Victoria Crooks
@victoriacrooks.bsky.social
Associate Professor History Education at University of Nottingham
Co-Chair @htenuk.bsky.social
Co-author: https://tinyurl.com/vj36v3hu
Blog: https://uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/
@UoNSoEHistory in other places
Co-Chair @htenuk.bsky.social
Co-author: https://tinyurl.com/vj36v3hu
Blog: https://uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/
@UoNSoEHistory in other places
🚨NEW BLOG🚨
Struggling with lesson PITCH?
Jointly written with @apf102.bsky.social, this blog explores an approach we've used with #ITT beginning #teachers to examine the PITCH of their lessons through thinking about sequencing of knowledge.
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/25/s...
Struggling with lesson PITCH?
Jointly written with @apf102.bsky.social, this blog explores an approach we've used with #ITT beginning #teachers to examine the PITCH of their lessons through thinking about sequencing of knowledge.
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/25/s...
Surfing the ‘Semantic Wave’: Helping beginning teachers to think about tackling the ‘pitch’ of their lesson
This blog is jointly authored by Victoria Crooks and Alex Ford. Check out to read more blogs from Alex. Photo by Vladimir Kudinov on Pexels.com Matthew is a fab beginning teacher. He is highl…
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog
November 25, 2025 at 2:39 PM
🚨NEW BLOG🚨
Struggling with lesson PITCH?
Jointly written with @apf102.bsky.social, this blog explores an approach we've used with #ITT beginning #teachers to examine the PITCH of their lessons through thinking about sequencing of knowledge.
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/25/s...
Struggling with lesson PITCH?
Jointly written with @apf102.bsky.social, this blog explores an approach we've used with #ITT beginning #teachers to examine the PITCH of their lessons through thinking about sequencing of knowledge.
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/25/s...
Reposted by Victoria Crooks
The Autumn HTEN conference takes place this Thursday. Looking forward to seeing our members as we explore this important aspect of our work.
Members have just received an email with log in details. Please check your inboxes.
If you're not yet a member - please DM for info.
Members have just received an email with log in details. Please check your inboxes.
If you're not yet a member - please DM for info.
Join @htenuk.bsky.social for our November half-day online conference as we grapple with important questions in history educational research, teacher preparation, teacher professional development and teaching in schools.
#historyteacher #TeacherEducation #TeacherMentoring #HistoryEducation
#historyteacher #TeacherEducation #TeacherMentoring #HistoryEducation
November 25, 2025 at 11:18 AM
The Autumn HTEN conference takes place this Thursday. Looking forward to seeing our members as we explore this important aspect of our work.
Members have just received an email with log in details. Please check your inboxes.
If you're not yet a member - please DM for info.
Members have just received an email with log in details. Please check your inboxes.
If you're not yet a member - please DM for info.
The department has also produced wonderful graduates who have progressed into #PGCE & are now excellent history and politics teachers in our region and across the nation. Academics also contribute to the ongoing professional learning of serving teachers. Closure will impact an education ecosystem.
'It is notable that in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise the Department of American Studies at Nottingham was ranked third in the Area Studies unit of assessment and was one of the top-performing units across the whole of the University of Nottingham.' 1/2
RED ALERT: the University of Nottingham is threatening to close its Department of American Studies, putting all staff at risk of redundancy, and ending any American specialist knowledge in the Faculty of Arts.
Sign the petition here to save jobs:
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
Sign the petition here to save jobs:
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
November 23, 2025 at 11:10 PM
The department has also produced wonderful graduates who have progressed into #PGCE & are now excellent history and politics teachers in our region and across the nation. Academics also contribute to the ongoing professional learning of serving teachers. Closure will impact an education ecosystem.
What do we all need on a Friday night? An opportunity to think about how we elicit prior knowledge in the classroom, of course!
#UKTeaching #UKEd #Edublog #TeacherEducation #TeacherMentoring
#UKTeaching #UKEd #Edublog #TeacherEducation #TeacherMentoring
🚨NEW BLOG🚨
Something a bit different from me today. Thinking about core #pedagogical practice of ELICITING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE through the lens of #historyteacher #HistoryEducation. And a reflection on how we keep #subjectspecific in #ITT #ITAP s
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/20/d...
Something a bit different from me today. Thinking about core #pedagogical practice of ELICITING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE through the lens of #historyteacher #HistoryEducation. And a reflection on how we keep #subjectspecific in #ITT #ITAP s
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/20/d...
