Classroom Display: Great Quotes about History

Have you ever looked at catalogs and wished that you could find some classroom display materials that would stimulate a lot of thought and discussion about the nature of history itself -- instead of only about a limited topic such as the French Revolution?

Have you wanted to find more mature display materials that would help your high school students feel that they are being treated as reasoning individuals nearing adulthood?

If you are like me, you have decided that a lot of classroom displays for social studies are just too "elementary"-looking for high school students to appreciate. You have probably also longed for some permanent displays that could stay up all year and still be relevant every single day.

The answer: Great Quotes about History

These 48 famous quotations will stimulate thought and discussion even as they challenge students' preconceptions about what history really is, how it gets written, and why it can be interpreted so differently! I find my students looking up at them and studying them during pauses in instruction or when they have seat work to do. They also work as fantastic sponge and transition activities -- particularly if you print them out on a variety of different colors of paper. A great class starter is to challenge students to "find the orange quotation that most closely matches your view, and be prepared to explain why you agree with it."

They can also be used as essay and debate topics, encouraging students all the while to do more than simply learn historical facts, but to reach a deeper understanding as to the role and purpose of history itself.

Apart from any other instructional use, however, they make for a beautiful, relevant, and timeless set of classroom display materials -- these quotations are "evergreen" and will work well with any historical topic.

WHAT YOU WILL GET IN THE ZIP DOWNLOAD FILE:

Since teacher convenience and accessibility is a part of my whole philosophy, the full set contains:

--a .pdf file to make sure that the pages will display as designed even if you lack the font I used

--an editable .rtf file you can customize to suit yourself. I include this since you might want to add to the quotes as you see fit, change the font to an alternate you prefer, or switch away from black text if you have a color printer.