Top Ten Survey, Surprises

I’ve already written two posts looking at the results of the Top Ten Events in Montana History Survey that eighty readers took last December: Top Ten Survey Results and Survey Results, Part 2.

But I’ve had such a fun time looking at the results, I wanted to talk about them a little bit more, especially about what I found surprising in the results. So—in no particular order, here’s what surprised me:

1. That there wasn’t more consensus—we were all over the board on what we thought was important.

2. That not only did Indian boarding schools not make it into our collective top ten, they didn’t even make it into the top 30.

• To my mind, the boarding schools’ long term impact has been astounding, particularly in terms of language loss. So it was interesting to me that I was one of only 15 people who put boarding schools in my top 10.

3. That the Great Depression didn’t rank higher.

• This might have been because I called it the Great Depression, instead of the New Deal, or because I gave 1920s drought, rural electrification, dams, and the Indian Reorganization Act their own categories. But it was the Great Depression/New Deal that paved Montana’s roads, built the Fort Peck Dam, revitalized Montana’s labor movement, initiated farm subsidies and social security, grew state government, and increased the role of the federal government in Montana. So how could it only have garnered 22 votes?

4. How little the twentieth century seemed to matter, according to this survey. The Homestead Boom and the 1972 Constitution were the only two twentieth century events that made it into our collective top ten.

• I don’t think that Montana today would be recognizable to Montanans from 1899. The corollary is that there must have been major twentieth century events that transformed the state. But for the most part, we focused on the 18th and 19th centuries. This might have been a flaw in the survey. It was awfully long, and if you were like me, you probably had already chosen most of your top tens before hitting 1900. And, if you were like me, you probably didn’t want to go back and change anything. Alternately, it might be that we gravitate toward what we know, and we mostly teach 19th century history when we teach about Montana.

5. That Indian history made the top ten (with negotiations of treaties, introduction of the horse, and destruction of the bison), but no specifically Indian issue made the top five.

• Why is that surprising to me? Well, from 12,000 years ago to 1805, Montana was entirely populated by native peoples. And from 1805-1855, it mostly was. On the other hand, perhaps this was another flaw in the survey. I’m guessing that people chose one issue to stand in for a number of issues so as to save slots—and that this split the vote. For example, I selected diseases for my top ten list---but I left off the introduction of the horse (which was equally important, to my mind). Instead, I used “disease” to stand in for the Columbian exchange generally. If I had taken the survey ten minutes later, I probably would have chosen horses and ignored disease. Ditto, treaties, creation of reservations, etc.

How were you surprised?

P.S. To learn more about the survey itself, see this initial post.

Survey Results, Part 2

The results of the survey on top ten events in Montana history are in. Eighty people participated in this very informal survey and many had trouble limiting themselves to ten events. One person even chose 33 "top ten" events out of the 39 events listed.

Sixty people out of the eighty who took the survey placed the discovery of gold and the arrival of the railroads in their top ten. Only fifty put homesteading there.

The least influential events, according to the survey, were county splitting (with one vote) and the Cold War and Progressive era reforms, like initiative and referendum (which each received six votes).

Only two twentieth-century events made the "top ten" list when I didn't artificially break the survey at the turn-of-the-twentieth-century mark: homesteading (with 50 votes) and the 1972 constitutional convention (at 38 votes). Is that because twentieth-century votes are really less significant, because people had already used up their votes by the time they got to the twentieth century, or because most of us know more about pre-twentieth-century Montana? Food for thought for sure.

The full results are here and additional charts are below. I'm curious to know: What about these results surpise you, if anything? (More on what I found surprising in a later post.)

P.S. Several people thought the survey would be fun to share with students, perhaps with some modifications:

• “This was a fun exercise, and great to do with your students since it gives the teacher a chance to see how they are thinking, categorizing, and evaluating history through how they support their selections.
• “The question is valid, particularly if students have to justify their answers in writing. However, I would be very interested to find how they would link these events in a web of causation.”

For those who want to use this with your students, you can find the survey on Google Docs. Go to the "File" menu, then coose "Make a Copy." I think this will make your own copy of the survey (If this doesn't work, please let me know). To edit the form,  go to the "Form" menu and choose "Edit form." Alternately, consider having your students come up with their own categories, based on the material you've covered in class.

P.P.S. If you missed the post "Top Ten Survey Results, Part 1," in which I shared people's comments, you can find it below.

Top Ten Survey Results, Part 1

Thanks to all of you who took the time to take my “Top Ten Events in Montana History Survey.” I’ll report on the survey results in a future post, but thought I’d begin by sharing some of the comments I received, which were as interesting (I thought) as the survey results themselves.

Several people had suggestions for events that should have been on the survey, but weren’t.

The most common suggestion was Jeannette Rankin’s election to Congress/her vote against the wars/ and/or women’s suffrage. One commenter even scolded, “oh please, but you didn't put Jeanette Rankin in the top ten list???? No mention of when Women got "The Vote"? Who put the list together? I know you have Women working at the Historical Society.”

