Presentation Strategies
Political Cartoons
Political cartoons are a good way for students to analyze historical content. Political cartoons are primary sources that are more accessible to students. They are easier to understand because the message of the cartoon is clearly seen through the images the illustrator uses. Not only are political cartoons more accessible to students, they also give multiple perspectives on a subject which can be very beneficial to students in a history classroom. The website, Teaching History, details out a way that teachers can incorporate political cartoons in their lessons. Digital Posters Digital posters offer a great way for students to share what they have learned. Websites like Glogster, offer ways for students to create digital posters that are embedded with images, videos, text, and music. Students can use this medium to create a poster that uses many different sources of information. With a traditional paper poster students are limited to text and printed out images. With a digital poster can use various different resources to get their ideas across. The teacher can assign a digital poster that incorporates different types of media that Through a digital poster, students would not only be reinforcing the content learned in class they will also be learning how to use technology and how to gather reliable information from the Internet. |
Communication strategies
Socratic Seminars
A socratic seminar allows students to share their ideas with one another on a text that they would have read before class. This communication strategy shows what meaning the students have received from a text. The website, Facing History And Ourselves, gives a rationale and description of how a socratic seminar can be used in the classroom. Four Corners Four Corners activities allow students to take a stand on a certain topic. All students have to participate and they must take a position on a topic. The website Facing History offers a rationale and explanation of how this strategy can be used in the classroom. It also gives sample questions that can be used in the activity and teacher and student expectations. |
Organization strategies
Chunking
In a history classroom, students may be asked to read from the textbook or other difficult expository text. Chunking is a strategy that allows students to gather the important from a difficult text. The website Facing History gives a rationale as to why chunking is a good strategy to employ when working with text. The website also gives the procedure for how the strategy can be used and gives variations on the strategy. Timelines Students work with many different time periods in a history classroom with many different events happening in those time periods. Timelines are a way for students to be able to organize the events that occur in a certain time period. The website, Education World, offers a rationale as to why timelines should be used in the history classroom and explains how they can used to help students grapple with historical content. |
Collection strategies
Finding Primary Sources
Being able to find reliable primary sources is important in a history classroom. Students need to be aware that not everything that one finds on the internet is reliable. The American Library Association gives students the resources they need in order to find, evaluate, and use primary sources. |
Collaboration strategies
Project Based Learning
Students should be given the opportunity to collaborate with one another. Project based learning allows students to work with one another to truly understand the topic. Websites such as Intel Education and Edutopia offer ways of how project based learning can be used in the classroom and give ideas for different project that can be used |