In and Out of Textbooks

History for Peace
- 2 min read

Updated: Apr 1, 2022

by Shivangi Jaiswal.

A History lesson plan designed by Dr. Shivangi Jaiswal for the Between Teaching and Learning teachers' workshop series she conducted for History for Peace in 2021—now here for you to try out! Tell us what you think in comments below/ write to us at info@historyforpeace.pw

Download the Lesson Plan in printable format here:

Between Teaching & Learning lesson plan template

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Pick a topic from the History syllabus as a theme you want to teach.

PLEASE NOTE:

You will be working on creating an INTRODUCTORY LESSON PLAN to introduce the theme. The focus should be to engage the attention of the students to the specific theme and the lesson objective. The theme could be either broad or a specific sub-theme within the same.
This activity has two parts: Day 1 and Day 2 of the lesson.

Grades: 9/10/11/12 (Choose one)

Class Size- 35–40 students or less

Duration: 50 minutes

THEME:

GRADE/Standard: _________

Resources used to create the Lesson Plan:

(You may fill the details here AFTER creating the plan)

(a) In-Textbooks

Name of the textbook (page nos. if possible)

(b) Out of the Textbooks

What resources and media do you use?

Title of the Lesson:

Please Note: Lesson Title should be very specific and not the same as the broad theme.

Lesson Objective: What is it that you want the students to understand from this lesson or the theme? This should not merely be a list of the sub-themes that you would like to teach. Include the concepts that you want the students to understand or questions or debates that they should be aware of.

Day 1: Introductory lesson (Mandatory)- ALL THREE STEPS

STEP 1→HOOK: (Duration: 20 mins)

An activity to engage students’ attention to the theme [Relate this to the lesson objective]

[Identify a hook—a primary source; a video; a visual; or an activity. You may find the hook in and out of the textbook. For example, a cartoon, speech, photographs, images of artefacts, extracts from a report, letters, petitions, archeological inscriptions, chronicles, police records, revenue manuals, illustrations, advertisements, reports, oral sources]

Here are a few examples of the worksheets that you could draw upon to create your OWN worksheet specific to the theme: Please click on the link below for the document: Worksheets that can be used to analyse primary sources.

HOOK: Specify in a line or so: what is the hook?

For example, My hook is an activity called ‘Freedom Square.’ Prior to the lesson, students should read the chapter ‘Nationalism in India’ from the NCERT textbook.

→STEP 2: Questions: (Duration: 20 mins)

Remember to focus on why and how questions rather than what and when in history.

In this group activity, divide the students into four groups and ask them to draw a ‘Freedom Square.’ On each side of the square, they will write the names of different groups that participated in India’s national movement.

Frame a few (at least two) open-ended questions through which you plan to engage students’ attention.

→STEP 3: Winding up the lesson: (Duration: 10 mins)

How would you like to wind up the lesson and leave the students to think critically?

Let’s be creative!

Would you like to stop here and reflect on the process of creating a lesson plan going ‘in and out’ of textbooks?

Day 2: Introduction and Building up the theme

PLEASE NOTE:

You may choose to LEAVE out certain steps in the DAY 2 plan if that does not suit what you are planning to do in your lesson. But try to incorporate as many steps as you can.

STEP 1: Engage the students using PRIMARY SOURCES/ARCHIVES

→Primary sources/ images of artefacts/ archival documents to be used for the lesson:

(For example, a cartoon, speech, photographs, images of artefacts, extracts from a report, letters, petitions, archaeological inscriptions, chronicles, police records, revenue manuals, illustrations, advertisements, reports, oral sources). Provide a worksheet to the students on how to read specific kinds of archives. Download worksheets that can be used to analyse primary sources here.

List at least two questions that you will ask to engage the students using the primary sources.

For examples of such questions please click the link above on worksheets.

→STEP 2: Video resources to be used for the lesson:

(Look for an appropriate video link.)

→STEP 3: Pre-reading material for the activity below to build up the FIRST sub-theme of the lesson. (Suggest relevant pages from at least TWO textbooks or websites. Try to include reading material beyond the prescribed textbook.)

For example, for the lesson on ‘Creating Freedom Square’, the students were expected to read the chapter ‘Nationalism in India’ in the NCERT book and relevant pages from History: MYP by concept, 4 & 5 (London: Hodder Education,2015), the prescribed book in the IB school Dr. Jaiswal teaches at.

→STEP 4: Activities to understand the content of the unit (Choose a sub-theme)

Please make sure to specify if the chosen activity is:

(a) Classwork or Homework

(b) Individual

(d) Group Activity

(e) Would you give a time-bound worksheet or leave the students to do it at their pace?

(f) How would you track the progress in the activity?

→STEP 5: Question for discussion and debate to wind up the lesson or introduce a new theme. (Please write at least one question)

Examples/ Sample questions*: Was nationalism the key reason for decolonization, or were other factors (economic, social etc.) more important? To what extent do you agree with the statement: ‘Civil rights and social protest groups are relevant in the 21st century?’ *Source: History: MYP by concept, 4 & 5 (London: Hodder Education,2015), p. 250, p.230