History Mystery Kits--A Great Way to Incorporate Primary Sources into Your Classroom

Billings school librarian Ruth Ferris recently contacted me, very excited about the History Mystery Trunks created by BLM, particularly  Boom or Bust: Mystery of the Old Homestead. This educational kit provides a unique way of learning the stories of 42 homestead families who settled in eastern Montana prior to World War II.  The trunk can be ordered from the Western Heritage Center.  View a convenient chart showing the types of resources the trunks contain here.

More about Boom or Bust: Mystery of the Old Homestead

Most of the homesteader stories are from previously unpublished accounts from the Western Heritage Center oral history collections. The game includes stories, land records, and family photographs. In addition, the kit includes teaching resources and tools to provide a more in-depth understanding of the homesteader experience. These resources include games, living history activities, short stories, a bibliography, and a guide on how to incorporate oral interviews for preserving local history. Unlike the footlockers created by the Montana Historical Society, which target a fourth grade audience, this footlocker is geared toward middle school.

History Mystery 1: Sacrifice Cliff 

I haven't seen Boom or Bust, but I'm a big fan of an earlier History Mystery kit: Sacrifice Cliff. Also designed for use in grades 7-8 (but good for high school as well), this kit centers on local legends associated with the well known landmark near Billings and engages students in an interactive research exercise that allows them to learn through their own investigations. It tells the story of a band of Crow Indians who lived in the Billings area in the late 1800s; the devastating effects of small pox, brought to the area by western immigrants; and the sacrifice warriors made to protect the band from the disease.

While many versions of the story abound, it is generally believed that the brave Crow warriors offered their lives in sacrifice by flinging themselves from a cliff to their deaths. Many questions remain. Which version of the story is correct? How many warriors were involved? When did the sacrifice take place? Did the warriors perish in vain? Is the local landmark known as Sacrifice Cliff accurately named or was another cliff the site of the sacrifice?

This educational resource kit gives students an opportunity to examine historical evidence in the
context of an actual historical mystery. Through this exercise, students learn the importance of
research, history, and preservation.

Reserving History Mystery Kits

You can reserve the  Sacrifice Cliff History Mystery kit--and one that looks at the management of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses (aimed at grade school)--either from the Western Heritage Center or from the Montana Historical Society using our online footlocker reservation form. Boom and Bust can only be ordered from the Western Heritage Center.

As is true for all of the footlockers circulated by the Montana Historical Society, no rental fee is charge for the use of these History Mystery Kits. (Western Heritage Center does charge a very modest rental fee.) Both organizations require schools to pay for shipping to the next venue and to insure the contents.

Other Hands-on History Footlockers

Learn more about the variety of footlockers MHS circulates here. Learn more about our newest footlocker, "Coming to Montana: Immigrants from around the World" here.

Celebrate Women's History Month; Check out the Women's History Matters Website and Facebook Page

I know I wrote about resources for teaching about women's suffrage last week, but March is Women's History Month, so it seemed like a good time to draw attention to other aspects of our grand yearlong project, the Women's History Matters website.

In January, when we launched this project, I wrote a few posts on the website and some of its resources.

• Women's History Matters
• Montana Women's History Articles to Use in the Classroom

But now we've been operational for two months, I wanted to revisit the project to draw attention to the twice weekly posts that appear on the site's main page. The topics of these 500- to 1000-word posts are various. A selection of titles includes

• Rose Gordon: Daughter of a Slave and Small-Town Activist
• Faith Inspired Early Health Care
• Work Fit for “Two Fisted” Rangers: Women in the U.S. Forest Service
• Discrimination: The Case of Mrs. Wo Hop
• Ella Knowles: Portia of the People
• Helen Piotopowaka Clarke and the Persistence of Prejudice
• Montana’s Whiskey Women: Female Bootleggers during Prohibition
• Alma Smith Jacobs: Beloved Librarian, Tireless Activist
• Biased Justice: Women in Prison
• Pretty Shield’s Success: Raising “Grandmother’s Grandchild”
• Photographic Legacies of Evelyn Cameron and Julia Tuell

As we move forward, posts will continue to discuss nineteenth and twentieth century women, organizations, and issues from all parts of the state--from the Women's Christian Temperance Union to Title IX.

