Category: speaking and listening

beginning teacher, curriculum and planning, GCSE and A level, KS3, speaking and listening, subject leadership, teaching and learning ideas, teaching history

Help! – we’re under scrutiny for our poor results…

Last week the Historical Association was contacted by a history teacher member wanting help. The department they work in is under scrutiny for ‘poor’ results. The advice the department had been given was to differentiate all GCSE lessons into 3 or maybe 4 pathways. The department has mixed ability teaching groups with targets ranging from 2-8. They just knew this didn’t seem like a good … Continue reading Help! – we’re under scrutiny for our poor results…

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speaking and listening

HA Great Debate for Schools

This year’s HA Great Debate for Schools is “Should we judge historical figures by the morals of today?” The HA is really pleased to be organising this in partnership with BBC World Histories and the final will once again be at Windsor Castle.  Before the final in March 2020 there are regional heats around the country and the info about these and all the other information … Continue reading HA Great Debate for Schools

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beginning teacher, disciplinary knowledge, GCSE and A level, historical interpretations, historical scholarship, KS3, reading listening watching, speaking and listening, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge, teaching and learning resources

Historians: short film clips

There is currently lots of really good practice around the use of historians’ work in classrooms. Last weekend at SHP a few of us were talking about how useful it would be to have a list of short clips of historians in one place. This list has been started and is shared here as a Google-Doc that can be accessed, added to and improved. Google … Continue reading Historians: short film clips

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beginning teacher, KS3, sources and evidence, speaking and listening, teaching and learning ideas, teaching history

Building ‘Botheredness’ making reluctant learners care about History

Thanks so much to Carmel Bones for writing this blogpost. Carmel shares with us loads of great strategies for motivating our students. Why not have a go at some of these and also share some of your favourites? #OBHD  It might be surprising to discover that History is not everybody’s favourite subject?! And even if it is ‘building botheredness’ is still important to ensure learner … Continue reading Building ‘Botheredness’ making reluctant learners care about History

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reading listening watching, speaking and listening, teacher knowledge, teaching and learning resources, teaching history

‘Mr Keet on Location’ – creating documentaries as a History Teacher

“What do you do in the holidays?” Thanks to Jacob Keet, History Teacher at Christ’s Hospital in Horsham, West Sussex, for sharing his film clips – getting big stories and concepts across to students in an engaging way. He picks up the important theme of engaging students with history around them and helping them to be curious about how the past connects to the present.  … Continue reading ‘Mr Keet on Location’ – creating documentaries as a History Teacher

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diversity and inclusion, speaking and listening, teaching and learning resources, websites and publications

Polish students, Polish connections, Polish history, strong communities…

Perhaps you have Polish students in your history classroom and are worried their homeland only appears in history lessons when invaded by the Nazis and the USSR? Perhaps you want your students to realise that links with other countries go back a lot further than some current political voices might suggest? Probably you are very pushed for time! Have you seen? projectpolish.com This Schools Project … Continue reading Polish students, Polish connections, Polish history, strong communities…

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GCSE and A level, KS3, local history, speaking and listening, substantive knowledge, teaching and learning ideas, teaching and learning resources

Acting out the BIG PICTURE: using geeky scripted role plays at GCSE and A Level

Jen Thornton, Head of History at Loreto Grammar School, shares her solution to teaching ‘the big picture’. She describes her approach and then shares her scripts with us so everyone can use them. Onebighistorydepartment! As an NQT back in 2006, I was blessed to work with a brilliant History department, and there is one thing I took away from that year which is still a … Continue reading Acting out the BIG PICTURE: using geeky scripted role plays at GCSE and A Level

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speaking and listening, teaching and learning ideas

‘Imagine it as a pizza…’ and other dodgy analogies!

I was talking to a scientist this week who told me a great story about Isidor Rabi who is a Nobel Prize winner for his work on nuclear magnetic resonance.  Apparently, when Rabi was working on a device that created microwaves specifically for use with radar, someone in the group asked the pertinent question: How does it work? After much scratching of heads one member … Continue reading ‘Imagine it as a pizza…’ and other dodgy analogies!

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speaking and listening, teaching and learning ideas

The Old Lady in the Post Office – how to teach writing a strong line of argument to any key stage

If you’re finding it difficult to teach students in any Key Stage what an argued piece of writing that offers a substantiated judgement looks like, you need to meet someone. She’s called the Old Lady in the Post Office and nothing I’ve tried has been more effective in helping students understand what a line of argument looks like when it runs throughout an essay. Here … Continue reading The Old Lady in the Post Office – how to teach writing a strong line of argument to any key stage

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GCSE and A level, KS3, local networks, speaking and listening, substantive knowledge, teaching and learning ideas, teaching and learning resources, websites and publications

Roleplay and recreation: sharing great Normans resources

Happy New Year to all of you! History teachers are a wonderful tribe and OneBigHistoryDepartment exists to connect history teachers not only to each other, but to the many years of great history teaching that have gone before. We are all too busy to reinvent wheels. We are all too clever to be gulled into thinking that the issues we face in the classroom are … Continue reading Roleplay and recreation: sharing great Normans resources

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