“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan This works really well as a quick starter or plenary activity. Students complete a questionnaire about Roman inventions and how recently they have used them. From this they achieve a score (out of 66) and are asked to stand up when their score bracket is read aloud. A fun way to introduce the concept of why the Romans are so significant.

Escape from Sobibor is a terrific movie to showcase both the horrors of the Holocaust as well as one shining example of widerstand/resistance. In this activity there are 50 questions for students to response to as they watch the movie. Answers are provided also for peer and self assessment.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan In this lesson students are given a quick odd one out activity as a starter to invite them to consider the positives and negatives of Capone, the notorious gangster. The PPT then offers them some background information and the learning objectives are broken down into all of you will/most of you will/and some of you will. The main activity is a 44-piece card sort and there is a slide explaining the answers to this also. The lesson concludes with a short voting plenary where students are asked to side with the views of different personalities when answering the question as to whether Capone was as “black as they say” to use his own words. This lesson has been designed for high achieving high school students.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan Students work their way through the background knowledge before taking a what-would-you-do style quiz. Each question focuses on a different stage in the crisis and students are given three options to choose from. Afterwards students add up their tally and are grouped into brackets to show what kind of President they would have made. My students really enjoy this activity, especially as a starter to the Cuban Missile Crisis - I hope yours do also.

Students begin this lesson with a starter activity in which they watch a video clip of the traditional view of events (with some true or false questions to test comprehension). They then work through a detailed 3-page set of notes before handling 17 pieces of evidence, some of which offer the traditional view (that this was a peaceful protest whereby the Imperial Guard massacred innocent civilians) and others of which suggest a more revisionist perspective (that Father Gapon was a double agent and expected/wanted to provoke a violent response). Students answer questions on the sources and are invited to give their opinion, which ties back neatly to the starter activity and the Key Question. The lesson concludes with a plenary activity which asks students to listen and contemplate on the meaning and nuances within Dmitri Shostakovitch’s famous 11th symphony. I hope you enjoy this lesson as much as my students do. It has been pitched towards high achieving secondary aged students but please do ask me if you have any questions.

In this very detailed lesson students received clear aims and objectives (all will, most will, and some will) before being given a source starter activity which they are asked to break down using the frame provided. This introduces the idea of growing Japanese strength (its about the Russo-Japanese War). The class are then given activation material in the form of extremely detailed notes. The consolidation phase then asks IB students to sort a 25 piece hexagonal card sort into factors - domestic, economic, militaristic, and nationalistic. The lesson concludes with a chronology activity to test student knowledge acquired in a fun way. I have also made a revision video which is included as homework. I hope your IB students get as much from this as mine do and that it helps them prepare for this Move to Global War Paper 1 IB topic.

This lesson is titled “What really happened to the Roman Army’s Ninth Legion?” The lesson begins with an Odd One Out Starter Activity in which the class are invited to consider some truths and one mistruth about the Ninth Legion that mysteriously disappeared. The Key Question is then introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition as well as a slide which features a pizza (because it has three points) which has three corners labelled with the key theories (that it was defeated in battle and wiped out, that it was reassigned, or that it assimilated with local people). The class are then given a 15 piece card sort and divide the information into these three categories. A color-coded version is also supplied in case any one needs a little extra help. The class then get broken into teams of four and are tasked with producing a TV chat show discussion explaining the main theories and they act these out. An example is given using real historians so students can see a model of what their work might look like. The lesson objectives are revisited and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which they are invited to come to the board and add information to the three sided object they saw earlier (under the correct theory). They then answer the Key Question by reviewing the evidence/knowledge acquired. I hope your students get as much out of this History Mystery as mine always do. Wishing you a terrific day.

Boost your teaching with this 4-part lesson plan. It will help refine existing skills, ensure pace to every lesson, and enable you to take into account a variety of different needs in order to facilitate accelerated learning in your classroom. Yes, you too will have a cunning plan!

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan This is a great project-based lesson designed to introduce students to the topic of Ancient China and to the second-order concept of significance and includes graduated learning outcomes (all of you will/most of you will/some of you will). The lesson begins with a quick starter activity where students have to guess which of four sports was not invented in China. They’re often a bit surprised by the answer (table tennis) and this leads on to a second activity in which they have to see how many inventions which originated in China they can identify (the rocket, paper, wheelbarrows - 21 are given in total). From this the class are then introduced to the idea of how historians decide what makes an event or discovery significant and they explore the acronym GREAT: G = ground-breaking, R = remembered, E = extent of importance to people at the time, A = affected the future, and T = turning point. For the main task students are given a card with three different inventions on. They need to choose one of their inventions and explain in presentation form why they felt it was so significant. The lesson concludes with a class vote on which they felt was the most important invention and why. I’ve also thrown in an assessment rubric should you wish to turn the project into a formal assessment. Please note this lesson was designed for high achieving Year 7 students with the ability to do their own research (some websites are given) but it also works well as a great library-based lesson depending on the resources you have in yours. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope your students get as much from this lesson as mine always do.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan This lesson is a 40-slide PowerPoint presentation with graduated lesson aims (all will/most will/some will) and begins with some images and quotations to illustrate why bus segregation was such an important issue. The lesson then includes a “What’s Behind the Squares?” Starter Activity, which reveals two images: one of Rosa Parks on a bus in Louisiana and a photograph of an injured Freedom Rider. The main activity consists of an 18-piece card sort, in which students are invited to identify strategies, challenges, and impacts of both events (they’re colour coordinated), and then divide these into similarities or differences. Both were non-violent and led to desegregation, but there are also some key differences in terms of participants, scale of impact, and how they are remembered. The lesson concludes by referring back to the lesson aims and asks students to write a three-paragraph piece of work addressing the Key Question. I hope your students find it as useful as mine always do. I haven’t included any YouTube links because the links often expire, but there are many terrific documentary clips you can use. You may also wish to play the Joan Baez song “We Shall Overcome” during the plenary.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this 51-slide PPT students address the skill of interpretation. The lesson begins with a DingBats Starter Activity designed to see how much of the traditional tale they already know (answers are given) and the class are introduced to two opposing opinions on Robin Hood’s existence (David Carpenter and Julian Luxford). Graduated lesson aims are introduced (all will/most will/some will) with the lesson’s Key Question. The class then work through 18 pieces of evidence in a card sort activity (there is a colour coded version for those who need extra help) and they place these into two columns: evidence which suggests Robin Hood was a real person and evidence which suggests he was a purely fictional character. They do not have to use all the information and can discriminate between evidence before attempting a piece of extended writing. The class then concludes with a voting plenary where they revisit the two earlier opinions and stand on the side of the classroom with which they mostly agree (there is some music to accompany this). Thanks for your interest in this lesson, which is written in UK English and designed for high achieving Key Stage 3 high school students. Wishing you a wonderful day.

