Lots of helpful essays here on how to teach various things big and small: from writing thesis statements and analyzing political cartoons to forming concepts and using primary sources
Interviews with 17 great history teachers. What an excellent idea! The most I have ever learnt about teaching was from watching exceptional teachers, so this should be useful.
In these interviews distinguished teachers share their strategies and techniques. Good teaching is more often honored in rhetoric than reality. And great teachers are generally known locally within their own schools, but less often to a larger group of national colleagues. Our goal in this section is, in part, to identify and honor those people who have taught with excellence, dedication, and distinction.
I've been using Twitter with my 11s and 12s this year and the feedback so far has been very positive. It's created a real buzz. If anyone would like to join in with their students I'd encourage you to check out #historystudent on Twitter. I recommend downloading Tweetdeck first (my students use that). It would be great to have other students and teachers sharing the feed.
A great discussion can also be found at #historyteacher, organised by Russell Tarr. I've picked up many resources there.
I am just starting a blog as part of a reflective practice. I also want to use it to connect with people who are interested in education and interested in smart inclusion of technology into the classroom. It's brand new, but I have a post on there with examples of what we're doing at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, NJ.
I hadn't realised how much full text stuff is available from ERIC otherwise I would have added it sooner. Just do a full-text advanced search for 'history' and Bob's your uncle. It's always good to know what the smart people are saying we should be doing. I don't know about you though, but sometimes those smart people strike me as a little stupid...
I've uploaded a few documents related to Habits of Mind in AP World History to my Scribd page. Does anyone else use Habits of Mind in their teaching? My school is implementing it next year and I'd be very interested in learning from the experiences of others.
Yes my school has been using Dimensions of Learning for the last three years. Keep an eye out for Art Costa who comes out from the States to inservice teachers in Brisbane on Habits of Mind. I really enjoyed my day with him. Very practical stuff. If you are interested you can join a learning hub; go to http://www.nsn.net.au/habits_of_mind_hub
This link is a some what old but you can join and receive email updates on various events they are running.
A brilliant example of how to use Diigo with a class. We wouldn't be able to do this given the restrictions we have on assessment, yet the way annotations are used as student discussion is inspiring. Some great analysis on Bronze Age sources (which my students struggle to find).
I thought I'd already saved this to the group. It's an excellent community of social studies teachers and has some really thought-provoking discussions going on. I've found the contributors there to be very smart and well-trained in history teaching (just like us!).
"Over the past several years, History Matters has organized twenty-five online dialogues with leading historians and teachers about the the teaching of major topics in U.S. history--from early settlement to the Vietnam War. Those discussions are archived here and contain many useful teaching suggestions"
There are a couple of pages on this site which might be useful for history teachers in challenging us to reflect on our practice. I don't know about you, but too often I get so caught up in the bureaucratic paperwork and day-to-day of teaching I forget to reflect on the big picture of what teaching history is all about...