HERE'S ONE I MADE EARLIER

In February Barry Johnson an advisor from AQA came into Loreto to talk to A2 history students about how to do well in their A level, what pitfalls to avoid and how to write a good study. Barry also went through the markscheme showing what history examiners are looking for when they mark the Unit 3 exam papers. The students' advice was that we should do it every year!

WE'RE BACK

After a six month break the Loreto History blog is back with news, views and advice for history students and those Loreto students who wish they had chosen to do history: which let's face it is pretty much everyone. So keep your eyes peeled and join in with your comments.

HISTORY IN THE HEADLINES

For all you budding historians, journalists and writers the Guardian newspaper and the Historical Association are running a competition called "History in the Headlines". The competition is for you to construct a headline story from the sources in the Guardian archives. Just think of the primary documents you will get access to! Ms Cooper and Mr Prowle will help you with this, but further details can be found on the HA web site Start thinking over summer and we will get started as soon as you enrol!!

SUMMER READING

The exams will soon be over so what will you do with all that time on your hands. How about some summer reading? Teachers and university lecturers up and down the land complain that students do not read. Prove them wrong. But what to read??? As a history student why not a history book? You could try something covering the history of the world in just 300 pages; or a whole book about just thirteen days. You can read about the end of history; or look at how the subject started in a very different way from today. You can look at a different type of history or read something for your A2 units. you can read a history mystery and go into a period you know nothing about. There is political history; economic history; social history. Even the history of the World Cup! So you have no excuse. Me, I'm looking forward to sun, sea, sand and "Bobby and J Edgar" by Burton Hersh.

LITTLE SHIPS

Summer is coming and long stretches of sandy white beaches in France look so inviting. But imagine being in such an exposed position in a war, being strafed by enemy planes. That was the fate of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940 trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk. This year we have been celebrating the 70th anniversary of one of the most powerful and poignant events in British history when 41 Royal Navy destroyers and over 600 other 'little ships' braved Channel weather and the Luftwaffe to rescue 338,000 British and French soldiers. 'Operation Dynamo' in reality was a tale of confusion and retreat and 5,000 deaths. But the courage of those Little Ships meant the BEF lived to fight another day.

NOT SAD REALLY

OK as a teenager you are likely to use the summer for sun, sea and extra shifts at Tesco. But as a history student you could visit a couple of museums. Maybe it sounds a bit geeky but you are doing history and you really love the subject!(?) And didn't someone say the geek would inherit the earth. Even summer gets boring sometimes and you might be surprised how much you will enjoy it. And on a very practical level it is something to put on your university application.
Manchester Museum still has its amazing Darwin extravaganza where you can find out about the life and work of one of the world's most important thinkers. At the IWMN you can take in the life of sailors at war. And the Museum of Science and Industry has a range of historical characters telling you about their lives, including James Watt and William Huskisson, politician and first victim of a railway accident. Studying history can encompass science, technology, politics, war, the family. These exhibitions can give you just a taste.

MAKING CHOICES

If you are in your AS year getting ready for your exams you might also be thinking about your future and your degree choice. Some history departments offer subject specific open days once you have applied, but in the meantime why not use summer to go to general open days to help you start your decision making.

FIRST PRIZE

Jonathan Paito is looking very happy to receive his certificate from the British Association of American Studies for winning their 2010 Schools' Essay Prize. The Ambassador's Award of £250 is offered to the school pupil who writes the best essay on any subject to do with the USA. Jonathan is studying AS History, French, Economics and English Literature at Loreto College and wrote his essay on Barack Obama and the American Dream. For students like Jonathan the BAAS prize offers an opportunity to show their interest in and knowledge of the US beyond their academic studies.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Once again Loreto students take to their travels. The Department of History, Politics and Classical Civilisation has run trips to Paris, Greece, Berlin and the USA. This year the students spent 8 days in the United States seeing the sights of New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC. The trip began with a spectacular visit to the Empire State Building at night and was followed by tourist trips such as the Statue of Liberty; educational visits directly related to the History A level course we follow and real fun stuff: watching staff and students dance on the Big piano in FAO Schwartz was a hoot. There were so many highlights: the mad bus driver in DC; seeing Independence Hall knowing Jefferson and Adams actually sat there; watching the SWAT guys abseil down the rocks at Liberty Island; the New York breakfasts. And then there was the truly unforgettable: getting tickets to the visitors' gallery in the Senate and the tour of the United Nations. Amazing! Here's to the next time.

