Choose your own ADVENTURE...

As a history teacher I love telling stories. My day is made up of telling stories about China, Western Europe, the Industrial Revolution, etc. I have learned that in order  for my students to be excited about what they are learning, I have to be excited about what I am teaching. I have to draw them into the story and make them want to know what happens at the end. How does one do this? Here is one of my favorite ways to draw them into history:

Let's say I am doing a lesson on the start of the Greek Civilization. 

1. I would tell my students the who, what, when and where.

2. I would highlight several main points of the development of the civilization and have the students read the text and other supplemental readings to gain content of the topic.

3. Here is the fun part...let the student choose how the story ends. Allow them to tell you how they think history would play out if one event did or didn't happen.  This is something that is beneficial to both the student and you as the teacher.

*You can assess if the student has grasped the main objective of the content you have presented them.

*The student is able to use higher level thinking skills and analyze the events you discussed in class and come to a conclusion about how history would be shaped if a particular event happened or didn't.

You could do this with almost any major event in history. Students, if given the chance, will do amazing things. This is an activity that would allow the student that loves to write excel, but would also allow students that struggle with writing a chance to write something that is a little less formal than an essay for class. Students of all learning levels love this activity, they are able to use their imagination and once again you as the teacher have been able to draw them into the wonderful world that is HISTORY.