A jigsaw activity works well - for example I was recently teaching a unit on Polynesian expansion in the Pacific and posted Maori legends around the room - the students had workbooks with questions about the sources to complete and in pairs or small groups moved around the room to read the sources and complete the workbook, followed by a class discussion about what they had learned, pulling it all together. I bought clear perspex menu stands, A4 size, which I use for various jigsaw activities. Works for a single or double lesson, or even longer. Last year I experimented with a whole term of work for Grade 7 History, divided the class into groups and they worked their way through 'Rotation Stations' - each station contained choices of activities, some they had to do as a group and some individually. Every 3rd or 4th lesson we had a class discussion and moved to a new station, and I mixed up their groups. A lot of work to set up, but the students were very engaged for the whole term and I had almost no prep all term - although lesson time was full on and demanding - but no complaints from me about having to answer questions from engaged students! They did well in end of term testing.

A living timeline - good for introducing a new topic - cards with major events from the time period - enough for one per student, mix them up and have them sort out, read aloud, discuss etc. Or a larger stack of cards, one set per small group, compete to be first put into chronological order correctly - great if you have both BC and AD dates to reinforce timeline skills.

Kahoot quizzes online (or other class quiz) to review every couple of weeks or revise before a test are awesome! https://create.kahoot.it/register If time allows, get the students to write the quiz questions or create their own Kahoot from a section of material/textbook.

Think, pair, share – have students read information or primary source to answer an inquiry question or 'big question' – then share their ideas with a partner, then optionally a second partner or small group, then whole class. Mini-whiteboards are great for this.

Anything hands on you can think of to support the textbook - from simply having an object or replica artifact to pass around or 'mystery objects', to craft/paper/glue activities to having students dress up, or create living dioramas - I sometimes turn up to class dressed as a historical character and 'be' that character for the whole lesson. Going outside to measure the size of something e.g the length of one side of the Great Pyramid is phenomenal. Going outside in general is exciting for middle school, e.g. while studying the Mongols I had Grade 8s in small groups study and learn different battle strategies of Genghis Khan, then with cheap kids' bows and arrows and foam swords we went outside, each group got to teach and demonstrate their technique then the whole class re-enacted. It was chaotic but so much fun! Weigh down kids with the weight of medieval armour. Conduct a knighting ceremony. Set up an 'Art Gallery' with works of art from the time period (primary sources) and have the students analyse them - they could study them and prepare to take on the role of a museum guide. (Teach how to analyse visual sources first!) Role plays, simulations.

Source analysis is a really important skill - both primary and secondary. Reading Like a Historian material mentioned by Carolyn Hartland below is an excellent approach - starting with an overarching inquiry question and using primary sources to develop a hypothesis. Some great ready-made lessons on the site too.

TADPOLE charts for studying primary sources - (Type, Author, Date, Purpose, Opinion/Fact, Language, Evidence). There are also simpler acronyms out there e.g. CUP -

Divide some topics (or textbook section) among small groups and have them 'teach' the topic to the rest of the class. This could be assessed.

Create a crossword puzzle on a textbook section - e.g. http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.asp?campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle_crisscross

Instead of filling blanks, put up questions on a textbook section and let them work in pairs to answer.

Think of more fun ways to read aloud from the textbook e.g. funny voices.

Where appropriate use graphic organisers instead of filling blanks, e.g Venn diagrams, spider charts etc..

Flipped classroom approach - students read the textbook passage for homework in preparation for class activities.

Make textbook reading more of a 'conversation' than a lecture by frequent use of questions, throwing in some high order questioning.

Just a few ideas from teaching History, hope they help. Lots more you can do using technology too. Cheers.