What Is History?

Overview

In this first lesson of Exploring Personal Histories, students develop an age-appropriate understanding that history is about people, places and events from the past. Through teacher modelling, discussion and personal storytelling, students identify an important event in their own lives and begin recording it as a drawing and simple oral account.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• understand that history helps us learn about the past
• recognise that their own lives include important past events
• share a personal memory using a picture and spoken sentence
• listen respectfully to other people’s stories

Success criteria

• I can explain that history is about the past.
• I can name or draw an important event from my life.
• I can tell someone what happened in my picture.
• I can listen while someone else is sharing.

Curriculum links

• Sorting and recording information, including pictorial timelines and locations on pictorial maps or models.
• Collecting, sorting and recording information from observations and provided sources, including unscaled timelines and labelled maps or models.
• Personal and social capability: recognising personal experiences and listening respectfully to others.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Welcome and hook. Open with the question and mystery photograph slide and show an old photograph or familiar object from the past, asking, “What do you think happened before this picture was taken?” Students look closely, make a prediction and share one observation with a partner. Explain that today begins a unit about exploring histories: the stories of people and events from the past.

2. 5–12 min · What is history? Use the history definition and past/present slides to introduce history as learning about what happened before now. Model a simple example: “When I was little, I learned to ride a bike. That is part of my personal history.” Students help sort oral examples as “past” or “now”, using actions such as pointing behind them for past and pointing to the floor for now. Clarify that history can include photographs, objects, stories and memories, and that people may remember the same event differently.

3. 12–20 min · Teacher story model. Display the teacher story sequence and tell a short, real or invented personal-history story using three simple pictures: “First, I visited the beach with my family. Then, I built a sandcastle. After that, we went home.” Think aloud about what makes the event important, such as people, feelings or something new that happened. Students identify what happened first, next and last, and suggest information that helps a listener understand the story.

4. 20–25 min · Shared memory talk. Show the discussion prompt and sentence starters. Invite students to think of an event from their own lives, such as a birthday, starting school, meeting a family member, visiting a special place or learning something new. Students rehearse with a partner using: “My important event was…”, “It happened when…”, and “I felt…” Remind students that they may choose a private event, talk about a family or community event instead, or simply say, “I would rather not share.”

5. 25–37 min · Draw and record. Distribute the personal history drawing sheet and explain that students will draw one important event from their past. They add themselves, at least one other person or feature, and a detail showing what happened. The teacher supports students to dictate or write a sentence beneath the drawing: “My history includes…” Students draw independently, then tell their story to a partner. Partners practise listening and respond with, “I heard that…”

6. 37–43 min · Class sharing and sorting. Use the sharing and past/present review slides to invite three or four students to share their drawings. As a class, identify whether each event happened in the past and place the examples verbally in a simple order: “long ago”, “before school” or “recently”. Students notice similarities and differences between personal histories without ranking or judging family experiences.

7. 43–45 min · Plenary and exit check. Return to the final review slide and ask, “What is history?” and “What could be part of someone’s personal history?” Students complete the oral exit sentence, “History helps us learn about…” or point to their drawing and name one past event. Collect worksheets as evidence of students’ first understanding and preview that the next lesson will explore sources that help us learn about the past.

Resources

• the complete What Is History? slide deck
• the personal history drawing sheet
• Photograph or familiar object from the past for the hook
• Pencils, crayons and coloured pencils
• Whiteboard and markers
• Teacher example drawings or picture cards
• Optional document camera for sharing student work

Assessment

• Listen during partner talk and class discussion for students’ use of past-time language and understanding that history concerns events before now.
• Check drawings and dictated or written sentences for a recognisable personal or family event and at least one relevant detail.
• During the oral exit check, record students who can explain history as learning about the past and identify an event from their own lives.

Differentiation

• Provide picture choices, gestures, a personal-history word bank and sentence starters for students who need language support. Accept drawing, oral response, pointing or teacher scribing instead of independent writing.
• Model the task step by step and conference with students who are unsure what event to choose. Offer the option of sharing a familiar community, classroom or fictional character’s past event when a personal memory feels uncomfortable.
• Support EAL students with photographs, objects, actions and repeated language such as “past”, “before”, “now” and “important”. Pair them with a patient, supportive speaker and allow home-language discussion where possible.
• Extend confident students by asking them to add a second event, show what happened first and next, or explain why their event is important.