Diagnostic Hooks: Reconceptualising Initial Stimulus Material (ISM) for Eliciting Prior Knowledge
Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com The power of Initial Stimulus Material (ISM) to ‘hook’ pupils into historical learning via an intriguing image, a provocative quote, a story, or even a soundsca…
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog
November 21, 2025 at 6:21 PM
What do we all need on a Friday night? An opportunity to think about how we elicit prior knowledge in the classroom, of course!
#UKTeaching #UKEd #Edublog #TeacherEducation #TeacherMentoring
#UKTeaching #UKEd #Edublog #TeacherEducation #TeacherMentoring
🚨NEW BLOG🚨
Something a bit different from me today. Thinking about core #pedagogical practice of ELICITING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE through the lens of #historyteacher #HistoryEducation. And a reflection on how we keep #subjectspecific in #ITT #ITAP s
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/20/d...
Something a bit different from me today. Thinking about core #pedagogical practice of ELICITING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE through the lens of #historyteacher #HistoryEducation. And a reflection on how we keep #subjectspecific in #ITT #ITAP s
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/20/d...
Diagnostic Hooks: Reconceptualising Initial Stimulus Material (ISM) for Eliciting Prior Knowledge
Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com The power of Initial Stimulus Material (ISM) to ‘hook’ pupils into historical learning via an intriguing image, a provocative quote, a story, or even a soundsca…
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog
November 20, 2025 at 6:26 PM
🚨NEW BLOG🚨
Something a bit different from me today. Thinking about core #pedagogical practice of ELICITING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE through the lens of #historyteacher #HistoryEducation. And a reflection on how we keep #subjectspecific in #ITT #ITAP s
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/20/d...
Something a bit different from me today. Thinking about core #pedagogical practice of ELICITING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE through the lens of #historyteacher #HistoryEducation. And a reflection on how we keep #subjectspecific in #ITT #ITAP s
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/20/d...
My day began with a tissue exploding in the washing machine. It didn't get better. Tonight I'm Friday tired.
a little girl is laying on the floor in a playground with the words status written on the bottom
ALT: a little girl is laying on the floor in a playground with the words status written on the bottom
media.tenor.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:10 PM
My day began with a tissue exploding in the washing machine. It didn't get better. Tonight I'm Friday tired.
Every week the #ITT #historyteacher s @uonsoe.bsky.social undertake a reflective activity posted on our cohort message board. Today their honesty & humility around their success & challenges, moments of realisation, & their developing understanding of what being a teacher means is incredible. 🤩
November 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Every week the #ITT #historyteacher s @uonsoe.bsky.social undertake a reflective activity posted on our cohort message board. Today their honesty & humility around their success & challenges, moments of realisation, & their developing understanding of what being a teacher means is incredible. 🤩
Enjoyed presenting today at #UCET with @lauralondo1017.bsky.social on our paper: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
And having the opportunity to meet up with National #HistoryEducation colleagues outside of our usual conference meeting schedule.
#historyteacher #TeacherEducation #ITT
And having the opportunity to meet up with National #HistoryEducation colleagues outside of our usual conference meeting schedule.
#historyteacher #TeacherEducation #ITT
“An incentive for innovation”: the impact of being a subject-specific secondary ITE mentor within an HEI partnership on the professional learning of teacher mentors
This paper explores how the subject-specific professional learning of secondary history teachers is supported by mentoring a preservice teacher within a subject-specific Higher Education Institutio...
www.tandfonline.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Enjoyed presenting today at #UCET with @lauralondo1017.bsky.social on our paper: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
And having the opportunity to meet up with National #HistoryEducation colleagues outside of our usual conference meeting schedule.
#historyteacher #TeacherEducation #ITT
And having the opportunity to meet up with National #HistoryEducation colleagues outside of our usual conference meeting schedule.
#historyteacher #TeacherEducation #ITT
Another brilliant school visit today to see one of my #ITT #historyteacher s in action. In depth conversations about connection between curricular intent & pedagogical choices in practice were a joy.
And year 10 were exemplary during the 2 minutes silence.
And year 10 were exemplary during the 2 minutes silence.
November 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Another brilliant school visit today to see one of my #ITT #historyteacher s in action. In depth conversations about connection between curricular intent & pedagogical choices in practice were a joy.
And year 10 were exemplary during the 2 minutes silence.
And year 10 were exemplary during the 2 minutes silence.
Reposted by Victoria Crooks
@htenuk.bsky.social are pleased to be holding a half day online conference on 27th November addressing the important issue of how #TeacherEducation can prepare #teachers to address sensitive and controversial issues in these times when it might feel safer for #schools to avoid these topics.