Others lobbied for the addition of these events: the creation of the federal forest system, creation of Glacier National Park; the transition from territory to state, anti-government events like the Freemen and the Unabomber, the arrival of people in what is now Montana (according to archaeological evidence this happened roughly 12, 000 years ago), the Mandate of Indian Ed for All, 1972. More than one person mentioned earthquakes, particularly the one that created Hebgen Lake.

  

Some thought the large forces of immigration, industrialization, and urbanization should have received more play:

• “While it could be counted under ‘development of the copper industry,’ I'd add ‘mass immigration from all over the world,’ wrote one participant. 
• Another wrote: “Industrialization and urbanization - admittedly a process not an event. Wasn't Montana and the West generally "urban" before it became "rural"? I rely on the work of Richard White and others as a warrant for that proposition. However, I find that, in the classroom, Montana and Western history generally is still taught within a progressive Turnerian framework: first, the Indians, then the trappers, then the miners, then the settlers, then the cities, then the industries etc., etc.”

Others wanted the survey to have been even more specific:

• “I was thinking of an "event" as a single moment in time; these are more epochs or eras, covering a broader period of time. For example, the 1855 Hellgate Treaty is an "event" of great significance within the context of Indian wars and treaty-making, which is much broader. Fun, though!”
• “I would have added the many ways Montana was involved in World War II - Hamilton, the Manhattan Project - the balloon bombs. As well as the role of Fort Harrison as the initial home of the Special Forces.”

One person argued for focusing more on ways Montanans have helped one another:  

• “I wish there was more recognition (time for) toward Indian Agents who took time to assist those they were responsible for who were accepted into their roles – the Ronans for example. The influenza outbreak in 1918 and the pastors, doctors and neighbors who helped save members of their communities. The central theme I have always felt about Montana is that neighbors watch out for one another. Examples from our history are needed to help instill this in our future. I have more ideas but you asked for a simple answer so I will stop there.”

And some thought we should look at other large themes:

• Native issues couched not in wars but in the transition from a nomadic life to boundaries - promises made, intent of governments
• How a frontier state meshes with a highly industrial nation
• How money comes into the state - what stays here, what leaves 
• Electorally how a session every two years enables citizen government.

People who responded on our Facebook page tended to be more specific and/or more focused on the twentieth century than those who responded to the survey itself:

• Flight of the Nez Perce through the Bitterroot Valley
• Closing down the Anaconda Company
• Electricity deregulation
• Jeannette Rankin, first woman elected to Congress
• The constitutional amendment that corporations are not people: Once again, Montana leads and with luck the rest of the nation will follow. 

Finally—lots of people found it hard to pick just ten events, and some of them wanted to explain their choices:

• “Several events I have listed as ‘not top 10’ because I'd interweave my lessons to include them. I tried to pick the ‘Big Idea’ item as my Top 10 and the other topics/events would be under it. RE: Copper King War--this would be a side note to the larger story about copper production. Likewise gold discovery would probably begin the unit, but the big event would be copper and electrification. In that story would also focus on unions, the Progressive Era, and MT's importance in WWI.”
•  “In my case (resource) I have fewer direct historical instruction moments, but when I do I lump more together - treaties/reservations, Lewis and Clark/fur trading, gold/Indian removal, for example.”

 More on the actual survey results in future posts.

Top Ten Most Important Events in Montana History

And now for something completely different…

One of my favorite “End of Chapter” questions included in our textbook, Montana: Stories of the Land, asks students to “Create a list of the five things you think have had the greatest impact on life in Montana throughout human history.” I like it because it requires students to step back, think about what they’ve learned, and see the forest for the trees. (Does anyone ever assign this question? If so—I’d love to know how it works.)

I thought it would be fun to ask members of the Montana History and Heritage Education community a similar question.  Top five seemed too hard, though, so I’ve created a quick survey asking folks to identifying the TOP TEN most important (seminal, transformative, influential, significant, consequential) events in Montana history.

Take the survey here.

If you don’t take the question too seriously (and I hope you won’t), it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to record your answers. This is really an “off the top of your head,” gut-feeling kind of survey. And it is very informal. If you end up picking a top 8 or top 12 instead of a top 10, no worries.

This very informal survey has four main purposes:

1. I thought it might help those teaching Montana history step back a moment and consider how they are allocating their time. Are you spending the most time on the most important events? Or are you spending more time on less significant topics? And, if the latter, why? (There may be very good reasons to do so—but it is worth thinking about what your priorities are.)
2. I am really curious to see what people think. Will we all have similar ideas? Or are there radical differences in how we perceive the history of our state? I’ll share the results in a future post.
3. After I compile the answers, I’ll also take the top picks and feature teaching resources on those topics to make it easier to teach about what we (collectively) think is most important.
4. It will be fun.

Need more incentive? I’m offering prizes to the third, tenth, and twenty-third person to answer the survey. So, what are you waiting for? Click through.

  

P.S. Did I mention that this survey shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete?

Addendum: I am no longer tabulating survey results, but taking the survey is still an instructive exercise. You can find out what I learned from the survey by reading these posts: Surprises. Survey Results, and Comments.

How Do You Use Montana: Stories of the Land?

