Check out the Montana ELA & Literacy Standards Revision Overview one-pager for an overview of the proposed revisions!
The English Language Arts and Literacy Content Standards Revisions have completed Negotiated Rulemaking and were presented to the Board of Public Education as an informational item during their May 2025 meeting. Recordings, agendas, and meeting minutes for all NRC sessions, as well as the summary document with an overview of the process and detailed standards proposals can be found on the ELA Standards Revisions Webpage.
For more information, contact Claire Mikeson at claire.mikeson@mt.gov.
Facing History and Ourselves: Professional Learning Opportunities and Back-to-School Resources
Check out the free virtual and on-demand Back-to-School Professional Development offerings from Facing History and Ourselves.
- Centering Belonging and Student Voice through Audio Storytelling - July 30, 11-1 pm MDT
- Starting the School Year with Community and Connection - August 5, 2-3 pm MDT
- Back-to-School Toolkit: Teaching Strategies and Resources for the School Year - On Demand
Facing History and Ourselves is also offering free resources for back-to-school, including Centering Voice and Choice: A Book Club Guide, Current Events Toolkit, Exploring Identity in the United States, and more.
Save the Date: 2025 NCTE Annual Convention
The National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention will take place November 20-23 in Denver, CO. Check out the convention website to register and learn more.
Grant Opportunity: A grant from the Rise Up Foundation and its founder, author Alane Adams, offers fifty K–8 classroom educators a scholarship to the 2025 NCTE Annual Convention in Denver. Learn more and apply by August 17.
Anne Frank Award for Teaching Memoir
This award provides English language arts educators from middle to postsecondary levels with funding to advance the teaching of memoir and support student writing in the classroom. Learn more and apply by August 31.
International Literacy Association Updates
Montana PBS' Media Mavericks
Media Mavericks is a program by Montana PBS Education that invites middle and high school students to explore how they see themselves, their world, and their future. They bring standards-aligned media-making projects to classrooms, help students create original audio, video, and image-based content, and publish their work for showcase on the web. You can learn more about Media Mavericks by visiting their website.
Although Humanities Montana was canceling the Speakers in the Schools program due to the National Endowment for the Humanities loss of funding, Montana poet laureate Chris La Tray said he planned on continuing presenting across the state.
Chris La Tray has two programs: Montana's Poet Laureate and The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians: Métis Buffalo Hunters of the Northern Plains.
If your school has IEFA money available, you can use it to fund his appearance, and he is happy to help you with the logistics and reporting. This is also an option if you want to bring in other Native speakers, including ones who have been working through Humanities Montana, available on their website.