Integrating Science and Social Studies

 I believe that the more interdisciplinary and holistic a lesson is, the more likely it is to resonate with students. That's one reason so many of the historical society lesson plans are interdisciplinary, incorporating math, ELA, art, and science. But the truth is, we have not done a good enough job integrating science.

Linda Rost, Baker High School science teacher and 2020 Montana Teacher of the Year, gave a great presentation last October at the MFPE Educator's Conference on ways to integrate IEFA and science, and my brain has been buzzing about her talk ever since. 

Linda wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on building science teachers' capacity to integrate IEFA, and that was the starting point of her presentation. She advocated for everyone to read and learn more from Indigenous scholars and culture keepers and gave a big shout out to Robin Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass. (I loved this book but only learned recently that there's a young adult version, too!) 

Pointing to ideas you can read about more fully on page 6 of The Framework: A Practical Guide for Montana Teachers and Administrators Implementing Indian Education for All, Linda believes that sprinkling a little IEFA into your classroom (mentioning that a plant was used by Indigenous people, for example) is inadequate. Instead, she advocates for a more transformative approach, placing Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) at the foundation of the lesson. 

At her session, she shared lessons focused on material science for fifth-eighth, grade, classifying materials as either strong or tough (or both), and one that looked at having students compare rawhide and tanned leather. Students investigate each step in the hide-tanning process (fleshing, braining, soaking, smoking) and observe changes to the hide using images from an electron microscope. See pages 6-12 of this document, which Linda graciously shared with me.

She also shared her lesson plan, "The Eagle Has Fallen," which she published in The Science Teacher. This lesson follows a format similar to several of Linda's other lessons: 

• Students to read (or listen to) tribal oral tradition stories to learn more about how a tribe regards and manages natural resources.
• Students do "casework"--in this case trying to find out why the eagle population has dropped in Flathead Lake.
• After students analyze the data and solved the case, they investigate different perspectives of resource management, engaging in a pinwheel discussion, during which students explore the perspectives of tribal governments and state governments to manage the ecological problem. 

Here's the PowerPoint she created to go with the lesson, which includes images from Bull Trout's Gift: A Salish Story about the Value of Reciprocity, the data students analyze, questions for the pinwheel discussions and the roles she has students adopt: tribal scientist, tribal council member, state scientist, and provocateur. (I was a bit confused by "provocateur." It turns out not to be a bomb-thrower, but someone who leads the discussion and keeps it going.)

Linda uses the same format outlined in "The Eagle Has Fallen" for several other lessons including ones focusing on climate change and cultural perspectives, using genetic testing for tribal enrollment, and grizzly bear management. For the grizzly bear lesson, her students evaluate grizzly bear data from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and determine whether they should have been delisted. She goes into detail on the grizzly bear lesson in this online video from OPI.

I think including social studies in science (or science in social studies) is a dynamite way to make science more meaningful--and to shed light on social studies issues--so I really appreciate Linda's willingness to share these lessons.

P.S. OPI has more IEFA/Science lessons here.

P.P.S. Don't forget to register for our February 12, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. PD: Connecting Past to Present.

Ideas from Middle School Colleagues

 The best lessons always come from classroom teachers, which is why I was delighted to hear from two middle school teachers recently about lessons/activities that have worked in their classrooms.

Angela Gordon, who teaches 6th and 7th grade social studies, wrote to recommend the Digital Inquiry Group's lesson on Edward Curtis. "We analyze some of his pictures and talk about his life and obsessive need to capture indigenous people and their culture in traditional dress and native environment. We discuss whether his mission was a success and how his pictures can be of use today."

By the way: Digital Inquiry Group (DIG) is the new name for the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG). All of their lessons engage students in historical inquiry, revolve around a central historical question, and feature primary source documents designed for groups of students with a range of reading skills. According to their website: 

"This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues and learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence. "

All of their resources are free for teachers (although registration is required).   

Angela hasn't been my only correspondent. Middle school teacher Bill Moe recently sent me two suggestions. The first was a worksheet he uses to help his students explore the Montana brand book during their study of Chapter 8 ("Livestock and the Open Range") of Montana: Stories of the Land.

The second was related to a troubling report by NBC News that more than 13 percent of Montana high school students had attempted suicide in the past year, the highest percentage in over twenty years. In response, Bill put up a sign in his classroom: "The World is a Better Place with You in It." He said, "This might be a good thing for kids to see or hear, or to maybe have kids write in a note or Valentine for their parents. Some of them are struggling." 

