Social Studies Standards and Skills

How do you feel about the new social studies standards? (This is a real question, not a rhetorical one. Please email me!) I'm excited about them--but can also imagine they seem a bit daunting. So, I'm starting a series of periodic posts focusing on resources to help you meet specific standards, starting with the skills section, which are supposed to be integrated across all grades. 

Skill #1 (SS.K12.1): Develop Questions 

Question Formulation Technique (QFT)

Practicing the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) is a GREAT way to teach students how to develop questions. Here's a link to a blog I wrote sometime back describing the technique, but the best thing to do is go to the Right Question Institute Website, and start exploring the materials on their Teaching and Learning page, including lesson plan templates, PowerPoints, and videos showing QFT in action), and/or watch this 27-minute tutorial on YouTube. 

Question Starts

Of course, there are other ways to help students learn how to develop questions. I came across Question Starts when I was exploring the Thinking Routine Toolbox on Harvard University School of Education's Project Zero website. 

Like most good routines, this one is deceptively simple. Here's a PDF from Project Zero with all the details, but in brief, here's how it works:

1. Brainstorm a list of at least 12 questions about the topic, concept or object. Use these question-starts to help you think of interesting questions:
   Why…? How would it be different if…?
   What are the reasons...? Suppose that…?
   What if…? What if we knew…?
   What is the purpose of…? What would change if…?
2. Review the brainstormed list and star the questions that seem most
   interesting. Then, select one or more of the starred questions to discuss for a few moments.
3. Reflect: What new ideas do you have about the topic, concept or object that you didn’t have before? 

Question Cubes

Billings librarian (and MHS Teacher Leader) Ruth Ferris introduced me to question cubes, a variation on question starts, and TPS-Barat/Primary Sources Nexus Teacher Resources has a template online so you can make your own. They explain:

If your students need help with asking questions when analyzing primary sources, bring out the question cubes. You can make them from paper or cleaned-out school milk cartons. Each student or student group should get two cubes [one with the words "who, what, when, where, how" and the other with "is/are, would/could, should, might/will, was/were"] ... and roll both to help get those questions flowing.

How are you going to work with your students on developing questions this year? 

 

Making Connections in Middle and High School English Classes

I'm all for tying the novels, memoirs, and other literary texts to Montana history and am delighted to help come up with ways to do it. Some have more obvious connections than others. It makes sense to study Montana during the Great Depression when you are reading Grapes of Wrath or Out of the Dust.  

Hattie Big Sky (a middle school novel about a woman homesteading in Montana during WWI) connects directly to resources we have on homesteading and on WWI, including chapters in Montana: Stories of the Land and the Story Maps and the lesson plan we created for our WWI centennial project, Montana and the Great War.    

Teaching James Welch's Fool's Crow? Have students investigate primary sources relating to the Marias Massacre.  

Reading Girl from the Gulches: A Story of Mary Ronan (which offers a girl's-eye view of life in the Montana gold camps)? We've got teaching resources for you.  

And of course, OPI's Indian Education Division has a wealth of model lessons for literature, at all grade levels, including Joe Medicine Crow's Counting Coup and Darcy McNickle's Wind from an Enemy Sky.  

It took me by surprise, though, when Sentinel High School teacher asked me what Montana resources might complement the Autobiography of Malcolm X. But of course bringing it home makes sense and I was thrilled by the opportunity to look for Montana history resources that tie to the literature you are teaching. See below for the links I sent her--and let me know if you are looking for Montana history connections for a book you are teaching. I don't know if I'll be able to help, but I'm certainly willing to try. 

Resources to bring the Montana experience into the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

• “Lifting as We Climb”: The Activism of the Montana Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs talks about efforts to get an equal access to public accommodation law passed in Montana.
• Montana’s African American Heritage Resources has interviews with African American Montanans growing up during the time period as well as other materials (I haven’t read them though).The site also includes a link to this story map of Montana in the Green Book.
• I’ve never read this book, and I hear there are curse words, and other objectionable content--including some misrepresentations of historical events--but it might be interesting to look at Viet Cong at Wounded Knee: The Trail of a Blackfeet Activist by Woody Kipp. I bet you can find excerpts that you could use for comparison.
• Chapter 6: Federal Indian Policy of Montana Mosaic (a 19 minute video) looks at Relocation and the rise of the American Indian Movement through the story of the Juneaus—I think this could be a cool comparison.

