Women as Community Builders--Share a Story Project

Looking for an interesting class project this spring (or next fall)? One that involves research, interaction with community members, and that has an authentic audience?

Check out The Story Project: Celebrating Montana Women as Community Builders.

This project is part of a larger project to create a new mural for the Montana State Capitol Building--the first in over 80 years. Initiated by the 2011 Montana Legislature with Senate Bill 59 and supported by private donations, the mural will honor the history of Montana women as community builders. It will be installed in November 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of woman suffrage in Montana.    

The Story Project is designed to extend the commemoration’s reach, to raise awareness about the centennial of woman suffrage in Montana, to recognize Montana women’s contributions to the state and their communities, and to celebrate the creation of the Montana Women's Mural in the State Capitol.

How will it work?

The Story Project is inviting people across Montana to collect stories about individual women and women's organizations who have helped shape our communities and state, past and present. At the completion of The Story Project (November 2014, the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage), stories and photographs donated to the project will be offered to the Archives of the Montana Historical Society for use by future generations of researchers.

What types of stories is The Story Project looking for?
 According to its website, The Story Project “welcomes stories about a woman or group of women whose type of contributions and achievements will help the artist painting the Montana Women's Mural envision how Montana women built our social institutions: libraries, museums, theaters, parks, playgrounds, schools, shelters, hospitals, labor unions, and social clubs.”

The Story Project has developed a questionnaire to guide participants’ research and storytelling, as well as forms you’ll need to submit information.

This has a potential to be a really interesting project. If anyone decides to work on this as a classroom project, I’d love to hear about it. Regardless of whether you and your students participate, I hope you’ll help spread the word to local community organizations to encourage their submissions.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this summer the Montana Historical Society will host a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop for Schoolteachers.

Consider applying to attend this in-depth, intensive exploration and study of "The Richest Hills: Mining in the Far West, 1860-1920." The workshop will examine the mining history of the American West and its relevance to today’s classroom. Two sessions will be offered—July 14-20 and July 28-August 3. Each week, 40 educators from across the country will join with university professors and public historians to investigate the cultural legacies and rich historical resources of Bannack, Virginia/Nevada Cities, Butte, and Helena, Montana. Faculty members include Dr. Paula Petrik (George Mason University); Dr. Ellen Baumler (Montana Historical Society); and Dr. Mary Murphy (Montana State University.)

Participants will receive a $1,200 stipend from NEH, which they can use to help defray travel expenses.

The deadline for applying is March 4, 2013. For more information and application materials visit: http://www.archiva.net/richesthills/index.html or email dmitchell@mt.gov.

For a complete listing of other Landmark workshops visit http://www.neh.gov/projects/landmarks-school.html

Ready for African American History Month?

Are you looking for resources to support teaching African American history--this month or any other month?

The Montana Historical Society’s African Americans in Montana Heritage Resources Page includes links to two model lesson plans (fourth grade and eighth grade+) as well as a link to a PowerPoint presentation created by interpretive historian Ellen Baumler, “Profiles of African American Montanans.” You’ll find these links at the very bottom of the page, so keep scrolling.

Teachinghistory.org has created a page spotlighting some relevant resources.

The Library of Congress has pulled together a list of resources (including lesson plans) from their own collection, the National Archives, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, and the National Park Service

And here’s material from the Smithsonian.

Finally, here's a handy list of "dos and don'ts" from Teaching Tolerance on teaching black history.

Happy surfing.

Summer Professional Development Opportunities

Hard to believe it’s time to start thinking about summer—but deadlines for national summer workshops are fast approaching. Here are a few options to dream about.


Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institutes – Teaching with Primary Sources
The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for its 2013 Summer Teacher Institutes in Washington, D.C. The five-day institutes provide educators with tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into K-12 classroom teaching, focusing on student engagement, critical thinking, and construction of knowledge.

Tuition and materials are provided at no cost. Breakfast and lunch are also provided. Participants will be responsible for transportation to and from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and any required overnight accommodations. Educators and school librarians of all grade levels and subject areas are encouraged to apply. More information here.

Application deadline: February 4, 2013

The Gilder Lerhman Institute of American History 2013 Teacher Seminars.
These weeklong seminars offer graduate credit; the seminars, room and board are free. The Institute also offers a $400 travel scholarship. Their options are varied—from broad overviews (“A Visual Approach to Teaching American History” and “American Women from the Colonial to the Modern Era) to more focused seminars (“The American Civil War through Material Culture—K-8 Teachers Only” and “The Era of George Washington.”) See a full list of their offerings (and find information on applying) here.
Application deadline: February 15, 2013

NEH Summer Programs for Teachers
Through various NEH summer programs for teachers, you can spend a week in Jackson, Mississippi, studying the Civil Rights movement, four weeks in Berlin, Germany, and Prague, Czech Republic, studying the 1989 peaceful revolutions, five weeks in Siena, Italy, studying Dante, three weeks in Monterey, California, studying John Steinbeck, or two weeks in Hamilton, New York, studying abolitionism and the underground railroad, among many other options. See a full list of their offerings (and find information on applying) here. Tuition is free and the NEH offers a substantial travel stipend to help cover your expenses.
Application deadline: March 4, 2013

Closer to home, the Northwest Council for Computer Education will be offering two-day workshops on Teaching with Primary Sources this summer. Dates and locations TBA. I’m sure there will be lots of other good workshops in Montana too—I’ll let you know about them as I find out.

