Resources for Veterans Day

How are you recognizing Veterans Day? 

The National Museum of the American Indian is unveiling its National Native American Veterans Memorial on November 11 and will be opening its new exhibit, Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces (you may have to scroll down to find the link to the exhibit.) Several Montana educators, along with educators from out of state, are working hard on lesson plans to accompany the new exhibit. I've heard they will start publishing their work in January. I can't wait!

Meanwhile, check out NMAI's lesson plan, Native Words, Native Warriors (about code talkers), as well as the OPI Remote Learning-Lessons and Unit: American Indians in the Military – A Warrior Spirit, which focuses on WWII Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux code talkers.

The Indian Education Division of OPI also has two relevant literature units (classroom sets for each featured book can be borrowed from OPI). The first is Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond, which is a brilliant and teachable memoir by Joseph Medicine Crow, which includes a discussion of his WWII military service (which is where he completed the deeds needed to become a war chief). The second is Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two, by Joseph Bruchac. I haven't read this one, but I did get a thorough review of it from Bonner 6-8 grade ELA teacher McKenna Quinn. Here's what she said:

• I think the book was too difficult for my 7th grade readers. The military vocabulary and incorporation of the Navajo language made it an intimidating read for them and hard to access for my striving readers. In the future, I plan to teach this novel with 8th graders rather than 7th graders. 
• I found that keeping track of the various places and historical contexts was hard for students at points. 
• I did a code cracking activity with students (I believe I got it from the OPI unit plan for this novel) that was super successful. I felt like it helped students connect with the Navajo language more.  
• I taught this novel in November last year, and it was great being able to make connections to Veterans Day. Students (especially those from military families) could really connect with some of those lessons. 
• I showed the PBS documentary "The Warrior Tradition" alongside the novel - I think students enjoyed the documentary and it was a great opportunity to showcase contemporary Native voices and their perspectives on military service. I think it was eye opening to students. 
• It took us a LONG time to get through the book. In fact, we didn't finish it. The OPI unit plan I was using (while a really really great resource), almost felt like too much. I put pressure on myself to accomplish everything in the unit. Coupling that with the difficulty of the novel AND the fact that we had to read it ALL in class (I didn't have enough books for every kid to take home)  - it got to the point where I had to move on to my next unit.
• So, next time I teach this I plan on doing it with 8th graders AND requesting a set of books from OPI so that some of the reading can be done outside of class. All in all, I would DEFINITELY recommend this novel to teachers.

Another great Veterans Day resource is Reader's Theater: Letters Home from Montanans at War. This is one of my favorite lesson plans from our vast collection because it has proved to be so powerful for students, by not just helping them learn about history but to help them realize that ordinary people shape history--and that, to quote one of Helena High School theater teacher Rob Holter's students,  "people just like me can make a difference in this world!" You can read more about this lesson plan here. 

 

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