I received a query from Hellgate Middle School teacher Fred Arnold, who is teaching 7th grade Montana history for the first time. He'll be using our textbook, Montana: Stories of the Land--and was looking for advice from teachers who've been using this resource. 

He's curious about which worksheets, quizzes, and activities folks assign, but also how much time teachers spend on individual chapters? "Which subjects deserved the most time? For example, the geological forces that shaped the land and 'Dog Days'.  I know I won't get through the book, but wanted to know where teachers feel time should be spent?"

Willing to share your expertise? Email me and I'll forward any words of wisdom you have on to Fred.

His question got me thinking how little I know about how teachers are actually using Montana: Stories of the Land--so I created a survey. If you use this textbook in your classroom, I'd love to get your feedback--so much so that I will be offering prizes to THREE lucky winners, drawn at random. (Note: Only teachers who are now, or have in the past, taught using this textbook are eligible for the drawing.) 

Take the survey here.

You can answer this survey fairly quickly--so I hope you'll take a few minutes and participate. Do note, however, that there are spots for long answers too--and the more time you spend on it, the more meaningful the results will be--both for me and for your compatriots, since I will, of course, tabulate and share results.

Fred's question about what he should teach and what he should leave out reminded me of a different survey I conducted back in 2012, in which I asked folks to name the top ten most significant and influential events in Montana history. That survey garnered all sorts of interesting responses, which I discussed in three different posts: "Top Ten Survey, Surprises,"  Top Ten Survey Results and Survey Results, Part 2. Some of you who weren't around in 2012 might find these posts interesting--and might enjoy taking the survey yourself (though I am no longer tabulating results). It's always useful to step back and look at the big picture.

Teaching with Primary Sources

I just returned from Missoula for the Thirty-eighth Annual Montana History Conference, including a Thursday workshop on Teaching with Primary Sources, cosponsored by the Library of Congress, Teaching with Primary Sources-Western Region. Thus, it felt fitting to find this post on “Top Ten Tips for Facilitating an Effective Primary Source Analysis”: http://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2011/09/top-ten-tips-for-facilitating-an-effective-primary-source-analysis/

Those who weren't able to attend the conference, but would like to learn more about integrating primary sources in your classrooms—while earning renewal units—might be interested in taking some of the six online modules put together by Library of Congress. Each module takes about an hour and addresses one of the following topics:

            Introduction to the Library of Congress

            Supporting Inquiry with Primary Sources

            Copyright and Primary Sources

            Analyzing Primary Sources: Photographs and Prints

            Analyzing Primary Sources: Maps

            Finding Primary Sources

We have links to these modules (along with brief quizzes, which you can take to earn OPI Renewal units). Click here for more information: http://mhs.mt.gov/Education/OnlineProDevelop.aspx

In addition, our friends at TPS-Western Region put together a “wiki” with resources for those attending the Educator workshop—but those who can’t make it might enjoy these links too: https://montana2011mhs.pbworks.com/w/page/44589456/Montana%20History%20Conference

Happy learning.

Best,

p.s. A note on the last post re favorite resources: One teacher recommended Joseph Bruchac’s Code Talker.  I just found out that the Indian Education Division of OPI has a middle school-level Model Unit Plan for the book. Link here:  http://www.opi.mt.gov/pdf/IndianEd/Search/Language%20Arts/Middle_Code%20Talker%20A%20Novel%20About%20the%20Navajo%20Marines%20of%20WWII.pdf.

Popular Past Posts

Happy New Year! The coming of the new year is a time for reflection, so I decided to take a moment and look back. Below are the most popular posts to this blog.

5. In fifth place, with 277 views, is Teaching Montana History in Fourth Grade. This post suggests ways to piece together a fourth grade curriculum using existing lesson plans.

4. In fourth place, with 326 views, is Lesson Plans on Mining and Primary Sources. This post featured lesson plans created by teachers who attended 2011 Richest Hills: Mining and the Far West, a Landmarks of American History and Culture workshop, funded by NEH. We've taken the link to most of those lessons down--but you can find the creme de la creme here. And consider applying to this summer's Richest Hills workshop--it is back, bigger and better than ever. 

3. In third place, with 454 views, is Teaching Women's History Matters. Since this post mostly provides information about a workshop we gave last year, I'm going to cheat and provide instead a link to the original post on the Women's History Matters project. This one contains useful links and information and actually came in at number 7 on the top ten list.

2. In second place, with 487 views, is Top Ten Most Important Events in Montana History. This provides links to a survey--which you (and your students) can still take--although I'm no longer tabulating results. It also includes links to the survey results. I found both taking the survey and analyzing the results thought provoking.

1. In first place, with a whopping 2,778 views, is National History Day Theme for 2015. My guess is that this number is inflated by the thousands of students googling "National History Day Theme 2015"--but that only goes to show how very popular NHD is across the country. Want more information on participating in National History Day? Start here--or contact the Montana coordinator, Gallatin Gateway middle school teacher Michael Herdina.

Summer Reading....

Before I shut Teaching Montana History down for the summer, I decided to look back at what our most popular posts have been. I found the results interesting, and thought you might too. And I thought the list might be especially useful for new subscribers, who want to dig into the archives during summer break.

