National History Day Is Back!

 National History Day is back in Montana with more institutional support than ever before.

Many thanks to National History Day in Montana's new co-coordinators Dr. Hailey Hancock (Montana State University) and Dr. Melissa Hibbard (Montana Historical Society) for their tireless efforts to reintroduce the program. 

Long time readers know I'm a big fan of NHD, so I'm delighted to turn the rest of this post over to Melissa, who wrote up a quick primer on the program.

WHAT IS HISTORY DAY?

National History Day in Montana is a co-curricular academic program that fosters in-depth research and critical analysis skills for students in grades 6-12. In short, students choose topics that relate to an annual theme. This year’s theme is Turning Points in History. They research and share their findings in one of five presentation categories: 

• Research Paper: Traditional academic paper, complete with citations
• Exhibit: Museum-style exhibit using images, text, and supporting resources
• Documentary: 10-minute video combining images and analytical narration
• Performance: 10-minute live performance using actual or composite characters
• Website: Web-based collection of interactive pages

Students may choose to enter their projects into History Day competitions at school, regional, state, and national levels. Students compete in either the junior (grades 6-8) or senior (grades 9-12) division. (We have some funding available to support travel to the state competition in Bozeman.)

Projects are evaluated against three standards:

1. Historical quality
2. Relation to the theme
3. Clarity of presentation

All students must provide an annotated bibliography documenting their original research. 

WHY PARTICIPATE?

History Day helps teachers meet a variety of standards. The skills that your students learn will continue to benefit them long after they leave your classroom. 

Student Outcomes:

• Increased engagement with history
• Enhanced research skills
• Improved literacy

“I found that even though it was a competition, there was no pressure to be perfect, but it instead encouraged us to learn. . .My teacher often had us explain why one should care about our topic. I found this has influenced both my NHD projects and how I view history in general because she taught me to draw a conclusion from sources.”-History Day Student

"The opportunity for my daughter to participate in History Day was one of those experiences that I think she will some day in the future look back upon as a turning point. She’s always been interested in history, but this process introduced her to high-level research and analytic skills that she will carry with her in school and in life."-History Day Parent

HOW DO I “DO” HISTORY DAY?

History Day is most successful when incorporated into the school curriculum. See a sample timeline here. If you plan to have students compete, review the Contest Rule Book. 

NHD-MT is building a support system to assist classroom teachers in ways that include:

• A variety of in-person and online workshops (free renewal units!)
• Curricular offerings
• Online resources for students and teachers.

Remember, History Day is first and foremost an educational program. As a teacher, you get to decide what works best for your students. Competition is one facet of the program, but “doing” History Day does not obligate your students to compete.

HOW DO I LEARN MORE?

• Attend an upcoming PD session:
  • (Online) Tuesday, October 3, 2023, Introduction to National History Day & Humanities Montana Programs, 4:30-5:30 pm. Register Here. (1 Renewal Unit)
  • (Online) Monday, October 9, 2023, Introduction to National History Day in Montana, 4:00-5:00 pm. Register Here. (1 Renewal Unit)
  • (In-Person at MFPE) Thursday, October 19, Introduction to National History Day in Montana, 3:00-4:50 pm. Register for the 2023 MFPE Educator Conference here. (2 Renewal Units)
  • (In-Person at MFPE) Friday, October 20, Introduction to National History Day in Montana, 9:00-10:50 am. Register for the 2023 MFPE Educator Conference here. (2 Renewal Units)
  • (Online) Tuesday, November 7, 2023 Exploring NHD Topics, Theme & Research, 4:30-5:30 pm. Register Here. (1 Renewal Unit)

• Fill out an interest form to let us know who you are.
• Sign up to judge at either the regional or state competitions. (We have some funding available to support teachers who want to travel to Bozeman to judge.
• Check out our website.
• Email Hailey and Melissa and set up a time to chat: nationalhistorydaymt@gmail.com.

We’re excited to work with you and your students and are happy to help you get started!