Montana History Conference Coming to Sidney (Plus Other Upcoming Workshops)

I know next September is a long way off, but I’m crazy excited that the 2013 Montana History Conference will be held in Sidney. Appropriately, the focus will be “Boom and Bust: Extracting the Past” We’re recruiting presenters now. If you have done research on a topic related to “boom and bust,” consider submitting a session proposal—and spread the word to others you know. The deadline for proposals is February 15.

http://mhs.mt.gov/Education/ConferencesWorkshops.aspx

And, regardless, pencil September 19-21 on your calendar—especially if you live in eastern Montana. Thursday is always a special educators’ workshop. Friday and Saturday will be filled with interesting sessions and tours. OPI Renewal Units are always available for all sessions, and often we have money to offer travel scholarships. Stay tuned.

P.S. Looking for professional development opportunities further west (and happening sooner)? The Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference will be held February 25-26, 2013, in Helena. (If you come, stop by our exhibit table and say hello.) Registration information here.

WM-CSPD also has some great-looking workshops coming up, including “Intro to Explore the River - An Integrated Curriculum Grounded in Place and Inquiry” (offered in February in Missoula and Kalispell) and an online course, “HeartLines Engaging Students with Tribal Materials and Common Core Skills.” More information here.

Resources for teaching and assessing "Historical Thinking" (and, incidentally, meeting Common Core standards)

To prepare for a workshop I’ll be giving in Billings February 6-7 on Literacy in Social Studies and the Common Core, I’ve been haunting a website called “Beyond the Bubble.” 

 

Created by a Stanford University professor, “Beyond the Bubble” suggests ways teachers can use primary resources to create “innovative assessments that gauge historical thinking in easy-to-use, classroom-friendly ways.”

 

Historical thinking is a big buzzword these days. It basically means “reading, analysis, and writing that is necessary to develop our understanding of the past.”

Beyond the Bubble’s assessments require students to demonstrate both “historical thinking” skills and historical content knowledge by asking them to perform the following tasks:

• Sourcing (asking students to consider who wrote a document as well as the circumstances of its creation. Who authored a given document? When? For what purpose?)
• Contextualization (asking students to locate a document in time and place, and to understand how these factors shape its content.)
• Corroboration (asking students to consider details across multiple sources to determine points of agreement and disagreement.)

All of their assessments align with the Common Core—and provide interesting models that I think can be adapted to create assessments for Montana history classes—or any history class.

 

Those of you teaching American History might also want to check out Stanford’s Reading Like a Historian curriculum, with 75 lessons, each revolving around “a central historical question” and featuring “sets of primary sets of primary documents modified for groups of students with diverse reading skills and abilities. This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on issues from King Philip's War to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and make historical claims backed by documentary evidence.”
 

You may also want to check out the Historical Thinking Matters website, which offers four investigations of central topics from post-civil war U.S. history, with activities that foster historical thinking and encourage students to form reasoned conclusions about the past. 

 

P.S. It is NOT too late to register for the Billings workshop, where we’ll be delving more into historical thinking and literacy in social studies. The deadline has been extended to this FRIDAY, January 25 for both the Billings workshop and our sister workshops in Helena (focused on fracking to address literacy in science and technical subjects) and Missoula (focused on health—also to address literacy in science and technical subjects.) Requirements for bringing a partner have been waived—and there’s sub money and other perks—so check it out and join us if you can.

 

 

Consider Applying for the Dave Walter Fellowship

The Montana Historical Society Research Center is pleased to announce the availability of the 2013 Dave Walter Research Fellowship.

This fellowship will be awarded to two Montana residents involved in a public history project focused on exploring local history. The award is intended to help Montanans conduct research on their towns, counties, and regions using resources at the Montana Historical Society. Research can be for any project related to exploring local history; including exhibit development, walking tours, oral history projects, building history/preservation, county or town histories, archaeological research, class projects, etc. Fellowship awards of $1,250 each will be given to two researchers.

Recipients will be expected to:

• travel to the MHS to conduct research
• spend a minimum of one week in residence conducting research
• provide a copy of their final product or a report on their completed project to the MHS Research Center

 Applications for the Dave Walter Research Fellowship are evaluated on the following criteria:

• suitability of the research to the Society's collections
• potential of the project to make a contribution to local history
• experience in conducting local history research

The application must include a cover letter; a project proposal, not to exceed 3 pages in length, describing the research, including the specific collections at the Montana Historical Society that you intend to use; a 1-2 page resume, and a letter of recommendation.

Applications must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2013 and sent to:

Dave Walter Research Fellowship Selection Committee

Montana Historical Society

PO Box 201201
Helena, MT 59620-1201

Applications can also be submitted via email to mhslibrary@mt.gov. Applications submitted via email must be received on March 1, 2013.

Announcement of the award will be made in early April. Questions about the fellowship should be directed to mhslibrary@mt.gov or 406-444-2681.

For more information about the Dave Walter Research Fellowship or the Montana Historical Society and its collections see: http://mhs.mt.gov/research.aspx.