Evidence Analysis Window Frames describes a primary source analysis tool created by Glenn Weibe, who also runs the blog History Tech.

Teaching Indian Literature and/or Literature about Indians talks about problems with some commonly used literature about Indians by non-Indians and provides suggestions for alternatives.

Top Ten Most Important Events in Montana History was a survey I ran in 2012, asking  people what they thought were the ten most important events in Montana history. Although I'm no longer tabulating survey results, taking the survey is still an instructive and thought-provoking exercise. And you can find out what I learned from the survey by reading these posts: Surprises. Survey Results, and Comments.

Teaching Montana History in Fourth Grade are suggestions I wrote in 2014 for planning your fourth grade Montana history curriculum. It's a bit out of date, but people seem to find it useful. Find newer post on the same topic here.

Favorite High School Lessons and Favorite Middle School Lessons were posts I wrote with your help. As part of the year-end survey, I ask teachers to share their favorite Montana history or Indian Education for All lesson plan. I compile these lessons by grade level (elementary, middle school, and high school) and share them each fall. I love learning what has worked for you in the classroom--and if blog stats are any measure--your colleagues do to. So PLEASE! If you haven't already, take a few moments to fill out this year's survey and share your favorite lesson. 

Ending the Year Strong

As we head toward the end of the school year, I'm curious: How do you keep your students engaged and learning through the very last day of school? (This is a real question, not a rhetorical one, so email me and I'll share out.)

I did a little online sleuthing and came up with the following blogs that you might like if you are looking for inspiration.

My first stop, as it often is, was Glenn Wiebe, who came through with "7 Resources for the End of School" and "3 Things You Need to Do Before the End of the School Year". (The latter encourages teachers to reflect on what worked and what didn't last year, collecting student feedback in addition to end of year projects.  

Alyssa Teaches had published this list of End of Year Social Studies Activities for Upper Elementary Students.

Two common threads across multiple blogs were that the end of year is

1. a great time for doing activities and projects you couldn't get to earlier and
2. a good time to allow students to show off what they've learned. 

With that in mind, here are some Montana history lesson plans that might fit well into your end of year plans.

• These lesson plans cross multiple time periods, so might be best for the end of the year. Plus--do you really think you've incorporated enough women's history into your class thus far? 
  • Montana Women at Work: Clothesline Timeline Lesson Plan (Designed for grades 4-12) This primary-source based lesson asks students to analyze historic photographs to draw conclusions about women and work from the 1870s through the 2010s. Students will discover that Montana women have always worked, but that discrimination, cultural expectations, and changing technology have influenced the types of work women undertook.
  • Montana Women's Legal History Lesson Plan. (Designed for grades 11-12). In this 1-2 period activity, students will examine sample Montana legislation from 1871 to 1991 that particularly affected women's lives to explore the impact laws have on the lives of ordinary people and why laws change.
• Here's another lesson plan that crosses multiple time periods. And it's fabulous. Reader's Theater: Letters Home from Montanans at War (Designed for 7th-12th). This three-to-five period unit asks students to work in groups to read and interpret letters written by soldiers at war, from the Civil War to the Operation Iraqi Freedom. After engaging in close reading and conducting research to interpret the letters, they will perform the letters as reader’s theater. Preview this lesson by watching Rob Hoffman perform one of the letters, a 2005 email from Helenan Cory Swanson, who was serving in Iraq.
• Have your students use Digitized Montana Newspapers to create an exhibit about how life in Montana has (and has not) changed over the last 150 years. Divide up the decades and ask students to use newspaper advertisements and articles to find something people were doing for fun each decade. Complicate it by having them also use the newspaper ads to feature some aspect of available technology and/or inventions. 
• Create a living statue museum or have students write biographical poems about a notable Montanan using these biographies. (The lesson plan focuses on Montana women, but you can easily adapt it to both men and women if you'd like.)
• Integrate Art! If you haven't already taught The Art of Storytelling: Plains Indian Perspectives (K-12), now's the time. I can imagine adapting the ledger art assignment to ask students to look back at the last year and draw something they are proud of. 
• Explore the history and architecture of your town, asking "how does our community fit into the larger trends of Montana history, by using resources listed as part of Chapter 14 of Montana: Stories of the Land--"Towns Have Lives, Too", including
  • reading and discussing the chapter itself,
  • having students analyze a building using this Building Analysis Worksheet,
  • taking a walking tour using the Historic Montana App or a walking tour brochure.
• Have your students choose the top ten (or top five) most significant events in Montana history. Consider making a March Madness style competition out of it. (See the results from back when we did this with adults in 2012.) You could also do this with the most significant (or awesome) person in Montana history.

How do you end your year strong? 

P.S. Don't forget: MTHS is offering three teacher workshops this summer (in Great Falls, Missoula, and Helena.) Learn more here. 

 

Resources for Teaching about Homesteading

Last year, I asked readers to take a survey identifying the top ten events in Montana history, promising that I would write up blog posts on resources for teaching some of our collective top tens. I managed posts on the discovery of gold and on railroads, which tied for first, receiving sixty out of eighty votes. (More on the results here.)

Homesteading came in third place, with 50 votes--I personally think it was more place-changing than the discovery of gold. And, luckily, we have lots of resources to use to teach about it.

