Tag: network

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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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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beginning teacher, CPD, diversity and inclusion, local networks, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge, teaching and learning ideas

One Big History Department: history teachers assemble – finding my tribe as an early career teacher

Here Emma Bevan of Harrogate High School continues our blog series for teachers in the early years of their careers and shares her experience of working together to become better history teachers. I vividly remember the reminder bestowed to me and my PGCE cohort in one of our final sessions. It was an important reminder, and something that didn’t make sense to me at the … Continue reading One Big History Department: history teachers assemble – finding my tribe as an early career teacher

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CPD, diversity and inclusion, teacher knowledge

Teachers’ perspectives on teaching Black History

Thanks to Simon Beale, Associate Assistant Headteacher and Subject Leader of History & Politics, and co-founder of the History Teacher Book Club, for sharing the key findings of some teacher to teacher sampling that he did earlier this term. It raises interesting points to add to discussions about future work, as it gives a perspective from teachers about what they think will help them make a difference.  … Continue reading Teachers’ perspectives on teaching Black History

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curriculum and planning, GCSE and A level, teaching and learning ideas

Supporting the development of students’ schema: a wish list for students arriving for their first year of A Levels

Thanks to Heather Sherman of York College for this blogpost. Heather teaches in an FE College and every year she meets new students from many schools as they embark on their two years of A Level study. Heather writes supportively as to how teachers of students at Key Stage 4 can help with the transition to Key Stage 5. Despite the pressures of the exam … Continue reading Supporting the development of students’ schema: a wish list for students arriving for their first year of A Levels

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CPD, curriculum and planning, teacher knowledge

Lessons learned from lockdown. The perspective of a history teacher.

Thanks to Richard Kennett (@kenradical) member of Secondary Committee and SHP fellow for this blogpost… Lockdown is a funny old beast. Some of us have hated it. Others of us have loved it. It will surprise few people that I fall into the latter and to quote a wise hero of mine “This social distancing thing is kind of a grouch’s dream” (Oscar the Grouch, … Continue reading Lessons learned from lockdown. The perspective of a history teacher.

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beginning teacher, curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, historical enquiry, local history, local networks, teaching and learning ideas

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

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curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, GCSE and A level, historical scholarship, KS3, local networks, teaching and learning ideas, teaching and learning resources

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’!

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beginning teacher, CPD, historical scholarship, reading listening watching, reviews, substantive knowledge, teacher knowledge, teaching and learning resources, teaching history

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!

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CPD, curriculum and planning, GCSE and A level, historical scholarship, KS3, subject leadership, teaching history

“The curriculum garden…

… In which I was inspired by Ruth Lingard’s post to take Michael Riley’s analogy way too far!” As someone with responsibility for the History curriculum at my school, I often worry about the quality of what we do. This is no false modesty, there are aspects of our curriculum that really aren’t that good. Michael Riley’s conceptualisation of curriculum as a garden continues to … Continue reading “The curriculum garden…

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