Professional Development Opportunities

Native American Storytelling Series

Montana State University-Billings is pleased to offer a three-part webinar series that explores the importance of Native American storytelling. In this series participants will learn about oral traditions, winter counts, ledger art, and contemporary storytelling. Each week a Native American storyteller will talk about his/her her cultural traditions and share stories. Register here.  

Ruth Ferris and Kathi Hoyt will be the guides through this webinar series. Ruth and Kathi have been IEFA presenters for Region III for many years. Both are librarians in School District 2. Joining them will be storytellers from area tribal nations.

On January 26 the guest presenter will be Phillip Whiteman, Jr., a Northern Cheyenne Indian from Lame Deer. Whiteman is a national presenter, performer and traditional storyteller, Indian World Champion and PRCA Saddle Bronc Rider, and renowned horseman. He comes from a strong traditional and spiritual background. His father was a chief of the Northern Cheyenne Council; his mother was the late Florence Whiteman, a Cheyenne Warrior Woman of the Elk Scraper Society. Phillip Whiteman belongs to the Kit Fox Warrior and Omaha Dancing Societies. His personal and professional objective is to promote cultural integrity throughout Indian country and the world.

On February 2 Henry Real Bird will be the guest presenter. Henry Real Bird is a rancher and educator who raises bucking horses on Yellow Leggings Creek in the Wolf Teeth Mountains. Born and raised on the Crow Indian Reservation in the tradition of the Crow by his grandparents, Real Bird was educated in Montana and has a Master's degree in general education. He has punched cows, worked in rodeos, and taught school from kindergarten to college level. In 1969 he began writing poetry after an extended stay in the hospital. He still speaks Crow as his primary language and feels this has helped in writing his poetry. He served as Poet Laureate of Montana from 2009-2011 and was named 2011-2012 Academy of Artists Cowboy of the Year. In 2011 his collection of poems won the High Plains Book Award for poetry.

On February 9, the guest presenter will be Mardell Plainfeather. Mardell is an Apsáalooke from the Big Lodge clan and child of the Whistling Water clan. She was born in Billings and raised in the Crow Agency area until she left for college in Phoenix, Arizona. She returned home and graduated from Rocky Mountain College in Billings. She joined the National Park Service as a Park Range/Plains Indian Historian retiring in 2007. She is coeditor of the book The Woman Who Loved Mankind: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Crow Elder and was honored with the Montana Heritage Keepers Award by the Montana Historical Society Board of Trustees in 2019.

Sessions will be held from 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on January 26, February 2, and February 9. Attendees will earn 6 OPI Renewal Units and the cost is free. Register here.  

 

Join SHEG for One of Two Institutes 

I love Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) and think their curriculum material will go a long way toward helping history teachers implement the new Montana social studies standards next year. That's why I was excited to see that SHEG was offering two institutes this semester: "Introduction to Reading like a Historian Curriculum and Beyond the Bubble Assessments" and "Designing and Adapting Reading Like a Historian Curriculum."

Both institutes feature three, two-hour, interactive sessions (plus four hours of homework). The "Introduction" session is designed for grades 5-12 educators who have not previously attended Stanford History Education Group professional development. "Designing and Adapting Reading Like a Historian Curriculum" is designed for grades 5-12 educators who are already familiar with the curriculum. Participants will receive a digital record of completion and will be eligible for 1 CEU issued by the Stanford Center for Professional Development. 

Registration will open January 28. Cost for each is $375, but there are a limited number of scholarships available. Deadline to apply for a scholarship is January 24. Learn more here.