Teach-Primary-Issue-19.7

Embedding oracy skills into history lessons will take enquiries to the next level (and support all your other subjects!), says Stuart Tiffany T ake a second and think back to your time in history lessons at primary school. Were you an active or passive participant? Something I frequently hear when lecturing or working with schools, is that those who had a negative impression of history during their own schooling remember it only as a load of facts and figures. Whilst dates and facts are important parts of studying the past, there is so much more to be gained from history than that. In fact, if we reduce the subject to a list of isolated numbers and rote details, we have very much missed the point. Two key things we need to include to add meaning to facts and dates, are a narrative arc to provide a sense of cohesion and context, and a purpose to the event, e.g. what happened? How do we know? What impact did that have in the short or long term? Why is this event an important point in history? This is where history can come alive; where we can debate the narrative and purpose of our facts and figures, and work to fill in the gaps they leave. What if... This is exactly why oracy is such a fundamental part of effective history teaching. History has always been both a written and an oral medium, and our ability to discuss and debate is central to understanding. (The work of the Shanahans on disciplinary literacy identifies the nuances of communication in several foundation subjects if you’d like to read more on the topic: tinyurl.com/tp-Shanahans ) . Historical enquiry begins with a question or assertion. This provides learners with a clear emphasis on what they are endeavouring to find out; in the context of narrative, the enquiry question can be viewed as the title of the story we are trying to tell. We can then break this into sub-enquiries, which On the record The crux here is to make sure that children understand that differing interpretations are part of history, and therefore discussions and debates take place at even the highest levels of scholarship. This particularly comes to the fore when investigating evidence, because not all evidence carries equal weight. It is vital, then, that we teach our pupils how to express their opinions, and that it is fine to be wrong, or to change their minds if someone else provides an evidentially stronger claim than they have. The key term I like to introduce to my classes in this instance is discerning ; they need to be able to discern what information to express, and how. This all leads to rich conversations, and the ability to use evidence to strengthen their claims or accounts. Your role as teacher is to “If we reduce history to a list of numbers, we have very much missed the point” Talk the TALK function as the headings of the chapters of our story. However, if we’re not careful, it’s easy for children to veer away from a clear narrative and into boggy ground. When posing the enquiry question, then, we need to actively encourage children to unpick it, to ensure that they know exactly what answers they’re looking for. This provides an opportunity for pupils to think aloud in groups or pairs, and to work through their own narratives about what they think might have happened. Then, at various stages throughout the lesson, we can circle back to the enquiry question and review what knowledge children have acquired so far that might be pertinent to the answer. It’s important that pupils understand that different perspectives are plausible from the current evidence base. 32 | www.teachwire.net