Elementary Resources

 Elementary teachers, particularly, should see our hands-on history footlocker "Inside and Outside the Home: Homesteading in Montana 1900-1920," which focuses on the thousands of people who came to Montana's plains in the early 20th century in hope of make a living through dry-land farming. You can preview the user guide here and learn more about how to order the footlocker here.  I also recommend teachers look at the Danish Memoirs lesson plan (based around a remarkable homesteading story) in the "Coming to Montana" footlocker. (You can do the lesson without ordering the footlocker by downloading the information from the user guide, starting at page 43.)

Middle and High School Resources

 As always, a good starting place for lesson plans is the Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website and Teachers Guide, where we've not only posted free PDFs of every chapter of our award-winning middle school textbook, but have also posted worksheets and links to lesson plans and other interesting web resources. For the homesteading, you'll want to see Chapter 13: "Homesteading this Dry Land." 

I'm a big fan of our Learning from Historical Document Units, which in this case include "Letter from W. M. Black to Gov. Joseph Dixon, from Shelby, 1921, Requesting Aid for Drought Victims" and "Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Montana Homesteading Brochure."

There are some other fantastic examples of homesteading propaganda available to download on Montana Memory. My favorites include "Map of Montana's homestead lands: taken from records of United States land offices at Glasgow, Havre, Great Falls and Lewistown, January 1914,"   “The Judith Basin: Fergus County Montana,” 1913, and “We Are Satisfied: Stock Raising, Grain, Dairy Products, Ryegate, Montana,” c. 1914. Corvallis teacher Phil Leonardi came up with a great assignment using homesteading propaganda--having students identify (and then research) potential falsehoods. Details here.

Studying homesteading lends itself to community history projects. If you know the names of homesteaders in your area (which you can probably find by looking in your county history book), you can use BLM records to research their homesteading patents - and often view copies of the actual documents granting them title.

Looking for guidance on how to embark on a community history project? "Exploring Community through Local History: Oral Stories, Landmarks, and Traditions" is a lesson plan from the Library of Congress. The Montana Heritage Project also offers useful advice to teachers wishing to engage in in-depth community study. See particularly the project's ALERT model.

Of course, historic newspapers are a great way to explore the homesteaders' world. Our staff has been working with Chronicling America to digitize parts of our newspaper collection. A full list of Montana newspapers currently digitized is available here. 

 

Allotment

When discussing homesteading it only makes sense also to talk about allotment. OPI's Indian Education Division has pulled together a list of resources that "help to provide insight into the impact the law had on Indian communities and provide multiple perspectives."

My favorite resource on allotment is NOT mentioned on the OPI list. They are the letters, to and from Sam Resurrection, a Salish leader who lead the fight against opening the Flathead Indian Reservation to homesteaders. His letters lobbying the federal government and the Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs' responses are incredibly powerful and can be found on the Montana Memory Project. (Select "download all as a PDF" and see particularly pages 10-13 of the document.)

Did I miss your favorite homesteading (or allotment) resource? Drop me an email and I'll pass it along in a future listserv.

Resources for Teaching about the Gold Rush

Remember that survey many of you took to identify the top ten events in Montana history? When I asked folks to take the survey, I promised that I would write up blog posts on resources for teaching some of our collective top tens. So, as promised, here's the second installment on teaching resources--this one on the discovery of gold, which tied with railroads, receiving sixty out of eighty votes. (More on the results here.)

As always, a good starting place for lesson plans is the Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website and Teachers Guide, where we've not only posted free PDFs of every chapter of our award-winning middle school textbook, but have also posted worksheets and links to lesson plans and other interesting web resources. For the gold rush, you'll want to see Chapter 6: "Montana's Gold and Silver Boom."

I'm a big fan of the graphing worksheet we posted with this lesson, which asks students to graph population growth and to think about the reasons for why the boom occurred.

I also really like the Learning from Historical Documents Unit we've posted featuring Emily Meredith's 1863 letter from Bannack, describing life in the gold fields to her father. Among her other comments is this gem: "I don’t know how many deaths have occurred this winter but that there have not been twice as many, is entirely owing to the fact that drunken men do not shoot well."

If you are looking for a hands-on activity, try the lesson plan that involves panning for gold on page 35 of the user guide for the "Gold, Silver and Coal" footlocker. It's a bit complicated to set up, but it is definitely worth it.

I wrote in my last post about Chronicling America and our the gold-rush era focused lesson created by Billings elementary school librarian Ruth Ferris: "Thinking Like a Historian: Using Digital Newspapers in the Classroom."

I also mentioned the new educator guide we've created for Girl from the Gulches: The Story of Mary Ronan. This highly a readable memoir details Mary Sheehan Ronan’s journey across the Great Plains, her childhood on the Montana mining frontier, as well as her later life on the Flathead Reservation as the wife of Indian Agent Peter Ronan. The Girl from the Gulches Study Guide includes lesson plans, vocabulary, chapter summaries and questions, alignment to the Common Core, and other information to facilitate this book's use in the classroom. You can download a free PDF of the portion of Girl from the Gulches that contains Mary's memories about Bannack, Virginia City, and Helena.

