Join us in Great Falls for the 51st Montana History Conference

 

Save the Date!

The 51th Annual Montana History Conference, "Central To History: Exploring Great Falls and Beyond," will be held September 26-28, 2024, at the Heritage Inn in Great Falls.

Keynote speakers will include Montana poet Laureate Chris LaTray, cowboy poet Randy Rieman, Indigenous foodways and cooking expert Mariah Gladstone, and Malmstrom Air Force Base historian Troy Halsell.

Renewal units will be available for both the Thursday educator workshop and all conference sessions and tours. (Check here after July 1 for more details.) We hope you’ll consider attending!

As in past years, we will be offering travel scholarships for both teachers and college students.

About the scholarships

Funded by the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, the scholarships will consist of full conference registration plus up to $400 in travel/expense reimbursement. All teachers and students in Montana’s colleges and universities are eligible to apply (residents of Great Falls and vicinity are eligible for the conference registration scholarship but not the travel reimbursement). We will also be offering scholarships to cover the $30 registration fee for teachers who only wish to attend the Thursday workshop.

Teacher recipients of the full scholarship must attend the entire conference, including Thursday’s Educators Workshop and the Saturday sessions. Student recipients must commit to attending all day Friday and Saturday, including a Saturday tour. Preference will be given to

• Great Falls area teachers
• Teachers and students from Montana tribal colleges
• Teachers from Montana's on-reservation schools
• Students from Montana community colleges and four-year universities
• Teachers from Montana rural, under-served communities.  

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. June 9, 2024. Awards will be announced on Friday, June 28, 2024. Applying for a scholarship is quick and easy. Apply online.

P.S. We've got workshops coming up in June as well in Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula. Find more information and links to register.

Teaching with Cemeteries/Upcoming Professional Development

 I love cemeteries! And they make great classrooms. That's why I was excited to learn about the Butte Cemetery Symbolism Masterclass hosted by the Foundation for Montana History on Saturday, May 18. The Foundation is offering 5 OPI credits for this training, which will focus on the history of ethnic and fraternal groups in Montana’s mining towns as evidenced in local cemeteries. Attendees will learn about cemetery symbols, the history of fraternal societies in mining communities, and Chinese burial practices before touring Butte's Mount Moriah Cemetery, observing the Chinese tomb sweeping ceremony conducted by the Mai Wah Museum, and engaging in a hands-on training exercise identifying cemetery symbols.  Lunch is included and the cost is $65 for the full day of training (9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.). Register here.

Do you live too far from Butte to make it to this class?

• Longtime readers may remember me sharing information about Wibaux middle school teacher Laura Dukart's cemetery project, "In Memoriam. A Study of Our Local Cemetery." (Here's a presentation she created for teachers interested in creating a similar project in their own communities.)
• Mark Johnson has been researching Chinese cemeteries across Montana, working to translate headstones and locate the villages in China from whence those commemorated on the stones came. 

P.S. Don't forget! MTHS is sponsoring three workshops in June: "Reading to Learn and Learning to Read in the Social Studies Classroom," (Missoula, June 14, and Helena June 21) and "Crossing Disciplines with Montana: A History of Our Home" (Great Falls, June 26). Participating teachers will earn 6 OPI Renewal Units. Some travel scholarships are available. Learn more and find links to register. 

Art and Primary Sources

 Retired Billings elementary school librarian Ruth Ferris recently shared this website from the University of the Arts on teaching with primary sources.

The TPS-UArts downloadable Teacher Resource Guides cover a range of arts-based topics and historical contexts. The guides are designed to help K-12 teachers incorporate arts-based primary resources into dynamic, cross-curricular classroom experiences. Each guide includes hands-on classroom projects, discussion prompts, and examples of ways to use the guides with Common Core Standards and National Core Arts Standards.

I was particularly intrigued by 

• The Power of the Poster: Connecting WPA Posters from the Library of Congress to Local Collections, 
• Igniting Inquiry: Using Compelling Arts-based Primary Sources to Inspire Student Writing Across Disciplines,
• Amplifying Our Voices Through Music, and
• The City as a Primary Source: Connecting Historical Primary Sources and the City (even though the city they focus on is Philadelphia, I think the projects are interesting.)

Do you have a great lesson plan/resource you think is worth sharing? Send it my way! 

P.S. For art as a primary-source lessons closer to home, check out the Montana Historical Society's Integrating Art and History Lesson Plans. 

 

Student Art Exhibit

Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on June 19, 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people learned they had been set free under the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. Montana became the forty-sixth state to recognize the holiday when it named the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth National Freedom Day. 

In honor of the holiday, the Montana Historical Society and Holter Museum of Art invite students in all grade levels from across Montana to participate in a statewide call for art to exhibit at the Holter Museum in Helena. Submissions are due by May 15.

The theme of the exhibition is “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

The art will be displayed at the Holter from June 17 to 23 and there will be an opening reception for viewing the community exhibit on Friday, June 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. The Holter will also be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on June 21 with free admission for all, and community members will be able to create art on site to add to the exhibit. Other Juneteenth programming will be happening in downtown Helena from June 19 to 21.

Students should use the quote “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” by American civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer as the inspiration for their art. Submissions must be drawn or painted on 9 x 12 in. drawing paper, and the artists name, grade, teacher, and school should be written on the back.

Submissions should indicate the teacher’s name on the front of the envelope and be mailed to:

Holter Museum of Art

Re: Juneteenth Call for Art

12 E Lawrence St

Helena, MT 59601

Submissions will not be mailed back after the exhibit, but if students would like to keep their art it can be picked up in person from the Holter between June 23 and July 1.

 

IEFA Links

Although we'll only be able to see a partial eclipse in Montana, it's still pretty cool! And just in time for the eclipse, the Montana Office of Public Instruction's Indian Education Division pulled together this page of lessons and other resources relating to astronomy.  

