History is my passion and what I want to teach. The problem is that many secondary students (not all) do not see how history is relevant. Either that, or they see history as just boring. I hope to change the game with my own unique spin. There are a lot of great history teachers out there and I plan to learn their strategies and then change it to use in my classroom. I believe history is one of the greatest ways to teach students about life. The examples from history give the students examples to learn from.
The reason I picked this article (posted below) is because its about a history teacher in England trying to change the game. He believes that he can make history more relevant and interesting by incorporating television and video games, among other things. I do not necessarily agree with this approach, but I admire his intention. In this case, I would take the aspects of tv and video games and use it to my advantage. There are great documentaries that can HIGHLIGHT important events in history, but should not be whats teaching the class. That is my job. Video games, I would at first totally disagree with in classroom use. However, I think there could be a use for visual aids. Much like TV, you can use video selections from a game to HIGHLIGHT moments in history. Aviation, for instance, changed the how the world interacted. You can use sequences from flight simulators to give a 3D visual aid to air battles or even commercial use of airplanes.
I think video games and television can be away to also stay relevant. My view of education, for the most part, has been traditional. A teacher should be able to use a piece of chalk to open up a new exciting world to their students. I believe a good teacher needs to have the confidence to teach a classroom without any aid from technology because technology can be fickle. At the same time, I think technology serves as a way to further connect with your students especially since we live in a digital age. This class has opened my eyes up more to the idea of using technology as a tool. The trick than is not to make it a crutch.
These are ideas that I think can be used, perhaps not as much now, but definitely more in the future. I also think, as mentioned in previous blog posts that if technology is used, it should be used cautiously, and not take your place as the teacher. Technology is just one example of how I could use someone else’s ideas and tweak them to my classroom.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/09/television-war-games-niall-ferguson
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