Engaging Ways of Teaching History

When teaching History, it is important to apply the 5 elements of powerful Social Studies teaching.

The 5 elements are: Meaningful, Integrative, Value-Based, Challenging, and Active.

Lessons become Meaningful when it is engaging to the students and incorporates real world situations into the lessons. They are Integrative when it draws on more than one discipline, subject, or skill. The lessons become Value-Based when there is a sense of democratic values and social responsibility. Students can become Challenged when the lessons incorporate different perspectives and students draw on critical thinking skills. Active lessons should have hands on and/or minds on methods. This includes giving the students the chance to participate or use Manipulatives.

One way that teachers can make history engaging and enjoyable for students is by using online tools/resources to find interactive activities. By going onto the QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator website, you can learn how to use this fun and interactive activity in your classroom to help engage your students. The teacher can submit a series of questions and answers into the website and it will create QR code for each question. The students must use their phones to scan the QR code with their app in order to receive the question that they must answer. The QR codes will be either distributed in folders with the labeled number of the question or can be distributed around the classroom so that students must search for each question. Students can work in groups and the teacher can see which group gets all the answers the fastest in this treasure hunt activity.

Another way to engage students is with the Visible Thinking website. This website gives many ideas on how to help students think from different perspectives regarding different events in history. One of the examples that this website gives is on the slave trade. The teacher posted an image relating to the slave trade and gave dialogue to the central characters in the picture. The students were assigned to think from various perspectives and discuss how different people may be affected by the image. The students then chose a single perspective to research more about and came up with their own script on what that person might be experiencing or thinking.

It is important for teachers to always look for activities and strategies to use in the classroom. This Strategies to Teach Social Studies document provides many strategies that can be used to teach history. Through my experiences and observations, many of the strategies that are listed were familiar to me.

One of the strategies that was expressed in the document was Service Learning. This is a strategy that I am not familiar with and have not seen occur in a classroom. In this strategy, students learn through reflection on the experience of serving the community. Students are involved in situations where they can learn and apply their skills. It can be either a long-term or short-term project. I would incorporate this strategy when teaching history by giving the students options in the community of where they can go to learn more about history and give them time to explore and reflect. The students can even present a presentation on what they learned and their experiences at the site. Students can volunteer at local preservation organizations, assist with archaeological digs at historic or prehistoric sites, Testify at public hearings, city council meetings and/or state legislatures, to advocate for historic preservation projects, etc.

Another strategy that was expressed in the document was about the Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR) Model. This is a discussion model to use in the classroom. The 1st step is to present the positions, the 2nd step is for each group to ask questions and then restate the other group's position accurately, the 3rd step is for each group to present a list of agreements between the two positions, and the 4th step is for each group to present the questions that can resolve some of the differences between the two groups. I am unfamiliar with this strategy but it can be used as an effective activity for the classroom. To teach history, I would have the students use this ESR Model as an introductory activity on whether we learn from history or not.

These are some great strategies and resources to use in the classroom. I will continue my search for looking for new ways to engage students in the classroom!