On a more sober note, between April 9 and May 24, the Western Heritage Center (WHC) will be hosting a traveling exhibit from the Heard Museum, "Away from Home: Stories from Indian Boarding Schools."  

• Learn more about the exhibit and find related curriculum.
• Learn about the contest WHC is hosting for 4-12 grade students in Yellowstone and Big Horn Counties. The contest’s theme, “Assimilation through Education,” invites students to discuss the history and impacts of American Indian Boarding Schools.
• Arrange to view the exhibit (admission is free for both self-guided and group tours.)

 

June daylong workshops in Helena, Missoula, and Great Falls

We're excited to offer three six-hour professional development sessions this summer, one each in Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula.

Reading to Learn and Learning to Read in the Social Studies Classroom

June 14, 2024, Fort Missoula (10 Fort Missoula Rd), Missoula. Cosponsored by The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Register here.

June 21, 2024, Montana Wild (2668 Broadwater Ave), Helena. Register here.

Designed for all K-12 teachers, this 6-hour workshop (9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.) will provide dozens of practical strategies to support readers of all ages and ability levels in engaging with social studies content. Tammy will demonstrate strategies through the lens of Montana, Tribal and US history. She will include unique methods to support students' use of textbooks and complex primary sources and build essential background knowledge through disciplinary literacy. Discover how reading to learn and learning to read are reciprocal and co-occurring processes. 

Appropriate for teachers grades 2-12. Participants will earn 6 OPI Renewal Credits. Participation is free and lunch is provided. A limited number of travel scholarships are available.

About the Presenter: Dr. Tammy Elser directs Literacy, Equity, and Excellence, a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction option at Salish Kootenai College for in-service educators and teaches preservice educators literacy methods. The author of The Framework: A Practical Guide for Montana Teachers and Administrators Implementing Indian Education for All, and a dozen integrated Indian Education and college- and career-ready aligned curricula, Tammy focuses on practical strategies supporting current and future teachers to achieve both equity and excellence for all students. 

Crossing Disciplines with Montana: A History of Our Home

June 26, 2024, Aspen Room at Great Falls School District Office (1100 4^th St S), Great Falls, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Register here. 

Interested in engaging your elementary students in active learning while helping them understand the world around them? Looking for ways to integrate ELA, IEFA, math, art, and social studies so you can cover multiple standards with a single lesson? The new fourth through sixth grade curriculum, Montana: A History of Our Home, was created with you in mind!

Montana: A History of Our Home has closely aligned its lesson plans to the ELA standards. See how you can teach writing, close reading, fluency, and other ELA skills while teaching Montana history and IEFA. The curriculum also includes math practice and art lessons as well! 

Attend this 6-hour training to explore skill-based, hands-on lesson plans designed to teach geography while teaching Montana history.

Appropriate for teachers grades 4-6. Participants will earn 6 OPI Renewal Credits.

About the Presenters: Hali Richmond teaches a combined third and fourth grade class in Sunburst Montana. Jodi Majerus Delaney teaches a combined Montessori fourth and fifth grade class in Helena. Both Jodi and Hali are MTHS Teacher Leader  in History Fellows and both have been named Centennial Bell Montana History of the Year, Jodi in 2017 and Hali in 2023.

Montana History Portal's Meme Contest

The Montana History Portal's annual meme contest will kick off May 1, and entries will be accepted until May 15. Entering is easy. Just pick (or have your students pick) a photo from the Montana History Portal, convert it to a funny meme, and send it in. That's all it takes. The contest is especially popular with kids ages 10-18 and is a great way to get them searching through history materials in a fun manner. Once all entries are submitted and the contest is closed, MHP will have an online voting period to select winners.

They have a full list of the rules here, and you can check out last year's entries and winners here. We hope to see your amusing meme in May!

Consider Presenting at MFPE

The 2024 MFPE Educator Conference will be held in Bozeman, October 17-18 and the Montana Council for Social Studies is looking for presenters! (I bet other curriculum groups are looking for presenters as well.)

The deadline to submit an application to present at the is APRIL 30! 

Will you help make the social studies strands as strong as they can possibly be by sharing your strategies, knowledge or best lessons? Click here to submit your proposal.

Interactive Lectures

 This month, we're recruiting a new cohort of high school teachers to join our Teacher Leaders in History program. This has had me thinking about best practices for teaching high school history and reminded me of a series of posts I read some years ago on Glenn Wiebe's amazing History Tech blog on interactive lecturing.

As you probably know even better than I, students often tune out during lectures. At the same time, lectures can be an incredibly efficient way to deliver content knowledge to students. What to do?

1. Consider "micro-lectures." Focus on a particular concept or skill to provide an overview or discuss complex cause and effect.

2. Consider the 10-2 strategy, which, according to Glenn, "has the instructor taking ten minutes for 'didactic' lecturing on specific facts and then providing two minutes for ... 'buzz sessions' – small group and whole-class discussions around a question or problem. You may have heard this as the Chunk and Chew strategy." 

See more from Glenn on lecturing in this three-part series on interactive lecturing.

P.S. If you teach social studies in high school and want to help improve social studies education statewide, consider applying to join our Teacher Leaders in History Program. Application deadline is April 7. 

Women's History Lesson Plans

 Longtime readers know I'm ambivalent about designated months--Black History Month, Native American Heritage Month, Women's History Month--because I believe that we should incorporate these histories into our classrooms EVERY month. At the same time, it's not bad to use the opportunity of a designated month to reflect on how we're doing integrating everyone's history and shining a spotlight where we've come up short.

This is all to say that it wasn't until March was almost over that I realized it was Women's History Month, but I still think it's worthwhile sharing some of my favorite women's history lesson plans with you!

