NEW! Support for beginning history teachers

The HA has launched resources to support beginning teachers and those who work with them. Are you thinking of becoming a history teacher? About to train as a history teacher? In your training year? In your first year in post? In the first three years of your history teaching career? Working with beginning teachers? If the answer to any of these Qs is ‘YES!’ than … Continue reading NEW! Support for beginning history teachers

Beginning teaching in lockdown and beyond!

This blogpost is focused on beginning teachers. It starts with a focus on the specifics of training during lockdown. It then draws your attention to resources for beginning teachers that you might not be aware of and shares news of upcoming resources to look out for next term. Training to be a history teacher is different this year, but it is not a deficit model. … Continue reading Beginning teaching in lockdown and beyond!

Free 20thC Britain timeline

Sometimes on #OBHD we get the chance to share quality resources that colleagues have made. Thanks to Mary Brown (@MissBHist) for this one: C20th overview card sort      C20th overview glossary It’s designed to address the themes of: conflict, empire, ideas and beliefs, migration, everyday life and power across the century. It’s been planned for one lesson and every image/event covers more that one of … Continue reading Free 20thC Britain timeline

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

Lists and indices of sources of substantive and disciplinary knowledge

Many superb colleagues have grafted to make life easier for us all by creating lists and indices of many useful resources. This work on behalf of the community saves so much time and is so helpful to newer colleague less ‘au fait’ with the sources old hands use for subject knowledge and also ‘how to teach’ updating. This blogpost is updated regularly and is an … Continue reading Lists and indices of sources of substantive and disciplinary knowledge

Enquiry questions – the back story!

Over the weekend @LeeDonaghy asked history teachers on @Twitter if ‘an enquiry-focused history curriculum is a bit overrated for KS3’. It’s a good question. History-subject specialists learn from their subject-specialist ITT training that being able to construct an effective enquiry is a breakthrough moment in becoming a history teacher. But why? And how can we explain why? In response to @LeeDonaghy there followed a lengthy … Continue reading Enquiry questions – the back story!

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