Tom Cox on Telling a Great Story in History Class

Mr. Tom Cox’s approach to telling great stories in the classroom starts with a self-limiting 3×5 notecard. The challenge when telling any story from history is that all such stories run together, are infinitely entangled, and lack the defined clarity of exposition, crisis, climax, and denouement. Mr. Cox provides a practical framework and examples for “putting flesh on dry bones” in an effective, compelling way that students will remember.

This talk was delivered at the Forum Teaching Conference in the fall of 2024.

Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)

A Better Approach to History featuring Tom Cox and Bill Dardis

Keeping the Story in History by Mark Grannis 9/22

Seeing History: On Using Images in the History Classroom by Kyle Blackmer 2/22History the Way It Was by Bill Dardis