It worked for me: key stage 3 cameos

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Picturing the past

Stuart Roper, head of history at Holyrood School in Chard, Somerset, has developed a range of strategies for providing for the needs of visual learners. Activities that require pupils to engage with historical pictures or to use their drawing skills to process historical ideas have become an important teaching tool in the department. Here are some particularly effective approaches.

Year 7 pupils make a ‘flick book’ about the reign of Henry II

The year 7 enquiry ‘What challenges did medieval monarchs face?’ focuses on the reign of Henry II. A powerful story about Henry II relates to the picture he had painted on the wall of his chamber at his palace in Winchester. Henry asked the artist to paint a large eagle with two young eaglets, one tearing at the wings of the larger bird and the other pecking out its eyes. The eaglets represent Henry’s sons clawing at his power. This is a memorable image for year 7 pupils and Stuart uses it as the hook for this enquiry.

The pupils are told about different places associated with Henry. Maps are used to show pupils the huge empire over which Henry ruled, the importance of England and the significance of London and Winchester. Stuart then describes Henry’s palace in Winchester including the room where the picture was painted. Finally he describes the picture of the eagle in detail.

Pupils process this information by drawing in a small flick book provided for them. Each page in the flick book relates to a different place associated with Henry. As pupils find out more about the reign of Henry II the flick book provides a framework for their writing.

Year 8 pupils draw the ‘big story’ of 1603–1660

Year 8 pupils often get caught up with explaining the causes of the English Civil War and fail to understand the main events from 1603–1660. Turning key words from this period into pictures helps to establish the sequence of events in pupils’ minds. It can also be great fun!

Stuart’s year 8 classes are asked to produce drawings that symbolise these words:

Many pupils use the symbol of the crown to represent the monarchy though their sequence of pictures. The picture sequences can be turned into individual posters or can be enlarged to create a classroom display. One year 8 group created a PowerPoint presentation, adding contemporary images to their symbolic drawings and setting the sequenced images to music.

Year 9 pupils put themselves in the picture

At the start of their enquiry on the power of the medieval church, year 7 pupils at Holyrood School draw a portrait of the person sitting next to them and then stick the portraits onto a doom painting. Pupils then use the doom painting to describe what they can smell and see. A variation on this activity is used to help year 9 pupils think about visitors’ reactions to the Great Exhibition. Having read a range of contemporary accounts of the Great Exhibition, pupils use their knowledge to devise questions that visitors would have asked. The questions are then written in speech bubbles attached to particular people.

Use your knowledge of the Great Exhibition to write question bubbles for some of the visitors. If you are using an interactive whiteboard you can record these using the ‘sound recorder’.

Examples of key idea cards

Contents | ‘Teacher in role’: the background