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Note: The following contains excerpts from a previously published work by Michael L. Umphrey: Beyond Standards: Community-Centered Education Embeds High Standards Within Authentic Projects (2002), retrieved from www.edheritage.org/projects/montana_standards_writing.pdf

As part of the Montana Historical Society, the Montana Heritage Project has been providing grants for teachers and students to implement primary-source heritage research projects for more than 10 years. The project's goal is "to guide young people toward a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage, including the understanding that such a heritage is kept vibrant and wholesome by being improved by each new generation as they meet the particular challenges of their time and place". (Quote retrieved from www.montanaheritageproject.org/index.php/teacherlore/index)

Teachers apply for a limited grant (up to $1,000 per school) to take students on research-related excursions, obtain supplies and other resources to implement a project into their existing curriculum, or create separate classes. The grant also provides professional development, on-site technical assistance, opportunities for teachers to collaborate, and a venue for students to present their work at a state festival. Every year a group of students present their work to the Librarian of Congress in Washington, D.C. Although the funding is available, any teacher can participate in accessing information and conducting a local research project, and can attend the festival.

Each year, the project suggests a theme. In 2004, the theme centers on the question, "How did the Vietnam War change America?" Schools have participated in a variety of projects over the years. One year students at Simms High School researched the decade 1925–1935 in their community and used their research to write essays, short stories, and poems for their literary magazine. A high school class in Libby conducted oral interviews with 15 Korean War veterans and wrote essays based on their research, which were compiled into a book. (To view examples of students' writing, visit www.edheritage.org/student/contents.html)

Writing and conducting research is integral to all projects. Students conduct oral interviews to gather information organized around "key essential questions." Some questions that schools have explored in the past include: What effect did the coming of television have upon life in Chester? How has ranching culture in Harlowton changed in the past 100 years? How did changes in the national economy affect the coal mining industry in Roundup? How did people in Libby respond to the influx of people during the construction of Libby Dam? How did World War II affect women in Townsend? Writing is posted on the Web site and published in various formats, depending on the audience and purpose of the project.

Umphrey emphasizes that students are involved in "deep learning" as they work on their projects (2004). Deep learning typically has five not necessarily linear stages that one progresses through. These stages are called "ALERT—Ask questions; Listen in various ways for answers (e.g., reading what others have read, listening to what people say); Explore by visiting places and interviewing others; Reflect in a journal or talking with others; Transform—sharing, preserving with the community what you have learned in different formats such as a Web site, book, or presentation.

Teachers are encouraged to incorporate the process into their teaching. Says Umphrey, "The classroom at its best can be a platform from which to do authentic research in the real world. In such classrooms, learning will take the form of a story. Students will be changed. That is, they will learn" (2004). To obtain more information about the ALERT process including downloadable planning sheets, visit www.edheritage.org/tools/alert.htm

The Web site offers numerous resources for teachers to implement these projects, and teacher guidelines for implementing specific projects such as "Writing the Essay of Place" (www.edheritage.org/tools/tools.htm). Umphrey provides some examples of how school projects directly relate to each Montana State Content Standard for Writing and benchmarks (2002).

Content Standard 2: Students apply a range of skills and strategies in the writing process (Benchmarks for graduation: planning strategies to generate ideas; analyzing purpose and audience; writing multiple drafts to explore and organize ideas; revise by seeking input from others; edit for punctuation, grammar, etc.; and publish or share a final product):

After discussing how to organize the material they had gathered, they agreed to tell the story of each family, including the past, the present, and the families' expectations for the future. Individual students within each team wrote drafts that dealt with different parts of the overall history. They combined these drafts into unified histories, which were edited before being sent back to the respective families for further editing and revisions. After another draft to clarify some facts and add needed detail, the final drafts were read by multiple editors.

Students created a PowerPoint presentation of their findings and a video of the project for a public open house. They created a Web site featuring photographs and excerpts from their book, Images of the Upper Musselshell Valley. They printed 25 copies of the book, intended primarily for family members and the local museum and library, but they had to reprint it twice to meet demand from the community.

Content Standard 4: Students write for a variety of purposes and audiences (Graduation benchmarks: identify and articulate purpose for writing, choose audience appropriate to the purpose and topic, experience writing in various genres)

Juniors at Chester High School selected historical photographs from the Liberty County Museum collections, then researched and wrote interpretive text, creating display panels for the museum.

Roundup High School conducted research for interpretive signs for the Park Trail, which will be a historical interpretive walking tour. Students have selected and photographed 14 sites as part of an ongoing, multiyear project.

Students in Renee Rasmussen's English classes in Chester researched and wrote nominations to the National Register of Historic Places for three local buildings. The most recent was a house built by Estonian immigrants. In researching who had built the house and why, students learned about the Russian Revolution, the Dawes Act, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the history of the railroad.

The projects' successes go beyond student achievement. The Librarian of Congress said it best at the Montana Heritage Project Youth Heritage Festival in March 2004: "The work you're doing to record, document, and analyze human experience in Montana, when you do it well, is every bit as valuable as Clark Whistler's work was in 1904 on those high and windy spaces of the Blackfeet Reservation. You contribute to the nation's story and to the Library of Congress' comprehensive record of American history and creativity."

The deadline for applying for grants is March 1 of each year. For more information visit www.edheritage.org/affiliates/AffiliatesApplication.html