Recommended Reading
This may seem like an unusual topic, considering how many textbooks are floating around in the education market. I'm sure you're come across some in your studies that are beautifully presented with loads of relevant information, probably tailored to the specific exam that you might be studying for. Equally, I remember from my school days many textbooks that were outdated before they were off the printing press, especially in Geography or History classes (i.e. FYR Yugoslavia, or many countries in Africa).
At my last school, textbooks were a constant source of aggravation for teachers and Heads of Departments, as it was so difficult to find an appropriate resource for the syllabus and the students we were teaching. It was a private school in Prague, that followed the IGCSE and IB curricula, but also had to follow the Czech Ministry for education's crazy scheme of work.
Our first year students were, on average, 14 years old, very intelligent, but were mainly English as a second language speakers, so 'normal' English textbooks for 14 year-olds would be too advanced in terms of language. But, that would only apply if there were normal English language textbooks for what we needed to cover. In the History department, we had to do the entire spectrum of Ancient History, from pre-history through the Chinese, the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The English National Curriculum provides for the Roman unit - but for 11 year-olds, which was too basic for our incredibly clever, but ESL Czech kids.
So what to do? I was the only teacher working with this year group, so I quickly realised the importance of cobbling together resources from my own collection of books, finding on-line resources to recommend to the kids to use at home, compiling a list of history-themed films that would actually enhance their enjoyment and understanding of the subject, and making worksheet after worksheet and information pack after information pack to feed their hungry little minds. I also organsied as many field trips and cultural visits as possible to local museums in order to bring their studies to life.
You might think that this was an unusual situation, having to teach Ancient History to a bunch of Czech 14 year-olds, but I'm sure this happens more often than one might think. I also introduced the Medieval History IB syllabus to the school, as that's what my PhD is in, but since that is a new and under-studied syllabus (i.e. 90% of IB students follow the Modern History route), there was no text book for that either. Most of my personal material was from my years of studying for my BA, MA, and PhD, but most of this was out-of-reach for even the most intelligent 17 year-olds. So, again, I put together a collection of resources, and am now attempting to write the textbook that can be used for the IB Medieval History syllabus.