If a particular entry intrigues you, it's worth using the categories and tags at the bottom the article to find related posts. Categories include geography, for example "Eastern Montana"; era, for example, "1900-1945"; and subject matter, for example, "medicine." If you click on a category ("Eastern Montana," say) you'll find other articles published about that region.

I'm interested in other ways teachers can imagine (or are actually) using these articles in the classroom. The articles have the advantage of being shorter than most scholarly articles. They are also designed to be both interesting and significant. Thus, they seem ripe to be used in middle and high school classes as informational texts. (Do note, however, that while most of the entries are entirely age appropriate, a few of the upcoming topics might be too controversial for middle school, specifically ones on abortion, lesbian activism, and birth control.)

Brenda Johnson of Browning High School told me that she plans to choose a couple of these articles for her students to read as part of a formative assessment. In addition to reading two blog entries, she's having her students read the Great Falls Tribune article about the Women's History Matters project. Then the students will find a woman in their home community to profile.

Anya Jabour at University of Montana has assigned the blog in its entirety to one of her classes in lieu of a textbook, holding students responsible for the readings through periodic quizzes.

If you use any of these blog posts--please let me know how. Or if you have ideas of how we could make them more useful to classroom teachers, please let me know that as well.

P.S. In addition to visiting http://montanawomenshistory.org/, I hope you'll consider liking and following our Montana Women's History Matters Facebook page for all the latest and greatest.

P.P.S. I just received an email from Clark Begger from Roberts School, who said that he teaches Ronald Schaffer's essay, . “The Montana Woman Suffrage Campaign: 1911-14,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 55, no. 1 (January 1964): 9-15, in his freshman/sophomore Montana history class.  I can't post that article, because it is copyrighted by PNQ, but I'm sure your librarian can get you a copy via interlibrary loan. However, Clark kindly shared the worksheet he created to use with students reading the article, which I am sharing here.

Resources for Teaching about Women's Suffrage in Montana

As I've noted in previous posts, including Women's History Matters and Montana Women's History Articles to Use in the Classroom, 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Montana.

In celebration, we've created the Women's History Matters website, with resources to spread awareness about Montana women's contributions, challenges, and stories.

We are working on curriculum--and are planning a educator workshop focused on incorporating women's history into the classroom for June 16-18 in Helena. (Mark the date and stay tuned for more information.) Meanwhile, I wanted to point out a few resources that might available that you may want to use to teach about women's suffrage in Montana, and nationally.

We've gathered links to Montana resources on the Women's History Matters web site under the suffrage tab. These include a brief history of the suffrage struggle (a longer one is here); links to historic newspaper articles about women's suffrage (digitized by Chronicling America); a video on the history of Billings suffragist Hazel Hunkins; a Montana women's suffrage bibliography, and an interactive map that shows how each Montana county voted when on the question in 1914.

It's all cool, but I'm most excited about the map, which did exactly what a good map is supposed to do--helped me visualize patterns more clearly. Click on any county to see the total number of votes cast, and how many voters supported and opposed suffrage, in that county.

It isn't Montana, but I'm also in love with this Lady Gaga parody on YouTube: Suffrage: Bad Romance. If you know your suffrage history you can find at least 10 sound historical references to actual events during the campaign for suffrage--and maybe more. (Plus--it's just a great video. "I laughed. I cried." Really.)

P.S. I'm heading to St. Louis next week on vacation so I won't be posting--but I'll be back at it March 3.

Now Available: The Montana Geospatial Education Online Toolbox

The new Montana Geospatial Education Online Toolbox (MTGEO Toolbox) is now available!

Educators and teachers can easily access lesson plans and tutorials through the Montana Geo-
graphic Alliance website. Activities include

• Creating a Community Tour
• Exploring Map Projections in ArcMap
• GPS Accuracy 
• Magnetic Declination 
• Mapping a Story 
• The Amazing Race 
• The Hand-held Compass

Teachers can also borrow classroom sets of GPS units and compasses for up to four weeks. All the lessons correspond with National Geography Standards.

Viewing, Printing, and Saving Maps from the Library of Congress

Do you share my love-hate relationship with digitized map collections? I love the fact that these amazing sources are available online for me to use. I get REALLY frustrated trying to navigate and print them.

If you feel the same way, perhaps Primary Source Nexus's tutorial "Viewing, Saving & Printing Maps from the Library of Congress" will help.

