History teachers have pulled off incredible feats since the start of 2021 and are pulling together to get better at helping pupils to get better at history despite the ongoing pandemic disruption. #disthist has been useful for gathering ideas into one place in the twittersphere, the @histassoc remote learning hubs are available and @TMHistoryIcons held a really well-timed distance learning day that was so supportive.  

This blogpost is about one aspect of that work – continuing the provision of stretching and challenging activities and opportunities for students who really love history. With no history trips to look forward to and museums closed, it’s great to know the BBC are stepping up, museums online and initiatives such as DIG school are continuing. Here are a few more lovely things…

Digging Deeper is a project spear-headed by Alex Fairlamb (@lamb_heart_tea). It is a collection of one page sheets for different topics and units, which can be used to encourage students to engage in independent research, and engage in the history of a period in different ways. It’s also a way to support departments with establishing cross-curricular links. You’ll find lots in this G-Drive – please do add more! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10zIrElphHgZYmcrenBMzHUxHVHQWxYwW

@Historic_All organised by @Miss_Angell at Camborne Village College, also put out this exciting Tweet this week: “THRILLED to announce that we will be hosting one lecture EVERY WEEK during this Half Term! 🎉 We hope students will enjoy hearing from a range of speakers & continue to engage with academics & scholarly debate. #DistHist #History #historyteacher #twitterstorians #remotelearning” Keep an eye on twitter or contact Jess at jangell@cambournevc.org for more info. 

Meanwhile, the @YorkClio HA History Nerds are excited to have a talk from Dr Caroline Dodds Pennock on “Earth Women and Eagle Warriors: Gender and human sacrifice in Aztec culture” on 21st January and from Professor James Walvin on the topic of “Slavery and everyday objects” on 4th February. For a link contact ruth.lingard@york.ac.uk and the Yorkclio History Nerds website has more links that can be shared with keen beans. 

Please do share other initiatives to inspire young historians with @histassoc using #OBHD #disthist.