Explore, experience, and analyze

Deborina Roy
This article has several strategies and tools or teaching methodologies that any history teacher can adopt in her class. From usage of film clippings, documentaries and audio-visuals to experiential or thematic teaching-learning methods, the article explains in detail how the history teacher can make her class interesting.

Make history come alive

Lee Krishnan
If a history class has to come alive, it is important for history teachers to be passionate about their subject, to be well-read, aware of current affairs and be able to relate the content to other subjects like literature, geography, economics, etc. This article lists out some simple strategies that teachers can follow. There’s no dearth of activities online and offline that a teacher can use to make history fun and relevant.

Revamping the approach to teaching history

Jeena Sarah Jacob
How can history be made enjoyable, relatable and relevant? Students need to be engaged with the content that inspired the writing of a history chapter and also involved in the process of how historians arrive at their conclusions. This will help students to think laterally and take the burden off remembering facts.

New present, newer past & newer textbooks

R S Krishna
Can history textbooks offer better reading and learning and teaching material than what is currently available? Usually, they carry the burden of being obliging to the changing governments’ policies and ideologies. So, can these textbooks be made more engaging, factoring in the social world and the lived experiences of the students? This article examines some possible contours.

Archives and ‘Active Learning’ in the history classroom

Shivangi Jaiswal
How can archives be included in a teacher’s lesson plan? Archival sources cannot be used in their existing format for educational purposes. Therefore, before using a source in a lesson, one needs to ‘prepare’ it in a manner that is accessible to children of different age groups. A careful selection of sources is very essential. This will help students to be exposed to a variety of learning experiences.

Initiating a magical journey

Subha Das Mollick
‘Magic of my school’ was a project that was initiated in some schools of Kolkata to map and explore the history of education in the city and also to learn history hands-on. It also offered young historians an opportunity to rewrite the history of their school.

Is the history textbook history now?

Nisha Dedhia Teredesai
History teachers need to move beyond textbooks and discover other tools that can bring alive the history classroom. Story-telling, movies, humour and discussions and debate can all help perk up the students.