Dan Lyndon

you are absolutely right steve, I should have said 'famous'. But 'whipping boys'? come on!!!!

I am interested in why you see Arsenal declining John. I see quite the opposite (but I am a natural optimist - you can't be a true leftie otherwise!). The blooming youth policy, I predict, will have the same impact that the infamous manure youth policy of the mid 90s. There are some fantastic youngsters coming through at the moment, including Arturo Lupoli our next Thierry Henry and Quincy Owusu Abeye. And of course there are already experienced youngsters like Gael Clichy who will shortly replace Cashley Cole. And I think that you have fallen for a tabloid stance on Jens Lehmann. Apart from a hiccup during the middle of last season when he was rightly dropped, he has since returned to great form. He is certainly in the top three premiership goalkeepers. I look forward to the North - East London derby!

champions: Chelski (spit) 2 Arsenal 3 Liverpool 4 Manure relegated Sunderland Portsmouth West brom

First of all can I say that the prediction that Arsenal will finish 4th behind Tottenham is the most outrageously provocative statement that John Simkin has made in the entire time that I have known him, and that is saying something!! It was absolutely the right time to sell Vieira. He was sold on Wenger's terms, rather than the payer dictating to the club, we made a profit of £10 million on him, and although he was the best midfielder ever to play for the club, you really felt that his heart wasn't in it for the last 2 years. Add the growing injury list to that and the fact that our entire tactical approach went via Vieira which needed to be addressed, it was the right move. Fabregas is the best young player in the Premiership and with Gilberto next to him (who we missed alot more than Vieira last year) he will have no problems. And he scores more goals. Hleb is going to be a fantastic signing, he has great pace, is a tricksy, jinking winger (at the moment - I bet he will end up in the centre eventually) and has a great workrate. Senderos will be the new Tony Adams, who of course was the new Bobby Moore. Apart from a few dodgy games against lucky Chelski, he has been solid. And when we talk about Lehmann, let's not forget that he played every game of the unbeaten 49 game run, and since his return to form has probably been the best goalkeeper in the premiership. So all of you out there who think that we can't win anything because we don't have pots of money like Chavski and Manure, let's just wait and see. Don't forget that the last time we didn't sign anyone during the off season we went on to win the Double. Come on you Gunners!

This is the posting that I made on schoolhistory tonight:

Thanks for the replies, I shall certainly bear them in mind when I am on the radio. I did read the Guardian this morning and think that the writer made a valid point about the re-enactment element of the commemoration. However I am in two minds as to the value of the commemoration as a whole. I don't see any harm in the use of Trafalgar / Nelson for a discussion of 'interpretation' and I have found some interesting titbits that I didn't know before a quick bit of research, for example the presence of black and women sailors on Nelson's fleet. My greatest concern is of course some kind of right wing ideological push back towards the 'dead white men' school of history.

Apologies Carlos, and to our fellow Europeans, the reason why I posted the poll is because I have been asked to go onto BBC Radio 5 (10pm Tuesday) about this topic, so I wanted to find out people's opinions to bring onto the programme.

I was wondering if anyone has any plans to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in October 2005?

I have seen the film and I thought it was excellent. However, I do have some sympathy for what David Cesarani says (although I may be biased as he was one of my teachers a long time ago). The most fascinating part for me, apart from the portrayal of Hitler which was brilliantly acted, was the portrayal of Berlin in the final days of the Third Reich. I guess this chimes with one of Cesarani's points in that I was really made to think about the civilian population and how they suffered. In fact that was the thing that hit home the hardest from the film rather than the terrible things that the Nazis had done. I haven't read Goldhagen's book 'Hitler's willing executioners' but I can't believe that the same conclusion would be drawn .

Thanks for the links John, in fact I used the link about the bomb plot at the end of the lesson when we were discussing what happened after the attempt had failed. Did you know that a German film has been made about the White rose group and is coming out next year?

