My name is Joanna Sommers. I am currently lecturing in History, Humanities and Education to preservice teachers at the tertiary level in Melbourne, Australia. In 2015, I completed my Master of Education (International Baccalaureate) from The University of Melbourne. Before entering the tertiary level, I taught in secondary schools both within Australia and internationally. Among other subjects, I have extensive experience in teaching History from years 6-12, including in both the IB and VCE. In recent years I have also been an IB History examiner for Paper 2.
It is through my recent study that I have gained an in depth understanding of historical thinking concepts; these concepts align closely with both the newly completed IB History Guide and VCE Study Design. Perhaps on an implicit level, many teachers of History have presumably already been incorporating these concepts into their classrooms for many years; however, 'historical thinking' is now explicit in the Australian Curriculum, the IB and VCE, therefore, it is imperative that we embed it into everything we do in the History classroom.
A sample unit for IB History, Paper 2, Topic 10 (first exams 2017), has been provided on this site as a demonstration of how we can begin to design our History curriculum around these historical thinking concepts. Along with this Weebly, it is a work-in-progress, and all feedback is most welcome.