I couldn’t find a book on China 1900-89 which suited my high ability IGCSE students so I wrote one myself. This is my 200-page PDF which covers all of the key parts of the EdExcel specification and which includes comprehension questions and activities at the end of each chapter. I give it to students to supplement the course. It also includes detailed revision menus.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan This is a History mystery lesson in which students explore the Essential Question ‘what happened to Princess Anastasia?’ This is always a popular lesson because of the 1997 Disney movie (!) but more importantly one that really challenges student second order thinking and gets them working on their reasoning skills. The lesson begins with a starter activity where students watch two short video clips about Anastasia’s death and answer a few quick questions on this. The clips are deliberately very different and from this the class are encouraged to create their own lesson title (which will be very similar to the title given here). Students then work through graduated learning objectives (all of you will / most of you will / some of you will) before working through some detailed background information. The class then work through a card sort activity detailing evidence which suggests a) that Anastasia did die at the Ipatiev House and b) evidence which suggests she may have survived (the Anna Anderson story). A colour coded differentiated version is supplied also. Students then use this information from the card sort activity to complete a template to help them write an Okhrana police report which answers the Essential Question. The lesson concludes with a voting plenary. This lesson is pitched towards high achieving secondary students and is always one they really do well in. Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great day fellow teachers and if you enjoy this lesson please leave me a review.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan These two sided front sheets look great when attached to student work. Moreover, they save teacher time and increase the level of precise feedback received by students. They have been designed specifically for the IB History course. I hope your students find them as useful as mine do.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan This lesson is titled “What was life like on the Home Front in Britain during the Second World War?” The lesson begins with three anagrams designed to introduce the topic in a Countdown Style Starter Activity. The Key Question is made clear along with aims and lesson objectives are graduated (all will/most will/some will). There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The main activity takes the form of a jigsaw classroom approach. Students are given one of five fact files on an alternative aspect of life on the Home Front (children and evacuation, women, those too old for active service, propaganda, and the Blitz). The students then break away and research their respective area of expertise using the fact file given (as well as a library book box/internet) before rejoining the group. The challenge is for them to then persuade the others in their ‘jigsaw’ that their aspect of life changed the most. Following this the lesson objectives are revisited, and a piece of written work is set. The lesson concludes with a starfish plenary in which students are asked to vote on which of the five aspects of life on the Home Front they felt was the biggest change for the people of Britain. I hope your students enjoy it as much as mine always do. It is pitched toward high school students and requires them to have some research skills. Wishing you a terrific day.

This is a great full lesson. Students begin with a starter activity which teaches them the basic steps to the Charleston before progressing through a very detailed and comprehensive set of notes covering the changes in the period in music, women, sports, architecture, religion, leisure and cinema. Students are then allocated a character card (flapper, housewife, young black American, Italian immigrant, gangster, businessman, Klansman, farmer) and complete a scaffolded worksheet explaining how there character would feel about the changes. They are then paired together to hold a discussion with another character in a meaningful way in order to reveal the different attitudes in the period. My students love this topic and I really hope yours do as well.

My students love this activity. 160+ questions based on the following categories: USA & her allies Soviet leaders The People Wars Words & Phrases Statistics It takes a little while to cut out the cards and the board and works best once laminated but your students will love this revision activity. The questions are designed to boost subject knowledge and focus on precise historical detail which in turn helps student examination performance. I hope your classes enjoy this activity as much as my IGCSE and IB classes always do! You can watch a game in action with this URL here - https://youtu.be/i8TtkQZs3cU

A 22-page pack of over 100 great ideas for the History teacher looking to improve his or her pedagogy. I use this within my team to shake up our teaching and revitalize old schemes of work. All of the activities are easy to implement and very transferable across topics. The pack can also be used as a great CPD tool for staff training. I’ve compiled these ideas over a 20 year teaching career and am very proud to share them with other education professionals. Daniel Guiney

A simple but very effective sheet which I pieced together to help my students improve their written work for IB Papers 2 and 3. It really does help and I have found the number of students achieving Levels 6 and 7 has increased in my classes since I began using this approach. I hope you find this useful and feel free to check out hundreds of other resources for History teachers here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/danguiney