I probably wrote and delivered the best lesson of this term this tuesday which was a roleplay on the July Bomb plot: http://www.comptonhistory.com/julyplot.htm. There are a number of reasons why it was so good: the material was engaging and stimulating for the students - I started off by saying that we were going to look at the July plot, deliberately avoiding any mention of the bomb/assassination as I wanted to get a bit of mystery going. Secondly I know, having done similar roleplay style activities (such as the reichstag fire mock trial: http://www.intst.net/humanities/igcsehist/...hstag/index.htm) that my students 1) respond well and 2) are well trained in these kind of activities. Thirdly I knew that the majority of their lessons at the end of term would be watching videos/playing quizzes etc and I wanted to finish the course in a positive way which would also be memorable and different from their usual diet. I also recently did a survey of students about their preferred learning style and not surprisingly they gave an average of 75% of their lessons being worksheet/textbook led. Fourthly I wanted to make the activity kinaesthetic and involve empathy and decision making. The activity took about 40 minutes to work through the different stages - firstly a whole class discussion about why there was little opposition to the Nazis, this was followed by dividing up the class into the Kreisau Circle (whom I had selected by surreptitiously handing them a small card with a German eagle with a cross-fire target across it, followed by a wink and a 'shhhhhh mum's the word'), and the nazi officials at the Wolf's Lair including one pupil taking on the role of Hitler. I stayed in the classroom asking questions about how Hitler could protect himself from assassination whilst the plotters were left on their own with a briefcase containing their brief. After 10 minutes I brought the Kreisau group back into the classroom gave them centre stage and asked them to debrief the rest of the room, warning them all that the information they were about to receive would result in certain execution should the plot fail. The final part of the activity was to 'walk through' the actual events of the bomb plot and I had a full screen image of the aftermath of the explosion on my whiteboard. the students then had to write a speech either as Hitler having survived, or as Stauffenberg unaware that the plot had failed. The specches were amazing. I was fortunate as well to be able to have some excellent opportunities to debrief and evaluate the lesson afterwards. I had an EAL teacher in the second lesson (it was a double period) and she was able to feedback how impressed she was with the quality of work that the students produced in their speeches (she missed the actual role play) and the ease and comfort in which they were able to contribute. She also commented on their ability to reflect on why the activity worked well. The second chance I had for a debrief was with 2 of the students during an Academic Review Day the next day. they were asked which lessons they enjoyed recently and why and both chose (without prompting!) this lesson. they said that they thought it was fun and interesting and made them understand what happened much better than if it was on a worksheet. I would certainly agree with them.

