I love History now...

As a History teacher, I often get into conversations with parents about their various historical passions. From the various exploits of the SAS to the post-war Nazi hunters and the foreign policy of emperor Titus, some people meet History teachers and use them as an excuse to share their passion for obscure History. If anyone has an image of an all-knowing History teacher this is quickly smashed as I quickly try to blag (my year 11s would be proud) my way out of the situation by saying something vague about a subject which I quite obviously know nothing about.

This can be fascinating and encouraging. However, all too often they end by saying "I love History now... but at school it was so awfully boring". For History teachers everywhere this is a bullet to the heart! In my darkest moments I think of the generations who might say "I love History now but that Mr. Griffin was just terrible"!

Some of my students may go onto to spend many hours watching the History Channel or Yesterday (at least during the advert breaks of the Dave channel). They may discover the wonders of Simon Schama or devotedly read every Phillipa Gregory book as soon as it's released but how do I capture their interest now?

For some classic History Channel content- http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/ww2.html

I remember genuinely looking forward to my History lessons and in this blog, I'm hoping to share some of the interesting bits of History which I teach my pupils. If you had an excellent History teacher hopefully this will remind you of school. If you love History now but hated it at school, I hope that I can convince you how interesting History in the classroom can be.