Organizing to Save You Time
If you teach World History, I can imagine you are simply tired. No more needs to be said about that! But, I want to help. In this post, you will find links to everything I can think you may need for teaching World History. Over time, I plan to add in links and resources as I find them, so feel free to email me if you have any suggestions!
To make it easier for you, I’m going to sort by links, strategies, and resources. At the end, I will add in resources that cross the curriculums or can be helpful in any classroom. I truly hope these posts will help you teach with less stress in your classroom!
World History Links & Resources
World History was one of the first classes I taught. I was very overwhelmed at the amount of history I was to teach, but I quickly grew to love the content I could introduce. Teaching World History truly helped me become a stronger content teacher!
Great Websites for Teaching (or Learning) World History
- World History Encyclopedia – This website is really handy for quick and easy explanations of people, places or events in World History. It’s great for students to use or for teachers to use in prepping lessons.
- History of the World – The BBC outdid themselves with this fun and engaging website on World History topics. You could use them as bellringer reading or explore for more in depth lessons on specific topics.
- National Geographic – Forever my favorite for visual representations of physics and human geography, Nat Geo has both adult and kids sites for the study of Geography. BUT – they also have tons of History on the site that can be a great resource.
- World Atlas – This is your basic atlas in an online version. It’s easy to navigate and students can find tons of great information with easy searches. And mapping is vital for World History understanding, so this site can be a great help.
- Medieval Sources Bibliography – I love this site for great primary sources throughout World History. You can search by topic or by authors for great research on important people throughout time.
- Fact Monster – This one is more for younger students, but it still has great statistical data that’s easy to process. It’s great for student projects that require the basic facts.
- World History Matters – I love the links on this site because they provide primary sources and the history of children, women, minorities, and others that are often overlooked in historic accounts.
- Even More Great Websites for World History – This is an older posts with even more great links for teaching current events in the world that can enrich your World History lessons.
Great Strategies for Teaching History
Take your students back in time! Thankfully, teaching World History is not just about the people, events, and places of our world throughout time. It’s about stepping into the past, so teach as though you are taking a big trip with a time warp machine! Students will be more engaged, but more importantly, they will be more curious about history. You may even encourage some to become historians when they get older!
- Use pictures – This is my absolute favorite strategy for teaching anything. I started my lessons with my own travel pictures and asked students to tell me what they saw. Simple, everyone can participate, and it draws them in for the bigger lessons.
- Travel with Walking Tours or Gallery Walks – this strategy has been around forever, but it is a great one. Especially for History classes. It fits the theme, but also allows you to cover large amounts of content with ease. See Walking Tours here.
- Use Google Maps and Zoom – This was another of my students favorite things to do. I used it mostly for time filler lessons (testing days or other school events). We just picked locations and zoomed to see what we could find. Curiosity is a great motivator!
- Centers or Stations – These are not just for younger students. Even middle and high school students will engage if they get to build regional structures with cookies or set up topographical maps with everyday ingredients (sand, pebbles, beans…).
- Timeline Development – One of the most vital tools for the History classroom is the timeline. But don’t just show students timelines; let them create illustrated, annotated timelines. This will help them practice a number of vital skills while also reinforcing the content in your units. Find Timeline activities here.
- Mapping Change Over Time or History Events – Mapping is something your students should be practicing in every unit, but not just the locations of places. Instead, teach them to map events where they can begin to see the evolution of history and how the nation has changed over time. Find Mapping activities here.
- Analyze Primary Sources – Teaching History is so much easier (and less controversial) if you teach with primary sources. Let your students analyze primary sources to view varied perspectives on events of our past. And I’ve done the work for you on this one! Examine individual topics or eras or grab the full year of primary sources to help your students see real images, quotes, statistics, and more throughout Ancient and Modern World History.
- More Strategies – I’ve written tons of posts over the years on teaching strategies. Seamlessly, these will guide you through bellringers, games, and so much more to keep your lessons content-filled and engaging!
Great Resources to Teach World History
Here I’m going to promote just a little bit! I taught all levels of World History and all eras for years. Not having great materials, I worked to develop my Full World History Course and it is designed to make it easier to prep, teach, and assess! I built it based on units of study with unit plans, interactive resources, and complete study guides and assessments. And the best part is that everything is included in one big bundle.
In the full course, you will find:
- A comprehensive curriculum map that lays out the units in a way that helps you plan for the full year.
- Individual unit plans that guide you through the daily planning with suggested bellringers, resources, and exit prompts.
- Resources to take you through every major historic event and throughout the entire school year.
- Unit tests and study guides to help you assess student learning.
- Extension lessons to help engage all learners and to add in a little fun here and there!
Teaching Ancient World History? I can help with that, too! My Inquiry Based Ancient to Middle Ages set includes everything you need to set a great foundation in your classroom, and it uses best practices to help your students learn 21st Century skills.
One Final Note
For those of you who already use my resources, thank you! You know I am a hands-on creator and that I love to hear from you to make improvements or to help where I can to make your lives easier.
I love creating curriculum and working with teachers and students. Need a resource? I want to know! Do you need help with one of my resources? Please contact me! If you see needed updates or have ideas for changes, please send me a suggestion!
I started teaching in an era where our only resource was an outdated textbook (mine were over 20 years old). That’s what led me to creating my own materials. Now I can add in more current events, more updated research, and more relevant strategies for engaging our students. Now, in a world where teaching is now so much more (that’s a whole other issue!), I hope I can help take the stress off by creating resources you can easily utilize in your classroom. Your way!
You can always reach me at Michele@Micheleluckssocialstudies.com and I try to be very responsive. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. I’m here to help!
Happy Teaching!