Thank you to Bill and Angela! And if you have lessons or resources that you think are worth sharing, please send them on.

PDs: Connecting Past to Present and IEFA Best Practices

 

February 12, 2024: Connecting Past and Present, Online

History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, and many of the issues we face today were pressing topics in our state's rich and robust history.

Monday, February 12, 2024, from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Teacher Leaders in Montana History Cynthia Wilondek (Big Fork) and Dylan Huisken (Bonner) will lead a discussion on how to use Montana history and MTHS resources to connect the past to the present and share strategies for making discussions and projects surrounding current events more deliberate and reflective. One OPI Renewal Unit will be available to attendees. Register.

March 8-9, 2024: 17th Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference, Billings

Looking for a great in-person PD? Check out the 17th Annual Indian Education for All Best Practices Conference, March 8-9, 2024, in Billings. Registration is free. Highlights include keynotes by Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray (Little Shell) and  Nina Sanders (Crow), author of Apsáalooke Women and Warriors and curator of the exhibit by the same name Find more information and a link to register here.  

Check out this amazing April PD with the Montana History Portal

Have you ever wanted to research a Montana or US history topic and share the details of your discovery with your students, including images and other primary resource materials as references? Now is your chance. Spend two days—hotel, meals, and tours included at no cost—with the Montana History Portal staff learning how to create various types of digital exhibits using the content from the History Portal. Participants will earn 16 OPI credits and a $425 stipend for your finished exhibit. 

Select a topic, gather the details, read, research, and create an exhibit of your topic.  Your exhibit will be published on the History Portal website, where you can access it, and it will be available to the public as a history lesson of its own. 

The History Portal contains over 88,000 items to help tell the story of a variety of topics. U.S. History and World History can be taught through Montana primary source materials, and primary sources can be used successfully with ALL ages. 

As part of the 2-day workshop, you will get a sneak peek tour of the new Montana Heritage Center and a historic walking tour of the Montana Capitol grounds to help inspire ideas and learn more about our state history. 

Register to join this April 12 and 13, 2024, workshop, which will be held at the Delta Hotels Helena Colonial, 2301 Colonial Drive, Helena.

What is "sovereignty"?

 Teacher Leader in Montana History Elysia Bain shared some useful resources for teaching about tribal sovereignty with me that I thought I would share with you!

The first is this article, published in Indian Country Today in 2014: "Professor Breaks Down Sovereignty and Explains Its Significance," by Shaawano Chad Uran, professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. 

Elysia has her government students read the article and then answer some basic questions:

• Define the term sovereignty. (Okay! This one isn't basic, but according to the article "Sovereignty is a type of political power, and it is exercised through some form of government." In addition, "The defining aspects of sovereignty are the international relationships carried out as sovereign nations.")
• What are the three types of sovereigns in the United States? (Federal, state and tribal governments) 
• What section of the U.S. Constitution recognizes tribal sovereignty? (Article VI, Clause 2) 
• What are treaties and why are they important to understanding sovereignty? (Because "treaties are agreements made between sovereign entities...by signing a treaty, both sides are showing that they recognize the sovereignty of the other.")

I think it is a really great article, and I were teaching it, I might add some other "check for comprehension" questions, like

• Is the sovereignty of tribal nations the same as or different from the sovereignty enjoyed by individual states? (Different)
• According to Professor Uran, if tribes are "domestic dependent nations" (which is how the Supreme Court has defined them), how can they still be sovereign? (Absolute power, independence, and autonomy is not necessary for sovereignty to exist. and rights "not explicitly given up to the US Federal government are still held by the tribes.")
• Professor Uran does not think tribal nations should be blamed for their economic dependence on the United States. Why not? ("Tribal economies were based on access to land" and "lands were ceded to the U.S. by treaty in exchange for tribal economic security and other provisions."

Elysia follows this activity by having her students watch the four-and-a-half-minute video "Sovereign Rights, Sovereign People." 

Looking for more short videos? Check out the National Museum of the American Indian's four minute "Nation to Nation" and twelve-minute "The 'Indian Problem'," two other videos created as part of NMAI's "Nation to Nation" exhibit. 

Do you have resources that work really well with your class that you'd like to share? Let me know!

Dreaming of Summer

Each summer, the NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for K-12 educators and higher education faculty to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends of $650 to $3,450 help cover expenses of these one-to-four-week programs. Programs may offer continuing education or graduate credits (often for an additional cost).

