Category: subject leadership

beginning teacher, CPD, local networks, subject leadership, teaching history

Using the new normal to better support new teachers

Thank you to Tom Pattison (Director of the Humanities Faculty at Greensward Academy, Hockley, Essex) for this new blogpost about supporting beginning teachers. In the toughest of years it offers a model for building community for new colleagues in a way that is professionally supportive for the new and old(-er!) alike. If you would like to build a similar community then look out for these … Continue reading Using the new normal to better support new teachers

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CPD, curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, historical interpretations, historical significance, KS3, subject leadership

Decolonisation in the history classroom: wider perspectives and more critical questions

Thank you to Sarah Jackson, Head of Department at Sawston Village College in Cambridgeshire for this blogpost. Sarah has been imbibing the wealth of CPD on offer to history teachers. Here she explains how this has shaped her thinking, her experience of trying out ideas to reveal the constructed nature of the curriculum with her own pupils, and her current thinking about best ways forward … Continue reading Decolonisation in the history classroom: wider perspectives and more critical questions

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curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, historical scholarship, KS3, subject leadership, teaching and learning resources

Decolonising the curriculum one step at a time: lessons on race in the early British Empire

In this blogpost, Jen Thornton (@jen_a_thornton), Head of History at Loreto Grammar School, shares her recent work to improve the history curriculum. Jen started by listening to students, she has gone back to the scholarship to gain the knowledge she needs, she has consulted and worked with colleagues, and she is clear that this is work in progress. Her description of this work and her … Continue reading Decolonising the curriculum one step at a time: lessons on race in the early British Empire

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subject leadership, teaching history

Dealing with the issues from lockdown in the history classroom. Thoughts and perspectives from the HA secondary committee.

This post accompanies the webinar that took place on Friday 5th March 2021. Members of the HA’s Secondary Committee addressed issues from lockdown in the history classroom. This post summarises their ideas, provides the links they referred to and picks up the main themes that emerged in the Q&A. The terms ‘catch up, ‘recovery’ and ‘lost learning’ are negative and don’t capture everything. There are … Continue reading Dealing with the issues from lockdown in the history classroom. Thoughts and perspectives from the HA secondary committee.

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GCSE and A level, KS3, speaking and listening, subject leadership, teaching and learning ideas, teaching history

What could Lemov’s ideas for Remote Learning look like in History?

Thanks to Alex Fairlamb (@lamb_heart_tea), member of HA Secondary Committee and  coordinator of TMHI, for sharing her work with Lemov’s ideas in the history classroom. You might have come to this post through hearing her on Teachers Talk Radio too! (Apologies – to load Alex’s lovely tables in time, they are screenshoted and the links given underneath – Ed!) Doug Lemov’s ‘Teaching in the Online Classroom’ … Continue reading What could Lemov’s ideas for Remote Learning look like in History?

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curriculum and planning, KS3, subject leadership, teaching and learning ideas, teaching history

Bridging from Y6 to Y7 – transitional history

Thanks to Andrew Sweet, Head of Humanities at Millfield School, for this blogpost in which he shares practical ideas for Year 6 to Year 7 transition and reminds us that we can set high expectations.   Planning for September! Where do we begin? The variables are considerable and quite daunting right now. The possibilities of teaching remotely or in a socially distanced classroom are hard to … Continue reading Bridging from Y6 to Y7 – transitional history

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CPD, curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, historical scholarship, subject leadership, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge

Inspiration from Teaching History 127 ‘Sense and Sensitivity’

Gemma Hargraves (@History_Girls) of HA Secondary Committee continues our series of blogposts where a colleague reflects on a previous edition of Teaching History, and shares some thoughts about an article within it, with reference to where we are today. I recently read, for the first time TH 127 (June 2007) ‘Sense and Sensitivity’ edition. Although I wasn’t teaching when it was first published, this edition … Continue reading Inspiration from Teaching History 127 ‘Sense and Sensitivity’

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CPD, disciplinary knowledge, diversity and inclusion, historical scholarship, subject leadership, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge

Pearls of Wisdom from Teaching History 120

Continuing our series of looking back to a past edition of Teaching History, Secondary Committee member Emma Bevan has returned to edition 120 from September 2005. Here she gives some thoughts about what she has found there that resonates today.  A rallying cry to be braver in the history classroom When asked “why teach history?”, one of the most recurrent responses is that it allows … Continue reading Pearls of Wisdom from Teaching History 120

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CPD, curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, historical scholarship, subject leadership, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge

Tackling Racism: Teaching West African History pre-1700 – Benin

Alex Fairlamb (@lamb_heart_tea), member of HA Secondary Committee reflects here on how her department has taken action over the last year to address the problem of lack of ethnic diversity in the history department’s curriculum at her school. Alex makes clear the process of deep engagement with the history community that inspired, encouraged and enabled her to teach herself the knowledge she lacked and then … Continue reading Tackling Racism: Teaching West African History pre-1700 – Benin

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