More Podcasts, Thoughts on Core Themes, and a Free Resource

Some of our December posts garnered some good responses! Read on. 

More Podcasts

In response to the guest post by Whitehall High School teacher Merrick Parnell on using podcasts for high school social studies, Bozeman High School teacher Elaine Warn sent in a list of podcasts she loves: 

From the Washington Post:

• Presidential--an episode for each president
• Constitutional--an episode about various topics (less pointedly liberal than More Perfect)

Sounds like Hate from the Southern Poverty Law Center

Slow Burn from Slate (various seasons on interesting things like Watergate, Bill Clinton, David Duke, Tupac, and Rodney King)

Finding Fred, all about Mr. Rogers, seriously heartwarming, especially as an educator

Uncivil, looking at the Black perspective on the Civil War. There are some great episodes, such as one about women and their role in the war.

Give Me Liberty, The Making of American Exceptionalism, from The National Review

Floodlines, from The Atlantic about Hurricane Katrina

LBJ's War, from Public Radio International about Vietnam (great use of primary source phone transcripts in this one)

Unprecedented from NPR—similar to More Perfect and Constitutional, with a great look at some very important cases like Snyder v Phelps

Order 9066 from American Public Media about Japanese Internment

And Annie Hanshew of Helena suggested the first season of This Land from Crooked Media, which follows the United States Supreme Court case Sharp v. Murphy to discuss issues around Native sovereignty land rights. 

Core Themes

In response to "Tips from a Veteran High School Teacher," Red Lodge middle school teacher Steve Morris had this to say: "I sincerely enjoyed this post, thank you for sharing! Now in my third year of public school teaching, the 'core theme' concept has been one of my biggest learning points to date. This year I have been utilizing 'Questions are the Answer' which, of course, was sparked by my participation in the Right Question Institute workshop during the past summer. To complement this, I make sure that each unit I teach also focuses on this core question: How is this relatable to my life? Combined, these two themes ensure our studies utilize the newly adopted Social Studies Standards (Develop, Plan, Gather, Analyze, Communicate, Act) while reinforcing the wisdom of Frederick Douglass who opined that “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” Time and again, I find the usefulness to be the sweet spot—that “aha” moment in which learners see the value of our shared time." 

A Free Resource

Bruce Wendt, whose philosophy of teaching history I shared in "Tips from a Veteran High School Teacher," wrote in with another recommendation. When he taught dual credit American history, he used The American YAWP: A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook as his textbook. Published by the Stanford University Press, it is freely accessible online. I had never heard of this but it looks very exciting. Bruce says: "If you don’t know this text, it is fantastic with lots of links and visuals. Best of all, it is constantly updated and not 10 or 15 years old." He also reiterated that although he had students read the textbook, "class discussions/activities were based on issues, not the pages in the book."

What was Christmas like in Montana Territory?

Among his many other projects, the long-time, and much-missed, MHS historian Dave Walter compiled Christmastime in Montana, a collection of stories of Christmases past, mostly from the newspapers.*  For your reading pleasure, I've copied a few excerpts below. Happy holidays to all! 

William Thompson's First Montana Christmas, 1863

My first Christmas in Montana was spent at Virginia City in 1863...A friend had sent us a piece of cinnamon-bear meat, and this my partner put into the oven and roasted. We had lots of flour, because we brought a supply with us; but vegetables were not to be had. I knew where there were some frozen onions behind a store...I put them in a big iron pot and boiled them until we thought they must certainly be cooked.  

The dinner was served. It consisted of bear meat, onions, salt-rising bread, cake, coffee, and sugar. Tom Clanton had been over at a saloon trying to win a gallon of whiskey for the feast, and his partner, Nunley, spent the forenoon rustling for the cake. He was acquanted with a family who gave him the privilege of their cookstove in which to bake a cake.  

We sat down to the Christmas spread. Joe cut the bear and I dished up the onions; Nunley cut the cake and Clanton poured the booze. I scraped the onions on my plate to one side and settled down to enjoy the bear meat, which smelled so good while it was being cooked. Golly, but it was rank, tough, and stringy. I couldn't go it; I never could go whiskey; Nunley's cake was simply unapproachable. I filled up on coffee and bread. 

--Published in the Anaconda Standard, December 17, 1899

 

Christmas in Bozeman, 1867

On the eventful Christmas Eve, all the Masons and all those who love the Masons met at the large and spacious Hall, 26 by 60, newly built in this place, for the purpose of having a grand entertainment in the way of dancing. Our company was honored by many friends from the West Gallatin, by our excellent Captain's lady from Fort Ellis, and by the fort's many gentlemanly officers--besides many of our fair and brilliant faces who inhabit the homely dwellings of stirring, enterprising Bozeman. 

Who in the East shall henceforth say there is no society, no civilization here? To us, no rooms were ever decorated more gorgeously. Chandeliers never shone more brilliantly; hearts never beat more joyfully; music never thrilled more sweetly; refreshments never refreshed more refreshingly...

