Here are some activities to revise the causes of the French Revolution (VCE AoS1).
Both these are based on sheets by @KKNTeachLearn
Download Word files here:
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Tag: history
bookmark_borderThesis / Antithesis / Synthesis for essay writing
While researching Marxist ideology for revision lessons on the Russian Revolution, I came across the idea of thesis/antithesis/synthesis as an argumentative framework.
I have since used it successfully in my classes. I think the notion of Dialectics and thesis/antithesis/synthesis fits in well with my other ideas about essay writing (they are nothing new, I’ve just recast them in my own way: TEAC).
What is dialectics?
Dialectics of any sort is a means of trying to resolve a paradox.
It’s important first of all to understand the difference between a paradox and a contradiction. Two things contradict if they CANNOT co-exist. A person cannot have a broken leg AND not-have a broken leg. That is a contradiction. A paradox is something that SEEMS to contradict but which may possibly have some middle ground. For instance” All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” or “You can save money by spending it”.
That, in a nutshell, is what dialectics does. To learn about something, it considers something that is almost its opposite, and then tries to figure out what the compromise is between the two. So perhaps you’d figure out the meaning of life by comparing it to the meaning of death. But that’s getting off-topic. a Continue reading “Thesis / Antithesis / Synthesis for essay writing”
- http://askeveryone.ca/.question$6748319 (back)
bookmark_borderIB History IA workshop, Day 3
Work in progress! These are my notes from a three day workshop for the IB History IA (New course), held at Wesley College Melbourne, on June 25, 26, 27, 2016.
Day 3, Session 9, Designing an effective IA process, ideas, skills and strategies.
No name, no school names, no city name, no student number on the front page, the IA has to be uploaded completely anonymous. Only have the title on the front page.
We discussed our current IA practices and the ways in which we’d like to change those in the future. For me, I’d like to start earlier with finding a good research question. Formulating a good question is very challenging, so as soon as this workshop finalises the online student resource, I will introduce the students to it and will use some lessons to work on the RQ.
PDF version of the poster here: Poster PDF
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bookmark_borderIB DP History Workshop Melbourne: the New Guide 2017
From the 2nd of May to the 4th of May 2015, I attended a three day IB DP History workshop in Melbourne. It was a very busy and well attended event, with over 300 hundred participants in total and 35 history teachers from all over the southern hemisphere in our workshop.
Below are the notes I’ve taken for each day:
- IB DP Workshop Day 1, A general overview of the changes in the new course. How to construct a course. Big changes to Paper 1: Four instead of five sources, new OPVL, new question specific mark schemes.
- IB DP Workshop Day 2, overview of changes to Paper 2, new mark bands. We did a lot of trial marking. Grades were often higher than we expected. There is more ‘positive’ marking.
- IB DP Workshop Day 3, IA has been completely overhauled, three sections now. Also looked at approaches to teaching and learning.
Continue reading “IB DP History Workshop Melbourne: the New Guide 2017”
bookmark_borderIB DP History Workshop, Day 3
Three day IB DP History workshop, Category 3, Day 3
Melbourne. 02/05/15 – 04/05/15.
Workshop leaders: Colin Aitken and Jenny McArthur
Group page on Google+ (closed, invitation only)
Notes for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3
Continue reading “IB DP History Workshop, Day 3”
bookmark_borderIB DP History Workshop, Day 2
Three day IB DP History workshop, Category 3, Day 2
Melbourne. 02/05/15 – 04/05/15.
Workshop leaders: Colin Aitken and Jenny McArthur
Group page on Google+ (closed, invitation only)
Notes for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3
Continue reading “IB DP History Workshop, Day 2”
bookmark_borderIB DP History Workshop, Day 1
Three day IB DP History workshop, Category 3, Day 1.
Melbourne. 02/05/15 – 04/05/15.
Workshop leaders: Colin Aitken and Jenny McArthur
Group page on Google+ (closed, invitation only)
Notes for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3
Continue reading “IB DP History Workshop, Day 1”
bookmark_border“How People Learn” Effective teaching in History
I have enjoyed skim reading the book “How people learn” by the National Research Council. It aims to give practical ideas on how to use current pedagogical research in the classroom.
The three key findings that the book presents are:
- Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.
- To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must:
(a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge,
(b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and
(c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application. - A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.
It has a very interesting chapter about History teaching. You can download that chapter here: Continue reading ““How People Learn” Effective teaching in History”
bookmark_borderHow to be an Essay Writing Jedi Ninja (Poster with Canva and Thinglink)
Over the years I have honed my essay writing teaching skills and I’ve distilled it to 5 top tips:
- RTBQ
- TEAC
- Signpost
- State and Evaluate
- Find the golden thread
Rather cryptic, I know, but my students know what it means. I made a poster using two cool sites: Canva and Thinglink. Canva is fantastic for making professional looking posters and Thinglink adds an interactive element to images and text. Hover your cursor over the image below to see the explanation of my cryptic but very good essay tips.
bookmark_borderA Virtual Excursion to Florence
I created a virtual visit to Florence.
The aim of this activity is to give kids an indication of what this amazing city is like. I purposely did not include very difficult questions or complex activities; this is really about having a wander around and discover some of the places that are so important in the history of the Renaissance.
The outcome of this virtual excursion is “Seven Florence Facts”; students just have to share seven interesting renaissance facts they learnt as a result of this online excursion.
Activities include walking around Florence Cathedral (Il Duomo), going inside the Uffizi Gallery, sliding a photo on History pin to see what the Ponte Vecchio looked like after WW2 and a look inside a Medici villa.
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