r/historyteachers

Hello history teachers and professors!

I'm writing an apocalypse book and one of my main characters was a history professor, except I actually have no idea what his specialisation might be. The reason I think I need this is because this character (for context, 45-50yo man) has a kind of thing where he and his daughter joke around about a specific thing (history wise, like for example an event that happened, or specialisation, what not), so I need to know what would they joke about.

I'm taking history right now (I'm 16) and really enjoy it, but its mostly just about stuff relating to our country and not wider things, so it would be helpful to know what else there is.

Would anyone be able to tell me a few specialisations in the history field that would work in this scenario? Much thanks appreciated!

I love history and it’s one of my special interests and I got better at tests over time but I also felt bad because I loved it and always shared and talked about stuff with my teachers after class and I was always one of the first to raise my hand like my hand shot up first when asked what sparked the First World War answering with Franz Ferdinand & his wife Sophie were killed by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo but somehow I just didn’t do that well all the time on tests and I felt like a bad student and idk if my teachers thought of me weird like “how can she love history so much but not do the best on this test?” I mean I know I also was in AP European History and it was a difficult class, specifically the tests my teacher made but idk, how would you feel about a student like me?

Hello everyone! If you are a private high school teacher, I'd really appreciate your time for a brief moment :)

I am a master's student at the University of Oxford. For my thesis, I am mapping the control high school teachers perceive they have over content and curriculum in the context of institutional and organizational power in shifting autonomy.

I am looking to interview 10 US-based private high school teachers to capture varied perspectives of control in education. Your perspective is so meaningful to my research aims, and it would be a pleasure to chat for even five minutes to get your perspective.

You may feel a sense of déjà vu from this post; I've made a similar one before! However, while I've interviewed the public school teachers needed for my study, I am in desperate need of further participation from private school teachers. I cannot overstate how appreciative I would be if you took a bit of time out of your day to contribute to my research.

Who qualifies:

• You currently teach at a high school (or equivalent level) in the United States.
• You work in a private school.

What it involves:

• A brief, 15 to 30-minute online interview conducted via Zoom.
• We will discuss your perceived ability to shape classroom content, job satisfaction, external roles, and how formal evaluations or standards impact your independence.
• Strict Anonymity: Your name, school, and district will be completely redacted during transcription. In the final thesis, participants are only described by broad regional terms to ensure complete privacy.

Ethical Review: This research has been formally reviewed and given a favorable opinion by the University of Oxford's Departmental Research Ethics Committee (Reference: 2583776).

If you are willing to lend your voice and experience to help me map these barriers or wish to receive more information, please send me a direct message or (preferably) email me directly at samuel.johnson@stx.ox.ac.uk. I will share the official Participant Information Sheet, and we can find a brief window that suits your schedule. As noted, while a 15 or 30 minute interview is ideal, I am more than willing to accommodate any needs you may require, even if you request a five-minute meeting at 3am (although I’d rather not if there are other options haha).

Thank you so much for your time and for everything you do in the classroom! As someone who began their tertiary education at community college and has only succeeded thanks to amazing teachers, I truly do hope to highlight the importance of autonomy in your profession.

Also, thank you to those of you who have helped me with my research if you see this! This subreddit has been incredibly kind and welcoming, and I really appreciate your support :)

We are moving to block schedule (90 min class periods). I’m trying to expand my resources. Would anyone be willing to share? I would greatly appreciate any and all help!

I have my mocks soon and I’m doing practise questions. But I don’t want to rely on AI cuz I know they’re inaccurate. So any gcse history teacher willing to mark?😭

What's up, fellow nerds?

Similar to the post that was put up earlier about sharing resources, I thought this would be a great thread for social studies teachers to put some of the things they do in the classroom that are very effective. Whether it's using a specific resource or a lesson you like to do -- what you got?

For me, when I talk about the Bill of Rights, I like to use landmarkcases.org - it does a great job of introducing some of the most important SC cases and their decisions, with activities that make the cases relevant to kids today. If you're teaching BoR, I feel like this is a must.

Hi everyone,

I am in a bit of pickle. I took a job at a new school who bait-and-switched me, to where I now have six preps instead of the one I was told. I have been assigned to teach 6th and 7th grade world history next year but apparently my school has no curriculum or resources whatsoever. And I have never taught these subjects. 6th grade is Ancient World, and 7th is modern history. I've looked into the OER project as suggested and some has been useful, but if I'm honest I'm struggling to understand it as cohesive units about a given topic. I may be missing something, but the materials feel advanced for 6th grade, and I'm looking for a unit on, for example, just Ancient Africa/Egypt. When I open the resources on OER project it just feels like it's 30% on the topic I want/need to cover. Maybe I'm missing something? There are a lot of videos and no slides from what I've found.

