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.