--Published in the Virginia City Montana Post, January 4, 1868

 

Christmas in Helena, 1868

The celebration of Christmas commenced here on Christmas Eve. ... The liquor, billiard, gambling, and concert saloons and hurdy-gurdy houses were filled, and they remained so for two days. At some point, nearly every saloon had its own peculiar row. Any looker-on, bearing in mind the danger from stray shots, would make up his mind ... that they "had a little hell of their own, and devlis enough to tend to it." 

Main Street was the broad aisle through with the devotees of pleasure marched to do their idol homage. As they did so, their barbaric yells resounded throughout the town....

On Christmas night the orgies reached their height, but we can give no detailed description of them, for most of the participants had become so drunk as to cease to be amusing."

--Published in the Helena Weekly Herald, January 2, 1868

 

*Finding stories about Christmas (or any other holiday) is much easier now than when Dave wrote this book because of MHS's newspaper digitization project. 

Save the Dates

 

Enough folks want us to continue our monthly online PDs that we're scheduling three more this spring, but we're moving them to the THIRD Wednesdays of the month from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.   January 19, 2022: Indian Education for All Join Indian Education Specialist Mike Jetty to learn more about resources to integrate IEFA into your classrooms--and bring your own favorite resources to share. Register here before January 18 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.   February 16, 2022: Teaching with Primary Sources Why do you use primary sources? What are your favorite ways to integrate them in your classroom? Do you have favorite sources? Come share your ideas and learn from your colleagues. Register here before February 15 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.   March 16, 2022: Teaching Social Studies Skills Social studies education includes both content and skills. The new standards focus on teaching such skills as developing questions, planning inquiries, comparing, evaluating and using sources, communicating conclusions, and taking informed action. Come with your questions and your best ideas for teaching those skills. Register here before March 15 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.

Tips from a Veteran High School Teacher

 I saw long-time, but now retired, Billings high school teacher Bruce Wendt at the MFPE conference in Great Falls, but I wasn't able to attend his presentation. Knowing I had missed a valuable session, I emailed him, and he emailed back with some of the thoughts he presented. They are too good to keep to myself, so I wanted to share them with you as well. 

In his session, Bruce related his "philosophy of how to teach history."

"I suggest teachers have a core theme (central question) around which teachers build their courses. Rather than following the chapters of a text or worrying about meeting standard x, decide your goals.  

For years, I used a paraphrase of Crevecoeur’s 'What is an American?' All of my assignments and discussion would hang from that question. Not that I said that every day or even on a regular basis, but it that became in a sense my final at the end of the year."   

"My second essay question for years was 'What is the American Revolution?' (Bruce means this broadly, suggesting that there was more than one, seeing the Civil War as a second and the New Deal as a third revolution.)  

Shaping your class around big questions, and having students answer those questions using evidence from their readings, solves the problem of students simply googling answers to questions by "asking questions that a Google search does not answer directly."

 It's harder--at least at first--to teach this way than to follow a textbook, but to my mind, there are any number of benefits. Your class will be much more interesting. Students will come out of your class understanding that history is more than "one damn thing after another." And finally, they'll have gained a lot of practice thinking deeply, making evidence based claims, and "constructing meaning."

 To my mind, it doesn't get much better than that. 

Do you use a single core question over the course of a semester? Unit-based core (or essential) questions? Do have a philosophy for teaching history? I'd love to hear about it.   

 

Podcasts for high school social studies

 When Whitehall high school social studies teacher Merrick Parnell offered to write a guest post on podcasts, I leapt at the chance. So--with no further ado, I'll turn it over to Merrick!

I love to use podcasts to supplement the content in my social studies classes. It creatively presents the information and allows students to create their own mental pictures. I will also have students create a visual depiction of the podcast by drawing a picture that represents what’s being said or having them take notes.

Here are a few of the podcasts I like to use:

History

• Stuff You Missed in History Class: The podcasts do a good job of covering both World and US History topics.
• Richest Hill: This is a great podcast about Butte’s mining history and its impact on the current Superfund Site. The podcast also has a great episode on Frank Little that I like to use when teaching about Labor History.

Government

• More Perfect: This is a great podcast that goes into the constitution and the supreme court of the US and covers different decisions. 

Current Events

• Up First: This is a great podcast that covers current events in the US and World. 
• National Native News: Native American current events and news 
• Montana News: MTPR’s daily news headlines

Economics

• NPR’s Planet Money: This podcast is great to teach economics in a current event setting. The podcast takes a different economic event and applies it to the world. 

It's Martha, back again. Do you use podcasts too? Do you have any favorites to add, or other activities to do with them? Let me know and I'll share.

