Free Online PDs from MHS

Because we couldn't host in-person PDs last year, we, like everyone else, mournfully made the switch to online. And we found out that folks liked it! So even though we're back to hosting in-person PDs (are you coming to the September 23 Educator's workshop in Butte?) we decided to continue to offer online options as well, the second Wednesday of every month from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.  These sessions are interactive and attendees can earn one OPI renewal credit per session. 

September 8: Introduction to MHS Resources

Participants will be given time to explore the MHS website and then will be asked to share resources they plan to use in their classrooms. Register here before September 7 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting. 

October 13: Diving into the New Social Studies Standards

Join with other teachers to explore the new Social Studies content standards, focusing on the ones that are relevant to the grades you teach, and learn how the new social studies skills standards overlap, or complement, the standards for other academic disciplines. Register here before October 12 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.  

November 10: Hooks!

Back by popular demand! Last year’s session on Hooks was the overwhelming crowd favorite, so we thought we’d do it again. Bring your best strategies for engaging students to share and/or come to learn what has worked in your colleagues’ classrooms. Register here before November 9 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.  

December 8: Explore the Montana Memory Project
Join Montana Memory Project Director Jennifer Birnel for a tour of the new Montana Memory Project website, and learn how you can find primary sources to use in your classroom—from historical photographs and yearbooks to cattle brands and reminiscences. Then join in a discussion of best practices for introducing primary sources to students. Register here before December 7 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.

 

Best of, Elementary...

 ... and a request.

Help!

Every spring, I ask folks to share their favorite Montana history of IEFA lesson, the one they would absolutely do again. And every year, your answers are the most popular aspect of my listserv, so I know you came for your colleagues' recommendations. But since you are here, please email me if you teach fourth grade and are able and willing to test a lesson on "The 1972 Constitution," "What Governments Do," "Tribal Sovereignty," and/or "Montana's Economy" before October 15. 

And now onto the main attraction!

 

Recommendations 

Shelby third grade teacher Sara White wrote: "I use the Montana Skies Blackfeet and Crow Astronomy books/CDs to have the students during the winter listen to the Blackfeet story 'The Woman Who Married a Star.'" I ask them to "recount the story, determine the central message/lesson or moral and explain how it is conveyed through the text. Then I do the same lesson with the Crow story, "The Seven Stars: The Story of the Seven Bulls." The students love to hear the stories and we have great, enriching discussions." [OPI sent these books and CDs to every public school, but they can also be found online. The books with lesson plans are here (Crow) and here (Blackfeet). Links to the stories, which have been posted on YouTube, are here.  

Fifth/sixth-grade teacher Shannon Baukol, from Arrowhead School (Park County) wrote: " I loved teaching the Coming to Montana unit to my 5th and 6th grade class this year. I found it extremely valuable and enlightening and it gave my students so much information that they didn't already know." 

Elementary librarian Ruth Ferris (Billings) wrote that her favorite lesson was "An Artists Journey: Transform a Painting into Poetry," which asks students to examine several Russell paintings using their five senses, before choosing one painting to use as an inspiration for a poem. 

Anonymous: This year I used the "Water Protectors" book [We Are Water Protectors]. I read the story aloud to the students, then discussed the main idea and important history to go with the story. We did a watercolor art project portraying clean water. We wrote poetry describing our feelings about why clean water is important to all life. The students were engaged and learned many new things about the history and importance of the Water Protectors. I will do this every year from now on. 

Anonymous: In October I did a unit on the Native American populations in MT. The book lists were wonderful. [I think she's talking about the books listed in this post and this post.] 

Anonymous: We had a trip to the local museum to study the natural resources of our area. We are making a trip to the museum to do a search for Native American items from this area. 

P.S. We had to migrate our website to a new platform, which may have led to some broken links. We can usually fix bad links quickly if we know about them. Will you help us identify problems by emailing me any broken links you find? Pretty please?  

