Blog of The Week
24th February
Building a knowledge-rich history curriculum
Harriet Cornwell
Every Monday morning, we aim to highlight one of the many excellent teacher blogs from the preceding week. These blogs are a great way of sharing good practice that is happening in other schools around the country and beyond.
This week's blog comes from Harriet Cornwell (@First_floor_8) who is the Head of History at Lodge Park Academy in Corby...only a stone's throw from Southfield.
https://watermanlearning.wordpress.com/2020/02/23/building-a-knowledge-rich-history-curriculum/
The blog focusses on the design of a well sequenced, knowledge-rich history curriculum from KS3-5,
Now, if you aren't a historian, please don't stop reading as Harriet's musing are absolutely worth reading no matter your subject discipline! The hook of the blog is that she has laid out her ideas with the original and prequel Star Wars films as a guide. Again, don't stop reading, even if your don't know your Darths from your Wookies. It is the content that is king here, the films analogy is simply a framing device (but a very clever one at that).
She reminds us that, when it comes to curriculum design, questions about what, are pointless without questions about why. Why here? Why in this order? Why does knowledge here support future knowledge there?
This all leads to the big question: What am I trying to achieve through curriculum?
"Like an enemy in our midst, Key Stage Three has eroded the potential for an ambitious sequence of knowledge stretching from Key Stage One to Key Stage Five. But there is potential. With training, a padawan can be shaped in to become a Jedi. With expertise, our Key Stage Three curriculum can be a force for good in a fully connected curriculum"