Again, if you have books you teach that you’d like to find Montana tie ins for, let me know—coming up with suggested resources to pair with books already being taught in ELA classes has been on my list to do for a long time.

Help Us Document and Share Your Community History

 ICYMI--or looked at it a while back but then forgot about the site--I want to remind you about the existence of Historic Montana, a great resource for community study. The website and companion app, originally launched in 2017, started out with about 250 properties. Over the years, MHS historians have added over one thousand more historical narratives, thousands of “then and now” photos, and numerous new historic district and themed tours. 

Historic Montana users learn about architecture; social, economic, and cultural life; and significant events and movements in Montana and national history as they relate to specific Montana places. With so much information and a variety of historic and contemporary photographs, Historic Montana is a valuable resource for teachers and students working on place-based Montana history projects. You can even use the text and photos to create your own walking tours. 

We also invite you and your students to help shape history by making HistoricMT.org even better! If you have a class assignment that asks students to

• photograph National Register-listed buildings or districts to document your community,
• conduct new research on a National Register-listed site (or buildings that contribute to an NR district), or
• record interviews or podcast episodes about places in your town

we would love to feature it on HistoricMT.org. For more information on ways to use and improve Historic Montana, contact MHS Interpretive Historian Christine Brown at 406-444-1687 or Christine.brown@mt.gov.

 

IEFA Ethnobotany Webinar Series

 OPI is offering yet more amazing looking Profession Development! 

In addition to their Contemporary Topics in Indian Country series, they are also offering an Ethnobotany Webinar Series Starting October 5, 2021. 

This series of six FREE webinars* will feature a tribally-specific window into the practical, cultural, ecological, medicinal, and/or ceremonial importance of Montana's native plant species. Each session, presented by a tribal expert in ethnobotany, will cover how to respectfully integrate knowledge learned about ethnobotany into your instruction. 

Earn renewal units (2 per session or 12 for all 6 sessions)* 

Webinars will be held on the first Tuesday of the month, October through March, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Register here.  

#1 – October 5, 2021: Rosalyn LaPier (Blackfeet/Métis) - What is Ethnobotany? And why is it important? 

#2 – November 2, 2021: Rose Bear Don't Walk (Crow/Bitterroot Salish/Lone Pine Shoshone Paiute) - Traditional Foodways and Holistic Health 

#3 – December 7 , 2021: Marissa Spang (Northern Cheyenne/Crow) - Living in Relations: How to Practice Plant Knowledge 

#4 – January 4, 2022: Annie Sorrell (Salish) and Loga (Turtle) Fixico (Blackfeet/Bitterroot Salish/Nez Perce/Dakota/Haudenosaunee) - Ethnobotany, TEK, and Science 

#5 – February 1, 2022: Reyna Monteau (Nakoda) - Common Uses of Medicinal Plants and Foods for Health and Wellness 

#6 - March 1, 2022: Shane Sangrey (Cree) - Cree Knowledge of the Plants of Rocky Boys Reservation 

After registration you will receive the following communication: a confirmation letter and a reminder email containing the Zoom link on the Monday prior to the webinar. 

*Registration, signing in to each webinar, and completion of a follow up survey provided after each webinar is required to earn OPI renewal units. 

For registration or renewal unit questions please contact Joan Franke, OPI Indian Education for All Unit Administrative Assistant, jfranke@mt.gov.

What's Allowed

Concerned about Critical Race Theory?

If you haven't heard about the opinion the Montana attorney general issued on anti-racism and Critical Race Theory, feel free to skip this post. As long as you aren't treating students differently on the basis of race, creating a hostile environment, or engaging in racial scapegoating or stereotyping (and I can't imagine you are), then keep doing what you are doing. For those of you who have concerns, read on. 

After reading the headlines about this opinion early in the summer, my colleagues and I also had concerns, so we did what historians do: we went to the source. 

I encourage everyone to read the twenty-five page Montana Attorney General’s Opinion 1, Vol. 58, Op. 1 May 27, 2021 and particularly the section Analysis and Conclusions of Law (pp. 18-22), because that's the heart of the ruling. For easy reference, my colleagues and I also put together a one-page FAQ sheet: "A Teacher's Guide to the Montana Attorney General's Opinion on Critical Race Theory and Indian Education for All,"  which I'm sharing below.  

