Tomorrow is the last day of school for Reed Point. Congratulations, Reed Point teachers and students. You made it!
As yet another school year winds to a close, I’d appreciate getting your feedback. I’d also like to gather information on what has worked for you in the classroom, so I can share it with other teachers next year.
Would you be willing to take a short online survey? If so, click here.
Need a little incentive? I’m offering prizes to the fifteenth, thirty-first, forty-second person to complete this survey.
P.S. Don't be confused. The survey refers to the listserv because the way the information on this blog is delivered to most people, but the Montana History and Heritage Education Listserv is the same as the Teaching Montana History Blog.
P.P.S. I'll continue posting for a little while now since most of us still have more school ahead of us--but wanted to get the survey out in order to reach everyone.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Monday, May 7, 2018
Apply for IEFA Grants. Plus Supaman.
Our friends at OPI are offering grants to fund excellent IEFA activities. From their press release:
The K-12 IEFA 2018-2019 Grant will open soon! Please contact Mike Jetty 406-444-0720 or Jennifer Stadum 406-444-0725 to discuss your idea and receive the link for the application. The application deadline is June 20 but all applicants must first speak with OPI Indian Education before they submit an application.
Grant awards are available in a range of approximately $1,000-$12,000 for each project, depending upon the scope of the proposal. There will be a limited number of grants awarded. Priority points will be awarded for proposals containing activities that occur throughout the school year, schoolwide or district-wide professional development that includes school and/or district administrators, and a timeline reflecting pre-planning and organization efforts.
efforts.
And speaking of IEFA: Check out this interview with the National Museum of the American Indian by Montana's own indigenous hip hop artist Supaman. (The best part, in my opinion? The links to two of Supaman's music videos, "Why" and "Prayer Loop Song.")
- Have a great Indian Education for All project you’ve been dreaming of, and wondering how to fund your idea?
- Know your school could benefit from school-wide PIR on Indian Ed, and with funding you could organize an exciting event?
The K-12 IEFA 2018-2019 Grant will open soon! Please contact Mike Jetty 406-444-0720 or Jennifer Stadum 406-444-0725 to discuss your idea and receive the link for the application. The application deadline is June 20 but all applicants must first speak with OPI Indian Education before they submit an application.
Grant awards are available in a range of approximately $1,000-$12,000 for each project, depending upon the scope of the proposal. There will be a limited number of grants awarded. Priority points will be awarded for proposals containing activities that occur throughout the school year, schoolwide or district-wide professional development that includes school and/or district administrators, and a timeline reflecting pre-planning and organization efforts.
efforts.
And speaking of IEFA: Check out this interview with the National Museum of the American Indian by Montana's own indigenous hip hop artist Supaman. (The best part, in my opinion? The links to two of Supaman's music videos, "Why" and "Prayer Loop Song.")
Thursday, May 3, 2018
What's Old Is New Again
Montana history has been jumping out at me from today's headlines. I'm seeing ties to the past just about everywhere I look these days.
Here are a few contemporary topics with historical resonances for those interested in teaching "the past as prologue."
1. County Splitting
"Blackfeet Legislator Proposes Creating new Montana County," ran in the May 23, 2018, Missoulian. Frustrated by the lack of services on the reservation during this winter's severe snowstorms, Representative George Kipp III has asked for a feasibility study to look "at the costs of creating and running" a new county, carved out of Pondera and Glacier Counties, which has the same boundaries as the Blackfeet Reservation.
Here's how we wrote about the county busting craze of the 1910s, when almost half of our 56 counties were created in chapter 15 of Montana: Stories of the Land:
2. Disaster and Disaster Response
"Montana's Hi-Line underwater and in a state of emergency," read the April 18, 2018, Great Falls Tribune headline. In an April post, I pointed out that the Tribune had gathered its articles about the 1964 flood in one place, provided a link to an article on the 1964 flood on the Blackfeet Reservation, and referred readers to an old post I wrote about teaching about disasters. More recently I came across the site SixtyFourFlood.Com, which includes videotaped oral histories of the flood as well as links to relevant documents and archival collections.
3. Tribal Nationhood
"Trump challenges Native Americans’ historical standing" was published in Politico on April 22, 2018. (For those interested in bias in media--which should be all of us--note that, according to Media Bias/Fact Check, Politico is left of center in political orientation but its factual reporting is rated "high.")
Although the immediate issue is whether tribal recipients of Medicaid should be subject to work requirements, the larger issue is whether Native Americans should be considered racial or ethnic designation or whether American Indians are members of sovereign tribal nations to which the U.S. government has treaty obligations. Articles in both Mvskoke Media (the newspaper of the Muscogee/Creek Nation) and Indian Country Today (both of which approach politics from tribal perspectives) expanded on Politico's reporting with added emphasis on the topic of sovereignty.
