What I Learned on My Summer Vacation

Just kidding--about the summer vacation, that is. (Darn COVID!) But I did learn stuff. 

We had two great sessions in August featuring Colleen Call Smith of the National Museum of the American Indian and Professor Sam Wineburg of the Stanford History Education Group.

Colleen Call Smith introduced us to lesson plans at Native Knowledge 360º, with a deeper dive into the lesson "Northern Plains History and Cultures: How Do Native People and Nations Experience Belonging?"  One of my takeaways from the session is how easy it is to mine the amazing material they've made accessible to add more and varied voices into our lesson plans--even if you can't incorporate an entire lesson plan.

 Sam Wineburg focused on Reading Like a Historian resources from the Stanford History Education Group and his new project Civic Online Reasoning. The biggest takeaway for most of us (based on the evaluations) was the idea of "reading laterally," a way to check to veracity of information on the web. Sam provided us with a handout of "Digital Hacks" for checking the reliability of websites and a reading list. He also announced that MIT EdX is offering a free online course based SHEG's work called "Sorting Truth from Fiction: Civic Online Reasoning." The four week class, which begins September 15,  is free and you can get a verified certificate of completion for $49. It looks great! Here are the units:

 Unit 1: Search Like a Fact Checker

Unit 2: The Two Big Fact Checker Moves: Lateral Reading & Click Restraint

Unit 3: Evaluating Different Types of Evidence

Unit 4: Adapting Civic Online Reasoning

Another really fun thing I did this summer was meet with a small group for a "Google Classroom and Montana History" course and with our "Teacher Leaders in Montana History." One thing that came out of those meetings is the Teaching Montana History Facebook group. This private group is a place for teachers (YOU!) to share resources with one another. Folks can post files as well as simply post to the group.  If you are a Facebooker, I hope you'll consider joining and participating.

During these classes, everyone expressed interest in continuing to gather--even virtually--so we are going to host online professional development meet-ups every third Tuesday of the month (except December). The first session, on September 15, from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., will be an introduction to Montana history resources. You can register here. We'll be offering renewal units to attendees.

Finally, the Montana Office of Public Instruction's Indian Education for All unit is hosting a free six-session live webinar series exploring the Essential Understandings regarding Montana Indians (EUs). Participants are encouraged to attend all six sessions to gain familiarity with each of the EUs; explore practical classroom integration of IEFA; engage in meaningful live discussions; build community and share resources; and earn renewal units (two per session.) The sessions will be on Wednesdays, 4:00-5:30 p.m., September 9, 23, 30, October 14, 28, and November 4. Register here or contact Jennifer Stadum for more information. 

Finally, don't forget to join us for the First (and hopefully last) Virtual and 47th Annual Montana History Conference. Happening every Thursday and some Saturdays in September (and continuing into October too).

Teaching Montana History is written by Martha Kohl, Outreach and Interpretation Historian at the Montana Historical Society.