Looking for more map resources? Check out these earlier posts:

• Happy Geographic Awareness Week  
• Teaching with Maps
• Historic Map Resources
• History Pin and What Was There. And speaking of History Pin--if you have any interest in Butte, you need to check out the tours Dick Gibson has been putting together on History Pin, including this fabulous Butte women's history tour.

Nominate a History Hero

The Montana Historical Society Board of Trustees is seeking nominations from across the state for its prestigious Heritage Keepers Awards. Do you know of someone in your community whose local history work deserves to be recognized? If so, read on.

Two Heritage Keepers Awards are presented each year to those who have had a significant impact on generating interest in and the preservation of the rich and diverse history of Montana. One award is given for eastern Montana and another for western Montana with the dividing line at Lewistown. The awards will be presented at the MHS Montana History Conference, September 18-20, 2014 in Helena. (Put those dates on your calendar and think about attending--it is going to be a great one.)

One of the purposes of the award is to encourage everyone to become engaged and involved with their own personal and local histories. “Better understanding of the past in the present gives us knowledge to better our future for the good of our families, our state, and our nation,” MHS Trustee Shirley Groff of Butte explained.

Nominations can be submitted for a living individual or a currently active group that has significantly contributed to history or heritage with a statewide, regional or community focus covering any aspect of the long and varied history of the state.

Examples of nominees are cultural groups, artists, educators, authors, genealogists, historians, preservationists, archivist or historical groups and clubs.  The nominees’ work or project should enhance, promote or encourage interest in Montana history.

Nominations must be received by April 1, and nomination forms are available on line at or by calling 406-444-1799.There are three questions limited to 500 word answers: contributions to Montana history; strengths and impacts of the history goals achieved by the nominee; and a biographical sketch of the nominee. Supporting documentation such as news clips, commendations and letters of support can be attached.

Past award recipients can be viewed here.

PowerPoints/Chapter Notes for Montana: Stories of the Land

Jack Young of Harlem High School wrote me recently asking if I knew of anyone who had made chapter notes and/or PowerPoint presentations for the chapters in the textbook Montana: Stories of the Land.

If you have—and you are willing to share them with him—please contact me at mkohl@mt.gov and I'll pass along your material or otherwise put you two in touch. (I’d be interested in seeing your PowerPoints/Chapter Notes as well, but I doubt I could share them widely without a fair amount of work due to image copyright issues.)

Another Option: Student-Generated PowerPoints

One option for teachers interested in creating this sort of resource is to assign specific chapters to individual students or groups of students, making them responsible for constructing the PowerPoints and for sharing them with the class. Students could copy images from the PDFs we’ve posted online of each chapter  as part of the Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website and Online Teacher's Guide.

Reading specialist Sue Dailey worked with us during the creation of the textbook to make sure it was easy to outline by insisting that

1. That each chapter opened with a set of questions that previewed the main chapter topics (Read to Find Out) 
2. That each chapter also had a “Big Picture” statement summarizing of its main theme, and 
3. That we incorporated clear, consisted subheads into the chapter organization

If students used these guideposts (especially the subheads and big picture statement), I bet their chapter notes/PowerPoints would be pretty successful.

PowerPoints that Complement (But Don’t Summarize) Textbook Chapters

Although we’ve never created PowerPoints that summarize the material in the textbook, we have created several PowerPoints that supplement and expand upon that material.

MHS Interpretive Historian Ellen Baumler created a PowerPoint-based lesson plan, "Children of the Mining Camps," which links to a PowerPoint presentation of the same title to complement Chapters 6 and 10.

Ellen also created a PowerPoint-based lesson plan, "What They Left Behind," which links to a PowerPoint presentation on the various types of archaeological sites found in Montana, to complement Chapter 2.

The PowerPoint-based lesson plan, "Railroads Transform Montana," complements Chapter 9—and is one of my favorites. The lesson—which includes a PowerPoint presentation—emphasizes the how trains affected the social, economic, and physical landscape of Montana.

And our new hands-on history footlocker, Coming to Montana: Immigrants from around the World, includes a PowerPoint lesson on twentieth-century immigrants (Hutterites, Hispanics, and Hmong) that would expand nicely on Chapter 20. (See Lesson 7 in the User Guide for the PowerPoint script and a link to the PowerPoint itself). (For more on this fabulous new footlocker, see this earlier post).