Is it legal to teach curriculum that explores racism, discrimination, and colonialism?

Yes. Montana’s state social studies standards require that students be able to accomplish the following, all of which will entail studying and understanding the history of racism, discrimination, and colonialism:

• “Analyze perspectives of American Indians in US history” (SS.H.9-12.10);
• “Identify ways in which people and groups exercise agency in difficult historical, contemporary, and tribal contexts” (SS.H.9-12.3);
• “Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in ensuring civil rights at the local, state, tribal, national, and international levels” (SS.CG.9-12.12); and
• “Analyze how, since European contact, historical events and policies have mutually impacted American Indian and European societies.” (SS.H.6-8.3)

Can educators continue to teach the Seven Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians using curriculum from OPI, the Montana Historical Society, or other state agencies?

Yes.  The Seven Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians are integrated throughout the Montana Accreditation and Content Standards that guide instruction for all schools. Educators have a constitutional and legal obligation to implement Indian Education for All in a culturally responsive manner. 

Is it legal to teach Critical Race Theory?

Yes, although Critical Race Theory—the study of how views on race have shaped public policy and the legal system—is generally only taught in college level classes. The Attorney General’s opinion states that “There are legitimate pedagogical uses for elements of the CRT/antiracism curricula that do not violate state or federal laws…. This opinion, therefore, should not be construed to limit a school or government entity’s ability to use, present, or discuss these materials, where appropriate.” (Knudsen, p. 19) 

Is it legal to teach the 1619 Project or any other curriculum relating to the history of slavery?

Yes. While calling the 1619 curriculum “inadvisable,” the Attorney General specifically states that it is “protected by the First Amendment and it is reserved for policymakers to decide if it belongs in classrooms.” (Knudsen, p. 22) 

Are academic freedom and student political speech still protected?

Yes. “Nothing in this opinion shall be construed to restrict any expressive activities protected under the U.S. Constitution, including academic freedom or student political speech.” (Knudsen, pp. 22-23). Student political speech should take place in accordance with any relevant district or school policies. 

What practices or activities are prohibited under the Attorney General’s opinion? 

The opinion lists discriminatory practices that are illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Montana Human Rights Act. Schools and educators may not

• “classify students or other Montanans by race,”
• “treat individuals differently on the basis of race,”
• “create a hostile environment,” or
• “engage in racial stereotyping” or “racial scapegoating.”   

“The law will not tolerate schools, other government entities, or employers implementing … programming in a way that treats individuals differently on the basis of race or that creates a hostile environment.” (Knudsen, pp. 18-19) 

In general, it is O.K. to teach about racism, discrimination, and other topics so long as no adverse or discriminatory actions are taken against any students as a part of the lesson, curricula, or learning activity. 

(All quotations are from Montana Attorney General’s Opinion 1, Vol. 58, Op. 1 May 27, 2021. This information should not be construed as legal advice.) 

The Bottom Line

Continue to teach history and IEFA. Continue to encourage respectful exchanges of ideas. Continue to treat all students fairly and with respect. If you want to talk further, I'm happy to do so.

 

Best of, High School

Every spring I send out a survey asking folks to tell me about the lesson they will make sure to do again next year, no matter what. And every fall I share your answers to that question. I've already posted the elementary and middle school teacher recommendations. Read on for high school inspiration (with comments from me in brackets):

Deb McLaughlin, Belgrade High School, wrote: "I did a WWI unit using the Montana and the Great War Story Maps. We did a class activity in which the student picked a primary source and explained it to the class. It really made the time period come alive. Then we investigated sedition using the UM Sedition Project website and they made a poster similar to what hangs in the Deer Lodge prison. Students were able to make connection to contemporary issues and were really engaged." [Resources that can be used to accompany the Story Maps can be found here, and include shorter (1-2 class periods) and longer (2-3 weeks) lesson plans as well as a scavenger hunt.  The shorter lesson plan was designed for middle school, but it is easily adaptable to high school.] 