• Looking for a short (max two-class period) lesson to get students thinking about how career opportunities have changed over time? Designed for grades 4-12, Montana Women at Work: Clothesline Timeline Lesson Plan is a primary-source based lesson that asks students to analyze historic photographs to draw conclusions about women and work from the 1870s through the 2010s. Students will discover that Montana women have always worked, but that discrimination, cultural expectations, and changing technology have influenced the types of work women undertook.
• Want to help your upper elementary and middle school students understand that the laws Congress or the state legislature pass affect their lives? Women and Sports: Tracking Change Over Time introduces students to Title IX (a federal civil rights law enacted in 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in education) and asks them to collect and analyze data to see how this law changed girls’ opportunities to participate in school sports.
• Want to share a Montana connection to the national suffrage movement with your American history students? Hazel Hunkins, Billings Suffragist: A Primary Source Investigation asks students to become historians as they analyze photos, letters, newspaper articles, and other sources to learn more about the suffrage movement as experienced by Billings, Montana, native and National Woman's Party activist Hazel Hunkins. 
• Want to introduce your high school students to some remarkable American Indian women while encouraging them to think about how ordinary people's lives intersect with larger historical events? Part I of Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things! Connecting Biography to Larger Social Themes asks students to analyze two essays on American Indian women from the Montana Women’s History website. Part II of the lesson asks students to interview someone in their own community to learn about how that person has chosen to shape the world around him or her.
• Do you teach high school Montana government? Montana Women's Legal History Lesson Plan is a 1-2 period activity that asks students to examine sample Montana legislation from 1871 to 1991 that particularly affected women's lives to explore the impact laws have on the lives of ordinary people and why laws change.

You can find links to all of our women's history lessons and resources here and if you are on Facebook, consider following the Montana Women's History Facebook page for stories about Montana women all year round. 

 

IEFA: Training and Resources

 I had a great time at the Indian Education for All Best Practices workshop in Billings a few weeks ago, seeing old friends and making new ones and learning about cool resources and opportunities. Back in the early 2000s, I often heard teachers say "I want to teach IEFA but I don't have the resources (or knowledge)." I don't hear that much anymore. And good thing, because there are so many incredible resources and learning opportunities available.

Two Summer PDs

Dr. Anna East has put together a remote, asynchronous course, June 8-28, with six required one-hour meetings via Zoom with an all-star list of speakers: Native American Studies for Teachers. Participants can earn 3 UM graduate credits or 45 OPI renewal units. Cost is on a sliding scale ($25-$275 with an extra $155 to UM for folks wanting graduate credits. 

• Learn more about the course
• View Syllabus
• Register

The Olga Lengyel Institute (TOLI) is once again offering Worlds Apart But Not Strangers: Holocaust Education and Indian Education for All. Designed for middle and high school teachers, the seminar, which will held in Billings from July 22-27, 2024, will explore connections between Indian Education for All and Holocaust Education, examine the impact of government policies (both in Germany and the U.S.), and explore stereotypes and biases that influence interactions in local schools and communities today. Participation is free, including books, materials, lunches, and one dinner. OPI renewal units will be offered; participants can also earn 3 MSU-B graduate credits for $135. Low-cost on-campus housing is available.   

• View the Flier
• View the website
• Apply

Lesson Plans

OPI has created a new high school lesson plan, Ako Mic Mi (Feathers) – Blackfoot Mapmaker 1801. Created in 1801, the map describes a landscape of over 200,000 square miles, from Oregon to North Dakota and Alberta to central Montana. According to Dr. Shane Doyle, "the map identifies the major tributaries of the Missouri River, from the Milk River in the north and the Bighorn River in the south, and includes the location of prominent island mountain ranges..." It also notes "the estimated number of nights to travel between each river." A version of the map made its way into the hands of Lewis and Clark, who referred to it on their journey.

Billings School District has a phenomenal IEFA program and websites with lesson plans and recommended book lists, many of which are accessible to folks outside the district. Check out their high school IEFA math lessons, other high school lessons, and their middle school lessons. I also really like their recommended book lists. Here's the one for middle school and here's the one for high school (scroll down). 

Speaking of reading lists, there were lots of great recommendations made during our most recent PD, Literature and Social Studies, most of which were IEFA-related. I pulled together this list of links for attendees, but thought some of you might also find it useful, so I'm sharing it here, rough as it is.    

 

Student Contest Opportunity

 America’s Field Trip is a new contest that invites students across the country in grades 3–12 to be part of America’s 250th anniversary by sharing their perspectives on what America means to them and earning the opportunity to participate in unforgettable field trip experiences at some of the nation’s most iconic historic and cultural landmarks. Students may submit artwork, videos, or essays in response to the contest’s prompt: “What does America mean to you?” Students can apply here.  The Contest begins at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) on March 4, 2024 and ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on May 17, 2024.

Awards:

Twenty-five first-place awardees from each grade level category will receive free travel and lodging for a 3-day, 2-night trip to a select historical or cultural site where they will experience one of the following:

• Tour of the Statue of Liberty in New York
• Tour and hike at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana
• Weekend at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado
• Unique tours at the National Archives or the Library of Congress in Washington, DC
• Special tours at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, National Museum of African American History and Culture, or the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC
• Explore America’s iconic financial capital, New York City, with private tours of Federal Reserve Bank of New York Museum and Learning Center and The Bank of New York Mellon, the country’s oldest bank
• Experience National Parks of Boston with a special visit to the USS Constitution and a sunset cruise to Spectacle Island
• Candlelight tour at Fort Point at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge
• Costumed roleplaying experience at American Village in Alabama

Second-place awardees will receive a $500 cash award. The teacher associated with the top scoring student submissions in each grade level category will receive a $1,000 cash award.

Submission Guidelines and Official Rules

• Elementary School (3rd to 5th Grade): Students may submit artwork, including physical or digital artwork through a high-res photo or a short essay (up to 100 words).
• Middle School (6th to 8th Grade): Students may submit artwork or a video (up to two minutes).
• High School (9th to 12th Grade): Students may submit an essay (up to 1,000 words) or a video (up to two minutes).

