Teaching resources online
Below is a list of useful online teaching resources.
This list comprises mostly resources for history and politics, but also includes a number of general teaching resources.
You can click on each to get to a description of the source and to a link to find it online. All are freely available, unless otherwise noted.
1. Illustrative websites and social media accounts
Royalty now Instagram acccount
Historical footage and photographs in color
Colorizing historical photographs
2. Online teaching tools and downloadable resources
BBC Bitesize
British Library Online Resources
Dyslexia-friendly teaching
The Economist Educational Foundation
Encyclopedia Britannica
GCSE Pod
Historical political poll: Which political faction would you have joined in Russia in 1917?
The Kahn Academy
Kahoot
Maps of the world from 10,000 BCE to 2005
Mr Allsop History website
Padlet
Primary sources, articles, biographies, and other information at Spartacus-Educational
Quizlet
Reverse instruction
schoolhistory.co.uk
Seneca website
TES teaching resources
Tools for teaching about racism
Virtual museum tours
The Zinn Education Project
3. Podcasts and Videos
BBC podcasts
The Economist podcast
How to create your own podcast
Ted talks
4. Revision tools
BBC bitesize
GCSE Pod
Gojimo revision app
Kahoot
Quizlet
Details
Illustrative websites and social media accounts
Royalty_now Instagram account
https://www.instagram.com/royalty_now_/?hl=en
What it is
Graphic designer Becca Saladin imagines what famous historical figures would have looked like today by altering historical portraits using advanced digital manipulation. Her portraits range from Nefertiti and Julius Caesar to Anne Anne Boleyn, Marie Antoinette, Shaka Zulu, Frederick Douglass.
Why it is useful
Becca Saladin’s work is likely to appeal to students for several reasons: 1. Instagram is liable to constitute very familiar territory for most of them.
2. Many students are visual learners and will appreciate these images. 3. Despite teachers’ best efforts, some students still consider history dry and not relevant to the present day. This account could provide one of the tools to change such attitudes.
4. Saladin’s work is neither western- nor male-centric, but features numerous women, people of color, and non-western historical figures with whom many students may be unfamiliar, such as the Haitian revolutionary leader General Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803).
Possible uses in class
1.Assign students to research one of the historical figures and have them write a fictional biography of Saladin’s contemporary version of the historical figure, i.e., “What kind of life might a person with the character traits of Anne Boleyn live today?” Such an exercise would enable students to address both change and continuity in history LINK TO SECOND ORDER CONCEPTS and discuss to what extent the society and culture of a particular epoch affects a person’s character and identity.
2. Have students find a historical figure of whom Saladin has not yet created a present-day version and ask students do create their own. One could use this along with the historical actors exercise I have created. LINK TO HISTORICAL ACTORS EXERCISE.
Possible pitfalls
It may reinforce such outdated ideas as the Great Man Theory LINK TO WIKIPEDIA, or in this case also “great woman theory”, at the expense of the history of ordinary people. However, this, too, could be alleviated by combining it with the historical actors exercise. LINK TO HISTORICAL ACTORS EXERCISE.
Historical footage in color
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsJi0UPoH4&fbclid=IwAR3jfV2CV8ZpApkBqmGgRHWCtzoKVk9s9b-caWzVfPPUtykxipmwut6R_MM
This YouTube video shows filmed footage from cities around the world in the 1890s. The footage has been colorized and the speed has been adjusted, making in resemble present-day footage.
Like the Royalty_now Instagram account, this video could be used to have students think about the similarities and differences between the past and the present. Teachers could ask students to write down differences and similarities between the 1890s and today that they notice in the video. In a second step, students could then be asked to think about or even research the reasons for those differences.
Historical photographs in color
https://www.pocket-lint.com/cameras/news/141701-history-in-colour-amazing-artists-add-colour-to-our-past
There are also several websites, like the one above, that feature colorized historical photographs. They could be used for exercises similar to the suggested exercise about filmed footage above.