There are also three cases before the Supreme Court this spring that will affect current interpretations of sovereignty and treaty rights, including Washington v U.S., which I touched on in this April post.
These current news stories reminded me of these excerpts from Chapter 20 and Chapter 22 of Montana: Stories of the Land, talking about shifts in federal Indian policy:
One of my favorite "Enduring Questions" is "What has changed and what's remained the same?" A second might be, "What, if anything, can we learn from past attempts to wrestle with issues similar to the ones we face today?"
Here are a few contemporary topics with historical resonances for those interested in teaching "the past as prologue."
1. County Splitting
"Blackfeet Legislator Proposes Creating new Montana County," ran in the May 23, 2018, Missoulian. Frustrated by the lack of services on the reservation during this winter's severe snowstorms, Representative George Kipp III has asked for a feasibility study to look "at the costs of creating and running" a new county, carved out of Pondera and Glacier Counties, which has the same boundaries as the Blackfeet Reservation.
Here's how we wrote about the county busting craze of the 1910s, when almost half of our 56 counties were created in chapter 15 of Montana: Stories of the Land:
"One Progressive idea changed the map of Montana by splitting big eastern counties into smaller ones. As the homesteaders peopled more of Montana, they wanted to be more involved in local politics, so they wanted their county seats closer. And eastern farmers knew that having more, smaller counties would give them a stronger voice in the state legislature because each county had one state senator. (This changed in the 1960s.)
"In 1915 the Montana legislature passed a law allowing people to redraw their county lines by submitting a petition to the state. In the next few years, Montana’s 27 counties split into 56 smaller counties. Splitting up counties was called “county-busting.”
"Many small counties in eastern Montana struggle today with the aftereffects of the Progressive Era county-busting craze. Of the 56 counties in the state, 22 have fewer than 5,000 people. Thirteen counties have fewer than 2,000 people; Petroleum County has only 474. Nearly every legislature since 1936 has considered consolidating (combining several into one) some of these counties, but these measures have failed because citizens want to keep their county seats."And here's an article Dave Walter wrote about county splitting: "County Busting: Colorful Memories and an Economic Legacy," Montana Magazine, 78 (July-Aug., 1986).
2. Disaster and Disaster Response
"Montana's Hi-Line underwater and in a state of emergency," read the April 18, 2018, Great Falls Tribune headline. In an April post, I pointed out that the Tribune had gathered its articles about the 1964 flood in one place, provided a link to an article on the 1964 flood on the Blackfeet Reservation, and referred readers to an old post I wrote about teaching about disasters. More recently I came across the site SixtyFourFlood.Com, which includes videotaped oral histories of the flood as well as links to relevant documents and archival collections.
3. Tribal Nationhood
"Trump challenges Native Americans’ historical standing" was published in Politico on April 22, 2018. (For those interested in bias in media--which should be all of us--note that, according to Media Bias/Fact Check, Politico is left of center in political orientation but its factual reporting is rated "high.")
Although the immediate issue is whether tribal recipients of Medicaid should be subject to work requirements, the larger issue is whether Native Americans should be considered racial or ethnic designation or whether American Indians are members of sovereign tribal nations to which the U.S. government has treaty obligations. Articles in both Mvskoke Media (the newspaper of the Muscogee/Creek Nation) and Indian Country Today (both of which approach politics from tribal perspectives) expanded on Politico's reporting with added emphasis on the topic of sovereignty.
There are also three cases before the Supreme Court this spring that will affect current interpretations of sovereignty and treaty rights, including Washington v U.S., which I touched on in this April post.
These current news stories reminded me of these excerpts from Chapter 20 and Chapter 22 of Montana: Stories of the Land, talking about shifts in federal Indian policy:
"Throughout U.S. history the government has shifted between two completely different policies toward American Indians. One acknowledges Indian tribes as sovereign (independent and self-governing) nations inhabiting their own lands. Under this approach the U.S. government made treaties (agreements between governments) with Indian tribes (see Chapter 7).
"The other approach, which is quite the opposite, sees American Indians as an ethnic group within the U.S. population. Under this approach the government periodically has tried to dissolve Indian tribes and to assimilate (absorb) Indian people into mainstream society. The Dawes Act of 1887 was one example of this policy (see Chapter 11).
