Author: onebighistorydepartment

CPD, curriculum and planning, historical scholarship, KS3, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge

1381 HATF: calling time on classroom myths and misconceptions!

The Historical Association’s People of 1381 Teacher Fellowship programme is underway. It began with a residential at Mansfield College, Oxford last week. The team of fellowship teachers spent an intense and enjoyable two days working with the People of 1381 academic project team to understand what their research is revealing. It is now our task to bring this new research to teachers and pupils. This … Continue reading 1381 HATF: calling time on classroom myths and misconceptions!

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CPD, curriculum and planning, disciplinary knowledge, diversity and inclusion, historical enquiry, historical scholarship, KS3, sources and evidence, subject leadership, substantive knowledge, substantive knowledge

Decolonising Source Analysis and Introducing Sikh Female History to Year 9

Many thanks to Dr Danielle Donaldson, Head of Department, Concord College, Shrewsbury for this blogpost sharing her department’s work to extend the range of sources used in class and to teach the history of Sikh women. The curriculum intent & context We have been working on decolonising and integrating more representative history in our schemes of work at Concord College. Our enquiries are aimed to … Continue reading Decolonising Source Analysis and Introducing Sikh Female History to Year 9

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subject leadership, teaching history

4 reasons why your Headteacher should buy you an HA Corporate Membership

Simon Harrison, Headteacher of Crofton School in Hampshire and member of HA Secondary Committee, provides anyone who needs them with arguments to present to senior leadership as to why your history department needs HA Corporate Membership. From history teacher to Headteacher, in over 25 years of teaching I have filled most school roles;  history teacher,  in the ‘middle’ as a subject leader, an Advanced Skills … Continue reading 4 reasons why your Headteacher should buy you an HA Corporate Membership

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curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, KS3, subject leadership, substantive knowledge, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge, teaching and learning resources

Better history by working together!

Thanks to Martyn Bajowski and Hugh Richards for this blogpost. In it they share the process they went through to create resources … and share them! This story starts with Martyn Recently I posted the story of Sophia Duleep Singh on Twitter which I produced as a team effort with Hugh Richards. Hugh and I both thought it would be worthwhile going through the process … Continue reading Better history by working together!

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GCSE and A level, historical enquiry, sources and evidence, subject leadership, teaching and learning ideas, teaching and learning resources, teaching history

Using archives to enthuse and engage

Thanks to Anne Hooper, member of HA Secondary Committee, for this article explaining how her department refreshed their GCSE course by delving into the archives. Anne explains how using full texts with original images really engages students and helps develop their evidential understanding. She generously shares the resources at the end. Using archive sources is not new to us as history teachers but sometimes it’s … Continue reading Using archives to enthuse and engage

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historical literacy, KS3, reading listening watching

Bringing facts into the classroom through fiction

Thanks to Martyn Bajkowski, Head of History at Pleckgate High School and member of HA Secondary Committee for this blogpost. He encourages us to remember the joy of history and to use historical fiction to encourage our students. As someone with a surname that translates as ‘The son of a story teller’ it may not surprise you to learn that I love using stories in … Continue reading Bringing facts into the classroom through fiction

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curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, historical enquiry, historical literacy, KS3, substantive knowledge, substantive knowledge, teaching history

Empire blogpost 3: the thorny issue of literacy when teaching the British Empire

Thanks to Richard Kennett for continuing his series of blogposts about teaching the British Empire… The difficulty of literacy and the teaching of the British Empire Teaching any historical topic is hard as it requires a lot of disciplinary vocabulary. Those pesky words that enlighten a subject, bring it to life and really allow you to get your teeth in. Revolution, peasant, autocratic, industrial, agricultural, … Continue reading Empire blogpost 3: the thorny issue of literacy when teaching the British Empire

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diversity and inclusion, subject leadership

It is time to update our Remembrance assemblies

Secondary Committee member Gemma Hargraves challenges us to think about Remembrance-tide afresh, to make it resonant for our pupils and to use stories of the past to support their knowledge of the people of today. Every year schools deliver Remembrance assemblies. Perhaps it’s the Headteacher, perhaps it’s the job of the History department. This time last year I wrote for One Big History Department about … Continue reading It is time to update our Remembrance assemblies

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curriculum and planning, GCSE and A level, historical literacy, KS3, subject leadership, substantive knowledge, substantive knowledge

Developing substantive thinking: a project to create connections through a KS3 curriculum

Thank you to Sarah Jackson, Head of History at Sawston Village College in Cambridgeshire, for this blogpost sharing some more of the work of the department… As a department we have often talked about the huge impact that cultural literacy has on the achievement of our pupils. Students who don’t have ‘pictures of the past’ find it hard to understand new content as it doesn’t … Continue reading Developing substantive thinking: a project to create connections through a KS3 curriculum

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CPD, curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, sources and evidence, subject leadership

Empire blogpost 2: visualising Empire a bit differently

Thanks to Richard Kennett, Assistant Headteacher at Gatehouse Green Trust in Bristol, HA Fellow and member of Secondary Committee, for this second post in his series about Empire. In my last blog I tried to suggest some practical ways to improve our teaching of Empire by focusing on asking different questions about Empire. In this blog I would like to continue with the same theme … Continue reading Empire blogpost 2: visualising Empire a bit differently

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