Gordon Brookbanks

Inspiring Students Beyond the Classroom, Getting the Recipe Right Gordon Brookbanks

History teachers, passionate about their discipline, work on techniques to inspire students. If the teacher ?gets the recipe? right, students will enjoy and apply themselves to the subject, and both their understanding of content and acquisition of required skills will be increased. Three techniques used to inspire students beyond the walls of the classroom and confines of the covers of a text book, will be shared. The experience of organising grade- and curriculum-relevant overseas ?history tours?, co-ordinating local excursions to curriculum relevant sites, as well as inviting outside speakers to share their personal stories and experiences with learners in the classroom will be addressed. In the case of both overseas and local site visits, it will be explained how these enable learners to ?see, smell, feel, touch and hear? aspects of the curriculum by delving deeper into an understanding of what they have been exposed to in the classroom environment. The value of outside speakers sharing their personal stories and thereby enhancing students understanding of the voices from the past, will be unpacked.