Below is a list of blogs about History, as suggested by the participants of an online PD I am enrolled in for the IB History IA. One activity was to share our favourite History blogs.
- I really like the aptly named “A Blog About History” (http://www.ablogabouthistory.com) which contains mainly news. Great way to keep up to date.
- http://jivespin.wordpress.com/ John Mitchell shares a lot of creative resources for teaching history.
- My preferred method of to keeping up with History news is using the app “Zite“. It allows you to choose areas of interest which the app will then aggregate and curate for you. (e.g. “History”. “Ancient History” “Archaeology” “World War II” etc etc.)
1. http://coldwarhistorian.com/
This blog is written by Nick Blackbourn. The website blog contains information for people specifically interested in the cold War. It is particularly useful as Blackbourn offers information on books and movies related to the topic which he reviews regularly. There is a newsletter which students can subscribe too and there is information of academic links that students can use. Blackbourn also comments regularly on latest developments within the history of the Cold War.
2. http://russianhistoryblog.org/category/coldwar/
This blog is particularly useful for students investigating Russian history. It is very focused around the history of the Soviet Union and is edited and authored by a team of historians. As a result there appears to be posts almost on a weekly and in some cases a daily bases. The authors have also helpfully put their posts in categories which allows students to filter the posts depending on their interests. The posts are very informative and I believe very good for providing ‘food for through’
3. http://www.froginawell.net/china/
This blog is useful for students studying the history of china as a single party and authoritarian state, or paper three a history of asia. The blog is also organized by a team of historians, some of which are university lecturers and others are history teachers. The blog has been in existence for quite some time and there are already quite a lot of entries that are archived. A frequent link is drawn between history and modern China which is useful as it gives the students a great sense of understanding of the impact of history on the modern world. Also the authors occasionally post podcasts, presentations and resources that they create in their own teaching which could be useful for teachers as well as students.
4. http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.hk/
This blog, titled Holocaust Controversies, vocally opposes Holocaust deniers and their presence on the web and in the media. For anyone interested in this area it gets a bit beyond the usual historical methods, the contributors often getting very emotional and vitriolic: e.g. ”Graf isn’t stated to be the author of this pearl, but the rank stupidity of it alone would point to him even if it were not for the puerile bragging about the aforementioned monster pamphlet”
5. http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/
Discussion/podcasts of a wide variety of things related to the Ottoman Empire.
6. http://www.historytoday.com/blog
This site basically seems to be designed to support articles from History Today magazine. It contains some interesting videos and podcasts as well as picture galleries, etc.
7. http://www.ibhistorytopics.com/
This blog focuses on world history controversies/topics and is quite intelligent. It would be interesting to share with high-achieving students and could generate some ideas for the IA.
8. http://bloggingforhistorians.wordpress.com/
A history blog about….history blogging! (And what are and aren’t good practices for history blogging/bloggers).
9. http://ushistoryeducatorblog.blogspot.jp/
This one is specific to high school teachers of US history, but might be useful for those of us doing Americas topics.
10. Teaching history, http://blogs.dickinson.edu/teachinghistory/
Resources about Soviet history and the teaching of history in general. Contains good tips on integrating technology in the history classroom.
11. The best of WW2, http://bestofww2.blogspot.com/
Contains posts with various resources (text, posters, videos, etc.) that students are likely to enjoy going through.
12. Conversations about the Holocaust, http://learningabouttheholocaust.blogspot.com/
Contains various resources about the historiography of the Holocaust.
@vanweringh I’m a massive fan of http://t.co/vu1o9mhgtX
— Thea Kinsela (@TheaKinsela) October 10, 2013
@vanweringh Like this blog a lot. Art of WW I: http://t.co/CjeSQys3aT ps. Mind sharing blogs others submit?
— j.p.wilson (@jpwxiix) October 10, 2013
@vanweringh I like this iconic photo site, good for history but also for MYP ideas http://t.co/4mzsq7iwSX
— Paul Grace (@PaulGrace9) October 11, 2013
Thank you for your contributions Ryan Maxwell, Hugh Davis, Scott Bailey, Annie Levasseur