Montana State Parks has created an Indian Education for All lesson focused on Bannack titled "Contradictory Worldviews: Placing Montana’s Gold Rush into a Tribal Historical Perspective" for grades 6-10. You can download it from their IEFA lesson plan web page.

There's also lots of good material on the Chinese who came to Montana during the gold rush, including an inquiry based lesson (that starts with a murder) created by Mark Johnson. Digitized primary sources used in his lesson, "The Chinese Experience in the American West," can be found on the "Richest Hills" website (you'll need to scroll down or search Mark Johnson to find the link).

Other good sources on Chinese placer miners include "No Need to Rush: The Chinese, Placer Mining, and the Western Environment," by Liping Zhu, published in Montana: The Magazine of Western History (posted with a discussion guide).

Finally, "German Gulch" is a website focused on the archaeological finds from German Gulch, a 19th and early 20th century mining area near Butte, Montana. The collection contains some of the most significant Chinese artifacts recovered in Montana. Look under "Education" for additional links to the history of Montana's Chinese.

Wow. Lots to choose from.

Lessons on Railroads and their Impact

Remember that survey many of you took to identify the top ten events in Montana history? When I asked folks to take the survey, I promised that I would write up blog posts on resources for teaching some of our collective top tens. So, as promised, here's the first installment on teaching resources--this one on the railroads, which tied for first place with the discovery of gold with sixty out of eighty votes. (More on the results here.)

As always, a good starting place for lesson plans is the Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website and Teachers Guide, where we've not only posted free PDFs of every chapter of our award-winning middle school textbook, but have also posted worksheets and links to lesson plans and other interesting web resources. For railroading, you'll want to see Chapter 9: "Railroads Link Montana to the Nation, 1881-1915."

My favorite lesson plan associated with this chapter is a PowerPoint lesson we created called "Railroads Transform Montana," which emphasizes the how trains affected the social, economic, and physical landscape of Montana.

Railroads are important for many reasons, including their effects on Montana tribes. Most of the treaties and agreements negotiated were negotiated by the government on behalf of the railroads. A worksheet that emphasizes this can be found in the Chapter 9 material. The American Memory Project has put up maps that document the Indian Land Cessions from 1784-1894 (U.S. Serial Set 4015). You can browse by tribe or by state/territory. I've never had much success using these maps--but you might be more technologically adept than I am (and more map literate--maps are a weakness of mine.)

Looking for information on some of the Chinese and Japanese workers who constructed much of the railroad? The Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs created a 29 minute video, From the Far East to the Old West: Chinese and Japanese Settlers in Montana. If you can still play VCRs, check your library. Copies of the video and study guide were distributed free of charge to all Montana public schools.

The Mansfield Library created an online exhibit called  Immigrant Montana. In the section "The Iron Horse Cometh," it included many railroading relating documents, from pamphlets to payroll accounts.

Another reason the railroads were so transformative is because of its promotion of homesteading. Here you can find a link to the full text of a Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Montana Homesteading Brochure (plus some background information), and here you can find Great Northern "Map of Montana's homestead lands: taken from records of United States land offices at Glasgow, Havre, Great Falls and Lewistown, January 1914" (which is half informational map/half sales brochure).

Of course, railroads were essential to the development of the mining industry. I haven't been able to find a lesson plan on this specifically, though we do touch on it in the "Railroads Transform Montana" PowerPoint.

Often overlooked when talking about railroads are the short lines. Jon Axline's article, "Something of a Nuisance Value: The Montana, Wyoming & Southern Railroad, 1905-1953," published in Montana The Magazine of Western History's special Transportation Issue, looks at the history of one Montana shortline. And we've even created discussion questions for it to make it easy to use in a high school class.

Are there any great resources I've missed? If so, send them my way and I will share in a later post.

Resources for Teaching Lewis and Clark and Exploration

A long time ago, I posted a survey asking folks to name their “top ten” events in Montana history. (I’m no longer tabulating answers, but the survey is still a thought-provoking exercise for you and your students.) 

I discussed the survey results here and here. 

I also promised posts featuring resources for teaching the events/topics we collectively selected as “most significant.” And I started to. I posted about resources for teaching about homesteading, the gold rush, and railroads. But then I stopped, because the event voted next significant was “Lewis and Clark.” Maybe it’s a legacy of my St. Louis upbringing, where Lewis and Clark were deified, but I’m not a huge fan. My own personal opinion is that they were wayfarers, who barely had an impact on Montana (heresy, I know.) But for those of you who think differently (in other words, most of you!), below are resources for teaching about Lewis and Clark and exploration more generally.

Resources for Teaching about Lewis and Clark and Exploration 

My favorite exploration related activity is having students find their latitude using a homemade sextant. See the lesson plan “Navigating by the North Star” for instructions.

"When Worlds Collide: The Salish People Encounter the Lewis and Clark Expedition" is a flexible one- to four-day learning activity designed to challenge students to grapple with historical evidence and to better recognize the complexity of native-white encounters.

These online exhibits are cool—even to me: Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country: 200 Years of American History, Exploring the West from Monticello, Lewis and Clark: The Maps of Exploration, and "Lewis and Clark in Montana-A Geologic Perspective". 

