This document summarizes the key points from a presentation about the Montana Heritage Project. It discusses how people are shaped by the places they grow up and live. It provides examples of interview questions to understand how places influence identity. The presentation emphasizes using oral histories and story-based writing. It provides guidance on developing essential questions, outlines for writing stories, and tips for finding stories within communities.

1. Choosing to Live. . . in a Garden

2. The Montana Heritage Project Place, Story and Identity All materials related to this presentation are here: http://place-based.wikispaces.com/ Michael L. Umphrey

3. “ The Heritage Project isn’t a program. It’s the way I live my life .” Phil Leonardi Corvallis teacher

4. Flathead Reservation, circa 1910

5. St. Ignatius Jesuit Mission

6. View of the Mission Mountains taken from my yard

22. Celebrating 10 Years

23. A good place. . . dawn at the Houghton Fire site, Libby

25. Essential Question: How are we shaped by place?

31. Unit Question: How are your students being shaped by the place they live?

37. Philip Aaberg

38. Philip Aaberg

41. Problem – Symptom Fix Unintended Consequences Fixes that Fail

47. Youth Heritage Festival

48. Writing Assessment Total Conventions: No or few grammar, spelling, or usage errors Sentence Fluency: Variety of sentence structure and length; precise and/or rich language Organization: Careful and/or suitable organization Use of Research: Use of references indicate substantial research Voice: Establishes and maintains clear focus; evidence of voice and/or appropriate tone Ideas and Content: Depth and complexity of ideas supported by rich, engaging, and/or pertinent details; evidence of analysis, reflection, and insight Score Possible Points Writing Traits

49. Rachel Reckin

51. Libby High School

52. Old Libby Mill

53. Making field notes

56. The A.L.E.R.T. Processes A sk: have a purpose L isten: check the library E xplore: find new knowledge R eflect: think / discuss T ell: share / give back to the library Learning as Story

57. Montana Heritage Project Place, Story and Identity Placemaking You never do just one thing Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

58. Essential Questions Adapted from Understanding by Design By Grant Wiggins And Jay McTighe Association for Supervision and Curriculum Design Copyright © 1998

60. If the textbook is the answer. . . What was the question?

61. Essential Questions The characteristic danger of project-based instruction is that it easily degenerates into an incoherent sequence of activities.

64. At the heart of the discipline Involves students in “doing” the discipline, using the same processes as experts Is history always biased? Does Montana literature reflect our culture, or does it shape it?

66. Requires uncoverage “ Washington had the daring to put [his Patriots] to good use, too, as he broke the rules of war by ordering a surprise attack on the enemy in its winter quarters”

67. Potential for engaging students What are the issues adolescents are dealing with? Friendship Romantic Love Independence Need for Identity Need for Power Some topics are too abstract and global

68. Unit Questions More topic specific than essential questions: Essential Question : Who is a friend? Unit Questions : In A Separate Peace , is Gene a friend to Phineas? Is Phineas a friend to Gene?

70. Research Questions Narrow focus appropriate for student research project: Essential Question : How was America changed by the sixties? Unit Question : How did people on the homefront experience the 1960s. Research Question : What does a local veteran say about his experience?

71. 3 ways to misuse Essential Questions Careless language is inseparable from careless thought.

72. Call every question “essential”

73. Ask big questions then leave kids on their own

74. Suggest that having an opinion is what’s important

75. Writing for Story M ONTANA H ERITAGE P ROJECT

76. Writing for Story M ONTANA H ERITAGE P ROJECT

78. Narrative and Story Narrative: recounting causally linked events that unfold in time Story : narrative with a clear ending

79. Essay and Story Essays have main points Stories have main actions

80. The Hollywood Story Stage One: the Set-up State Two: the New Situation State Three: Change of Plans Stage Four: Higher Stakes and Worse Complications State Five: Do or Die State Six: the Aftermath

82. Montana Heritage Project Place, Story and Identity Placemaking You never do just one thing Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

85. Montana Heritage Project Place, Story and Identity Placemaking You never do just one thing Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

86. Songs of Hope Complication: Development 1: Development 2: Development 3: Resolution: Living during the Great Depression Life in Libby The power of music Keeping the mill open Buying an organ for the church

87. Songs of Hope Complication: Development 1: Development 2: Development 3: Resolution: George accepts work George buys piano George operates mill George buys organ George transcends work

88. Montana Heritage Project Place, Story and Identity Placemaking You never do just one thing Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

89. Finding Stories: Look for fabulous realities "Shams and delusions are esteemed for the soundest truth, while reality is fabulous . We . . . live this mean life . . .because our vision does not penetrate the surface of things. Thoreau

90. There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years. Willa Cather Eternity in an hour. . .

91. The resolution is an action by the character He lays the sandwich, the banana and the fig newtons on the table before him, neatly, the way the scrub nurse laid out the instruments. "It was triple jeopardy," he says finally, staring at his peanut butter sandwich the same way he stared at the x-rays. "It was triple jeopardy." It is 1:43, and it's over. Dr. Ducker bites, grimly, into the sandwich. The monster won.

92. The resolution is an action by the character Many years later, when doctors told him that his shoulder would have to be pinned into a single position for the rest of his days, George Neils sat down at the doctor’s table and positioned his arm as if he were playing the organ. “That’s the way he wanted it,” said Kenneth, “for the rest of his life.” Rachel Reckin Libby High School

93. Montana Heritage Project Place, Story and Identity Placemaking You never do just one thing Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

97. Britney Maddox

98. Montana Heritage Project Place, Story and Identity Placemaking You never do just one thing Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

99. Children learn what they most need to know from happy stories of the birth of kings, and grown-ups learn again and again what they most need to remember from sad stories of the death of kings. The birth of the king is the coming into the world of Justice, and the death of the king is its passing. In the birth of the king, children recognize the Right, and in his death, grown-ups recognize the Wrong, and, having been children, know where to look for the return of the Right. Richard Mitchell The Gift of Fire The importance of happy stories

104. Michael L Umphrey http://www.montanaheritageproject.org