Spelling activity based on unstressed vowels. Students learn what unstressed vowels are before trying to come up with tricks to remember spellings with unstressed vowels.

KS3 English Shakespeare Macbeth - 10 Characteristics of a Shakespearean Tragedy

Place these facts around the room. Students have five minutes to search for the facts in the room and write them down. Allow time to feed back and discuss afterwards. This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Students are to review the play and consider reasons, with supportive quotations, as to whether or not Macbeth should kill King Duncan. This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Before the lesson display the difference words/phrases used to describe Macbeth 'Rise and Fall of Macbeth'. Students are to walk round the room and pick one phrase written on white paper and one phrase written on grey paper. They should jot these down in their exercise books. Once they’ve done that. Ask students to think carefully about the ‘grey paper’ phrase. They should think about how they say it. Instruct students to walk around the room and say it to whoever they meet. Feedback – Ask students how they said it? In what tone? Why? Do the same again but for the ‘white paper’ phrases. Feedback – Ask students how they said it? In what tone? Why? Explain to students that these are all phrases used to describe Macbeth throughout the play. What does this suggest about the character of Macbeth? This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Will Christopher get to London? Christopher is about to face a situation that will be very difficult for him. How will he cope? Will he manage to get to London? In this resource students are asked to consider how Christopher's Asperger's Syndrome will affect his experience at the train station. They're to consider challenges he'll face and strategies he'll use to cope. This will take students 10-15 minutes to complete. Using either thumbs-up, thumbs-down or thumbs in the middle, vote as a class for whether Christopher will cope at the train station or not. This resource is taken from my KS3 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Place the photographs around the room before the start of the lesson. Tell students that placed around the room are some of the most iconic photographs ever captured. Ask students to walk around the room, view the pictures, read the information and decide which one the most powerful impact. Why? Ask: How important are photographs in newspapers? Do you think it would be possible to run a front page which did not have a photograph with it? Why/why not? Ask: Are there times when using photographs is not justified? Ask students to look at the list and decide what they think. - Pictures taken of celebrities without their permission - Brutal pictures of people hurt or killed in war or violence (The Falling Man 9/11 and Death in Africa caused controversy) - Page 3 semi-naked shots Students to write a short response in their books, giving reasons for their answers. This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

This is an extended piece of homework that students can complete at home over a two-week period. In lessons students have been reading Macbeth by William Shakespeare. They have looked at how different directors have interpreted the witches and how they look, move and behave. They are going to create a portfolio of three pieces of work which shows how they would interpret the witches imagining that they are going to stage a production of Macbeth. This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Using the PowerPoint, explain to students the three main types of newspaper writing – news stories, features and opinion pieces. Students should make notes in their books as you explain to them. Quick test (slide 6): Ask students to decide whether the headlines are for news, features or opinion pieces. They should explain what clues helped them, e.g. the use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ Issue the three Articles to pairs. Students are to decide which one is the news story, the feature article and the opinion piece. Students are to read the articles closely. Under the headings of ‘news stories’ ‘features’ and ‘opinion pieces’ in their book, students are to identify word level features in the different types of writing. Display slide 7 on the PowerPoint to assist students. But encourage students to be open-minded about what the find. Differentiation: some features will need explaining. For lower ability groups, delete tricky features as appropriate. After activity, ask students to explain what language features they're likely to find in a features article/news story/opinion piece? This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Students are to correct a sentence which has used several incorrect homophones. They are then asked to create their own sentences using incorrect homophones for their partner to correct.

Starter: Be active, not passive! Display PowerPoint. Go through slides 1-3. Explain to students the difference between active and passive voice. Teach students the idea of bringing the subject to the front of the sentence in order to transmit meaning more clearly, directly and succinctly. In this lesson students are going to put together a whole article individually or in pairs (depending on your group’s ability). Ideally, this should be done on laptops, but it’s possible to do on paper. You are going to feed students pieces of information via the PPT. Students will use the information to put their article together. Laptops are better for this activity as they are able to edit previously written paragraphs more efficiently. For lower ability students, it’s probably best to print off the slides. Explain task using slide 4. Show students slide 5-11, leaving about 5 minutes between each slide. For slide 10, you’ll need to print copies of the Article for pairs. In the last five minutes, instruct students to check through their work using slide 12. Students to swap their laptop with another pair and compare articles. Show students Original Article. This is the actual article based on the same information published in 2008. This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

This PPT looks at three different responses to: In Of Mice and Men explore the ways the writer presents relationships between characters. LENNIE AND CURLEY’S WIFE Focusing specifically on AO3: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose Develop and sustain interpretation of writers’ ideas and perspectives Explain and evaluate how writers use linguistic, grammatical, structural and presentational features to achieve effects and engage and influence the reader. There is a grade D/E response, a grade C response and a B/A response. Students are able to see how they can improve and develop their analysis to achieve higher grades. There's also a comprehensive and detailed essay plan to aid students' planning of a response to the exam question above.

Of Mice and Men Much of the plot in the novel is cyclical, as are the lives of the characters. The story opens and closes in the same place, the men’s lives are a routine of work - earn money - spend money in the flop-house - work, and many of the chapters begin and end in similar ways. There are lots of examples of foreshadowing in Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck uses this technique to suggest that the characters couldn’t have avoided their fates – their destinies are inevitable. The task this resource offers is for students to look below the surface of the text and interpret how Steinbeck is offering clues about what will happen later on in the novel. I am looking for some original responses.

A starter which explains the three different sentence types with examples, making reference to main clauses, subordinate clauses and embedded clauses. Ideal to use as an introduction to a piece of creative/descriptive writing where you'd expect students to use varied sentences.

This resource contains two documents: the student version is a blank table for students to complete; the teacher version is already filled in using Bridget Jones's Diary and When Harry Met Sally as examples. Students are to attempt to identify the features of a romantic comedy in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and complete the table using modern romantic comedies to assist their understanding.

This resource offers a reading question, an essay plan and key word definitions. This essay was used as the reading assessment for a high ability Year 9 group studying Shakespeare's Macbeth. Essay Question: Starting with this speech, explain how far you think Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a tragic hero. Assessment Objectives A01 – Maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response, and use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations. A02 – Analyse language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate A03 – Show understanding of the contexts in which texts were written A04 – Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

This is a comprehensive literacy starter activity covering several homophones. This resource contains an informative PPT followed by three engaging and challenging activities. This activity should last about 20-25 minutes.

When I first met my new classes I went through a 'classroom code' so they were familiar with my expectations. This is the PowerPoint I used. You may edit it as you wish to suit your own purposes.

In this PPT are seven fantastic brain teasers. These will definitely get your tutees' brains whirring away. For example: What is light as a feather, but even the strongest man cannot hold it more than a few minutes? Answer: His breath.

Students are shown a collection of objects on the screen. They have two minutes to try and remember them all without writing them down. After the two minutes they must write down as much as they can remember. They are then able to see their age equivalent test score. For example, if they remember 10 objects, then they have the memory of an 8-year-old.