So, I am humbly asking if anyone is willing to help me out with slides/guided notes worksheets as a framework for any of these units, or instructions for culminating projects/activities:

- Ancient Africa

- Ancient India

- Ancient China

- Ancient Rome

- Ancient Greece

- Middle Ages

- The Renaissance

- Scientific Revolution/Enlightenment

- American/French Revolution

I am primarily an ELA teacher and I have several detailed novel guides that I would be happy to provide in return. I am just at a loss here of how to teach a subject I have never taught with no textbook or slides :(

So I’ll be teaching world history for the first time this upcoming school year. This will be my 4th year teaching. And I will have all 9th graders. I want to have them interview people in their community about any historical event they have lived through. Then the student will do a full year project based on/leading up to this interview. I know the literacy rate for my students has gotten worse with each year. I don’t know what true level my incoming 9th graders will be. And I want to combat ai usage as much as possible. I need help brainstorming ideas that will help students finish this project.
Now world history will be a full year class. I have only taught semester courses so this will be new for me.
The goal of the project will be to help students find a love for history and an interest in the people around them. The historical event can be able anything but has to be real. I’m thinking a timeline of something like this

1. Students find someone to interview
2. Students get the historical event and do their own research on it (maybe write a 1-2 page essay in order to build background knowledge on it)
3. Students form questions based on their research to ask in their interview
4. Students video tape their interview with their primary source and listen to their account
5. Following the account students ask their interview questions
6. Students write down the interview or write an essay based on the interview

Now I know this doesn’t strictly stick to just a primary source, but hopefully it helps them understand the importance and build skills they need.
Any ideas or critique is greatly needed and appreciated. I want to make a timeline to help students do this project throughout the year. And of course we will have a few classes dedicated to learning how to cite.

So this year, I’m teaching middle school world history. I was teaching US history last year I was trying to see if anybody have any resources for that?

found out on the last day that i’m switching to 11th grade after teaching MS for my whole career so far! i’ll be teaching a section of APUSH and also 3 sections of US.

any tips for classroom management and resources?

Sending this out again. I lost my CWP Curriculum last year. Piloted an online program this year and hated it. Looking for 1 semester, printer/G Classroom friendly. I have spent time reaching out to other districts for help but getting mostly crickets from my fellow educators. What gives? Any help appreciated.

I am close to someone who did not get a good k-12 education in the USA

He said his history classes involved doing games and a test that was a crossword…

He doesn’t know what segregation was

I’m heartbroken for him.

He deserved to be knowledgeable and wants to. I offered to help, starting with history

Can anyone recommend a book that will be a good introduction to US history through the centuries?

I’m wondering if I should grab a thrifted textbook used in elementary or middle schools but I’m here asking for help too

Any suggestions would be incredibly appreciated. He is 33 years old

Hey all!

I want to update my teaching to include more inquiry based lessons/units. I want to turn my learning targets into inquiry questions and have students analyze primary and secondary sources to help them write their answers to the inquiry questions. They of course already do this to some degree, but I am looking to incorporate the inquiry questions more into the foundations of my teaching, rather than just a summary at the end.

Any advice? How do you organize your inquiry lessons/units?

Any lesson materials you use? I am starting from scratch, so anything will be helpful.

I’ve taught high school social studies (IB, AP, core classes and electives) for around a decade. I’m looking at an open social studies position at a middle school closer to my home, and I’m curious about what people’s experience has been going to from teaching high school to middle school. Main differences? Anything you wished you’d considered or that someone had told you before you made the switch?

Hello,

I am almost finished creating something I kind of stumbled into as a first year history teacher at a school that threw away the previous textbook. I have been designing on canva a middle school social studies curriculum spanning 6th grade ancient history, beginning with early hominins and even before to Alexander the great and the Hellenistic kingdoms, 7th grade world history from the origins of rome to the age of exploration, and 8th grade American history spanning from pre Columbian civilizations to the Spanish American war. I also have a unit on French revolution/Napoleon I want to teach possibly after the American revolution, and 2 units on 20th century conflict, one on the world wars, the other on korea and Vietnam, that if we have time I'd like to get to with 8th grade, or maybe save for a seminar. My main question is what are the ethical implications as a history teacher of making something like this? I've made it all on my own and the base skeleton is written by chat.

Every reading I've edited almost endleslessly, and each one includes 2 guiding questions to start the reading that we use for in class group discussion, 6-12 paragraphs, 5 primary/secondary sources that support the content in the reading,lots of colorful pictures, and a worksheet at the end that includes the following: 3 key figures and why they're significant, an optional doodling section for a key figure, 3-4 sentences they have to summarize the reading in their own words, then on the back page a 4 part timeline and 3 comprehension questions. I work at a private school but I do have my teaching license, so I'm not under a magnifying glass with standards but I think I've done a decent job. Is this ok that I do this?

I went all in on it because of a lot of reasons: I can bring this curriculum with me wherever I go, I can use it to advertise my resume for my next job, I can edit it and add readings on certain topics whenever I want, and I can improve the intentionality of the worksheets and curriculum whenever a new idea pops up, granted with a lot of time. I'm at the point where I've put so much time into it, and hoping to have something finished that I can more or less leave untouched and work with for the next year or 2 plus. If you are interested in my content let me know, I'm just not sure what other teachers would think 🤔. It was really such a joy to make, topics I am passionate about the readings almost read like a drama, and so many readings I learned literally everything about the topic while making it.

Have any of you guys thought to play music from the era currently being studied in class? For, when studying the Roaring 20’s, have any of thought to play music (jazz) from that era to get an immersive feel about the time and place of study? I’m not a history teacher, I would like to be one after I complete my bachelors. But, can anyone tell me some hurdles I could expect whether it’s the Admin staff or the kids and their parents. School appropriate songs are of course the only songs i’d be referring to. Thanks!

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone would have recommendations on where to look for free (or paid) resources/lessons for 7th grade world history? I am a new teacher so I am looking for anything I can get! For reference I will be teaching in TN.