Teachers who participate in these institutes (including our own interpretive historian, Melissa Hibbard) rave about the opportunity and talk about how energizing, restorative, and enlightening the experience is.

All applications are due March 5, 2024. These programs are extremely competitive, so if one interests you, don't leave the application until the last minute (especially if the application requires a letter of recommendation.)  *NOTE* Special priority is given to applicants in their first five years of K-12 teaching.

Program Formats

Professional development programs include the following format options:

• Residential: All participants attend for the duration of the project at the host site.
• Virtual: All participants attend for the duration of the project using an online platform. This can include synchronous and asynchronous sessions.
• Combined Format: All participants attend a portion of the project online and a portion of the project at the host site. Online and residential sessions occur at different times, but participants attend the same format simultaneously.

Here are just a few of the many diverse institutes offered this year:

Indian Education For All

• Grand Coulee Dam: The Intersection of Modernity and Indigenous Cultures (Spokane, WA)
• Reclaiming the Narrative: Learning the Truth About Indian Boarding Schools in Arizona (Phoenix, AZ)

Japanese American History

• Heart Mountain, Wyoming and the Japanese American Incarceration (Powell, WY)
• Little Tokyo: How History Shapes a Community Across Generations (Los Angeles, CA)
• Japanese American Post-War Resettlement in Chicago (Chicago, IL and Online)

America 250 (Democracy, Citizenship, and Civil Rights)

• Exploring the First Amendment (Philadelphia, PA)
• Democracy and Education: A View from Detroit (Detroit, MI)
• American Women, American Citizens: 1920-1948 (New York City & Online)
• Freedom Summer: 60 Years Later (Jackson, MS & Online)
• The Problem of the Color Line: Atlanta Landmarks and Civil Rights History (Atlanta, GA)

Community Archives

• The Missing Stories: Reclaiming History through Community Archives (Philadelphia, PA)

And of course there are many other topics represented including LGBTQ+ History, the Gullah-Geechee people, using comics to teach social justice, and three institutes on Shakespeare.

Check out the NEH website and start putting together your application. Learn more about the program and how to apply here. You won't be sorry.

The Rural Experience in America

 This is the third year that the National Council for History Education is offering The Rural Experience in America, a program that seems tailormade for Montana schools. It's been going on for a few years, but this year, we will be offering OPI Renewal Units when you submit your certificate of completion to MTHS (mkohl@mt.gov). Read on to learn more, with text taken almost verbatim from the National Council for History Education's website.

Funded by a grant from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, National Council for History Education is offering a series of free, professional development opportunities designed to support K-12 teachers focusing on this year’s theme, Change and Development in Rural America. Support will be provided throughout all three parts of this project with built-in additional collaboration opportunities with other teachers and the NCHE staff.

Part A: Asynchronous Learning

From December 2023 through March 2024, registered teachers will self-pace through two online courses: the Library of Congress 6-week module course, "Teaching with Primary Sources Basics," and the Right Question Institute 4-week module course, "Teaching Students to Ask their Own Primary Source Questions." If you do not have a lot of experience using primary sources in your classroom, want to learn about the Library of Congress’s collection of sources, and/or want to add to your toolbox of strategies using primary sources, this professional learning is highly recommended! (12 OPI Renewal Units). Register.

PART B: Synchronous Online Colloquia

Registered teachers will participate in three online synchronous Saturday professional development sessions led by historians, educational specialists, and master teachers. These sessions will be held once a month on March 23, 2024, April 20, 2024, and May 11, 2024, from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm (EST) and will focus on a variety of topics related to Change and Development in Rural America. During this time, teachers also applying for the onsite colloquium will identify a community partner to assist them with their public history project. (5 Renewal Units for each Saturday session, with a total of 15 possible.)  Register.

PART C: Onsite Colloquium

Fifteen teachers (from those who participated in Part B) will be selected to travel to an onsite location (to be determined) along with a community partner in July 2024 (specific dates to be announced). During this two-day learning experience, teachers and community partners will learn from historians and build civic connections to develop a plan for implementing a public history project in their own community.  Teachers will receive up to $850 to defray travel costs and up to $750 to support their community project. The application deadline is March 15, 2024. (10 hours of OPI Renewal Units.) Register.

Final Thoughts

• Teachers who've already taken the Right Question Institute's "Teaching Students to Ask their Own Primary Source Questions" have raved about it.
• Studying your own community with a partner (e.g., a local museum) can be absolutely life changing for students. 
• If you enroll in any of these courses and want renewal units, email me!