Helena High School English teacher Jill Van Allstyne shared ideas and resources that were shared with her by Jeremy Red Eagle, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, who used to come as a guest speaker to her class. He "would show us the film Dakota 38 and help us understand it. ... This film is about a group of mostly South Dakota indigenous men who travel by horseback to Mankato, MN (in modern times) to honor their ancestors who were killed in the largest mass execution in U.S. history." "The film is available for free online. I will include some links here:

• Dakota 38 trailer and full movie
• Smooth Feather Youth
• "South Dakota artist selected for Minnesota arts program" 

Lynn Mason, Corvallis High School, 10th grade Geography and World History, wrote: "I incorporate IEFA all throughout the school year in each unit we do in Geography or World History (even Driver Education!) Sovereignty is one of my favorite topics whenever we learn about different types of government." [I'm always looking for good resources on sovereignty! If you've got favorites, please let me know.] 

Several people made anonymous suggestions: 

One teacher leads her students in a collaborative unit with English 10 that includes a novel study using Thin Wood Walls, as well as an investigation of Japanese Interment and Detention Camps, including Fort Missoula as part of her investigation of World War II.  

Another wrote: "Did not teach a lesson, but one at our school combines the art and English class based on the importance of Glacier National Park to the Salish and Kootenai tribes in a place based learning project." 

Do you have a lesson, resource, or strategy you love? It's not too late to share it! Email me and I'll share it out.  

P.S. We had to migrate our website to a new platform, which may have led to some broken links. We can usually fix bad links quickly if we know about them. Will you help us identify problems by emailing me any broken links you find? Pretty please?  

Resources to Meet the New Fourth Grade Social Studies Standards

Fourth Grade Curriculum 

We are close to finishing our fourth grade curriculum. Drafts of the curriculum, including chapters from the student textbook, have been published online and are available for download. While these are still subject to revision, they are all ready to teach and (mostly) classroom tested.

The student textbook, Montana: A History of Our Home, will go to print soon and should be available for purchase by January 2022.   

The curriculum is learner-centered, rather than textbook-centered, and focused on actively engaging students. Activities include games, analyzing primary sources, exploring points of view, graphing, and mapping. The lessons tap into multiple disciplines--art, ELA, and math--to engage students in analyzing history and constructing knowledge. 

Looking for Folks to Test a Few Final Lessons 

Before I print the teacher's guide, I need to test a few lessons. If you have an hour or two between now and October 15 to test a lesson on the 1972 Constitution, on What Governments Do, and on Tribal Sovereignty, please email me.   

We added these new lessons to help teachers to meet the new fourth-grade social studies civics standards: 

• SS.CG.4.3. Describe how rules, laws, and policies are implemented by local, state, national, and tribal governments;
• SS.CG.4.4. Define sovereignty for tribes in Montana; and
• SS.CG.4.5. Identify key foundational documents in Montana's government.

More on the Fourth Grade Standards 

The rest of the curriculum aligns extremely well with the geography and history standards, and, of course, with the Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians. 

I'm really excited about the new history standards, and with this curriculum, fourth grade students should be be able to meet every one: 

• SS.H.4.1. Understand tribes in Montana have their own unique histories (Units 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)
• SS.H.4.2. Identify events and policies that have impacted and been influenced by tribes in Montana (Units 2, 3, 4, 5)
• SS.H.4.3. Explain how Montana has changed over time given its cultural diversity and how this history impacts the present (Units 2-6); and 
• SS.H.4.4. Describe how historical accounts are impacted by individual perspectives (Units 3, 4, and 5)

The curriculum also aligns well with all of the new geography standards:

• SS.G.4.1. Examine maps and other representations to explain the movement of people (Unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
• SS.G.4.2. Identify and label the tribes in Montana and their indigenous territories, and current locations (Units 1, 2, and 5)
• SS.G.4.3. Investigate the physical, political, and cultural characteristics of places, regions, and people in Montana (Units 1, 3, 4, and 5)
• SS.G.4.4. Analyze environmental and technological events and conditions and how humans and the environment impact each other with relation to settlements and migration in Montana (Units 1, 3 and 4)

And the new fourth-grade economics standards:  

• SS.E.4.2 identify basic elements of Montana's state economic system; including agriculture, business, natural resources, and labor; and
• SS.E.4.3 identify various resources and labor that are used to provide goods and services in Montana.  

Since we're nothing if not interdisciplinary, most lessons also align with many of the ELA standards AND some even align with art and math lessons as well.  

I hope you find these resources useful, and of course, I'm always happy to talk with teachers about these or any other resources, the new standards, and anything else that's on your mind. 

