Given how my own passion for, and academic career in History came about from engagement with the subject outside of the classroom, I’m a firm believer that individuals have to engage with the material on a personal level. Therefore, I will hope to briefly discuss the subject matter in question with each pupil, in the hopes of finding areas of particular interest to them. This will allow a foundation of engagement which can then be built upon, in a conversational, seminar style, to cover the rest of the required information.
I am a big supporter of pictorial history, and utilising graphics from the time to more easily ingrain people and events into one’s head, especially in terms of attaching faces to names. Moreover, I seek to use other little methods such as these which, depending on the age and ability of the pupil, can range from simple graphs to acronyms, in order to more easily store information in their head. For older students, essay-writing has always been my speciality and so I intend to help them through the structuring and subject matter of their essay as required, ideally with a uniquely personalised edge to them.
Ultimately, it is about forming as much of a individual-interest, personalised connection between the pupil and the subject matter as possible, as this guarantees success academically.