November 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
@htenuk.bsky.social are pleased to be holding a half day online conference on 27th November addressing the important issue of how #TeacherEducation can prepare #teachers to address sensitive and controversial issues in these times when it might feel safer for #schools to avoid these topics.
Today, for the 1st time in 13 cohorts of beginning teachers, I got to be the tutor visiting the school in our partnership where Isaac Newton was educated 🤯 I had a lovely time.
Brilliant lesson from an #ITT #historyteacher, great post lesson conversation & warm welcome from the department & boys.
Brilliant lesson from an #ITT #historyteacher, great post lesson conversation & warm welcome from the department & boys.
a painting of a man with long curly hair and a white shirt
ALT: a painting of a man with long curly hair and a white shirt
media.tenor.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Today, for the 1st time in 13 cohorts of beginning teachers, I got to be the tutor visiting the school in our partnership where Isaac Newton was educated 🤯 I had a lovely time.
Brilliant lesson from an #ITT #historyteacher, great post lesson conversation & warm welcome from the department & boys.
Brilliant lesson from an #ITT #historyteacher, great post lesson conversation & warm welcome from the department & boys.
And if you're wondering why this might matter, well we want our #ITT beginning #teacher s to view teaching as a professional endeavour - to understand the 'WHY' in addition to the 'WHAT' and 'HOW TO'.
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/10/01/g...
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/10/01/g...
November 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
And if you're wondering why this might matter, well we want our #ITT beginning #teacher s to view teaching as a professional endeavour - to understand the 'WHY' in addition to the 'WHAT' and 'HOW TO'.
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/10/01/g...
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/10/01/g...
Today @uonsoe.bsky.social the #ITT #historyteacher s were thinking about how ed research, learning theories & cog sci influence policy & practice & how knowledge of this helps us to make better choices to structure historical thinking & support pupils to engage in extended reading.
#CakeyFriday
#CakeyFriday
November 7, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Today @uonsoe.bsky.social the #ITT #historyteacher s were thinking about how ed research, learning theories & cog sci influence policy & practice & how knowledge of this helps us to make better choices to structure historical thinking & support pupils to engage in extended reading.
#CakeyFriday
#CakeyFriday
Reposted by Victoria Crooks
🚨BIG day on the BLOG🚨
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
Setting granular targets for beginning teachers
Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com Saima’s teaching practice placement is well underway, and she is getting used to the pattern of her teaching week and her regular mentor meetings. Things …
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog
November 3, 2025 at 1:01 PM
🚨BIG day on the BLOG🚨
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
🚨BIG day on the BLOG🚨
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
Setting granular targets for beginning teachers
Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com Saima’s teaching practice placement is well underway, and she is getting used to the pattern of her teaching week and her regular mentor meetings. Things …
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog
November 3, 2025 at 1:01 PM
🚨BIG day on the BLOG🚨
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
MY 100th POST‼️
Never thought I'd get to 10, let alone 100.😮
A new blog for #ITT #ECT #mentors #coaches on setting meaningful targets for their #mentees. Particularly helpful for #ITAP follow-up!
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/11/03/s...
#TeacherEducation
Total honour to attend the wedding of a brilliant @uonsoe.bsky.social #historyteacher #alum & #mentor today. She looked radiant at a beautiful, joyous occasion. I was particularly impressed the celebrant had been briefed to give a potted history of the venue from 1380s onwards before the vows! 🥰
November 1, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Total honour to attend the wedding of a brilliant @uonsoe.bsky.social #historyteacher #alum & #mentor today. She looked radiant at a beautiful, joyous occasion. I was particularly impressed the celebrant had been briefed to give a potted history of the venue from 1380s onwards before the vows! 🥰
Delighted to have a paper with @lauralondo1017.bsky.social & Helen Snelson published in @pdiejournal.bsky.social. Especially pleased to bring Helen's work to fruition & grateful to @uoyeducation.bsky.social @ueaeducation.bsky.social @uonsoe.bsky.social #historyteacher #mentors for their collboration
Just published online - the Open Access Article - “An incentive for innovation”: the impact of being a subject-specific secondary ITE mentor within an HEI partnership on the professional learning of teacher mentors by Victoria Crooks et al. Read and download for free @ bit.ly/4oD8YSs
“An incentive for innovation”: the impact of being a subject-specific secondary ITE mentor within an HEI partnership on the professional learning of teacher mentors
This paper explores how the subject-specific professional learning of secondary history teachers is supported by mentoring a preservice teacher within a subject-specific Higher Education Institutio...
bit.ly
October 27, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Delighted to have a paper with @lauralondo1017.bsky.social & Helen Snelson published in @pdiejournal.bsky.social. Especially pleased to bring Helen's work to fruition & grateful to @uoyeducation.bsky.social @ueaeducation.bsky.social @uonsoe.bsky.social #historyteacher #mentors for their collboration
Sounds really promising - I’ll direct her that way.