Colorizing historical photographs
https://imagecolorizer.com/
Students could colorize old photographs themselves using the website above.
Online teaching tools and downloadable resources
BBC Bitesize offers interactive activities for virtually all subjects and from Early Years to 16+ based on the national curricula for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Covers Early Years, Primary, Secondary and 16+. Can be used for classwork or revision.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
British Library Online Resources provides a distinctive collection of items as well as commentary by experts related to History, English, Religious Studies and Citizenship. Includes class activities and teacher’s notes.
https://www.bl.uk/learning/online-resources#
Dyslexia-friendly teaching. The British Dyslexia Association provides a guide to dyslexia friendly training, a dyslexia style guide, and more.
https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide?fbclid=IwAR10TB6YQ3YE0PvU20YgrICZsT7flSGajQaljB2BzJi45EWbWgO53yOBQyA
The Economist Educational Foundation offers a wide range of resources for students to learn about politics, current affairs, media, the environment, social justice, culture, and society.
https://economistfoundation.org/
The Encyclopedia Britannica website includes news, articles, videos, quizzes, games, and podcasts on virtually any topic.
https://www.britannica.com/
GCSE Pod is a website covering 28 GCSE/IGCSE courses. Some content has to be purchased, but the site also offers many free resources. Can be used for classwork and/or revision.
https://www.gcsepod.com/
Historical political poll: Which political faction would you have joined in Russia in 1917? This is a website available in Russian and English which offers online courses, an online magazine, and a radio app, including podcasts. However, this link leads to an educational and fun exercise called “Political Compass of the Revolution”. It allows students who study the Russian Revolution to take part in a survey which then reveals to which political faction they would have belonged in Russia in 1917.
https://arzamas.academy/materials/1269?fbclid=IwAR2Ukuo13RG4flrAXeWNbvmoDuf31pjH_hiLZFt0unr-odas9m_fIKX9Qyo
The Kahn Academy offers free lesson plans, videos, articles, podcasts, quizzes and other learning resources for math, science, computing, arts and humanities, economics, reading and languages, and life skills based on the US curriculum from Kindergarten to AP and some university courses.
https://www.khanacademy.org/
Kahoot is a free platform (one can also purchase a premium version) for learning games. One can create quizzes or use quizzes made by others. Students can play individually or in teams. At minimum two screens are required to play. Can be used for classwork and/or revision.
A note of caution: Unless one has verified the information in a quiz created by someone else before students take it, one may be better off creating one’s own. Words are often misspelled, and the answers given are not always accurate.
https://kahoot.com/
Mr Allsop History website includes revision materials for GCSE and A Levels and a link to a YouTube channel with videos about numerous different history topics.
https://www.mrallsophistory.com/revision/
Padlet is a free online tool that is best described as an online notice board. Padlet can be used by students and teachers to post notes on a common page. The notes posted by teachers and students can contain links, videos, images and document files.
https://padlet.com/
On Quizlet teachers can create different types of quizzes, flashcards, study sets, learning games, etc. for any subject or use quizzes etc. already created by others. Can be used for classwork and/or revision.
A note of caution: Unless one has verified the information in a quiz created by someone else before students take it, one may be better off creating one’s own. Words are often misspelled, and the answers given are not always accurate.
www.quizlet.com
Reverse instruction, also known as the “flipped classroom” is a teaching technique that reverses the traditional setup of students receiving information from the teacher in class and then using this information to complete homework assignments. Instead, reverse instruction advocates promote an approach where the students’ homework consists of finding and engaging with the information, which they then use to complete assignments in class with the help of the teacher. Kelly Walsh, the founder of emergingedtech.com has been one of the promoters of this approach and has argued that reverse instructions constitutes one of the best ways to employ online teaching technology. For more information on reverse instruction, see the link below.
https://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/04/is-reverse-instruction-education-technologys-perfect-storm/
schoolhistory.co.uk comprises a large amount of history teaching resources from Key Stage 3 to A Levels for all British and international exam boards and for many of topics these exam boards offer.