"In the 1930s the government returned some powers of self-government to tribes and tried to encourage tribal cultures to strengthen (see Chapter 18). In 1953 the government changed its policy again. Congress decided to end, or terminate, its special relationship with some Indian tribes. The government called this policy termination (the end of something). The government selected specific tribes to terminate. The plan was to withdraw federal support from these tribes, abolish their tribal governments, sell off tribal lands, and end all treaty rights (tribal rights established by treaty). ...
"In 1975 Congress enacted the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. After 22 years under the termination policy (see Chapter 20), America’s Indian people gained back some of their sovereign powers. With the Self-Determination Act, American Indian tribes gained the right to govern tribal affairs on their reservations (land that tribes reserved for their own use through treaties). Self-determination means that Indian tribes and the federal government more often deal with one another on a government-to-government basis, as they did when the United States was formed."It also made me think of Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians #5: "There were many federal policies put into place throughout American history that have affected Indian people and still shape who they are today. Many of these policies conflicted with one another." Are we heading into a new federal Indian policy era?
One of my favorite "Enduring Questions" is "What has changed and what's remained the same?" A second might be, "What, if anything, can we learn from past attempts to wrestle with issues similar to the ones we face today?"
Monday, April 30, 2018
Opening Up the Textbook
Last week I wrote about using primary sources for focus activities. Especially in middle school and high school, primary sources can also help in opening up the textbook. According to TeachingHistory.org, "Opening Up the Textbook, developed at Stanford University, is one method of using the textbook to help students learn how to think historically and read critically."
Opening Up the Textbook moves the textbook from its position as the one true story about the past to one historical account among many. Intended to help students slow down, read closely, and critically evaluate their textbook, this is not a strategy that fits well with reading lengthy textbook passages or chapters.
TeachingHistory.org lists six ways to Open up the Textbook. The two that work best with primary sources are
Have you tried it? What sources did you use/topic did you address? And how'd it go? (I'd love to know!)
Opening Up the Textbook moves the textbook from its position as the one true story about the past to one historical account among many. Intended to help students slow down, read closely, and critically evaluate their textbook, this is not a strategy that fits well with reading lengthy textbook passages or chapters.
TeachingHistory.org lists six ways to Open up the Textbook. The two that work best with primary sources are
- "Direct Challenge: Using primary documents to challenge textbook facts or interpretation" and
- "Vivification: Breathing life into a text that only mentions, or omits."
- "Comparison: Comparing two textbook accounts—e.g. U.S. to non-U.S, old to new."
- "Narrativization: Where does a textbook begin to tell the story, where does it end it?"
- "Articulating Silences: Who is left out of the textbook's narrative? Try bringing in voices of the silenced or moving issues of narrative choice to the surface."
- "Close Reading: Careful, attentive focus on word choice, including adjectives, titles, and the like."
Have you tried it? What sources did you use/topic did you address? And how'd it go? (I'd love to know!)
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Primary Sources: Perfect for Focus Activities
I've written about teaching with primary sources before, for example in this 2012 article cleverly named "Teaching with Primary Sources," and in this post, which recognizes that exposure to primary sources is not enough. But I believe the topic bears revisiting.
Primary sources can help promote empathy, curiosity, and engagement; make students feel like “real historians”; provide an opportunity to practice close reading (images are great for this!); and teach students how to evaluate the evidence and the quality of a source.
With so many sources now available, through the Library of Congress, National Archives, Montana Memory, and other websites, finding primary sources is no longer the main barrier to integrating them into the classroom. The barrier is figuring out how to use them effectively.
One of the easiest ways to effectively integrate primary sources into your classroom is to use them for focus activities--to introduce a unit or refocus students' attention at a midpoint.
For focus activities, I especially like primary sources that
Primary sources can help promote empathy, curiosity, and engagement; make students feel like “real historians”; provide an opportunity to practice close reading (images are great for this!); and teach students how to evaluate the evidence and the quality of a source.
With so many sources now available, through the Library of Congress, National Archives, Montana Memory, and other websites, finding primary sources is no longer the main barrier to integrating them into the classroom. The barrier is figuring out how to use them effectively.
One of the easiest ways to effectively integrate primary sources into your classroom is to use them for focus activities--to introduce a unit or refocus students' attention at a midpoint.
For focus activities, I especially like primary sources that
- present a puzzle--why are these troops in Butte? what language is this flyer in, and why? (flyer courtesy UM);
- challenge a stereotype or conventional wisdom;
- offer an insight or Aha! experience (The West was very early connected to global markets. Homesteading directly affected Montana Indians.); and/or
- promote empathy (image courtesy MSU-Billings).
There are lots of different focus activity techniques:
- Visual Thinking Strategies, Crop It and Zoom-In (for images)
- Class or pair/share discussion based on one or two well-crafted questions, especially after giving students a few minutes to "write their way in" (3 minutes of non-stop writing to get thoughts down on paper--without worrying about spelling, punctuation, etc.)