P.P.S. Don't forget to register for Introduction to MHS Resources, September 8, from 4:00-5:00 and earn one OPI Renewal Unit. Participants will be given time to explore the MHS website and then will be asked to share resources they plan to use in their classrooms. Register here before September 7 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting. 

 

Welcome Back

Welcome back! Or if you are new to Teaching Montana History, welcome. I hope everyone had a good summer. The first posts of the school year are always business, so let's get started.

Help This Community Grow

If you have colleagues you think would enjoy this listserv, please let them know how to subscribe!

Apply for a Scholarship to Attend the Montana History Conference in Butte

We're back in person for the 48th Annual Montana History Conference, September 23-25. View the program and then apply for a Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation scholarship to cover your conference registration and some of your travel expenses. (We also provide OPI Renewal Units to conference attendees.) 

Back by Popular Demand: Online PD

Join us the second Wednesdays of the month, from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. for an hour of interactive professional development, and earn one OPI Renewal Unit. First up, September 8: Introduction to MHS Resources: Participants will be given time to explore the MHS website and then will be asked to share resources they plan to use in their classrooms. Register here before September 7 to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.

For Students with Learning Disabilities

Did you know? Montana: Stories of the Land is available as an audio book for students with learning disabilities through Learning Ally.

When Links Don't Work 

We had to migrate our website to a new platform, which may have led to some broken links. We can usually fix bad links quickly if we know about them. Will you help us identify problems by emailing me any broken links you find? Pretty please? 

Teaching Montana History Facebook Group

If you spend time on Facebook, I hope you'll join--and actively participate--in our closed Teaching Montana History Facebook group. It's a great way to connect to other teachers. I look forward to connecting with you there—or through phone or email. Please don't hesitate to contact me. 

Finding Teaching Resources

You can find resources on the "For Educators" page of the MHS website. They are organized by subject, as well as by skill level: Elementary, Middle School, and High School.

 

 

 

"Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Primary Source Questions" Online Course

 Only last week, I said farewell for the summer--but then the folks at the Right Question Institute emailed me about this free opportunity that is too good not to share. I've been advocating teaching students how to ask questions for a long time now--and am thrilled that developing questions is one of the skills included in our new state social studies standards (SS.K12.1).  

The Right Question Institute can help you help your students master this essential skill. And they are doing it with primary sources! And it's free! And, if you email me a copy of your certificate at the end of the course, I'll be happy to issue a certificate for 12 OPI Renewal Units. 

Here's the Right Question's promo and link to registration:   

When studying primary sources, questions can act as both a magnifying glass and a telescope: They help us to see more clearly what is in front of us and then inspire us to look beyond. Learning how to ask questions is an essential skill that can transform the way students approach primary source learning. Join us for “Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Primary Source Questions”: a new, free online course developed in collaboration with, and made possible by, the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program.  

This self-paced, four-week online course demonstrates how to combine the Question Formulation Technique with the primary source artifacts and teacher resources available at the Library of Congress to design and implement more effective, student-centered, inquiry-based primary source learning. Participants walk away with a peer reviewed lesson plan, a new community of educators, and pathways to extend their learning. The course opens week to week and requires approximately 12-16 hours of work total, or three to four hours of work per week. 

• Dates (self-paced): July 7 – August 4, 2021
• Registration deadline: June 30, 2021
• Learn more. 
• Register here. 

P.S. We still haven't awarded that final prize to the forty-eighth person to take the survey. Maybe it has your name on it! 

See you next fall, if not before

Teaching Montana History is going on hiatus for summer break--unless something time sensitive comes along that is so good I can't bear not to share it. 

If you are changing schools, please re-subscribe using your new address! We'd hate to lose touch. 

If your travels bring you to Helena this summer, please stop in and say "hello." And of course, don't hesitate to contact me if I can help you as you prepare for your classes next fall: mkohl@mt.gov. 