https://schoolhistory.co.uk/
The Seneca website features a large amount of free online courses and resources covering a wide range of topics, from primary to 16+. Also includes CPD for teachers.
https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/
Spartacus Educational offers a huge amount of primary sources, articles about history topics, short biographies of historical figures, and student activities, covering British history, US history, World War I, World War II, German history, Russian history, women’s history, and Black history.
https://spartacus-educational.com/
TES teaching resources. The TES website offers over 900,000 teaching resources for purchase, as well as some free ones.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources
Time Maps is a wonderful website with world maps, maps of regions, countries, empires, kingdoms, etc. from 10,000 BCE to 2005 CE, with articles and teaching resources focusing on the history of the territories depicted on the maps. A premium version is also available.
https://www.timemaps.com/history/
Tools for teaching about racism. As numerous political, social, economic, and cultural developments and incidents in recent decades have shown, systemic and other forms of racism are far from having been defeated. On the contrary. Education is one of the most important and most powerful tools in the fight against racism. Every single teacher thus has a duty to address issues related to racism on a regular basis. Below are a number of resources to help teachers and students teach and learn about racism in history and today.
https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race
https://ncte.org/blog/2017/08/there-is-no-apolitical-classroom-resources-for-teaching-in-these-times/?fbclid=IwAR0R3lxE7kodaSUWtVJtvR124J7U-dZUpITEBHGg16DiOKFuYQucncMc1Hc
https://www.victorialynnalexander.com/antiracistresourceguide
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/remembering-red-summer-white-mobs-massacred-blacks-tulsa-dc
The website below includes links to virtual museum tours at a number of world-famous museums around the globe.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours
Established by former students of US historian and civil rights activist Howard Zinn (1922–2010), The Zinn Education Project offers US history teaching resources with a focus on ordinary people and civil rights. It also includes a section on world history.
https://www.zinnedproject.org/
Podcasts and Videos
The BBC website offers a wide range of podcasts, including over 60 history podcasts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/category/history
The Economist offers podcasts for a subscription.
http://www.economist.com/audio-edition
It may be a fun and educational experience for studentsto create their own podcast. The link below helps them get started.
http://www.wikihow.com/Start-Your-Own-Podcast
The Ted Talks website features many talks about history and politics.
https://www.ted.com/search?q=history
Revision tools
BBC Bitesize offers interactive activities for virtually all subjects and from Early Years to 16+ based on the national curricula for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Covers Early Years, Primary, Secondary and 16+. Can be used for classwork and/or revision.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
GCSE Pod is a website covering 28 GCSE/IGCSE courses. Some content has to be purchased, but the site also offers many free resources. Can be used for classwork and/or revision.
https://www.gcsepod.com/
Gojimo is a free revision app that offers over 65,0000 revision questions covering not only most GCSE and A Level subjects based on British exam boards, but also IB, IGCSE, 11+, 13+ Common Entrance and international qualifications, including Ireland’s Junior Certificate, the USA’s SAT, ACT and APs, and the South African Matric. Teachers can access over 160,000 free revision quiz questions.
http://www.gojimo.com/
Kahoot is a free platform (one can also purchase a premium version) for learning games. One can create quizzes or use quizzes made by others. Students can play individually or in teams. At minimum two screens are required to play. Can be used for classwork and/or revision.
A note of caution: Unless one has verified the information in a quiz created by someone else before students take it, one may be better off creating one’s own. Words are often misspelled, and the answers given are not always accurate.
https://kahoot.com/
On Quizlet teachers can create different types of quizzes, flashcards, study sets, learning games, etc. for any subject or use quizzes etc. already created by others. Can be used for classwork and/or revision.
A note of caution: Unless one has verified the information in a quiz created by someone else before students take it, one may be better off creating one’s own. Words are often misspelled, and the answers given are not always accurate.
www.quizlet.com