Clipped from: www.amyburvall.com (share this clip)I’ve often said that if only history teachers would make the characters come alive – take them from being larger-than-life, cardboard cut-outs and breathe real humanity into them, so that students would care – they would reach kids and we might not be doomed to watch history repeat itself because students would actually stay awake and pay attention.
Amy Burvall is the delightfully quirky (or “gloriously dorky”) talent behind the historyteachers channel on YouTube.com.
Creativity, collaboration, and celebration. (We have a disturbing number of things in common, here – a love of musical parody, breast cancer survivors, and a compulsion to sing along with ABBA – I wonder if she’s also a Pisces…) Naturally, this would be one of my favorites (volcano!!), although all of MrsB’s parodies, are worth watching.
About the Author
Holly Jahangiri is a professional writer with over twenty years’ experience in technical writing, freelancing, fiction, poetry, and editing. Writer, wife, and mother, Holly is the creator of Trockle and the instigator of the Puppy-Guppy Rebellion.
- Web |
- More Posts (73)
These are wonderful, I love them! I think you are totally right–Brendan’s 7th grade history teacher had them all make Facebook pages for Sir Francis Drake. Absolutely brought it alive for them and made it relevant in a way maybe it wasn’t. My kid love history, but not all do and making it more accessible is always good! My eduexpert friend Will R would approve!!
Hi, Lynne! I had a mixed bag of history teachers, to be honest. As a result, ancient Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern history was more “real” to me than history of my home state, or the U.S. As far as I knew, all those intrepid explorers – Magellan, de Gama, Columbus, Cortez, and whoever – they were little more than ship names, dates, and destinations. Poor George Washington – cut down a cherry tree. He was honest, but ironically, his biographers were not. There was no cherry tree. Why do we do these things? Why not make them fun, dramatic, poignant, and something kids can really understand? Did Lincoln have a happy childhood? What was it REALLY like on the Oregon Trail? (Unfortunately, my imagination is so vivid that I’m convinced I’d have just lain down in a carriage rut to die, and prayed the cattle drove over me just to get it over with faster… but never mind that.)
Oh Hallelujah, Holly!
I completely resonate with what you said about how you wish teachers would break the traditional mold of educating our younguns so they could actually GRASP things better and live out new and brighter futures, rather than reinventing the same old stuff that got us nowhere.
It seems like the majority of schools really only cater to one style of learning. Godbless those kiddos who need more of a tactile experience to get into it! (I was one of those kiddos, by the way.
)
I LOVED the Pompeii rendition of Bang Bang!
Great blog, Holly!
Cat Alexandra
Cat Alexandra would appreciate your reading Get referrals and boost sales in 3 simple steps
Thank you, Cat! Glad you followed my “breadcrumbs” over here to my little home on the Internet. Welcome! (I see you didn’t end up in moderation over here, either. Yay!) You should go watch some more videos on that channel – they’re all fun. She’s really talented.
I loved “Pompeii” Holly! I connected with an old best-friend from childhood on FaceBook. He’s been teaching English and History to middle scholars for years beyond retirement and he actually enjoys doing that!
According to my buddy the teacher: “Any kid will eagerly consume Broccoli if you dress it up as a Gummy Bear.” I’m forwarding this post to him, hope he doesn’t violate your copywrited well being:)
Dave
Hahahaha…you noticed the new plug-in, eh? Creative Commons licensing just for you, Dave.
Share away. Glad you liked this – Pierre just shared another site link, too. Pretty cool!
Yes, not to mention their other 50 some videos available here!
http://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers
Or their own website here:
http://www.historyteacherz.com/
Me? Just a crazy zany fan of theirs!
Thanks, Pierre! I hadn’t found that site – love it! Very well done.
Hey Holly!!
The great earthquake was seventeen years before. Many people left at that time, but many stayed, and the city was being rebuilt.
We just saw the Pompeii exhibit in NYC. Haunting.
Rizwan Sultan would appreciate your reading Crohn\’s Blog
Looking forward to spot some more from you, history will always be best among better…
Natalie would appreciate your reading Vivaxa review
I enjoyed your videos, I am look out for more from you. Thank you.
Sandy would appreciate your reading permanent hair removal