Looking for primary sources? “American Journeys—EyewitnessAccounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement: A Digital Library andLearning Center” is a remarkable, searchable, sortable, digitized collection. It contains “more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.”

Last, but certainly not least is the University of Nebraska website, "Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition." According to the TeachingHistory.org review, 

"The site provides the complete text of all the journals from the 1803–1806 expedition, as well as introductions, prefaces, and sources. The material is searchable by keyword and phrase.

There are 29 scholarly essays about the expedition. An image gallery offers 124 images of pages from the journals, 95 images of people and places, and 50 images of plants and animals encountered on the expedition. The maps section includes 12 explanatory maps and nine images of maps from the journals. Additionally, there are 27 audio excerpts of journal readings and eight video interviews with the editor of the project."

Elementary Resources

 Elementary teachers, particularly, should see our hands-on history footlocker Discover the Corps of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Expedition in Montana, which traces the Corps' journey through Montana and their encounters with American Indians. It includes bison hide, trade goods, books, and more! You can preview the user guide here and learn more about how to order the footlocker here.  

Middle and High School Resources

As always, a good starting place for lesson plans is the Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website and Teachers Guide, where we've not only posted free PDFs of every chapter of our award-winning middle school textbook, but have also posted worksheets and links to lesson plans and other interesting web resources. For Lewis and Clark and exploration more generally, you'll want to see Chapter 4: "Newcomers Explore the Region." And the Chapter 4 Educator Page is particularly rich. 

Did I miss your favorite Lewis and Clark resource? If so, let me know and I'll share in a future post.

Vacation Reading: Most Popular Listserv Posts

Winter break is a good time to go skiing, drink eggnog, and catch up with friends and family. But if you have a sneaking itch to get away from all that fun, it's also a good time to catch up on your reading. Assuming folks are too busy to read every post, I looked at my stats and found a list of Teaching Montana History's all-time most popular entries. Here they are, for your reading pleasure.

Top Ten Most Important Events in Montana History (Dec. 6, 2012)

Lesson Plans on Mining and Primary Sources (Oct. 31, 2011)

Teaching with Primary Sources (March 5, 2012)

Elementary Teachers: A Handy New Guide Aligns OPI's IEFA Lesson Plans to the Common Core (Feb. 14, 2013)

Happy Veterans Day (Nov. 10, 2011)

PowerPoint Presentation on the Primary and Secondary Sources (Feb. 26, 2013)

 

New: Montana Biography Page Designed for Young Students (April 29, 2013

DocTeach and iPad Apps

Do you use iPads in your classroom? If so, Scobey teacher Bryan Pechtl recommends you check out Docs Teach, put out by the National Archives.

According to Bryan, it “has pre-made activities using primary sources from the Archives. Teachers can also create activities specifically for their classes at the Archives website, then distribute the activity code to students. If teachers don't have iPads, the website also lets teachers and students conduct the same activities on a standard PC, too.”

I’m old-school, so I had to check out Docs Teach via my PC. I found a Lewis and Clark exercise I liked and one on the impact of westward expansion on Indian tribes that I didn’t—because it seemed to me you could complete the exercise without actually examining any of the documents in detail.

I also discovered that DocsTeach has an entire section devoted to National History Day, including teaching activities relating to the NHD theme of “Turning Points.” It has also posted document collections around specific turning points, from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Spanish-American War. (I can’t help but put in another plug for NHD. It’s a great program and there’s still time to involve your classes in this year’s contests. Learn more here.)

Anyone else have a favorite app to recommend? 

P.S. Don’t forget our Top Ten Events in Montana History challenge. Response has been so great, I’m adding a fourth prize—for the 75th person to complete the survey. The survey closes December 16.

Great Professional Development Opportunity for Western Montana Teachers

If you teach in western Montana:

Western Montana CSPD is joining up with the Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources program to offer a great looking professional development opportunity:  “Weaving the Common Core and Indian Education through Teaching Primary Sources Documents.”

Designed for middle and high school teachers, the course will combine face-to-face and online modules to focus on investigating and learning to use the resources available at the Library of Congress.

Participants will create and implement lesson plans and/ or other activities using Primary Source documents from the Library of Congress for use in their classrooms.

Deadline for applying has been extended until December 15.

Course Details- January through May 2013

• Location:
• First Session January 17 in Kalispell or January 18 in Missoula (your closest city)
• March 8 & May 17 Salish Kootenai College, Pablo (transportation to Pablo provided)
• Number of Seats Available: 40 from the region
• Targeted subjects: English/ Language Arts or Social Studies, and Library Media Specialists
• Grade levels: Middle & High School Educators (teams that include a Library Media Specialist will be given preference)  
• Schools: Schools in Region 5 counties of Ravalli, Missoula, Mineral, Lake, Flathead, Sanders, or Lincoln

Project Objectives:

Teachers become familiar with the breadth and organization of the Library of Congress' digital primary sources, understand their value in instruction and create basic inquiry-based learning experiences.

