Teaching Techniques
One critical aspect of teaching lies in identifying why students are struggling – i.e. identifying their learning problem – and then, in turn, identifying the technique that will do the most to help them overcome it. Therefore it’s very important to have a range of techniques in your armoury and to know why each one is useful to students.
This section of the website therefore provides a ‘How to ….’ guide describing a series of individual techniques (listed below) in the hope that they help new teachers build up their own range of effective techniques.
These techniques do raise levels of students’ knowledge and understanding. Of this I have no doubt after many years of using these techniques and of discussing them with other teachers. Students may well enjoy being taught using these techniques but enjoyment is NOT the main reason for using them – it’s a happy by-product – but they can also help history lessons stand out in the daily grind of the curriculum and therefore make the historical knowledge and understanding being taught more memorable.
And there’s nothing new about these techniques. Richmal Crompton wrote ‘William and the Temporary History Master’ about a teacher using drama with his pupils back in 1931 but far, far further back in time, a full thousand years ago the Anglo-Saxon monk, Aelfric, was, in the words of Dr. Eleanor Parker of the University of Oxford, using role-play to teach the novices in his monastery:
Almost all Ælfric’s writing is educational in its approach; he was a teacher in everything he did, constantly thinking about how best to explain complex ideas to his audiences … one of Ælfric’s most appealing works, his Colloquy. This is a lovely example of his teaching, a lively dialogue in which schoolboy monks, to practise their Latin, learn through role play. The boys take the roles of workers in different trades: ploughmen, shepherds, hunters, fishermen, and so on. Their teacher questions them about their jobs and they describe their daily life. Some complain how hard their work is, while others boast about their skills and success.
I love that description of Aelfric ‘constantly thinking about how best to explain complex ideas to his audiences’ – maybe I ought to make Aelfric the patron saint of this website?
Contents of This Unit
Core Article:
How to … give yourself the best chance of using these activities effectively
A discussion of the chief features of these techniques, why and how they are effective and notes on classroom practicalities, debriefing students and other issues.
Download this core article HERE …
Techniques:
The following articles have been written very much with trainees and early career teachers in mind. More details about using the techniques can be found in the individual activities on the site.
2. Washing Lines (also known as Continuum Lines)
5. Structured Role-Plays and Simulations
7. Hot-seating
8. Physical Diagrams: Maps, Tables and Family Trees
Also see more on:
• Storytelling: The uses of stories in History Teaching HERE …
And if you're unfamiliar with tabards …
If you don’t know what a tabard is (they feature in a lot of the activities) here’s a photo!
And you can read more about them in the Core Article.