are looking for in-person PD this spring in summer, we've got you covered with one-day workshops in Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Billings. I'm also pleased to share information about a week-long seminar in Billings sponsored by TOLI.

One-Day Workshops

The Montana Historical Society will be working with local museums/archives to present two workshops for educators in April. Join us in Great Falls, on April 21, 2020 or in Butte, on April 23, 2020 for "Integrating IEFA: Interdisciplinary Approaches," for activity-based history and plug and play lessons. If you live within a short drive, you won't want to miss this workshop led by award-winning teacher Jim Schulz. Learn more and register.

What's Hot in History! A Summertime Workshop from the Montana Historical Society will be held in Billings on June 8, 2020. Join Montana Historical Society staff and members of the Teacher Leaders in Montana History program for classroom tested techniques, resources, and lesson plans guaranteed to engage your students. Check out the schedule and register.

On June 25, 2020, MHS will host the National World War I Museum in Helena for “WWI 360: Teach Like an Ace,” an interactive, interdisciplinary forum designed to last 360 minutes (six hours). This seminar—funded by the United States World War I Centennial Commission—will highlight the resources of both MHS and the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Register.

Week-long Seminar

Once again, Browning teacher Brenda Johnson and Billings educators Marcia Billedeaux Beaumont and Lacy Watson are teaming up under the auspices of The Olga Lengyel Institute to offer "Worlds Apart but Not Strangers: Holocaust Education and Indian Education for All," in Billings from June 14-20, 2020. Designed for upper elementary through high school teachers, the seminar is FREE and includes selected books and teaching materials, lunches and most dinners. Low cost dorm housing is an option, mini-grants of up to $1,000 is available to graduates, and participants can receive 3 graduate credits for $135. Brenda hinted that this may be the last year they offer this workshop, so if you've been meaning to go, apply now.

Here's more information:

Worlds Apart But Not Strangers: Holocaust Education and Indian Education for All is designed for individuals and teams interested in finding relevance for today in Holocaust Education and Montana-mandated Indian Education for All. In this experiential, inquiry-based seminar, participating educators will discover ways to find connections between these two topics.

Sponsored by The Olga Lengyel Institute (TOLI), the seminar will explore the past, including the impact of policies issued during the Holocaust and U.S. policies that have affected Native peoples in this country. The seminar will also focus on the present, as participants consider the roles – perpetrator, ally, bystander – individuals choose for themselves in their daily interactions with one another, as well as stereotypes and biases that influence interactions in local schools and communities today.


Educators will be asked to envision the world they hope their children will live in and design an action plan to help their classroom, school and/or community move toward that ideal. Program highlights include field experiences from the Billings Jewish community and the Native peoples of Montana.