Two teachers at Stevensville Schools have been nominated as Montana’s representatives for National History Day’s (NHD) Teacher of the Year. Wes Wells is the high school nominee and Jacqueline Marshall is the middle school nominee. This prestigious award is granted to one middle school and one high school teacher annually, very rarely from the same school. Recipients of the national award are selected from the winners of the 57 state and affiliate winners of the prize. State and affiliate honorees receive $500. National winners will each receive $10,000. Winners are selected by a committee of educators and historians. The panel considers commitment to student development, creativity in the classroom and inspiring students to engage with history.
Wells and Marshall are passionate about teaching history. Wells had 40 students in his NHD program this year, with 30 advancing to state competition. These students worked in teams and individually, throughout the pandemic year, and mostly virtually, to create a variety of history projects, even though schools were not really encouraging too many of these kinds of activities due to COVID-19. Wells said his students created web pages, exhibits, historical papers, historical performances and even a documentary. Wells was especially impressed with a 9-minute documentary the students made called “The Words of War” which compared the speeches of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Adolph Hitler.
Wells also implemented the “We the People” program at Stevensville High School and is now the state coordinator. “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” is a competitive program that helps young people become knowledgeable about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the philosophy behind them. He’s hoping to interest the other valley schools in adding the program to their schools. “It’s a great experience for these kids,” said Wells.
Marshall, who teaches middle school social studies, said she got the 7th graders involved last year and they went to the regional competition. Then COVID hit and everything came to a halt. This year, some 6th graders and all her 7th graders did projects. They started in late January. The 7th graders researched Montana history related to communication. Some created a documentary on the Montana Gold Rush and others an exhibit on Montana’s vigilantes. One 6th grade project was a website on communication in colonial times and another on the Pony Express. The students are required to use primary source material in their research, which are sources directly from the time period, such as photos and newspapers.
In all, 19 middle school students went to regionals and they all advanced to state, with 16 going on to nationals. This year all the competition was virtual.
Both teachers really want to grow their NHD programs. Wells would like to offer it to all juniors and seniors and Marshall would like all 7th and 8th graders to participate.
“At first this is overwhelming, but then they get to choose the topic and the format and it’s really exciting for them,” said Marshall. “Then, with success, there’s even more buy-in. They all said they want to continue.”
National winners of the National History Day awards will be announced in June.