 

Free Webinars: Contemporary Topics in Indian Country

One of the requests I received from my year-end survey was for more information on contemporary issues in Indian country. You asked, OPI delivered with a new webinar series: Advocacy Award Recipient Webinar Series: Contemporary Topics in Indian Country.

This series of six FREE webinars will feature a different Teresa Veltkamp Advocacy Award for Excellence in Indian Education recipient. Each session will cover current events and contemporary issues facing Montana tribes. Learn how to research primary documents for classroom use and how to respectfully integrate them into your instruction.

• Build background knowledge and explore practical classroom integration of IEFA and primary documents
• Engage in meaningful discussions
• Build community and share resources
• Earn renewal units (2 per session or 12 for all 6 sessions)
• Due to the theme being current topics, actual topics listed below may change to reflect another important contemporary issue for Montana Indians.

Webinars will be held on the third Wednesday of the month, September through March, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (There will be no webinar in December.)

#1 - September 15, 2021: Jacie Jeffers - Boarding Schools

#2 - October 20, 2021: Amy Williams - Creating Connection in Indian Country

#3 - November 17, 2021: Miranda Murray - Addressing Current (and possibly controversial) American Indian Topics in the Classroom

#4 - January 19, 2022: Calli Nicholson - Sovereignty

#5 - February 16, 2022: Bill Stockton - Tribal Documents (treaties, pacts, laws, data, and more)

#6 - March 16, 2022: Chris Pavlovich - Civic Action

After registration, you will receive the following communication:

• a confirmation letter
• a welcome letter with the Zoom link for the webinars
• reminder emails one week before the scheduled webinar and on the Monday prior to the webinar

NOTE: Registration, signing in to each webinar, and completion of a follow-up survey provided after each webinar is required to earn OPI renewal units. For registration or renewal unit questions, please contact Joan Franke, OPI Indian Education for All Unit Administrative Assistant, jfranke@mt.gov. Register here. 

P.S. Don't forget, MHS is also offering an online webinar series on the SECOND Wednesday of the month, from 4:00-5:00. First up, September 8: Introduction to MHS Resources. Register here. 

Best of, Middle School

At the end of each school year, I ask teachers to recommend their favorite lessons and resources. And at the beginning of each school year, I share them. ICYMI: Here are the responses from elementary teachers.  

And here are the lessons your middle school colleagues will make time to do again this year no matter what, plus additional comments/links from me in brackets.  

Mandy Ramesar, Polson Middle School 6th-8th Social Studies, wrote: "I taught aspects of the Montana during the Great War unit.  We focused on the Great War scavenger hunt online.  It was a great resource to introduce Montana's contributions during WWI.  We also created a Montana character during the Great War.  It was amazing to see how creative students were when creating a Montanan during this time.  

6th-8th grade art teacher April Valerie Jimenez from Browning recommends Ledger Art. [I don't know if this is what April uses, but here is a link to our ledger art lesson plans.]  

Abbey Kochel, 7th grade Montana history and geography teacher at Castle Rock Middle School in Billings, plans to incorporate more information about the Hmong refugees who moved to Billings this next year. She has long retold what she knew of the story of her childhood friend, whose family fled Laos in the early 1980s. After a harrowing journey, they arrived at a refugee camp in Thailand and then, sponsored by St. Luke's Church were able to move to Billings. Recently, her friend's brother wrote and self-published a sixty-eighth page book about the family's experience--Freedom Crossing: A Laotian Family's Daring Escape Across the Mekong River--which Abbey plans to use this year. [Montana Mosaic: Twentieth Century People and Events Chapter 5  features information about the Hmong in Missoula starting at 13:22. Find the video here, and the user guide here.]   

Steve Morris, 6th-8th, Roosevelt Middle School, Red Lodge, does a unit on "Montana's Mysterious 3-7-77 History."  

Anonymous: Teach about Indian reservations & tribes of Montana & boarding school dorms and cultural changes for Native Americans.  

Gary Carmichael, who teaches computer coding/programming at Whitefish Middle School Grades to Grades 7th and 8th, wrote: "I had students (Grade 8) code an interactive quiz using the information they learned in their Montana History class. 

Do you have a lesson, resource, or strategy you love? It's not too late to share it! Send it to me at mkohl@mt.gov and I'll share it out.  

P.S. We had to migrate our website to a new platform, which may have led to some broken links. We can usually fix bad links quickly if we know about them. Will you help us identify problems by emailing me any broken links you find? Pretty please?