Publication date: Wednesday 25th January 2012
Sign up for our new online CPD unit
Teaching history in the classroom using historical fiction is a brand new Historical Association eCPD course that runs from Saturday 18th February to Friday 16th March 2012.
Is it the story in history that grabs you? Do you want to use historical fiction in your classroom but are unsure where to start? Have you already tried getting your children to write historical fiction and been disappointed with the results? Well then this is the course for you.
For children to successfully write historical fiction they need to know and understand the writer's techniques. They can only achieve this through your teaching them how to read historical fiction with a critical eye; then the writer within the reader will be released. This course sets out to show you exactly how this can be done with practical classroom guidance on planning, researching and writing good historical stories set in any historical period.
The course will run over four weeks. Each week there will be a variety of individual and collaborative activities, both online and back in your school, that are planned to take you up to four hours to successfully complete. The course design draws upon the latest research into the design and practice of elearning. It has been written, and will be led, by Dave Martin who has extensive experience of both using historical fiction in the classroom and of teaching adults online. In the third week course members will be joined by Gill Harvey, successful author of the Egyptian Chronicles series and winner of the Historical Association's Young Quills Award in 2010.
To book your place contact Simon Brown at simon.brown@history.org.uk or to discuss the course further contact Dave Martin at davemartin@metronet.co.uk
Asking pupils of any age to read and write historical fiction stresses the importance of rigorous historical research, deepens pupils' historical knowledge and understanding, and allows them to develop their skills of historical communication.
If you want to use historical fiction in your classroom then this four week Historical Association eCPD course will equip you with the theoretical background and the practical skills to successfully do so. Areas covered will include choosing the right historical fiction; how to explore the writers' techniques for developing rounded characters, convincing settings and compelling narratives; how to support pupils' writing and how to assess their final work. It is designed to draw upon and complement the related Historical Association competitions for published authors of historical fiction, Young Quills, and for Year 6, 7, 8 and 9 authors, Write Your Own Historical Story.
The course will consist of a number of individual and collaborative activities fully supported by a discussion forum.
