One of the targets for my NQT year is the development of cross-curricular lessons in history. I have always been interested in ICT but I never really thought about using it in the classroom as a trainee teacher. I always had so many other things to overcome that ICT was very low down on my priorities; especially as discipline and classroom management seemed much more crucial. But since starting at my first school last September, the history department that I am working with has encouraged me to develop my ICT skills. Throughout the autumn term I experimented with a number of ICT activities. During lessons pupils have used the digital camera to create a storyboard of 'Charles I's Trial and Execution', undertaken WWI research on the Internet and we have even started to run a lunchtime History and ICT club. However, the medium that has been the most beneficial and rewarding has been that of the laptop and projector to deliver PowerPoint presentations during lessons.

PowerPoint in the classroom can be an amazing and effective teaching tool. At first my presentations were very basic, not much more than typing up information I would usually write on the whiteboard. After investing in a laptop of my own during the October half term I have benefited immensely from the vast amount of multimedia history clips available on the Internet. I have been able to use better illustrations, animated gifs, the best and the most disgusting sound clips that you have ever heard and contemporary historical video footage. Now my PowerPoint presentations are interactive, educational and most importantly fun. I have a reputation for inventive and fun lessons and I hope that my inclusion of ICT will enhance rather than hinder this. If I thought for a minute that ICT was detracting from both my teaching and the delivery of the history curriculum I would not hesitate to stop using it.

In addition, being very similar to Microsoft Word means that PowerPoint presentations are very easy to create, although admittedly time-consuming, and extremely easy to use in the classroom. A strong recommendation for PowerPoint is that in the long run it can be cheaper to project colour pictures and graphs onto a whiteboard than reproduce them in a black and white worksheet or leaving them out altogether. Pupils benefit from seeing information and sources that might previously have been too expensive to recreate for use in the classroom. Ultimately, the response from the classes that I teach, both across age and ability ranges, has been very positive. They physically and intellectually respond better and are more enthusiastic when information is presented in PowerPoint form. This is especially true of the SEN groups.

What is obvious is that the slideshow format obviously lends itself well to certain lessons, such as the Black Death and WWI Technology, whilst making more dry and formulaic lessons on the Great Depression in Agriculture more digestible to my GCSE classes. One of my most successful lessons with a Yr. 10 class was a general introduction to Jack the Ripper using PowerPoint towards the end of the autumn term as a treat for surviving the Agricultural Revolution. Due to the fact that it was the end of term I asked the girls to take everything off their desks, turned off the lights and then gave a teacher led lesson. The girls quickly became engrossed in the subject matter, which was accompanied by colourful illustrations and a selection of sound clips that had people screaming and being dismembered. I complemented the slideshow by having props of fake blood in evidence bottles in my pocket which I threw to various pupils at certain points in the presentation. Whilst not on the curriculum this lesson had the girls enthusiastic and it was the talking point of the last week among the pupils and teachers alike, especially as one of the girls started to hyperventilate in fear. I honestly did not know I was that scary. Two of the girls enjoyed it so much that they went on to do presentations on Jack the Ripper in their Drama lessons.

For teachers out there who are worried about learning new skills and finding the time to develop these ICT resources I would advise looking at resources that already exist for history. For example, Schoolhistory.co.uk has a selection of excellent PowerPoint presentations that can be used whole or used as starting off point and can be adapted for use in your own particular piece of work. Another interesting way of building up your collection of resources is to set an activity that challenges the pupils to create their own PowerPoint. I have also had great fun using PowerPoint to play interactive games and quizzes. The hyperlink buttons on PowerPoint mean that games can be created for a whole class to play using the projector and whiteboard or for individual pupils to use on a single terminal. PowerPoint templates for games can be easily downloaded off the Internet and adapted for your subject and history topic. They are great as informal assessment of how much a class has actually learnt about a topic.

The best piece of advice that I can give teachers thinking of trying out PowerPoint in the classroom is do not be afraid to have a go. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.

© N. Boughey, 2002.  www.SchoolHistory.co.uk