Judging Criteria

A diverse panel of judges consisting of current and former teachers will consider the submissions based on the following weighted criteria:

• CLARITY OF IDEA [25%]: How well does the Entrant use both their personal and academic experiences to clearly address the Question? Does the Entry effectively convey ideas, emotion, or a story visually or with words by acknowledging the past or celebrating America’s achievements and possibilities for the future? Does the response offer fresh insight and innovative thinking?
• STUDENT VOICE [50%]: Is there passion in the Entry or a point-of-view that showcases a unique perspective on the diverse range of different experiences that make America unique in an original/authentic way?
• PRESENTATION [25%]: What makes the submission content more compelling, fresh, or interesting than other Entrants’ content in their grade level category?

Want to stand out? Create something that feels special to you and has a personal touch. And remember, you don’t have to focus on our country’s past — you can talk about America’s future too. Finally, be creative and think outside the box!

Educator resources can be downloaded here.

Literature and Social Studies

 Today at 4:00 p.m. we're meeting for our final PD on Literature and Social Studies. 

Mike Jetty will be there with a dad joke and some recommendations for good IEFA-related books. Teacher Leader in History April Wills (grade 7, Bainville) will be talking about lessons she's developed for Mandy Smoker's graphic novel Thunderous, and Teacher Leader in History Johanna Trout (grade 4, Billings) will share the unit she's created for Shota and the Star Quilt. Other folks have promised to share how they teach Hattie Big Sky and Counting Coups. 

I also plan to share a few resources to help teach Hattie Big Sky, a novel about a single woman homesteader near Wolf Point. The book touches on homesteading and World War I. Oddly, for its location, the book doesn't touch on allotment or Indian lands, but that doesn't mean you can't!

Here are a few resources to supplement a novel study of Hattie Big Sky: 

•  Montana and the Great War Story Map, Story Map Scavenger Hunt, and RAFT Writing assignment. These resources are a good way to explore themes relating to World War I, from propaganda, anti-German sentiment, and the flu pandemic to stories of bravery on the battlefield. 
• Hattie Inez Wright is the inspiration for Hattie Big Sky. In real life, she proved up her homestead and you can locate it using the BLM GLO Records.
• There's lots of good material about women homesteaders, including this short article, this 27-minute video about Esther Strasburger and her two sisters who near Simms, Montana in 1910, and this book. You can learn more about homesteading more generally from Chapter 13 of Montana: Stories of the Land. (Click on For Educator: Resources for lots more material.)
• I don't think you should talk about homesteading in northeastern Montana without talking about allotment, particularly of the Fort Peck Reservation. You can find background on allotment in both Chapter 13 and Chapter 11 of Montana: Stories of the Land. This famous "Indian Land for Sale" poster is a good conversation starter. Unit 4, Part 2, Lesson 2 of the Montana: A History of Our Home features a lesson on allotment that starts by sending kids to the playground to claim a small (undesirable) plot before telling them that they are no longer permitted to use the remainder of the playground.   

I'm sure I will get lots of other great ideas from this PD. I hope to see you there. Register before noon to receive a link.

IEFA Link Roundup and the Montana Free Press

 I'm heading to the Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference in Billings today, so I thought I'd share some links relating to IEFA.  

• NPR ran this story, which touches on sovereignty and state-to-state relations as well as a burning contemporary issue (the fentanyl crisis). 
• This is a haunting story about bringing the remains of a student who died at Carlyle back to the Blackfeet Reservation for reburial.
• I love the Montana Free Press, and if you don't subscribe to its free newsletter, you are missing out! It has all the Montana political news you need plus deep dives into topics like school funding. Two recent stories that caught my eye:
  • "Indigenous lands generate revenue for Montana campuses" about how Morrell Land Grant colleges directly benefit from colonialism.
  • Bison transfers to tribes grow as state pushes to shrink Yellowstone herd.

Have you read anything particularly thought-provoking lately? Shoot me the link or, if you are on Facebook, consider posting it in the Teaching Montana History Facebook group. 

Some Reminders

• Don't forget to join our last Monday Meetup: Incorporating Literature into Social Studies. Register here for the link. 
• Nominate a 7-12 grade teacher for the Centennial Bell Montana History Teacher of the Year Award. 
• Do you teach high school? Consider joining our Teacher Leader program. 

High School Teachers: Apply to Join Our Teacher Leader Program

The Montana Historical Society (MTHS) is soliciting applications from high school teachers interested in helping improve history education (and especially the teaching of Montana history) in their schools, districts, and regions by becoming Teacher Leaders in Montana History.

Successful applicants will demonstrate a commitment to history education; interest and experience in teaching Montana history, Western history, or Native American Studies; excellence in the classroom; experience in sharing best practices with their colleagues; and familiarity with the Montana Historical Society’s work and educational resources.

In addition to the criteria above, up to eight program fellows will be chosen to reflect Montana’s geographic and educational diversity, assuring representation from different regions and both small and large schools.

Those accepted as Teacher Leader Fellows will be brought to Helena for a two-day Teacher Leader in History Summit, to be held in Helena, July 10-12, 2024, at the conclusion of which they will be certified as Montana Historical Society Teacher Leaders in History.

Throughout 2024-2025, this select group of Teacher Leaders in History will join current Teacher Leader Fellows to:

• Serve as a member of the Montana Historical Society Educator Advisory Board, providing advice and classroom testing of lesson plans on an as-needed basis.
• Work to increase the Montana Historical Society’s visibility in their schools and communities.
• Promote Montana Historical Society resources to teachers in their region.
• Assist teachers in their schools in finding appropriate resources/implementing lessons that reflect best practices in social studies education.
• Communicate with Montana Historical Society staff throughout 2024-25, documenting the outreach they have conducted and participating in up to three one-hour virtual meetings (scheduled at mutually agreeable times).
• Conduct a formal presentation at one or more regional or statewide conferences (for which they may earn OPI Renewal Units).
• Provide training in their own school or across their district through informal outreach and/or formal presentations.