I am having problems with dreamweaver at the moment so I can't post this on my website, however I would really appreciate any feedback as this is my first attempt to write an Ian Dawson style role play: The July bomb plot - A role play Setting up the room Arrange the room around a large group of tables in the centre of the room – there should be enough space for 24 people. If you have any large maps then spread them across the table. There should also be a table with a radio in the corner and a writing desk. Select a student to be Hitler and position him in the centre. Select a second student to be Colonel Brandt and place him two positions to Hitler's right. Set the scene by reading out the following contextual introduction: It is July 1944, the German army is coming under increasing pressure from the west after the D-Day landings in Normandy and in the east from the Russians after they lifted the 900 day seige of Leningrad. Inside the German army a plot to assassinate Hitler has been growing, led by General Ludwig Beck, Count Helmuth von Moltke and supported by Count von Stauffenberg. ‘Operation Valkyrie’ is about to begin. Start off by asking all of the students the following questions: Why was there so little opposition to the Nazis? What happened to opponents of the Nazis? Why was the army a potential threat to the Nazis? Remove the Kreisau Circle from the room and give them ten minutes to complete their task: Whilst this is happening you should have selected a group of 6 students to go into a neighbouring room or outside of the classroom and give them the following task (they have ten minutes to draw up a few plans); You are members of the Kreisau Circle, the secret organisation inside the German Army that is plotting to assassinate Hitler. You are led by general Beck and Count Helmuth von Moltke, and meet regularly to discuss the future for Gemany after Hitler. Your task is to come up with a variety of suggestions for the assassination of Hitler. You have one vital opportunity – Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg has sent you this note “I feel I must do something now, to save Germany”. Stauffenberg was appointed Chief of Staff to General Fromm, the Commander in Chief of the Home Army in June 1944. This means that he has direct access to Hitler on a regular basis. The latest information that you have received is that Hitler and his top officials will be at his headquarters, the ‘Wolf’s lair’ on 20th July and Stauffenberg has been asked to attend. The students need to be steered towards the idea of bringing in a bomb into the room inside a briefcase Whilst the Kreisau Circle are outside ask Hitler the following question: What could you do to protect yourself from assassination? (try to encourage answers about the sentries, guard posts, barbed wire) Then ask Colonel Brandt the following question: What was the German Army / SS / Gestapo doing to protect the Fuhrer? (try to encourage answers about spies, secret agents, bodyguards) What concerns does Hitler have about the war situation? Part two Ask the students around the table to sit down around the edge of the room and bring in the Kreisau Circle group into the room. They now gather around the table and von Moltke and Stauffenberg present their ideas to the rest of the class who are now in role as supporters of the plot. If the group have not come up with an idea that is close to the original then explain the idea of bringing in a bomb into the room hidden in a briefcase Get the students to swap places again and resume the original positions around the table. The Kreisau Circle now sits around the edge of the room with the exception of Stauffenberg who picks up a briefcase and walks towards the table. Ask Stauffenberg the following questions: How are you going to set the bomb off? Where is the best place to place the bomb to cause the most damage? How are you going to do this without causing suspicion? How are you going to leave the room? Explain the details of what happened if the students have not worked it out already: 12:37 PM? - Stauffenberg enters briefing room, shakes hands with Hitler. General Adolf Heusinger is briefing Hitler about eastern front. Stauffenberg takes up position close to Heusinger who is himself right beside Hitler. Stauffenberg discreetly pushes brief case under map table. Stauffenberg whispers he must make important call to Berlin. Stauffenberg quietly leaves room and walks calmy but swiftly away from conference hut. Walks to parking lot where Haeften waits anxiously. 12.40 PM – Colonel Brandt leans forward to study the map and his foot catches Stauffenberg’s briefcase with his foot. He picks it up and places it the other side of the heavy oak table support away from Hitler. 12:42 PM - General Heusinger concludes his report to Hitler: "West of the Dvina, strong Russian forces are driving northwards. Their spearheads are already south-west of Dvinsk. Unless at long last, the Army Group is withdrawn from Lake Peipus, a catastrophe will... Stauffenberg and Haeften drive swiftly around the Fuehrer compound when they hear explosion. Stauffenberg sees the conference hut in ruins. Ask the student playing Hitler to stagger away from the table holding his ear with his left hand and leaving his right arm limp (it was temporarily paralysed). Ask the class to predict what happened next.

Doug how about some kind of project on the experience of WW2 from our different parts of the country as part of the 60th anniversary of the end of the war? this can then be linked into the wider european experience. I would like ideally to do some oral work with veterans or people who lived through the blitz but there must be scope for some comparative stuff there - do you have video conferencing facilities?

I have pasted below information about a conference coming up in the Easter holidays at University College Northampton called 'putting the 'black' back into british history that I will be contributing to. I gave a workshop today called 'using active learning techniques to teach black british history' which involved a matching exercise using images of different individuals eg seacole, cuffay, equiano. This was turned into a living timeline as the participants placed these characters in chronological order. I then went into a 'think, pair, share' activity using a visual image of the Drake Jewel and a discussion about how this can be linked this into a debate about contemporary immigration. This was followed up with 'hotseating Mary Seacole' and finished off with a look at my various black history webquests. I plan to do something similar at Northampton. I will also be bringing some of my students to perform some of their own raps and contribute to the workshops. I highly recommend this conference and if you want to know more about it then let me know via pm or email. Black and Asian Studies Association Conference In partnership with University College Northampton & Northamptonshire Black History Project "Putting the ‘Black’ back into British History": teaching inclusive history in schools 10 – 6pm on Saturday 9 April 2005 at University College Northampton None of us can fully appreciate British history without knowing about the role of black and Asian Britons in the distant and more recent past. Partial, inaccurate and exclusive history is of benefit to no-one and leads to a society in which citizens are not fully equipped with the knowledge to celebrate the past, nor the power to challenge stereotypes, ignorance and racism. It is imperative therefore that British Black history is comprehensively taught in our schools and that teachers are fully equipped with the knowledge and resources to enable them to do this properly. The inclusive imperative is also evident in the Race Relations Amendment Act and the National Curriculum. This conference is open to young people, parents, teachers, governors, students, curators, archivists, librarians and anyone who wants to see the contributions of Black and Asian people taught in schools. The conference will consist of a combination of presentations and practical workshops demonstrating the opportunities and needs for teaching British Black History in the National Curriculum. It will be a fantastic forum in which to exchange ideas, share good practice and discuss an agenda for the future. FEE: £ 12 (BASA Members & concs), £15 (Others), £20 (Institutions) includes lunch and refreshments (Cheque must be supplied with booking form) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOKING ESSENTIAL! Please complete the form below or email: t.bressey@ucl.ac.uk to reserve your space by 31 March 2005 Name................................................................. Telephone no........................................ Address......................................................................... ........................................................ ................................................................................ ............... Postcode................................ Email........................................................................... ....... Please reserve me ……… place(s) Please let us know if have any access or dietary needs............................................................. Return to: Dr Caroline Bressey, Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, LONDON, WC1H OAP. T. 020 7679 7586

