Middle school teacher Brendan Hurd teaches students from different backgrounds and at varying levels. Brendan finds that History Alive! The United States Through Industrialism helps him support all learners through engaging lessons and accessible features.
“With TCI, you can get to every student, no matter where they are. You can engage them and get them to learn.”
Additionally, Brendan notices that the lessons engage students in topics that are traditionally tough to teach. He also enjoys the program’s curricular design—from the textbook to the hands-on activities.
Accessible Curriculum Features
TCI’s programs are designed to reach all learners and include many reading tools and differentiating instructions to support teachers. While Brendan’s school district is in an affluent area, it serves students from various backgrounds and a population of English learners. Brendan leverages many digital reading tools—such as leveled text and highlighting—to support his students.
“I work with kids who are struggling. I open the text and use the main ideas feature for taking notes. We also use the highlight tool with multiple colors to scaffold what I taught in class. We enjoy the maps and the images as well.”
Brendan also assigns TCI’s additional resources to help students review key concepts from the lesson, such as games and timeline challenges.
“The lesson games are a good study tool that our students use, as well as the additional resources at the end of every unit.”
Additionally, Brendan finds that History Alive! is easy to adapt for differentiation. He often leads an advisory period to support English language development. With another teacher, he developed strategies to frontload vocabulary terms and dive deeper into the textbook.
Flexible Options to Engage Students
History Alive! provides flexible options to teach each lesson. There are many ways to engage students, from interesting readings to whole-class activities. Brendan finds that the lessons engage students with exciting debates, writing exercises, and historical perspectives.
One of the lessons Brendan teaches covers industrialization. The lesson connects to the key concepts by sharing the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Brendan pairs the reading with a short documentary.
“The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory story is a great example of how TCI has engaged our students because it takes something that could be pretty dry, like industrialization, and gives them a vivid story. We paired it with a documentary to provide a visual aid. Afterward, students completed a short writing assignment.”
Likewise, Brendan appreciates how the textbook presents engaging content that prompts interesting writing assignments. For example, Brendan finds the text design for the sections about Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson to be particularly impressive.
“We were so impressed with the sections on Hamilton versus Jefferson, especially the text’s formatting and design. Later, we turned the reading into a debate. We’re always able to add something too, such as modern issues that track back to Hamilton or Jefferson.”
More Than a Textbook—A Holistic Curriculum
While History Alive! includes many resources and features to support teachers and students, it is greater than the sum of its parts. Brendan points out that he enjoys using the curriculum because of its clever design.
“TCI is much more than a textbook. All textbooks offer ancillary activities at the end of every chapter. But the difference with TCI is that it is designed holistically, and everything is connected. When it’s time for the assessment, students have a much greater understanding than if you used a traditional textbook alone.”
From developing strategies to support English learners to leading classroom debates, we are glad Brendan has been using History Alive! creatively to engage students.