In return, the Montana Historical Society will provide the following (valued at more than $500):

• Full travel scholarships to attend the free two-day July 2024 Summit.
• An honorarium of $100 to cover travel expenses to one regional conference, at which the participant is presenting or up to $100 to your school to pay for a substitute teacher so you can present in a nearby district.
• Ongoing support and consultation, including model PowerPoint presentations to use and adapt for presentations to fellow educators.
• A certificate designating the participant as an official MTHS Teacher Leader in History.
• A scholarship to attend the Montana History Conference in Helena, September 28-September 30 (attendance is optional).
• Free shipping for one MTHS Hands-on History Footlocker during the 2024-25 school year.
• Up to 15 OPI Renewal Units.

No more than eight teachers will be selected for this special program. Apply online here. Applications are due April 7. Awardees will be notified by April 28.

Questions? Contact Martha Kohl at mkohl@mt.gov or 406-444-4740.

Connecting Past to Present

 Teacher Leaders in Montana History Cynthia Wilondek and Dylan Huisken  led a dynamite professional development workshop a few weeks ago on "Connecting Past to Present." They created a Google Doc with links to many resources and lesson plans. I'll only highlight a few here. 

In the 2023 case Held vs State of Montana, kids sued the state of Montana over not doing enough to prevent climate change, claiming that the state's inaction violated the Montana constitution's guarantee of a "clean and healthful environment."  You can use this as an entry into discussing Montana's 1972 Constitution. 

Digitized newspapers are a great way to research the history of current events, for example, the closure of a local business or bridge.

There have been a number of recent articles on trying to document all of the students who died at Indian boarding schools and returning the remains to their communities. This obviously connects to a study of the boarding school era.  

Discussions of dark money in politics today tie nicely with a discussion of the Clark-Daly feud, fight for the state capitol and decision to pass the direct election of senators after William A. Clark successfully bribed his way into the U.S. Senate in 1899.

Find links to resources to teach these topics and many more ideas in the Google Doc.

Also, consider participating in our FINAL Monday Meetup, March 11, 2024: Incorporating Children’s Literature into Social Studies. Novels, memoirs, and picture books are a great way to excite your students about history. Bring your favorite titles to share and learn what other Montana teachers are using in their classrooms to teach Indian Education for All, U.S., and Montana history. Register.

Nominate a Rock Star Teacher

 Do you know a middle or high school (grades 7-12) teacher who has done an exemplary job teaching Montana history during the 2023-2024 school year?

Please nominate them for the 35th Montana Statehood Centennial Bell Award by completing this very simple form, which will take less than two minutes to complete. Nominations are due March 31.

Nominated teachers will be asked to submit two one-page letters of support, one from their principal, superintendent, fellow teacher or librarian and one from a student. They will also be asked to submit one to two pages detailing why they enjoy teaching Montana, how they engage their students in learning, how their Montana history course recognizes cultural diversity and anything else they’d like to share about their class or methods.

Nominees will receive instructions on how to submit this material. Deadline for submissions is May 1, 2024. 

The winner will receive the 35th Montana Statehood Centennial Bell Award, which honors the Montana History Teacher of the Year. They and their class will be honored at a ceremony in the State Capitol on Friday, November 8, 2024. The Teacher of the Year will also receive a $3,250 cash prize to put toward classroom materials, field trips, speakers and anything else that will enhance learning in their classroom.

This program, initially created by Montana television newscaster Norma Ashby, is sponsored by the Montana Historical Society with financial support from the Montana Television Network and the Sons & Daughters of Montana Pioneers. 

Nominate a Heritage Keeper

Every community has them--the unsung heroes of local museum or preservation efforts, including Native language preservation. Maybe it's time to let the whole state know about a person who means so much to your community.... 

The Montana Historical Society is seeking nominations for people and organizations whose exemplary commitment to identifying and preserving our historical and cultural heritage makes them eligible for a Heritage Keeper Award. 

Up to two people or organizations will be honored in 2024 by the MTHS Board of Trustees with its annual Heritage Keeper Award. To qualify, the individual must be alive, and organizations must be currently active. The nominee must have demonstrated a commitment to a significant Montana history project or have identified and preserved objects or property of significance to Montana’s history and culture. Organizations also must have a record of preserving and celebrating Montana’s historical and cultural heritage. 

Successful nominees will have shown a commitment to Montana’s historical and cultural preservation beyond the requirements of professional employment or an organization’s specific goals and objectives. In selecting award recipients, the MTHS Board of Trustees will focus on the significance and impact of the nominee's overall work in enhancing, promoting, and stimulating general public interest in a specific aspect of Montana history and culture.

The nomination deadline is April 1, 2024. Here's the link to submit your nomination.

How to Navigate Misinformation Online: A PD with Sam Wineburg

 On March 6, 2024, from 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m., the Helena League of Women Voters and the Lewis and Clark Library are hosting a presentation by Sam Wineburg: “How to Navigate Misinformation Online.”

If you are in or near Helena, you are welcome to go to the library, 120 S. Last Chance Gulch, to watch the webinar on the big screen. You can also register to watch it on Zoom. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. I will be offering one OPI renewal unit to attendees who email me at mkohl@mt.gov with a three-sentence reflection after the program.

I've heard Wineburg speak a couple of times before and he's fabulous. I promise it will be worth your time! Here's more information about the presentation.

How to Navigate Misinformation Online

Learn how to quickly navigate the internet to find reliable, fact-based information during an upcoming webinar with Stanford University professor, author and researcher Sam Wineburg.