Taking Informed Action

Way back in September, I said I was going to write periodic posts on the new standards. Thus far, it's been very periodic, with a post on developing questions (SS.K12.1) and one on resources to meet the new fourth-grade standards. (The short version, use our curriculum--now available online and soon available for purchase--to meet all but three of the standards.) So I figure it's time for another installment. 

The standard I've gotten the most questions about is "Take Informed Action" (SS.K12.6). When I first saw this standard, my thoughts immediately turned to political action: learning about a current issue of concern and then writing a letter to a political leader or the local paper, or otherwise engaging in lobbying. There's nothing wrong with encouraging students to use their voices politically (as long as you don't tell them which side of an issue to choose!) But taking informed action is so much more than politics. 

First, of course, is the adjective informed. Students must study a topic thoroughly before taking any action. The action part can take many forms. If you study hunger in your community, doing a food drive can be informed action. If you study pollution, picking up trash or recycling can be informed action. Many schools already do these things--or have students participate in other service projects. The trick is to make sure students are not just taking actions, but that they are taking informed actions.  

Here are some examples from the National Council for Social Studies article
Taking Informed Action to Engage Students in Civic Life: 

• After studying the impacts of a snowstorm on their community, students "created a paid snow-shoveling service."
• After learning about child labor, students raised money for "a school in Pakistan in honor of an anti-child-labor activist who was killed at 12 years old."

Closer to home, I remember a Plentywood teacher telling me that her students used their GPS skills to help map the community's fire hydrants (something the fire department wanted done). In Wibaux, students research people buried in their historic cemetery. With a greater appreciation for the role of the cemetery in their community and the importance of preserving community history, they participate in a cemetery clean up day. 

Sharing what you've learned to an authentic audience is also a form of informed action. For example,

• Third grade students in Helena used to (and maybe still) study the city's history and then take an adult in their life on a tour of the town's historical sites. (The adult completed a tour guide evaluation form and students were awarded "historic tour guide" badges for their efforts.)
• Many teachers have upper elementary students teach something they've learned to younger students. 
• In Corvallis, high school students created Then and Now history exhibits that were displayed in local businesses.
• In Townsend, high school students studied and interviewed veterans and produced a Veterans Day celebration.
• In Billings, high school students collaborated with the Western Heritage Center to create a museum exhibit.

I really like the way Craig Perrier wrote about taking informed action for C-3 Teachers. He asserts that informed action can include bringing student work into the public sphere, bringing viewers into the classroom, or even be "an individual growth opportunity or personal experience." My very favorite part of his post is the infographic he created toward the bottom of the post, that list a variety of verbs: "inform/explain; persuade/entertain; celebrate/memorialize..." 

Long before I ever heard about the C-3 and the standard "take informed action," I was a huge advocate of asking students to make genuine contributions while learning about history by participating in crowd-sourcing projects like History Unfolded: U.S. Newspapers and the Holocaust.  That's informed action, too. 

My action (writing this piece) was heavily informed by C-3 Teachers, the Montana Heritage Project, and--to paraphrase PBS--teachers like you. What concerns or excites you about this standard? How have you worked with your students to "take informed action"? Do you interpret this standard differently than I do? Send me a note and I'll share it out. 

  

More Online PD

Don't forget--Project director Jennifer Birnel is offering a tour of the Montana Memory Project at our PD on Wednesday, December 8, at 4:00 p.m. Register here by December 7 to receive the Zoom link.

Looking for more online PD?  The Indian Education Division of Montana Office of Public Instruction has made a series of webinars available for teachers to watch at their own pace.

Earn up to 24 renewal units for watching both the Unpacking the Essential Understandings Webinar and the Essential Understandings Deeper Dive Workshops, and learn more about the Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians and how to implement them throughout your curriculum in any educational setting: K-12, pre-service teaching, informal education, after school programming, etc.

Each webinar/workshop is a 90-minute recording you can watch when it suits you and your schedule. To earn renewal units, you will need to compete a short survey after watching each recorded episode. You will also gain access to the extensive resource folder that supports the materials referenced in both the Unpacking and Deeper Dive recordings.

Over 100 educators have viewed the recordings, and their feedback indicates these 90-minute webinars/workshops are valuable, interesting, and immediately applicable to all teaching scenarios. 

Note: participants are only eligible to receive 2 renewal units per webinar/workshop, so if you attended the live sessions or watched the recordings previously, you will not be eligible to earn additional renewal units.

Series Two – Unpacking the Essential Understandings Playlist

Series Two – Unpacking the Essential Understandings Renewal Unit Feedback Survey

Essential Understandings Deeper Dive Playlist

Essential Understandings Deeper Dive Renewal Unit Feedback Survey

 

Discover the Montana Memory Project

join Jennifer Birnel, head of the Montana Memory Project on December 8 from 4 p.m.-5 p.m. to tour of the Montana Memory Project's new platform and learn searching tips. 

Register here before December 7 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting. 

Participants are eligible for one OPI Renewal Unit.