I Teach History Visually

Inherently, teaching history requires a certain amount of information delivery; but every students has his or her own preferred method to receive, recall and interact with that information. Some of my students can pick it all up just by reading the textbook closely (though textbook reading is their least favorite activity); others can listen to a lecture, jot a few notes and later recall it come test time; others still, benefit more when they see visuals attached to a lecture or presentation. In trying to provide the best instruction to all of the above types of learners, I’ve recently reached out to the visual learners in my classroom and it has boosted engagement and retention.

Lenin vs. Stalin in politics and economics

Most teachers jot a few notes on the whiteboard under each topic they want students to learn. Understanding that sites like wikipedia and quizlet easily cover and compile notes on these topics, I’ve moved in a new direction. I reduce the amount of words I write on the whiteboard and instead draw pictures (no matter what I’m teaching). The hope is that these lessons will reach my visual learners for retention and better recollection on unit examinations.

I find that the communal drawing fascinates students who enjoy critiquing and advising my masterpieces

an original cartoon of Andrew Johnson's impeachment

The first great result I discovered in trying visual lessons was unexpected. Because I wasn’t writing the words they needed to know, students had to put these concepts in their own words independently for their notes. Fortunately, I work in a 1:1 classroom so during my drawing, students googled words that they needed to define or events that they needed to understand. Precisely because I wasn’t feeding them the words/notes they needed to have, students began looking up the things I wanted them to learn in the way they look up information outside of class--through Google. This increased their level of engagement with the material. Students used their familiar search engines differently, they took notes differently, and they interacted differently with this unique lesson.

These lessons certainly helped students focus better. They stayed on task on their computer screens. Some googled the information, others wrote what I was saying down, and others pushed their computers out of the way and started drawing their own copy of my image in notebooks. One savvy student drew her own version on a computer application. I posted it, and a photo that I took of the whiteboard, to the class Moodle page hoping it would jog students’ memories before the test. It did.

one student used skitch to record my lesson

Finally, this lesson also forced students to think creatively. From an image, they had to figure out the background information, the major players, and how my own opinion about the history played into my drawing. Simultaneously, students loved questioning why I made the decisions I did. Now that I’ve run this lesson a number of times, I can turn over the teaching to my students. I can now ask them to create a visual to teach their classmates about an historical event, person, or primary source. This assignment requires students to think outside the box, take a risk (especially in sharing their "art"), and take ownership of the teaching and learning.