I have pasted below information about a conference coming up in the Easter holidays at University College Northampton called 'putting the 'black' back into British history that I will be contributing to. I gave a workshop today called 'using active learning techniques to teach black British history' which involved a matching exercise using images of different individuals eg Seacole, Cuffay, Equiano. This was turned into a living timeline as the participants placed these characters in chronological order. I then went into a 'think, pair, share' activity using a visual image of the Drake Jewel and a discussion about how this can be linked this into a debate about contemporary immigration. This was followed up with 'hotseating Mary Seacole' and finished off with a look at my various black history webquests. I plan to do something similar at Northampton. I will also be bringing some of my students to perform some of their own raps and contribute to the workshops. I highly recommend this conference and if you want to know more about it then let me know via pm or email. Black and Asian Studies Association Conference In partnership with University College Northampton & Northamptonshire Black History Project "Putting the ‘Black’ back into British History": teaching inclusive history in schools 10 – 6pm on Saturday 9 April 2005 at University College Northampton None of us can fully appreciate British history without knowing about the role of black and Asian Britons in the distant and more recent past. Partial, inaccurate and exclusive history is of benefit to no-one and leads to a society in which citizens are not fully equipped with the knowledge to celebrate the past, nor the power to challenge stereotypes, ignorance and racism. It is imperative therefore that British Black history is comprehensively taught in our schools and that teachers are fully equipped with the knowledge and resources to enable them to do this properly. The inclusive imperative is also evident in the Race Relations Amendment Act and the National Curriculum. This conference is open to young people, parents, teachers, governors, students, curators, archivists, librarians and anyone who wants to see the contributions of Black and Asian people taught in schools. The conference will consist of a combination of presentations and practical workshops demonstrating the opportunities and needs for teaching British Black History in the National Curriculum. It will be a fantastic forum in which to exchange ideas, share good practice and discuss an agenda for the future. FEE: £ 12 (BASA Members & concs), £15 (Others), £20 (Institutions) includes lunch and refreshments (Cheque must be supplied with booking form) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOKING ESSENTIAL! Please complete the form below or email: t.bressey@ucl.ac.uk to reserve your space by 31 March 2005 Name................................................................. Telephone no........................................ Address......................................................................... ........................................................ ................................................................................ ............... Postcode................................ Email........................................................................... ....... Please reserve me ……… place(s) Please let us know if have any access or dietary needs............................................................. Return to: Dr Caroline Bressey, Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, LONDON, WC1H OAP. T. 020 7679 7586

I thought that I would write to inform everyone that (unless I am unaware) the first post-Toulouse inter schools collaboration took place with students from my school, Henry Compton having lunch with students from Nico's school Sintermeertencollege, in our canteen. The Dutch students were working on an online propaganda project (which Nico can explain in more detail) using the City Learning Centre which is next door and we both though that this was an excellent opportunity for the students to meet for a short while and talk about their different experiences. The lunch was very successful and the students and staff really got alot out of our little event. There is obviously great potential for further links with a greater focus on the curriculum next time. Is this a first?

