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“The lessons are really engaging for the kids and very easy to differentiate and supplement. It’s amazing and so accessible—the kids can even work from home. I love it!”
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At the beginning of the school year, Jennifer Brunick-Weiser faces a problem that many seventh-grade teachers are familiar with: her students are disengaged when they return to the classroom. She finds that getting them excited about learning can be difficult when the school year starts.
However, as the school year progresses, Jennifer notices a shift. Her students become more interested in the content and invested in class. She credits this change in part to TCI’s History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond program.
“The lessons are really engaging for the kids and very easy to differentiate and supplement. It’s amazing and so accessible—the kids can even work from home. I love it!”
Jennifer sees how History Alive! builds student interest throughout the year with inquiry and engaging activities. Additionally, she finds the program easy to use as she juggles teaching multiple subjects.
Jennifer hosts medieval festivals at her school. Students discover new interests and collaborate to demonstrate what they learned from History Alive!
Jennifer notices her students become more engaged after she assigns them a long-term inquiry project. Her students are required to dig deep into History Alive! and answer questions about the past. She also provides a list of articles and videos to help them investigate topics further.
“Often, at the beginning of the project, they hate it. But when they realize what they are really learning in history, they come around and look forward to coming to class.”
TCI’s inquiry-based programs provide many opportunities for students to ask questions, evaluate sources, and construct arguments about history. Through inquiry, her students are able to connect to history on a deeper level and develop research skills.
“By the end of the year, parents tell me that their kids like social studies. They like coming to school and want to do an activity or learn about a topic. They become independent learners and researchers.”
History Alive! is also designed to engage students with hands-on activities, thoughtful questions, and extension projects. For example, when Jennifer teaches the lesson about Muslim innovations in Medieval times, her students discover how those innovations from the past influence the present.
“The lesson on Islamic innovations is such a beautiful way to inform and surprise my students. They discover so much about the depth and scope of innovation and how it touches our daily lives.”
TCI believes that engagement leads to greater learning. As Jennifer’s students become more engaged in the content, they are able to make deeper connections to history. At the end of the year, they understand that studying history is more than memorizing facts.
“My students discovered that social studies is more than dates, names of dead people, and vocabulary tests. They understand now that social studies is about all the concepts and connections that we learn about in a fun, accessible, and engaging way. And this is all thanks to TCI.”
Jennifer juggles multiple subjects and currently teaches both language arts and social studies. Despite this high-wire act, Jennifer easily jumps into History Alive! “I’ve never seen such an accessible and exciting curriculum and lessons in any other subject anywhere.”
TCI’s programs are available in print and online, providing flexibility to access materials in your preferred format. Whichever format you choose, TCI provides students and teachers the support they need to stay on the same page.
“With TCI’s platform, tools, and lessons, the program is just so easy to understand. History Alive! gives such a thorough big picture, and then drills down on the concepts and the lessons—so I never have questions.”
From engaging students through inquiry to an easy-to-use design, Jennifer found success with History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond. We look forward to hearing more about how Jennifer engages her students in social studies throughout the year.
See how History Alive! engages students and helps them connect the past to the present. Get a sample.
Students work in groups to create paper columns commemorating one of the four key periods of growth in the Roman Empire.
This activity leverages the Problem-Solving Groupwork teaching strategy, which teaches students the skills to work together successfully in small groups.
Students act as museum curators. They will find, identify, and categorize artifacts from the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas.
This activity leverages the Social Studies Skill Builder teaching strategy, which turns the traditional, rote tasks usually associated with skill-based worksheets into more dynamic, interactive activities.
Students examine primary source artifacts and match them to innovations and adaptations made by medieval Muslims.
This activity leverages the Social Studies Skill Builder teaching strategy, which turns the traditional, rote tasks usually associated with skill-based worksheets into more dynamic, interactive activities.