Education online resources for history teachers can include Web-based resources that are also accessible using a mobile phone to supplement traditional textbooks. Student engagement will increase when students are exposed to authentic content. Collaborative activities found on online learning platforms will inspire critical thinking and creativity for student learners.
When selecting teacher resources websites, teachers should look through free websites to select the best website to use for classroom instruction. “Official” websites are the best resources. Top online learning sites include The Nobel Foundation, sites ending in .org, the Goethe Institute, U.S. Department of Education, reputable online newspapers, National Geographic, PBS Teachers and BBC.
Teachers should select websites with information related to the instructional curriculum. Find content related to the learning objectives for the topics currently taught in school. Use a social bookmarking system such as Delicious to create a collection of websites for future use. Google Alerts are a great way to receive notifications about the topics and keywords related to the curriculum found on free educational websites.
Before creating a lesson plan, review the content of the chosen website. Is the website accurate, up-to-date and appropriate? What credentials does the author have? If there is advertising, what do the images say about the site owner? In the lesson plan, list learning objectives, design a Web-based handout and design a set of collaborative tasks. The tasks should require student creativity and interaction. Students should also be given tasks that will allow them to develop their critical thinking skills. There are more ideas that are found using educational websites for teachers lesson plans.
Other things to include in the lesson plan are designing a final product and an assessment plan. Don’t forget to reserve space for notes about the education online resources. Check that the online learning sites for students load properly on the school computers. Have a backup plan in case the Internet connection goes down.
Establish rules before implementing the learning online activity. Establish clear expectations that prohibit student mobile phone use of social media channels, emails, texting or games. Brainstorm the etiquette for working in groups. No more than three students should share one device. Monitor student progress and time. Make sure students maintain their focus and give feedback when needed. Help students taking notes on a Google Document by using the Insert Comment feature to offer pointers. Ensure that students complete a final project that showcases what they have learned from this assignment.
After the class is over, take a few moments to think about the assignment. Could students have completed the assignment without using education online resources? Did the activity motivate the students to learn more and keep them engaged throughout the entire class period? Take note of what could be changed or different the next time this activity is offered during instructional time.
Using the best history teaching practices helps to keep students engaged and interested. Creative classroom can make teaching history fun and rewarding. Teaching history inclusively with many education online resources will appeal to resistant history students and teach them how to enjoy learning about the past.
Use your mobile phone to search through many online history websites to choose a few major themes for your lesson plans. Focus on ways you can teach your students skills that have meaning for them. While you may have to follow your school’s standards of learning (SOLs) or graduation requirements, you can’t teach your students everything about your subject. In-depth coverage of a few themes or topics provides your students with more critically thinking opportunities. They will have a better understanding of past historical events and the people who shaped those events.
When teaching history at any level, stress the importance of studying history and how it relates to their present lives. You will gain the instant and interested attention of their students once they grasp how historical events, ideas and concepts are relevant to their everyday lives. A good way for students to relate to historical events is to make connections to local history. For example, if you in Virginia and are teaching about the Civil War, spend time discussing how the war impacted the local area.
Most of your students will probably be taking your class to fulfill a curriculum requirement. An added benefit for your students would be to plan history lessons with discussions, talks, activities, explanations and assignments that will encourage students to build useful skills that can carry over into other fields. The skills and knowledge they gain from your history lessons may also help them with their daily life as a student and later on after they graduate from school. For example, group research projects incorporating education online resources can help your students learn to collaborate with others to present a finished project.
Avoid assignments that involve rote memorization skills. Instead create assignments that demonstrate how they can use the history information they have acquired from your classes in a constructive way. For example, writing assignments, online exhibits accessible with a mobile phone or oral history projects provide your students with opportunities to research historical subjects and concepts.
Have your students use their mobile phones to research primary source materials using education online resources. Or you can use your mobile phone to find these primary source materials. Primary source documents demonstrate and show history as it actually happened. Your students will discover history by playing the role of a historian. Oral histories, personal narratives, images, letters and political documents are all examples of primary source documents that will be of value to your students. Include a variety of historical perspectives about the history lesson you are presenting to your class.
To foster classroom creativity, allow your students to switch places with you and become the teacher. Give each of your students a topic at the beginning of the semester. Each student will have a turn at teaching the class about their chosen topic. When a student teaches a history topic, he or she is unfamiliar with at first, the student is encouraged to actively engage with the course materials and education online resources. This helps students build confidence, improve public speaking presentation skills and become experts on the topic they are teaching to the class.
Students can use their mobile phones to search the Internet for education online resources that include historical photographs, videos and maps. They can explore a historical site without leaving the classroom through virtual and augmented reality technology or by viewing the historic site’s website. Many museums have online exhibits and other resources easily accessible using a mobile phone.
Selecting a historical “mystery” for your students to solve in class helps them discover history in a new and exciting adventure. They learn how to think critically while using primary resources to solve the “mystery” related to the history topic you are teaching. Your students will research information through education online resources. The clues they will discover help them find a solution to the historical "mystery". The students will use their research to develop an informed theory of what actually happened and present their solution to the class.
Teaching history can be a fun experience. To bring history to life you can use classroom materials, props and costumes to stage a reenactment of an important historical event. Assign each student a specific role ahead of time. Each student can research the role. During the reenactment, each student will act out their assigned historical figure and demonstrate the results of the research to the rest of the class.
History is a fascinating and important subject that helps students understand our current world. As a history teacher you can plan lessons that will make a difference in the lives of your students. Discovering history should be a fun and exciting experience for your students. It’s up to you as a teacher to engage the attention of your history students in fun lessons that move away from rote memorization of routine facts and instead turn history into an exciting, enjoyable adventure for everyone.
The National Museum of American History is a good education online resource for history students.