What a humbling week I've had.  My colleague and I decided to run a Pirate's Training School for the end of term activities week. You would not believe the strategy document we wrote, justifying our proposal (even complete with detailed, broken down budgets). I think people are beginning to learn why you should never ask a history teacher to justify themselves: they get a very, very detailed answer!  We were really fortunate to be oversubscribed (even those leading the week told us of their shock that students were actually opting for something with an historical element and thus - in their view - dull).  But, we had a huge number of students (they - not us! - turned many down!)... and I think (hope!) we spent the next few days proving that learning (and history) is anything but dull. Among other things, we ventured back and introduced them to famous pirates (teachers in role of course - you can see my colleagues Juliette and Alex in the photo).  I went off on a Disney tangent and became the crocodile from Hook (come on, even History teachers are allowed to be silly and ahistorical!). Then it was the pirate code (you can find these genuine articles on the web), followed by training in pirate songs (again, all over the web).  Next came boat making (the fact we couldn't crack it in paper showed students the sheer skill and craftsmanship of these boatbuilders). This first day ended with a fantastic 'ship wreck' obstacle course.  The nex We then reviewed pirates in film - how they've been portrayed through the silver screen - from Errol Flynn to Johnny Depp. Then it was a review of contemporary sources: were these silver screen representations accurate?  So then came the students' turn to create their own Hollywood dramatisation of a recorded event, based on the sources... And OMG (as I hear the kids say?!): the results were staggering.  In a mere 2 hours, the students' productions were utterly awesome.  They'd even made films that had 'bloopers' scenes at the end, showing their mistakes as they'd misunderstood the sources - how amazing is that!!!!  SO, it really made me have that glowing, great feeling that History is liked by the students, and that it's fun. It was so uplifting to watch the students go home singing and wearing their pirate clobber with pride! Brilliant end to the term.