A introduction to historical geographical systems for history teachers
Thanks to PGCE trainee Gareth Owen (@GarethEROwen) for this post. Gareth has experience in historical geographical information systems (HGIS) from his time as a history postgrad. Here he explains how they can be useful for history teachers. On the HA websiteyou can find more ideas about using digital resources in the classroom. Do, please, get in touch to share your expertise in this area via blogpost … Continue reading A introduction to historical geographical systems for history teachers
Why should we teach medieval women?
Thanks to PGCE students Dhwani Patel & Georgia Cairns for this blogpost. They model drawing upon the history community’s ‘hive mind’ to develop their own thinking about why we should teach about medieval women and to develop some first thoughts about a teaching sequence. In this instance they did this within the context of their PGCE, but the approach could equally be adopted, in adapted … Continue reading Why should we teach medieval women?
Finding women in the American West
This is the first of a couple of blogposts about the inclusion of women in school history lessons. Many colleagues are arguing that the what and the how of women in the past being taught in our classrooms is leading to woefully unrepresentative history. A key problem is lack of knowledge and resources. In this blogpost (which first featured on the blog teaandlearning.home.blog) Nicole Ridley (@RidleyHistory) … Continue reading Finding women in the American West
Online learning: similarities and differences
The HA is the subject association for history teachers and as such is working to support both members and non-members at this very strange time. Some resources have been made widely available to everyone. There is also now a HA Resource Hub – please do share it and use it and improve it. Have you also seen the ‘Your HA Virtual Branch‘ initiative? All best … Continue reading Online learning: similarities and differences
Using the wisdom on… developing a sequence as an NQT
Thanks to Vicky Bettney of York High School for this blogpost. Vicky reflects on her NQT experience of re-planning part of the school’s KS3 curriculum and how she drew on the wider history community and her learning from her PGCE to do this. She talks about her priorities and how she juggled these different priorities to develop a sequence that is, as ever, work in … Continue reading Using the wisdom on… developing a sequence as an NQT
Meet me in the (virtual) museum
In these strange times, we want #OBHD to be a supportive place for all history teachers valiantly rising to the many challenges of teaching remotely online. We will keep posting regularly and do let us know what is most useful to you. It’s going to be awhile until we can indulge our history nerdiness in museums in person – with or without out pupils. However, … Continue reading Meet me in the (virtual) museum
History gets you where you want to go!
There is a lot of work going on in departments to make sure that students understand how studying History can help them with their future careers. Employability is once more a buzz word! Corporate HA members can use all the materials on the HA website in the Careers with History section Here you will find articles about careers in all sorts of fields and how the … Continue reading History gets you where you want to go!
Intersecting history in school – the ‘slot-in’!
Ruth Lingard and Helen Snelson have been leading York area teachers and University of York PGCE trainees to deepen their knowledge of stories from the past that are too often absent from the history classroom. Here they offer the ‘slot-ins’ made so far as a way to help history teachers make the history curriclum more representative of the many, many people who lived in the … Continue reading Intersecting history in school – the ‘slot-in’!
Reading list with reviews!
Subject knowledge updating is enjoyable and a huge challenge in a busy teacher life. There are fantastic initiatives, such as The History Teachers’ Book Club which featured in a previous post, which make this more collegiate. Connected to this, some historians are super generous with their time and engage with history teachers on social media and at conferences. Nevertheless, there can’t be many of us … Continue reading Reading list with reviews!
Why this? Why now?
Richard Kennett gave the keynote at the first HA North West forum at the end of January. He has turned his talk into this blogpost so more of us can benefit from his thinking about curriculum. This blogpost is unashamedly about curriculum. Put simply, curriculum is what stuff we choose to teach. It is not the HOW we teach it. That’s pedagogy. It is not … Continue reading Why this? Why now?