Do know that there's still time to complete our annual survey and to share your favorite lesson. (Need more incentive? The prize for the forty-eighth person to complete the survey is still waiting to be claimed.)  

Whether through the survey, an email, or if your vacation takes you through Helena, I look forward to hearing from you. 

P.S. Missing the Teaching Montana History already? Browse back posts. Use the labels on the right-hand side to browse general areas (IEFA) or the search bar to search by keywords (primary sources). And if you have time this summer, consider taking some online professional development to learn more about Montana history and teaching resources while earning OPI Renewal Units. 

Funding for a Museum-Educator Partnership Project

The Museums Association of Montana in partnership with the Library of Congress will be providing grants to 12 Museum/Educator partnerships for place-based projects that link Montana primary sources, Montana places, the Montana classic A River Runs through It, by Norman Maclean, and the new memoir Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River, by Norman Maclean’s son John.

To participate, you must apply with a local museum. Twelve museum-educator pairs will be offered $750 stipends, and each team will have the authority to spend those funds in a method they deem most suitable for their project.

See below for more details.

PRIORITIES/PROJECT GOALS

• Connect the new piece of acclaimed literature Home Waters (and a well-known familial companion A River Runs through It) with primary sources that can be analyzed and studied by students or community members to provide them with a deeper understanding of the books.
• Support research into, and an understanding of, the books Home Waters and A River Runs through It and how they play a role in understanding key places, in Montana and elsewhere.
• Provide explicit Library of Congress training for participants (teachers and museum staff) about searching the deeper collections of the Library of Congress (as well as other archives) and how resources in the collections can expand an understanding of places that appear in literature and history and provide connections to state and national standards in multiple disciplines.
• Provide educators and local museum partners with an opportunity to connect, partner in an inquiry process, and develop a plan for how to use local museum primary and secondary sources in concert/partnership with schools to embed the study of place and heritage in the classroom. This project allows for an avenue not only to foster partnerships using primary sources and literature, but to build sustained relationships for ongoing collaboration.
• Share the mission of the project through virtual communication and presentations with a wider audience including the American Association of State and Local History, the National Council for Social Studies, National Council of Teachers of English, and other educational entities as well as the learning cohorts in participating school districts and curriculum specialists in the state of Montana.

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

1. All museums must be 501c3 Non-profit organizations in good standing.
2. All participant teams must be made up of one non-profit museum and a K-12 educator.
3. All participants must be willing and able to attend all six Web Meetings.
4. All participants must commit to completing a measurable project utilizing the skills and resources identified through the Home Waters Project.

AWARDS SCHEDULE

Applications will be reviewed and prioritized by a selection committee. Selections will be made and approved partnerships notified by August 1, 2021.

APPLICATION will be available by contacting Deb Mitchell, Executive Director, Museums Association of Montana, 406-444-4789 or dmitchell@mt.gov

Application Deadline: July 15, 2021

Earlier submission is recommended.

EVERYBODY loves historic newspapers

Digitized Newspapers

I am always excited when my coworker Natasha Hollenbach tells me that she's completed uploading new newspapers to Montana Newspapers or Chronicling America. The newest additions to Montana Newspapers bring the total of free digitized pages available to over 1.15 million!

New titles/available date ranges include:

• Belt Valley Times from 1964 to 1977.
• The River Press (Fort Benton) up through 2010.
• The Poplar Shopper from 1970 to 2001 (the full run) 
• The Char-Koosta News from 1985 to 2014
• And 656 pages of 5 newspapers from Castle (all that remain): The Castle Mining Reporter, The Castle News, Castle Reporter, Castle Tribune, and The Whole Truth.

Click here for a map of all the newspapers digitized by the Montana Historical Society. Click here to access them. And click here for ideas on how to use the digitized newspapers with students.

End of Year Survey

Don't forget to complete the year-end survey. You might win a prize. You will certainly enjoy that good feeling of helping out your fellow teachers by providing feedback to make Teaching Montana History better and especially by sharing a favorite resource/go-to lesson.