Presenting research is a very important step for both the history teacher and the history student. Effectively as a history teacher our whole jobs are to present research to our students in an interesting and engaging way. As well as getting students excited to research on there own and present it to there peers allowing them to teach each other and themselves. Which I feel personally is really what I am aiming for overall. I also do like using digital tools to help research become manageable, I ama fan of most analog answers to problems personally and in the classroom while I believe in using technology to supplement do to personal experience I find it takes more time than its worth normally to get 30+ students working on a new item, especially when public school internet is where it is these days as well as content blockers stopping the whole network from working.
But for research digital tools are actually amazing and easy to use so you don’t have to worry about engagement. In fact in the research sphere you will probably find it pretty hard to find something that doesn’t make good research faster and easier. Which will also help students make there own connections and be much more interested in the material than they would have been before. It is our job as educators to engage students and while I believe that history certainly isn’t for everyone it can be interesting. If we use digital tools right and tie it back in to something we can all relate to and understand than all of us no matter what should be able to engage these kids, and frankly with the world like it is now good research skills and knowing history will most likely be more important than ever.
