Secondary History

Secondary History- Revision Time

It’s Revision time! Revision can be a tedious round of past exam questions, past papers, [b] questions, [c] questions, etc, etc. Here are a few ideas for livening up revision whilst still maintaining the rigour necessary for exam success. Remember, as in all teaching, variety is the spice of life!… Read More

Secondary History – Evidence

Look at the evidence! When examining cartoons, pictures or drawings, students often find it difficult to see beyond the obvious, which is usually staring them right in the face. How do you train them to search for all… Read More

Secondary History – Women and Children First

Whenever I hear the phrase ‘women and children first’ I always think of the Titanic, the unsinkable luxury liner that sank after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic 100 years ago, with the loss of over 1500 lives. Outdated regulations meant there didn’t have to be a space in a… Read More

Managing Behaviour

Anyone who was following the Local Elections coverage recently would have got sick of hearing how bad ‘times’ are. It’s of course no different in education – we have our own hard times as the Coalition seemingly declares war on us…pay freezes, pensions under attack, constant belittling of the profession,… Read More

Secondary History – Show the Passion!

It was WB Yeats who told us that, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” It’s a quote I’ve long admired and to me it sums up the reason why I went into teaching. It’s something I’ve always tried to remember when planning… Read More

Secondary History – The Richard Holmes Memorial Prizes

In 2015, Britain and Europe will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the end of the Napoleonic Wars  (1792-1815). The war more or less ended with a clash of giants – on one side the Allied armies, led by the First Duke of Wellington, the Prince of Orange and Prince Marshal… Read More

Secondary History – Reinforcing chronological understanding

Students often find it difficult to sequence events or people, yet it is crucial to understanding cause and effect, continuity and change, and most other things in history. Here are a couple of well-tried and tested ways to reinforce chronology. Let’s start with a pillar box:… Read More

Secondary History – The White Slave Trade

We all teach about the triangular slave trade, but how many of us teach about the White Slave Trade? In June 1636, seven boats fishing off the Cornish coast were taken by the “Turks” and their crews, around 50 men in total, and were carried away as captives. The same… Read More

Secondary History – Victorian Baby Farms

Sometimes something you read can open up a completely different way of looking at things! Whilst reading Mary Hooper’s new novel ‘Velvet,’ which is mainly about Victorian spiritualism, I came across a reference to Amelia Dyer, who was hanged in 1896 for the murder of a baby. In the novel… Read More