- After reviewing source, have small groups of students generate a list of questions about the upcoming topic of instruction.
Do you have a favorite strategy for working with primary sources that I've missed or a favorite primary source that you use with your class? Share it with me and I'll share it out.
P.S. The deadline to apply to become a Middle School Montana History Teacher Leader is fast approaching. If this interests you, make sure to submit your application before April 30. If you have questions about the program, don't hesitate to contact me.
P.S. The deadline to apply to become a Middle School Montana History Teacher Leader is fast approaching. If this interests you, make sure to submit your application before April 30. If you have questions about the program, don't hesitate to contact me.
Monday, April 23, 2018
Virtual Field Trips
Last week's post focused on field trips and how to integrate them into your curriculum. But what if you can't travel?
A quick internet search for "virtual field trips" brings up a dozen lists of "best virtual field trips." Here's one from my go-to blogger Glenn Wiebe.
And, closer to home, for teachers unable to bring their students to Helena, we've been creating ways to bring Helena to you (some higher tech than others.)
Ellen Baumler just finished a virtual tour of Helena's Pioneer Cabin, "What Would You Bring?" Emigrant Families on Montana's Gold Rush Frontier (grades 3-8). The site is curated by the Montana Heritage Commission and Ellen took the tour she gives of the cabin and transformed it into a PowerPoint with a script that teachers can use in the classroom. We supplemented it with introductory exercise, post-tour discussion questions, and standards alignment and added it to our growing collection of PowerPoint Lesson Plans. It's really quite wonderful. I encourage you to check it out.
Laura Ferguson created a "virtual tour" (again based on a PowerPoint and script--though with interactive elements written in) of our exhibit Neither Empty Nor Unknown: Montana at the Time of Lewis and Clark. It's part of the larger Neither Empty nor Unknown: Montana at the Time of Lewis and Clark Lesson Plan. Turn to Appendix 4 (page 36) for instructions on how to modify the lesson without visiting the museum.
You can virtually explore the Montana State Capitol and the Original Governor's Mansion (OGM) on Google Maps. Neither have scripts, but for the Capitol, there's a static web exhibit featuring the art and history (just waiting for someone to design a web quest--those are still a thing, right?) And for the OGM, there's a scavenger hunt we developed for use with the virtual tour as part of the Original Governor's Mansion footlocker. (See pages 47-48 of the OGM foootlocker User Guide.) Tour guide extraordinaire Bobi Harris is also working with colleagues to create a video tour of the Original Governor's Mansion. We'll add a link to it as soon as it's done.
Of course, computer tours are never as good as the real thing. To schedule actual tours of Montana's Museum at the Montana Historical Society or the Original Governor's Mansion, contact us at (406) 444-4794 or by email bharris2@mt.gov.
A quick internet search for "virtual field trips" brings up a dozen lists of "best virtual field trips." Here's one from my go-to blogger Glenn Wiebe.
And, closer to home, for teachers unable to bring their students to Helena, we've been creating ways to bring Helena to you (some higher tech than others.)
Ellen Baumler just finished a virtual tour of Helena's Pioneer Cabin, "What Would You Bring?" Emigrant Families on Montana's Gold Rush Frontier (grades 3-8). The site is curated by the Montana Heritage Commission and Ellen took the tour she gives of the cabin and transformed it into a PowerPoint with a script that teachers can use in the classroom. We supplemented it with introductory exercise, post-tour discussion questions, and standards alignment and added it to our growing collection of PowerPoint Lesson Plans. It's really quite wonderful. I encourage you to check it out.
Laura Ferguson created a "virtual tour" (again based on a PowerPoint and script--though with interactive elements written in) of our exhibit Neither Empty Nor Unknown: Montana at the Time of Lewis and Clark. It's part of the larger Neither Empty nor Unknown: Montana at the Time of Lewis and Clark Lesson Plan. Turn to Appendix 4 (page 36) for instructions on how to modify the lesson without visiting the museum.
This spring we are again offering special tours of the Mackay Gallery of Russell Art, given by "Nancy Russell (Charlie's wife and business manager) as portrayed by first person interpreter Mary Jane Bradbury. But even if you can't get to Helena, you can watch Mary Jane Bradbury touring the gallery as Nancy Russell on YouTube.
