Blogging a way through GCSE History ... 24 The Soviet view of the world. 25 Quiz
... I went on to become Chief Examiner for a large GCSE Modern World History.
GCSE Modern World History Project Tony Rea
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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Raising grades to a C and beyond Cover the specification thoroughly Improving pupils’ exam technique Inspiring pupils Putting theory to work Students as experts Revision techniques Controlled assessments Help from the examiners Blogging a way through GCSE History New tools Further tools
3 Teacher notes 4 Copymasters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Overview of The Great War 1914–18 Putting Blackadder to work Quiz 1 The Great War Overview of Germany 1918–45 The Weimar Republic The Great Inflation The rise of the Nazis Quiz 2 Germany Overview of international relations 1919–45 Appeasement – interpretations of history Germany goes to war Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 Quiz 3 International relations 1919–45 Overview of the British Home Front The Suffragettes The Blitz Quiz 4 The British Home Front Overview of the USA 1919–80 Boom and Bust: sources and questions Boom and Bust: model answers Quiz 5 The USA Overview of Russia 1914-90 Similarities between communism and fascism The Soviet view of the world Quiz 6 Russia 2
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
Overview of the Cold War The partition of Europe: the Iron Curtain The Berlin Airlift 1948–9 The Korean War Quiz 7 The Cold War Overview of the Vietnam War Why did the USA become involved in South-East Asia? Guerrilla war Quiz 8 The Vietnam War ‘I want to become an expert’ Revision 1a: Quotations Revision 1b: Quotations Revision 2: Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s USSR Revision 3: Memorable vocabulary
5 Appendices A B C D E F
True/False cards for use with quizzes Websites References Answers to quiz questions Answers to copymasters 36 and 37 Answers to copymaster 39
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1 Introduction Aims The aim of this pack is to help teachers raise the grade of their GCSE history candidates (pupils) by a grade. It is targeted chiefly at those pupils who are ‘hovering’ around the top of the grade D borderline – but the principles employed should help all candidates.
Author background and philosophy I taught GCSE history to many different kinds of pupils for over 20 years. I often correctly estimated the grade a particular pupil would achieve, but occasionally I got this wrong. Sometimes a pupil would surprise me by performing better than I had anticipated. More often, however, a pupil would under-perform by a grade. When I saw the marks for such pupils, there were often just a few marks that had been ‘dropped’ by the candidate which accounted for the grade difference. If only I could have done something to have helped them to avoid that. Then there were pupils who were capable of gaining, for example, a grade C, but who just could not be counted on to consistently perform at that level throughout an examination or controlled assessment, and I could see that they were in grave danger of under-performing and getting a grade lower than what I thought they were actually capable of. What could be done to help? I went on to become Chief Examiner for a large GCSE Modern World History syllabus and to write three GCSE textbooks (Rea & Wright: 1998 a & b; 1999), each with a modern world focus. Based on this experience, I now believe there are three main areas of work which teachers and pupils can do together in order to maximise the chance of pupils obtaining a grade C rather than a D: 1
Make sure the candidates are completely familiar with, and able to recall, the main content of the syllabus, and help them be practised and comfortable with the skills they are to be examined on.
2
Work on pupils’ exam technique so that they know what sorts of questions and tasks they are going to be up against in the exams and assessments. Time how long to spend on different questions and sections. Not writing too much or too little. This should include their writing skills and how to construct sentences and arguments, and – because there are marks allocated for it – their spelling, grammar and punctuation.
3
Inspire pupils to engage more fully and thereby try harder.
I am convinced that success in at least one of the above will raise grades.
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What does a C grade look like? The difference between a good grade C and a weak grade D will be obvious. The C grade will be confidently informed, will deploy knowledge to support points made (though with some errors – which hold it back from higher grades). The C grade will be reasonably fluent and flowing, though with some grammatical weaknesses. In dealing with sources and documents, the grade C answer will show evidence of higher levels of thinking, will be analytical and show some awareness of inferences and nuances. In contrast the weak D will lack fluency, will contain numerous errors of fact and English (spelling and grammar). When dealing with sources, the D candidate may not progress much further than comprehension and comparison of documentary material, and will certainly fail to do so with consistency. However, at the borderline, the difference between a strong grade D and weak grade C may be opaque, and could rest on a single mark.
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