A new guide written by Rosemary Jones aims to help teachers bring five centuries of Bermuda history to life for students.‘Bermuda Five Centuries Teachers Guide’ is the culmination of a larger Bermuda history project by Ms Jones, editorial director of Brimstone Media.“This is the last part of the whole project,” said Ms Jones. “It started with a series of films produced by Panatel VDS Ltd. We then did the coffee table book, ‘Bermuda Five Centuries’, and in 2009, we did a textbook version for primary school students.”This final stage of the project expanded resource material that had been available at the end of the textbook into a proper guide for teachers.“This whole project was commissioned by the Ministry of Education,” said Ms Jones. “It has now been distributed to the schools, and should be available in all middle schools and secondary schools by the start of the next school term in September. They are working with teachers and encouraging the use of it. It is another tool for teachers. Leona Scott, education officer at the Ministry of Education, was behind all three projects, because she felt it would be really useful. She has been very supportive. She is now distributing it and working with teachers to use it.”Ms Jones, 46, said very little Bermuda history was taught in schools when she was a student, so it was nice to see things improving for the current generation.“When I was in school, we were very heavy on European history and the kings and queens and the World Wars, but only had basic early history of Bermuda,” she said. “I would have loved to have had more Bermuda history, and had teachers who were as engaged with it as they are now. It wasn’t really the fault of teachers. Back then, teachers didn’t have supplementary materials that they could take Bermuda history to the next level.”Several other writers have also penned books on Bermuda history aimed at students in the last few decades, she said.“For the guide, we deconstructed the textbook in certain ways so that it could be used by instructors across the curriculum and can be presented in different ways. Teachers might choose to interpret it for their students through photography, through themes, through writing, art or through the interesting historical characters throughout the book.”The textbook and guide are meant to be used across the curriculum. In a maths class, for example, parts of the book can be used to teach concepts such as statistics or population growth. The guide contains factual information as well as ideas for class projects, individual exploration and field trips. There are also sections dedicated to improving students’ research skills.“For me, not being a teacher, I had to do some research,” said Ms Jones. “The Ministry of Education was helpful in presenting me with the types of resource materials that teachers find useful. They showed me the kinds of additions that teachers use to cover topics and the kinds of elements they need in their lesson planning. Hopefully, it will make the main book more helpful.”The guide also provides suggestions on how to use the material to reach different types of learners, such as those who are more visual or aren’t strong readers.Ms Jones worked on the book with her husband Paul Shapiro, who is creative director of Brimstone Media. They currently have a number of other projects in the works including a book for the National Museum of Bermuda about artist Graham Foster’s mural at Commissioner’s House in Dockyard, and a book for the Masterworks Foundation about their upcoming 20th anniversary.Useful website: www.moed.bm/default.aspx.