Dreaming about Summer?

 NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for K-12 educators and higher education faculty to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends of $1,300-$3,450 for residential programs and $650-$1,725 for virtual programs help cover expenses for these one- to four-week programs. The application period for all programs closes on March 3, 2023.

From everyone I've talked to, these programs are amazingly exciting and invigorating. They are also competitive, so you'll want to give yourself time to pull together a good application. Most programs reserve a few spots for early career educators. They also look for geographic diversity, which gives Montanans an advantage when applying to programs outside our region. 

You can see the full list of opportunities here, but these are a few that caught my eye:  

Buffalo Nations: History and Revitalization of the American Bison
Location: Yellowstone National Park, near Gardiner, MT
Dates: August 2-8, 2023; August 9-15, 2023 (1 week)

Diverse Historical and Cultural Perspectives in Native American and African American Art
Location: Toledo, OH
Dates: June 19-23, 2023 (1 week)

Centering Youth Agency in the Civil Rights Movement
Location: Clinton, TN and Online
Dates: June 26-30, 2023 (residential phase); July 10-14, 2023 (virtual phase) (2 weeks)

Rethreading the Needle of the Native American History Narrative
Location: Boston, MA
Dates: July 16-28, 2023 (two weeks)

Slavery in the Colonial North
Location: Online
Dates: July 16-22, 2023 (1 week)

“We the people”: Migrant Waves in the Making of America
Location: Tucson, AZ
Dates: July 10-21, 2023 (2 weeks)

 

P.S. Don't forget to sign up to join Dylan Huisken via Zoom on January 9, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. for a discussion about Place Based Learning/Local Studies. Register here.

2023 Online Sharing Sessions/PDs

Join fellow educators for discussions about resources and strategies for teaching social studies, especially Montana history and Indian Education for All. Sessions will be held the second Monday of the month from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. via Zoom.  Attendees may earn one OPI renewal unit. Register through the links below.

January 9: Place Based Learning/Local Studies, led by 2019 Montana Teacher of the Year Dylan Huisken

If we want our students to grow up to be good citizens, we must first teach them how to be good neighbors. This requires perspective and student-led research into their local history.  Place-based education helps students create relevant and tangible background knowledge by looking for history in their own family, backyard, and community. This session will provide ready-to-apply tips on implementing placed-based education with local history! Register here.

February 13: Instructional Strategies You'll Love, led by Teacher Leader in Montana History Jennifer Graham

Join other inspired social studies teachers to discover new ways to increase student engagement and curiosity, including Collaborative Instructional Strategies (CIS). Implementing CIS in the classroom can support your classroom community, SEL skills and bring a level of engagement into classrooms that will keep students coming back for more! Bring your best strategies to share and leave with ready-to-apply techniques that you can immediately put into practice to enliven your social studies classroom. Register here.

March 13: Integrating Montana History across Disciplines, led by Teacher Leader in Montana History Cynthia Wilondek

History supports, strengthens, and enhances the study of all subject areas. Please join us this March for a practical and applicable discussion on how you can integrate Montana history into your subject area. All grade levels are welcome. Register here. 

Two Grant Opportunities from Montana Environmental Education Association

 I wanted to let you know about two grant opportunities from MEEA (Montana Environmental Education Association) that can help Montana teachers and educators get their students outside. The deadlines for these grants are quickly approaching:

The first is the OOK (Open Outdoors for Kids) grant. MEEA partners with the National Parks Foundation and the Montana State Parks Foundation to administer this program which offers $300 travel grants to help teachers get their students out on state and federal public lands. The deadline for this grant is January 6. Find more information and the application here.

The second is MEEA’s mini grants. These $500 grants can be awarded to Montana schools, homeschools, tribal entities, nonprofit organizations and tax-exempt government agencies. These funds can be used for a variety of projects like creating a student-run wildlife habitat or funding a visit to a local state park. The deadline for this grant is December 31^st. Find more information and apply here. 

Both of these grants would pair nicely with a place-based/local studies project. Learn more about how to plan and execute such a project by joining  2019 Montana Teacher of the Year Dylan Huisken for our first online sharing session of 2023: January 9, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Register here.

Applications are open for NEH Landmark Programs

NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for K-12 educators and higher education faculty to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends of $1,300-$3,450 for residential programs and $650-$1,725 for virtual programs help cover expenses for these one- to four-week programs. The application period for all programs closes on March 3, 2023.

From everyone I've talked to, these programs are amazingly exciting and invigorating. They are also competitive, so you'll want to give yourself time to pull together a good application. Most programs reserve a few spots for early career educators. They also look for geographic diversity, which gives Montanans an advantage when applying to programs outside our region. 

You can see the full list of opportunities here, but these are a few that caught my eye:  

Buffalo Nations: History and Revitalization of the American Bison
Location: Yellowstone National Park, near Gardiner, MT
Dates: August 2-8, 2023; August 9-15, 2023 (1 week)

Diverse Historical and Cultural Perspectives in Native American and African American Art
Location: Toledo, OH
Dates: June 19-23, 2023 (1 week)

Centering Youth Agency in the Civil Rights Movement
Location: Clinton, TN and Online
Dates: June 26-30, 2023 (residential phase); July 10-14, 2023 (virtual phase) (2 weeks)

Rethreading the Needle of the Native American History Narrative
Location: Boston, MA
Dates: July 16-28, 2023 (two weeks)

Slavery in the Colonial North
Location: Online
Dates: July 16-22, 2023 (1 week)

“We the people”: Migrant Waves in the Making of America
Location: Tucson, AZ
Dates: July 10-21, 2023 (2 weeks)

 

Glenn Wiebe's Hacks for Teaching with Primary Sources

A few weeks ago, I wrote about where to find primary sources relating to Montana history and provided a few ideas about how to incorporate them into your classrooms. 

In that post, I *should* have included a link to this post by my favorite social studies education blogger, Glenn Wiebe. But I forgot to--so now it gets its very own feature.

You'll want to scroll past the part where he talks about Kansas's state standards to the very first bit of bold. That's where the good stuff is. To encourage you to read his entire blog, I'll list the hacks here--but you'll need to go visit Glenn's site to get the whys, hows, and what fors as well as specific strategies and suggestions to get you started.

Hack one: Start with a clear end in mind.

Hack Two: Create a hook, generate some intrigue, ask for predictions, develop a cliffhanger.

Hack Three: Use interesting and provocative primary sources. 

Hack Four: Tamper with history just a little bit. As in . . . modify the sources (especially the textual ones) to make them more accessible for your students.

Hack Five: Turn your kids loose with your compelling question that aligns to your hook activity.

Glenn's got examples. He's got activity suggestions. If you want to improve your use of primary sources, hop over to his blog and read this post.