You can virtually explore the Montana State Capitol and the Original Governor's Mansion (OGM) on Google Maps. Neither have scripts, but for the Capitol, there's a static web exhibit featuring the art and history (just waiting for someone to design a web quest--those are still a thing, right?) And for the OGM, there's a scavenger hunt we developed for use with the virtual tour as part of the Original Governor's Mansion footlocker. (See pages 47-48 of the OGM foootlocker User Guide.) Tour guide extraordinaire Bobi Harris is also working with colleagues to create a video tour of the Original Governor's Mansion. We'll add a link to it as soon as it's done.
Of course, computer tours are never as good as the real thing. To schedule actual tours of Montana's Museum at the Montana Historical Society or the Original Governor's Mansion, contact us at (406) 444-4794 or by email bharris2@mt.gov.
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Field Trips: More than a Day Out
Field trip season is upon us. To facilitate getting your students out of the classroom, Nick Zarnowski (who's working for us this spring) created a series of maps showing possible Montana history field trips across the state. One of the maps shows all of the field trip sites, the others are organized to show how the sites align with chapters of our textbook, Montana: Stories of the Land.
I've written before about ways to make field trips more than a fun day off school and continue to be inspired by Smithsonian's research-based best practices for a meaningful field trip, which include clarifying the learning objectives of the visit, linking the visit to curriculum, and providing structure to the visit while also allowing time for free exploration.
Nick had a great suggestion to fulfil the latter goal: before and after concept mapping. Have students draw a concept map showing what they know about the topic they will be learning more about on the field trip before you go and then again after you return home. It's an easy way to see what they learned and what points you want to reteach or reemphasize in the classroom.
Nick also created a scavenger hunt to be used for visits to our special exhibit, "Times of Trouble, Times of Change: Montana and the Great War," so if you are planning a trip to MHS, consider adding this temporary exhibit to your agenda. Pre and post-tour activities for this centennial installation include reading Chapter 16 of the textbook Montana: Stories of the Land, "Montana and World War I"; having students explore the "Montana and the Great War Story Map," possibly using the story map Scavenger Hunt; or having students complete the Montana and the Great War Lesson Plan, which asks students, after studying the period, to write a journal entry or a letter from the perspective of someone living in Montana (or serving in the armed forces) during the war.
Here are a few other pre and post field trip ideas for sites curated by the Montana Historical Society, including our museum.
Touring Montana State Capitol?
Watch the first 10:55 of “When Copper Was King” (part of Montana Mosaic), which focuses specifically on the Copper King’s 1894 Capital Fight between Helena and Anaconda. The video begins with students giving their best answer to the following focus question, which relates to Segment 1: “Why is Helena our state capital?” I recommend asking your students the same question before viewing the episode. (You can find the teacher guide/discussion questions here.)
Touring the Original Governor’s Mansion?
The mansion is interpreted around Gov. Stewart’s tenure (1913-21), which encompasses the years of World War I and, during the WWI centennial, it is being interpreted in the WWI context through a tour called "Doing Our Bit: Montana’s Home Front during the Great War." To prepare for that tour, consider having students explore the Montana and the Great War Story Map, which looks at the war's effects on Montanans, using this scavenger hunt and/or this lesson plan. And/or have them read Chapter 16 of Montana: Stories of the Land. (The PDF is available online).
Even more valuable would be to introduce the mansion and the era using the hands-on history footlocker, Original Governor’s Mansion: Home to the Stewart Family in Turbulent Times, 1913-1921. Remember that even if you can't bring the physical footlocker to your classroom, you can still make use of the lesson plans, informational text (aimed at a fourth-grade level), and PowerPoints with historic images. (And have your younger students make calling cards to bring with them on their field trip. (See Lesson 4B in the Original Governor's Mansion footlocker user guide.)
Touring Neither Empty Nor Unknown: Montana at the Time of Lewis and Clark?
Preview the story-telling tour and download pre- and post-tour lessons and discussion questions.Touring the Mackay Gallery of C. M. Russell Art?
Integrate the field trip into your curriculum with Montana's Charlie Russell, which offers biographical PowerPoints, hands-on art lessons, and ELA and social studies lessons.
And speaking of the Mackay Gallery: We once again have special tours available this spring, led by Nancy Russell herself (as portrayed by Mary Jane Bradbury.) In this living history tour, Nancy shares first-hand stories about her life with Charlie and the integral role she played in creating his remarkable legacy. The tour has gotten rave reviews, so make sure to ask for it if you are interested in Russell.
And speaking of the Mackay Gallery: We once again have special tours available this spring, led by Nancy Russell herself (as portrayed by Mary Jane Bradbury.) In this living history tour, Nancy shares first-hand stories about her life with Charlie and the integral role she played in creating his remarkable legacy. The tour has gotten rave reviews, so make sure to ask for it if you are interested in Russell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)