Also found this during lunch time, looks like there might be some important narratives to explore here huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfacultyot...
Also found this during lunch time, looks like there might be some important narratives to explore here huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfacultyot...
Five Hundred African Voices: A Catalog of Published Accounts by Africans Enslaved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1586-1936
The importance of published accounts by African slave ship survivors is well-known but not their existence in large numbers. Fogleman and Hanserd catalog nearly five hundred discrete accounts and more...
huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu
October 25, 2025 at 10:26 AM
1/7 Some important books have been published recently, by leading experts on the history of slavery. What they say is critical when weighing up Commonwealth reparations claims.
October 25, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Having a super week @uonsoe.bsky.social with #ITT #historyteacher s exploring each second order concept in turn and undertaking an #ITAP on questioning to promote historical thinking. Also lovely to celebrate a birthday today. #CakeyThursday
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2021/11/13/f...
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2021/11/13/f...
October 23, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Having a super week @uonsoe.bsky.social with #ITT #historyteacher s exploring each second order concept in turn and undertaking an #ITAP on questioning to promote historical thinking. Also lovely to celebrate a birthday today. #CakeyThursday
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2021/11/13/f...
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2021/11/13/f...
Reposted by Victoria Crooks
Thrilled to say I'm a judge for the first ever Inspiring History Teaching Awards, in association with Historic Royal Palaces. Do you know a great history teacher in the UK who deserves to go down in history? Nominate them here bit.ly/42yhGZP
Inspiring History Teaching Awards
Created by Historic Royal Palaces, these awards celebrate teachers who make history exciting, inclusive and meaningful. We want to recognise the impact that great teachers can make by bringing the pas...
bit.ly
October 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Thrilled to say I'm a judge for the first ever Inspiring History Teaching Awards, in association with Historic Royal Palaces. Do you know a great history teacher in the UK who deserves to go down in history? Nominate them here bit.ly/42yhGZP
Reposted by Victoria Crooks
'He fought in the Napoleonic wars and is one of only nine Black soldiers known to have received the Waterloo Medal, the first British medal awarded to soldiers regardless of their rank.
Yet the story of Pte Thomas James has been overlooked for centuries.'
Yet the story of Pte Thomas James has been overlooked for centuries.'
London museum identifies black Waterloo veteran in rare 1821 painting
‘Honourable’ bandsman Thomas James will feature in display at National Army Museum highlighting service of black soldiers in Napoleonic wars
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:06 AM
'He fought in the Napoleonic wars and is one of only nine Black soldiers known to have received the Waterloo Medal, the first British medal awarded to soldiers regardless of their rank.
Yet the story of Pte Thomas James has been overlooked for centuries.'
Yet the story of Pte Thomas James has been overlooked for centuries.'
Today I introduced my #ITT #historyteacher s to Thomas Attwood (the Chartist) in puppet form. Thomas has lived in my office since 2004 when a Yr13 made him for an A Level lesson I taught. And, as I told my students this, thus came the unforgettable words:
"Wow, Vic. He's as old as us!" 😱
"Wow, Vic. He's as old as us!" 😱
October 20, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Today I introduced my #ITT #historyteacher s to Thomas Attwood (the Chartist) in puppet form. Thomas has lived in my office since 2004 when a Yr13 made him for an A Level lesson I taught. And, as I told my students this, thus came the unforgettable words:
"Wow, Vic. He's as old as us!" 😱
"Wow, Vic. He's as old as us!" 😱
A conversation with some colleagues this morning has reminded me of this (amongst other things!):
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2024/06/11/e...
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2024/06/11/e...
Experience and the educational ecosystem: why retention of experienced colleagues matters for beginning teachers
Photo by zhang kaiyv on Pexels.com A little while ago I had the opportunity to chat with a teacher who is 20 odd years into their teaching career. As they spoke about their Trust’s approach to cur…
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog
October 19, 2025 at 12:20 PM
A conversation with some colleagues this morning has reminded me of this (amongst other things!):
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2024/06/11/e...
uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2024/06/11/e...
I've managed to get an infection in my thumb from a butternut squash. So that's how my weekend is going.
October 18, 2025 at 9:09 AM
I've managed to get an infection in my thumb from a butternut squash. So that's how my weekend is going.