Chelsea Nygaard Professional Devel. Reaction Paper I attended a professional development workshop at Target Range School in October 2012.

The Western Montana CSPD (Comprehensive System for Personal Development) Fall Institute was holding conferences for teachers to learn how to weave the Montana Common Core Standards into the curriculum. The workshop I took part of was about Indian Ed for All. I attended this workshop specifically for the reason to learn how to implement IEFA into all subject areas. I knew that if I wanted to obtain a teaching job in Montana, then it would be very beneficial for me to learn more about IEFA since it is such a big part of the Common Core Standards. I went into the meeting a little intimidated and overwhelmed but left with great resources and ideas. Nancy Marks was our presenter. She began the meeting by passing out a map of Montana to all attenders and asked us to fill in as many Indian reservations that we knew. Then she proceeded to name the reservations and discussed how IEFA fit into the Montana Common Core Standards. We looked at all subject areas and how IEFA was implemented into each. Teachers in the room were then asked to share how they are implementing IEFA in their various subjects. It was great to hear about their ideas and projects they used to educate their students on Montana Indians. Mrs. Marks then directed us to the OPI website where she guided us to fantastic resources for IEFA. We learned how to get resources for our classrooms, how to contact our librarians and find out what resources they have, and how to become part of an IEFA book club. Next, we walked around the room where Mrs. Marks had laid tons of resources, lessons, and free stuff.

The free resources included guidelines for American Indian materials and resources for the classroom, grade level expectations tied to the essential understandings for social studies, a directory of Indian Education Programs in Montana, a guide to understanding and enjoying pow wows, a collection of Montana Indian poetry, a book on Montana tribal histories, and many more. Finally, we reviewed the 8 essential understandings regarding Montana Indians and read a few pages from Montana Tribal Histories: Educators Resource Guide and Companion DVD. Then we got into groups, discussed what we read, and brainstormed how we could create a lesson and what activities we could do. This workshop opened my eyes to the importance of implementing IEFA in all subject areas, not just in social studies and history. I was motivated to learn more about how to tie IEFA into math and science. I think those are two areas in which students can have fun learning about Montana Indians as well as new math and science concepts. I think showing students the ways in which Montana Indians learned math and science will make learning more engaging. I also think it is very important to educate students on the cultures and histories of the Native Americans who settled in Montana before the white man arrived.