“This webinar will be an introduction to the kind of strategies the most skilled users of the internet use to separate fact from fiction,” says Wineburg. “They can often find out if something is reliable or sham in as little as 30 seconds.”

Wineburg will share easy steps to quickly find your way to factual information without getting duped by disinformation, fake websites, phony organizations and bad actors. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for concerned citizens to know what to believe,” he says, “and the worst thing they can do is throw their hands up and say, ‘I can’t believe anything.’” This is the goal of Russian disinformation, “to create a muddled citizenry because a muddled citizenry is more easy to control.”

Wineburg's presentation shares tips from his new book, Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions About What to Believe Online, co-authored with research scientist Mike Caulfield. It’s being praised by librarians, journalists and educators and was hailed by Nobel Peace Prize winner and longtime journalist Maria Ressa, who wrote, “Verified offers clear advice on how to navigate a world of spin, trolls, and lies.”

MTHS Lessons with Social/Emotional Components

 I've been haunted by the attempted suicide rates that Bill Moe brought to my attention last week, and I applaud all of the classroom teachers who make their students feel valued and loved. You folks are amazing. 

I don't have answers to this crisis. Suicide, and student well-being in general, is very far from my area of expertise, and it borders on hubris to say that MTHS has lessons or materials that can help in this area. Because of this, I almost didn't write this post.  But then I decided, it may not help, but what can it hurt? Here are a few lesson plans that gifted teachers might be able to use to further social/emotional growth in their students. 

• Our Coming to Montana: Immigrants from around the World hands-on history footlocker (designed for 4-6) includes a series of lessons, "Recognizing Similarities and Celebrating Differences," that focuses on helping students recognize that people across cultures share commonalities and that we should recognize similarities and celebrate differences while working to make sure that everyone is accepted. These can be taught without ordering the footlocker if you use a YouTube read-aloud recording to gain access to the book Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate. (Find out more about our hands-on history footlockers here.)  
• The Art of Storytelling: Plains Indian Perspectives (designed for K-12) includes art lessons on winter counts (which some Plains tribes used to record their bands' history) and ledger art (which some Plains tribal members used to document individual achievements). Teacher Leader in Montana History Ron Buck uses the ledger art materials from this lesson to have his students celebrate themselves--sometimes accomplishments, sometimes family traditions. Other teachers have used the winter count material as background to create a classroom winter count, rotating record keepers and documenting important class moments each week. They've said this has been great for building class cohesion.
• Reader's Theater: Letters Home from Montanans at War (designed for 7-12) is a three-to-five period unit that asks students to work in groups to read and interpret letters written by soldiers at war, from the Civil War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. After engaging in close reading and conducting research to interpret the letters, they will perform the letters as reader’s theater. When theater teacher Rob Holter's students performed the letters, they walked away believing that history isn't just about the famous and powerful and that they, too, could make a difference and make history. 
• Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things! Connecting Biography to Larger Social Themes Lesson Plan (designed for 8-12) uses essays published on the Women’s History Matters website to help students explore how ordinary people’s lives intersect with larger historical events and trends and to investigate how people’s choices impact their communities. The takeaway of this lesson is that individuals can make choices within the circumstances (even very tough circumstances) that they find themselves. 

I also reached out to former classroom teacher and counselor Jennifer Graham, who has done a lot of work on social/emotional learning. She pointed me toward the OPI website devoted to Whole Child Skill Development. She particularly finds the Whole Child Skill Development Competencies useful as a reference when creating lesson plans.  

She also encourages teachers to incorporate collaborative learning strategies: "Those strategies encourage collaboration while also building classroom communities and skills that support communication (which results in safety and security)." Two sources she suggest on this are "Collaborative Classrooms Support Social-Emotional Learning," published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and "Cooperative Learning in the Time of C3," published by the National Council for Social Studies.

Jennifer also highly recommends the QPR Institute, whose mission is "to reduce suicidal behaviors and save lives by providing innovative, practical and proven suicide prevention training." 

If you have thoughts on this subject or lessons that teach social studies while helping students develop emotionally and socially that you'd like to share, please send them my way. And, in the meantime, thanks for all you do.

 

Integrating Science and Social Studies

 I believe that the more interdisciplinary and holistic a lesson is, the more likely it is to resonate with students. That's one reason so many of the historical society lesson plans are interdisciplinary, incorporating math, ELA, art, and science. But the truth is, we have not done a good enough job integrating science.

Linda Rost, Baker High School science teacher and 2020 Montana Teacher of the Year, gave a great presentation last October at the MFPE Educator's Conference on ways to integrate IEFA and science, and my brain has been buzzing about her talk ever since. 

Linda wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on building science teachers' capacity to integrate IEFA, and that was the starting point of her presentation. She advocated for everyone to read and learn more from Indigenous scholars and culture keepers and gave a big shout out to Robin Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass. (I loved this book but only learned recently that there's a young adult version, too!) 

Pointing to ideas you can read about more fully on page 6 of The Framework: A Practical Guide for Montana Teachers and Administrators Implementing Indian Education for All, Linda believes that sprinkling a little IEFA into your classroom (mentioning that a plant was used by Indigenous people, for example) is inadequate. Instead, she advocates for a more transformative approach, placing Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) at the foundation of the lesson. 

At her session, she shared lessons focused on material science for fifth-eighth, grade, classifying materials as either strong or tough (or both), and one that looked at having students compare rawhide and tanned leather. Students investigate each step in the hide-tanning process (fleshing, braining, soaking, smoking) and observe changes to the hide using images from an electron microscope. See pages 6-12 of this document, which Linda graciously shared with me.

