Alistair Dickins
@alistairdickins.bsky.social
390 followers 320 following 260 posts
Part time professional History teacher, full time amateur dad. Once wrote PhD on Russian Revolution, now writing the Istorik teaching blog: https://istorikteach.blogspot.com/ and https://m.facebook.com/groups/1324219541631600/ Thoughts/comments my own
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alistairdickins.bsky.social
Teachers of Russian and Soviet history!

Join us in Manchester this November for unique @histassoc.bsky.social event with 3 world-leading scholars to discuss pedagogical approaches to teaching Russian and Soviet cultures, gender and sexualities

www.history.org.uk/secondary/ca...
Sex, symbols, gods, devils: teaching Russian and Soviet cultures, gender, and sexualities
www.history.org.uk
Reposted by Alistair Dickins
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Last year #HMDT refused to recognise mass killing in #Gaza, #Israel in commemorating genocide since 1945 for #HolocaustMemorialDay.

This contravenes mission of HMDT. It must not happen again.

I have written to #HMDT and urge educators do same. Letter and template follow 👇

#historyteacher #EduSky
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Last year #HMDT refused to recognise mass killing in #Gaza, #Israel in commemorating genocide since 1945 for #HolocaustMemorialDay.

This contravenes mission of HMDT. It must not happen again.

I have written to #HMDT and urge educators do same. Letter and template follow 👇

#historyteacher #EduSky
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Really excited to read this from @citoyenneclaire.bsky.social and @jcarrollhistory.bsky.social! A really important question being asked - what can the role of storytelling be in #history teaching?
Reposted by Alistair Dickins
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Teachers of Russian and Soviet history!

Join us in Manchester this November for unique @histassoc.bsky.social event with 3 world-leading scholars to discuss pedagogical approaches to teaching Russian and Soviet cultures, gender and sexualities

www.history.org.uk/secondary/ca...
Sex, symbols, gods, devils: teaching Russian and Soviet cultures, gender, and sexualities
www.history.org.uk
Reposted by Alistair Dickins
alistairdickins.bsky.social
I'm not usually a fan of glib slogans and catchy phrases, but as a new school year starts, we probably all need a reminder that we are human and have limits...

#EduSky #teacher
Reposted by Alistair Dickins
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Teachers of Russian and Soviet #History! Russian-language words got you flummoxed? Our spoken dictionary and pronounciation guide might come in handy.

200+ terms with audio recordings, free to use and access 👇

istorikteach.blogspot.com/p/spoken-dic...

#historyteacher #EduSky #historyeducation
Spoken Dictionary and Pronunciation Guide
“Saying it right” is a particular challenge for teachers of Russian and Soviet History. However familiar we are with the content and conce...
istorikteach.blogspot.com
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Teachers of Russian and Soviet #History! Russian-language words got you flummoxed? Our spoken dictionary and pronounciation guide might come in handy.

200+ terms with audio recordings, free to use and access 👇

istorikteach.blogspot.com/p/spoken-dic...

#historyteacher #EduSky #historyeducation
Spoken Dictionary and Pronunciation Guide
“Saying it right” is a particular challenge for teachers of Russian and Soviet History. However familiar we are with the content and conce...
istorikteach.blogspot.com
Reposted by Alistair Dickins
Reposted by Alistair Dickins
Reposted by Alistair Dickins
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Even when things change dramatically, they often also stay the same.

What can the story of the "mad baron" Ungern reveal about continuities of Russian history in early 20th century?

Follow-up post on dynamic continuity.

istorikteach.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-...

#history #historyteacher #EduSky
The Baron’s Cloak: A Study in Dynamic Continuity?
In my previous post , I made the case for a more dynamic understanding of historical continuity. Having tried to illustrate what this might ...
istorikteach.blogspot.com
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Even when things change dramatically, they often also stay the same.

What can the story of the "mad baron" Ungern reveal about continuities of Russian history in early 20th century?

Follow-up post on dynamic continuity.

istorikteach.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-...

#history #historyteacher #EduSky
The Baron’s Cloak: A Study in Dynamic Continuity?
In my previous post , I made the case for a more dynamic understanding of historical continuity. Having tried to illustrate what this might ...
istorikteach.blogspot.com
alistairdickins.bsky.social
Thanks for this observation! Yes, this is something I've found too. Take e.g. this analysis of a Russian Civil War pogrom in 1921, which identifies its cause in cont. trend of wartime violence comb. w. established antisemitism

Full extract and analysis 👇
istorikteach.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-...
alistairdickins.bsky.social
6/ Thank you also to @arthurjchapman.bsky.social @apf102.bsky.social @danlyndon.bsky.social for earlier suggestions on reading and directions on this
alistairdickins.bsky.social
5/ Historical studies of continuity might help us as teachers explore its different types and processes, including repeated patterns over time, resistance/reaction to change, reversion/restoration of the old, establishment of novel trends, and long-term legacies
alistairdickins.bsky.social
4/ Because it is a complex and dynamic process, continuity requires its own complex vocabulary to express, just as change does. And just like change, we should be thinking in terms of the rate, extent, and nature, as well as the trajectory, of continuity
alistairdickins.bsky.social
3/ Continuity is dynamic, with its own trajectories and moving parts. It is also agentic, in the sense that it often happens *because* people act to make it happen (rather than because people don't do anything)
alistairdickins.bsky.social
2/ Continuity also intersects with other disciplinary concepts, including similarity, difference, causation, consequence, and interpretations - often to a *greater* extent than it does with concept of change
alistairdickins.bsky.social
1/ Continuity deserves to be treated as a dynamic process and disciplinary concept in its own right, not just as the negative and passive opposite of change.

It intersects with the concept of change, but in ways which are more complex than it simply being a lack/absence of change