Under-Told Stories
Our January Third Tuesday Professional Development session focused on resources to incorporate under-told stories into your classroom, particularly the histories of African Americans, women, and Chinese immigrants.
We captured the links mentioned in this Google Doc, but here are a few highlights.
African American History
PBS Learning Media has taken the hour-long documentary, Hidden Stories: Montana's Black Past (PBS link) and broken it into shorter segments with discussion questions and a graphic organizer. Here are links to the excerpts and here are links to teaching resources.
Montana in the Green Book Story Map is a hidden gem for anyone teaching about pre-Civil Rights US history. Between 1936 and 1967, Victor H. Green & Company published The Negro Motorist Green Book, which offered listings of lodgings, restaurants, service stations, and recreation opportunities for African American travelers. Many students may think that it was only African American travelers in the southern states who needed such a resource, but Montana had entries too! This was in part because Montana also had restaurants, bars and hotels that refused to serve African American customers (including the beloved Parrot Confectionery in Helena). You can read more about the fight to pass a public accommodations law in Montana in the 1950s here.
Chinese Immigration History
The Chinese Experience in Montana Hands-on History Footlocker is a great new addition to our traveling trunk program! (Learn more about that program and how to order a footlocker here.) Like many of our footlockers, The Chinese Experience in Montana includes many lessons that can be done without ordering the trunk. For an easy entry, fourth-fifth grade teacher Jodi Delaney recommends teaching the first lesson in the user guide, "Far From Home," which asks students to analyze letters that families in China wrote to men working in Montana. She said that she used the letters with struggling readers in a reading intervention group and the kids were enthralled.
High school teacher Vicky Nytes had high praise for lessons about Chinese exclusion and the Chinese experience from the Digital Inquiry Group. You can find them by searching "Chinese" on their Sitewide Search | Digital Inquiry Group but you'll need to register to access DIG's free resources.
Jodi and Vicky also noted that Mark Johnson (who wrote the Chinese Experience in Montana footlocker) has middle and high school lessons about Montana Chinese history on his website: The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky.
Women's History
Jodi drew attention to one of her favorite lessons: Montana Women at Work: Clothesline Timeline Lesson Plan. This lesson plan uses historical photographs to teach students about women’s changing occupations and opportunities between the 1880s and the beginning of the 21st century.
Vicky recommended that American history and government teachers look at Montana Legal History Lesson Plan. (She doesn't teach it as written, but she likes the resources.)
I showed everyone the resources on Montana Women's History and particularly how you can filter by topic and/or search the 100+ short essays that are on the site. Vicky said it's a very useful resource for students looking for research topics.
Thanks to MTHS Historian Kate Hampton for joining us and to Superior teacher Vicky Nytes, and Helena teacher Jodi Delaney for leading this informative session!
Tuesday, February 17, 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Simulation and Role Plays
Join us in February for another Social Studies Tuesday PD to learn how to bring your social studies classroom alive with simulations and role plays that develop historical empathy and help students imagine themselves in the past. Register for this session.