I do indeed use dreamweaver and have now played around enough to be able to link to the material that I have produced. Thanks for the support though. I also followed up your suggestion and bought Andrew Field's contentgenerator bundle. Good isn't it!

Thanks Andy, I have had a quick go at converting one of the suffragette questions into a hot potatoes quiz, but am not sure if it is how it is meant to be. Also how do I paste it into the current page rather than having to link to it? http://www.comptonhistory.com/year9/whower...uffragettes.htm

I have started to put some of my lessons online and though that I would ask for a bit of feedback on the content, presentation etc. I realise that the quality of the questions are not brilliant (basically comprehension), but I will get round to more complex stuff soon. I also know that I can use hot potatoes etc to make it more interactive but again this will take a bit of time in the not too distant future. Who were the suffragettes Inside a peasant's house

OK smart guy, so I left out a few zeros!!! I would also like to point out that there are some drawbacks from using Archives if the material that has been selected is not appropriate and the teaching is not pitched at the right level - as you can gather my second visit to an archive with my students was not quite as successful. The same skills that are needed in the classroom apply in the archive; engaging pupils with a clear purpose, stimulating material and applying the skills that have been developed over the previous lessons into a practical application which helps in making history come alive.

I have recently been working on two projects that have involved my students going to local archives, the second of which is tomorrow, so I can post up about that later in the week. The first visit was with a group of year 7 gifted and talented pupils and we went to the London Metropolitan Archives in Farringdon. The archive holds the records for the city of london going back nearly 1000 years and, according to our guide holds the Magna Carta amongst its 11 km of material! The boys were taken around the archive and went into the conservation room where they learnt about the use of Japanese paper in restoring damaged documents (because it is so thin and versatile) and wheat starch for the glue. they then went to see the reprographics room and were 'blown away' by the cameras - one camera used 500,000 pixels and took 30 minutes to take one shot. The tour finished with a look in the strong rooms with its distinct smell of rotting leather. I have to say that I was a bit anxious that my 'inner city' boys would not really enjoy this visit but they absolutely loved it and are already asking when we can go on another visit. I really think that we have underused local archives as historian teachers and Anders' presentation gave some very practical suggestions of how we can work together. The bare minimum we can do, as John suggests, is use the archives ourselves to do research. I have used the local Hammersmith and Fulham archives on a number of occasions to reseacrh about the history of my school and the exploits of a former pupil who won a Victoria Cross in WW2. The results of my research have probably produced some of the best lessons that I teach and I have really enjoyed using my skills as a historian again.

I like that! I might have to think about whether I can work this into the ww1 webquest, but it may be better suited to some of the other ones that I have produced such as the Olaudah Equiano webquest

May I apologise. This didn't actually happen, I was making a flip comment and shouldn't have done so - of course I would be appalled if this was taken out of context.

Thanks for the responses, and Richard I used both the clips that you put on your website, very helpful indeed. We were also singing the song for days afterwards 'our banner flies before us ....'

I really enjoyed this presentation because it practiced what it preached. There was an excellent demonstration of the power of the visual image in the classroom and the 'impact' that the use of ICT can have. It is a shame that the resources can not be shared here as they were fantastic. The direct influence that this has had on my teaching was shown the following week when I produced a powerpoint presentation on the topic of women in history. I really wanted to make an impact with the images that I used and started off with a cartoon of elizabeth ii showing her knitting in her bedroom. I also included a picture of a florence nightingale doll. As a result there was a number of different levels that I was able to explore with my pupils - not only a discussion of who these women were, but also their representation in this images as well as the 'validity' of the sources. I was a very effective introduction to the topic. One of the other very important points that Terry makes is making history relevant to our pupils and to today. I deliberately included images of women such as Meera Syal and Mary Seacole as well as Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth I and Boudicca because the students I teach are from a diverse cultural mix. I happened to have a PGCE Art student observing the lesson and he commented on the fact that I had included a multicultural selection of women and how important that he, as a black male, felt this was in our school.