DO WE DEPEND ON TELEVISION FOR OUR HISTORY?

We have two tv channels dedicated to history; the BBC has a history web site; and just today on TV there are programmes as diverse as Horrible Histories and Chemistry: A Volatile History. But presenter David Dimbleby is arguing that television is having to make up for the fact that not enough time is dedicated in schools to the subject. Only 31% of students in England and Wales take history at GCSE, and we are one of the few countries in Europe where history is not compulsory beyond 14. Should it be? If so, what should be taught?

BERLIN WALL EXHIBITION

The picture is of Loreto history students visiting one of the remaining parts of the Berlin Wall on one of the department's foreign trips. Berlin was central to the Cold War - and is central to the Unit 3 exam. You still have time to catch the exhibition on the Wall at the Imperial War Museum North.

PLANNING AHEAD

Soon the results for the January modules will be out but already students are asking about dates for the summer exams. (Hopefully a sign of early preparation or perhaps just hoping to book a cheap holiday.) Either way you can find the dates of all your exams on the QCA interboard searchable timetable. All you need to know is the board and subject, and it is even easier if you know the code for the exam. Logging in is easy, you don't need a password, and you can create your own personalised timetable by simply checking the papers you want. Of course eLoreto will also do this for you but you might want to get a head start.

AURAL HISTORY

I have a student who every Friday asks if we are going to watch a DVD. Teenagers laugh when you suggest they listen to Radio 4. But this generation may be the one to benefit from radio. With i-pod, MP3, downloading and podcasts listening is a skill more teenagers have than they realise. Tune in to A History of the World in 100 Objects currently being broadcast on Radio 4: practice your listening skills and get a sense of the breadth and wonder of the study of history.

CUTTING BLACK HISTORY

Black History Month has been commemorated in the UK since 1987 when it was created by the then Greater London Council. The current London mayor, Boris Johnson, is cutting the subsidy for Black History Month by more than £120,000 while giving £100,000 to subsidise a 'US Day'. Should tax payers subsidise history events? Is it important we celebrate a significant group within our society whose contribution has frequently been overlooked or ignored? History students at Loreto do an AS in American history, do you support a US Day or should a wealthy country like the US pay for its own celebration?

EXAM TECHNIQUE

To do well in the exams you need to start your revision early as many of you are now discovering. But there are also lots of things you can do in the actual exam to ensure a good mark. This BBC web page has a lot of good tips. And you could always come to the lunchtime sessions on 'Tackling the Exam Paper'!

CONTROVERSY IN HISTORY

Those who do not study history often think it is simply learning facts. But history is a dialogue with the past. It is constantly being re-interpreted, sometimes with controversial results. Film director and history revisionist Oliver Stone is courting controversy once more with his TV history series that attempts to understand Hitler the man. Should we try to get to the ‘real’ person behind the myth or can this lead to becoming an apologist for mass murder?

UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN

And amid all the holly and miseltoe and the shopping and eating, let's not forget the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

Christmas is here! But why do we celebrate the way we do? Find out more about our Christmas traditions, or learn a few carols. For fun you can do lots of quizzes on the net. Given the worry on the BBC this morning about the study of English Literature, why not try a Christmas book quiz? But if all the turkey and the mince pies gets you down, there is the Dr Who Christmas special to look forward to!!

WITNESS TO TERROR

Visiting Auschwitz today as a is a profound experience. How brave is a man to swap places with an Auschwitz inmate so that he could find out for himself what was going on in the Nazi death camp and tell the world. Denis Avey is just such a man. While a prisoner of war in Poland he arranged to swap clothes with a Jewish prisoner and stayed in the camp on two nights. He saw for himself the "hell on earth" that was Auschwitz and the cigarettes he smuggled in saved at least one life. Hear his amazing story on the BBC iplayer.

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN

Now the autumn leaves are falling and days are getting shorter students' minds turn to thoughts of January modules and revision. Or rather they don't - but their teachers' do. Don't forget there are some useful web resources to help your revsion such as the excellent Spark Notes for factual information; web pages from the TV such as Channel 4 History which has a section on Woodrow Wilson for example; and the ever popular US history quiz page. And failing all that you could come to Ms Cooper's history revision sessions or even read a book! And don't forget the exam board web site! Remember a little revision each week will make the job so much easier. And the better grades you get this year the less pressure next year.