• Learn what primary sources are and understand their value in teaching
• Review the Montana Common Core standards (including those reflecting IEFA) for their grade level and content area and identify where primary sources documents could be used.
• Learn how to locate and navigate the Library of Congress Web site
• Learn how to access, save and present primary sources from the Library of Congress' Web site
• Gain a foundational understanding of effective instructional practices for teaching with primary sources
• Create instructionally sound learning experiences that integrate primary sources from the Library of Congress

Credit: Participants will have the opportunity to earn OPI renewal credits or 2 semester University credits. (participants are responsible for $135 recording fee)

 

Stipend: Participants who complete the entire project will receive a $150 stipend.

Learn more here. 

 

P.S. There’s still time to take the Top Ten Events in Montana History Survey. 

 

Welcome Back

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a good summer. The first post of the year is always business, so let's get started.

Montana History Conference Scholarships

Don’t forget: We have travel scholarships available to teachers wishing to attend the 40th Annual Montana History Conference (held this year in Sidney) September 19-21. Scholarship applications are due September 4. 

• Learn more about how to apply for a scholarship.
• View the conference program.
• View the agenda for Thursday educator workshop. 

Teaching Montana History

New to the blog? Posts are both key word searchable and tagged by subject—so if you are trying to find that information you received several weeks ago on, say, teaching with historic photographs, one easy solution would be to search by key word.

There are a couple years’ worth of posts on this blog. While some of them are out of date (e.g., information about workshops), many of them have stood the test of time. By the numbers, here are a few of the readers’ favorites.

• Top Ten Most Important Events in Montana History (later posts show survey results)
• Teaching with Primary Sources
• Elementary teachers: A handy new guide aligns OPI's IEFA Lessons to Common Core... 
• New: Montana Biography Page Designed for Young Students
• Lesson Plans on Mining and Primary Sources             

Changes to the Blog

Some of the feedback I received from the survey I posted last year asked for clearer subheads and other markers to make it easier for busy teachers to decide what to read. I’m going to try to add this without completely undermining the blog's conversational style. I’m also thinking about doing shorter (and possibly more frequent) posts. Feel free to let me know what you think (all suggestions welcome).

Finally, if you have colleagues you think would enjoy this blog, please let them know about it. If they would rather subscribe to a listserv than read a blog, they can do that by emailing mkohl@mt.gov, subject line: subscribe. (the information on the blog and the listserv are the same--just two different mechanisms of delivery).

  

Welcome Back!

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

Montana History Conference Scholarships

Don’t forget: We have travel scholarships available to teachers wishing to attend the 42th Annual Montana History Conference (held this year in Bozeman) September 24-26. Scholarship applications are due 11:59 p.m. September 9, 2015.  

• Learn more about how to apply for a scholarship.
• View the conference program (up to 19 OPI Renewal Units).

If you can't attend the entire conference, consider just joining us for the Thursday educator workshop ($25, lunch included, 6 OPI Renewal Units.)

Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website and the MHS Educator Resources Page

I hope most of you are using the Montana history and Indian Education for All resources posted on our sites. If so, would you help us out? Please email mkohl@mt.gov if you find any broken links or other problems. We can usually fix things quickly--but only if we know about them.

If you haven't checked out the lesson plans on these sites, I hope you will do that now. We reorganized our website and added several new plans over the summer. And don't forget about our online professional development opportunities--for which you can earn OPI Renewal units.  

Teaching Montana History

New to the blog? Posts are both key word searchable and tagged by subject—so if you are trying to find that information you received several weeks ago on, say, teaching with historic photographs, one easy solution would be to search by key word. 

There are six years’ worth of posts on this blog. While some of them are out of date (e.g., information about workshops), many of them have stood the test of time. By the numbers, here are a few of the readers’ favorites.

• Top Ten Most Important Events in Montana History, Dec 6, 2012
• Teaching Montana History in Fourth Grade, Apr 28, 2014
• National History Day Theme for 2015: Exploration, May 18, 2015
• Women's History Matters, Jan 9, 2014
• Poetry and Prose for Native American Heritage Month, Nov 7, 2013
• Teaching with Primary Sources, Mar 5, 2012

Finally, if you have colleagues you think would enjoy this blog, please let them know about it. If they would rather subscribe to a listserv than read a blog, they can do that by emailing mkohl@mt.gov, subject line: subscribe. (the information on the blog and the listserv are the same--just two different mechanisms of delivery). 

IEFA Resources

The Western Montana CSPD has a nice Indian Education For ALL Resources page. Among other useful links, it includes links to some of my favorite resources created by the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes: Fire on the Land and Explore the River.

Fire on the Land looks at how the Salish traditionally used fire, and the profound effects that their controlled burns and on plant an animal communities. It is a great antidote to the “virgin wilderness” idea that so many of us (including me) grew up with.

Explore the River is a “comprehensive multimedia education package that describes the characteristics and values of healthy aquatic and riparian ecosystems, the ecology and importance of bull trout, and the relationship between bull trout and the Salish and Pend d’Oreille people.”
Most of the components of both curriculum are available free of charge and may already be in your school library.

P.S. Friday is the last day to participate in our Top Ten Events in Montana History Survey—and possibly win a fabulous prize. Learn more here.