She also shared her lesson plan, "The Eagle Has Fallen," which she published in The Science Teacher. This lesson follows a format similar to several of Linda's other lessons: 

• Students to read (or listen to) tribal oral tradition stories to learn more about how a tribe regards and manages natural resources.
• Students do "casework"--in this case trying to find out why the eagle population has dropped in Flathead Lake.
• After students analyze the data and solved the case, they investigate different perspectives of resource management, engaging in a pinwheel discussion, during which students explore the perspectives of tribal governments and state governments to manage the ecological problem. 

Here's the PowerPoint she created to go with the lesson, which includes images from Bull Trout's Gift: A Salish Story about the Value of Reciprocity, the data students analyze, questions for the pinwheel discussions and the roles she has students adopt: tribal scientist, tribal council member, state scientist, and provocateur. (I was a bit confused by "provocateur." It turns out not to be a bomb-thrower, but someone who leads the discussion and keeps it going.)

Linda uses the same format outlined in "The Eagle Has Fallen" for several other lessons including ones focusing on climate change and cultural perspectives, using genetic testing for tribal enrollment, and grizzly bear management. For the grizzly bear lesson, her students evaluate grizzly bear data from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and determine whether they should have been delisted. She goes into detail on the grizzly bear lesson in this online video from OPI.

I think including social studies in science (or science in social studies) is a dynamite way to make science more meaningful--and to shed light on social studies issues--so I really appreciate Linda's willingness to share these lessons.

P.S. OPI has more IEFA/Science lessons here.

P.P.S. Don't forget to register for our February 12, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. PD: Connecting Past to Present.

Ideas from Middle School Colleagues

 The best lessons always come from classroom teachers, which is why I was delighted to hear from two middle school teachers recently about lessons/activities that have worked in their classrooms.

Angela Gordon, who teaches 6th and 7th grade social studies, wrote to recommend the Digital Inquiry Group's lesson on Edward Curtis. "We analyze some of his pictures and talk about his life and obsessive need to capture indigenous people and their culture in traditional dress and native environment. We discuss whether his mission was a success and how his pictures can be of use today."

By the way: Digital Inquiry Group (DIG) is the new name for the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG). All of their lessons engage students in historical inquiry, revolve around a central historical question, and feature primary source documents designed for groups of students with a range of reading skills. According to their website: 

"This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues and learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence. "

All of their resources are free for teachers (although registration is required).   

Angela hasn't been my only correspondent. Middle school teacher Bill Moe recently sent me two suggestions. The first was a worksheet he uses to help his students explore the Montana brand book during their study of Chapter 8 ("Livestock and the Open Range") of Montana: Stories of the Land.

The second was related to a troubling report by NBC News that more than 13 percent of Montana high school students had attempted suicide in the past year, the highest percentage in over twenty years. In response, Bill put up a sign in his classroom: "The World is a Better Place with You in It." He said, "This might be a good thing for kids to see or hear, or to maybe have kids write in a note or Valentine for their parents. Some of them are struggling." 

Thank you to Bill and Angela! And if you have lessons or resources that you think are worth sharing, please send them on.

PDs: Connecting Past to Present and IEFA Best Practices

 

February 12, 2024: Connecting Past and Present, Online

History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, and many of the issues we face today were pressing topics in our state's rich and robust history.

Monday, February 12, 2024, from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Teacher Leaders in Montana History Cynthia Wilondek (Big Fork) and Dylan Huisken (Bonner) will lead a discussion on how to use Montana history and MTHS resources to connect the past to the present and share strategies for making discussions and projects surrounding current events more deliberate and reflective. One OPI Renewal Unit will be available to attendees. Register.

March 8-9, 2024: 17th Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference, Billings

Looking for a great in-person PD? Check out the 17th Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference, March 8-9, 2024, in Billings. Registration is free. Highlights include keynotes by Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray (Little Shell) and  Nina Sanders (Crow), author of Apsáalooke Women and Warriors and curator of the exhibit by the same name Find more information and a link to register here.  

Check out this amazing April PD with the Montana History Portal

Have you ever wanted to research a Montana or US history topic and share the details of your discovery with your students, including images and other primary resource materials as references? Now is your chance. Spend two days—hotel, meals, and tours included at no cost—with the Montana History Portal staff learning how to create various types of digital exhibits using the content from the History Portal. Participants will earn 16 OPI credits and a $425 stipend for your finished exhibit. 

Select a topic, gather the details, read, research, and create an exhibit of your topic.  Your exhibit will be published on the History Portal website, where you can access it, and it will be available to the public as a history lesson of its own. 

The History Portal contains over 88,000 items to help tell the story of a variety of topics. U.S. History and World History can be taught through Montana primary source materials, and primary sources can be used successfully with ALL ages. 

As part of the 2-day workshop, you will get a sneak peek tour of the new Montana Heritage Center and a historic walking tour of the Montana Capitol grounds to help inspire ideas and learn more about our state history. 

Register to join this April 12 and 13, 2024, workshop, which will be held at the Delta Hotels Helena Colonial, 2301 Colonial Drive, Helena.

What is "sovereignty"?

 Teacher Leader in Montana History Elysia Bain shared some useful resources for teaching about tribal sovereignty with me that I thought I would share with you!

The first is this article, published in Indian Country Today in 2014: "Professor Breaks Down Sovereignty and Explains Its Significance," by Shaawano Chad Uran, professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. 

Elysia has her government students read the article and then answer some basic questions:

• Define the term sovereignty. (Okay! This one isn't basic, but according to the article "Sovereignty is a type of political power, and it is exercised through some form of government." In addition, "The defining aspects of sovereignty are the international relationships carried out as sovereign nations.")
• What are the three types of sovereigns in the United States? (Federal, state and tribal governments) 
• What section of the U.S. Constitution recognizes tribal sovereignty? (Article VI, Clause 2) 
• What are treaties and why are they important to understanding sovereignty? (Because "treaties are agreements made between sovereign entities...by signing a treaty, both sides are showing that they recognize the sovereignty of the other.")

I think it is a really great article, and I were teaching it, I might add some other "check for comprehension" questions, like

• Is the sovereignty of tribal nations the same as or different from the sovereignty enjoyed by individual states? (Different)
• According to Professor Uran, if tribes are "domestic dependent nations" (which is how the Supreme Court has defined them), how can they still be sovereign? (Absolute power, independence, and autonomy is not necessary for sovereignty to exist. and rights "not explicitly given up to the US Federal government are still held by the tribes.")
• Professor Uran does not think tribal nations should be blamed for their economic dependence on the United States. Why not? ("Tribal economies were based on access to land" and "lands were ceded to the U.S. by treaty in exchange for tribal economic security and other provisions."

Elysia follows this activity by having her students watch the four-and-a-half-minute video "Sovereign Rights, Sovereign People." 

Looking for more short videos? Check out the National Museum of the American Indian's four minute "Nation to Nation" and twelve-minute "The 'Indian Problem'," two other videos created as part of NMAI's "Nation to Nation" exhibit. 

Do you have resources that work really well with your class that you'd like to share? Let me know!

Dreaming of Summer

Each summer, the NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for K-12 educators and higher education faculty to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends of $650 to $3,450 help cover expenses of these one-to-four-week programs. Programs may offer continuing education or graduate credits (often for an additional cost).

Teachers who participate in these institutes (including our own interpretive historian, Melissa Hibbard) rave about the opportunity and talk about how energizing, restorative, and enlightening the experience is.

All applications are due March 5, 2024. These programs are extremely competitive, so if one interests you, don't leave the application until the last minute (especially if the application requires a letter of recommendation.)  *NOTE* Special priority is given to applicants in their first five years of K-12 teaching.

Program Formats

Professional development programs include the following format options:

• Residential: All participants attend for the duration of the project at the host site.
• Virtual: All participants attend for the duration of the project using an online platform. This can include synchronous and asynchronous sessions.
• Combined Format: All participants attend a portion of the project online and a portion of the project at the host site. Online and residential sessions occur at different times, but participants attend the same format simultaneously.

Here are just a few of the many diverse institutes offered this year:

Indian Education For All

• Grand Coulee Dam: The Intersection of Modernity and Indigenous Cultures (Spokane, WA)
• Reclaiming the Narrative: Learning the Truth About Indian Boarding Schools in Arizona (Phoenix, AZ)

Japanese American History

• Heart Mountain, Wyoming and the Japanese American Incarceration (Powell, WY)
• Little Tokyo: How History Shapes a Community Across Generations (Los Angeles, CA)
• Japanese American Post-War Resettlement in Chicago (Chicago, IL and Online)

America 250 (Democracy, Citizenship, and Civil Rights)

• Exploring the First Amendment (Philadelphia, PA)
• Democracy and Education: A View from Detroit (Detroit, MI)
• American Women, American Citizens: 1920-1948 (New York City & Online)
• Freedom Summer: 60 Years Later (Jackson, MS & Online)
• The Problem of the Color Line: Atlanta Landmarks and Civil Rights History (Atlanta, GA)

Community Archives

• The Missing Stories: Reclaiming History through Community Archives (Philadelphia, PA)

And of course there are many other topics represented including LGBTQ+ History, the Gullah-Geechee people, using comics to teach social justice, and three institutes on Shakespeare.

Check out the NEH website and start putting together your application. Learn more about the program and how to apply here. You won't be sorry.

The Rural Experience in America

 This is the third year that the National Council for History Education is offering The Rural Experience in America, a program that seems tailormade for Montana schools. It's been going on for a few years, but this year, we will be offering OPI Renewal Units when you submit your certificate of completion to MTHS (mkohl@mt.gov). Read on to learn more, with text taken almost verbatim from the National Council for History Education's website.

Funded by a grant from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, National Council for History Education is offering a series of free, professional development opportunities designed to support K-12 teachers focusing on this year’s theme, Change and Development in Rural America. Support will be provided throughout all three parts of this project with built-in additional collaboration opportunities with other teachers and the NCHE staff.

Part A: Asynchronous Learning

From December 2023 through March 2024, registered teachers will self-pace through two online courses: the Library of Congress 6-week module course, "Teaching with Primary Sources Basics," and the Right Question Institute 4-week module course, "Teaching Students to Ask their Own Primary Source Questions." If you do not have a lot of experience using primary sources in your classroom, want to learn about the Library of Congress’s collection of sources, and/or want to add to your toolbox of strategies using primary sources, this professional learning is highly recommended! (12 OPI Renewal Units). Register.

PART B: Synchronous Online Colloquia

Registered teachers will participate in three online synchronous Saturday professional development sessions led by historians, educational specialists, and master teachers. These sessions will be held once a month on March 23, 2024, April 20, 2024, and May 11, 2024, from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm (EST) and will focus on a variety of topics related to Change and Development in Rural America. During this time, teachers also applying for the onsite colloquium will identify a community partner to assist them with their public history project. (5 Renewal Units for each Saturday session, with a total of 15 possible.)  Register.

PART C: Onsite Colloquium

Fifteen teachers (from those who participated in Part B) will be selected to travel to an onsite location (to be determined) along with a community partner in July 2024 (specific dates to be announced). During this two-day learning experience, teachers and community partners will learn from historians and build civic connections to develop a plan for implementing a public history project in their own community.  Teachers will receive up to $850 to defray travel costs and up to $750 to support their community project. The application deadline is March 15, 2024. (10 hours of OPI Renewal Units.) Register.

Final Thoughts

• Teachers who've already taken the Right Question Institute's "Teaching Students to Ask their Own Primary Source Questions" have raved about it.
• Studying your own community with a partner (e.g., a local museum) can be absolutely life changing for students. 
• If you enroll in any of these courses and want renewal units, email me!