Useful couple of lessons to use with pupils either just before or after Christmas. Pupils read and study the poem Christmas Thank Yous and identify the different ways in which the poet has managed to find the positive in some terrible Christmas presents. Pupils then use those skills to use to write their own thank you for a terrible present. This can take the form of a letter or text message.

Unit of work exploring the novel Crossing The Line by Gillian Philips. Pupils will be able to write an essay on this novel by the end of the unit. Resources include: - Reading Logs - Weekly Activity Sheets - Writer's Craft worksheets -Openings and Endings - Writer's Message

Resources on the novel Holes by Louis Sachar Resources include - Critical Essay Skills - Writing about heroes - Paired Reading - Inference

Rescources to help pupils study the play Demon Headmaster Pupils explore the main characters and work leads up to a critical essay on the text. Pupils also explore the differences between drama and prose.

Unit of Work exploring the novel Crossing The Line by Gillian Philips. Unit leads up to a critical essay of the novel Resources include: - Paired Reading Tasks - Inference Tasks - Look at relationships in novel - Summarising and Theme

Resources on the novel Harry Potter by JK Rowling. Resources include - Examing if Harry Potter is a traditional hero - Writing resources - including writing a Quidditch match report - Reading chapters with questions - Looking at specific scenes - Good vs Evil

Unit of Work for novel Bomb by Sarah Mussi. The novel is about a girl who wakes up strapped to a bomb and details what happens next. It is a hard-hitting novel that allows young people to explore themes such as extremisism Unit leads up to pupils writing a critical essay on the novel and materials are focussed on National Five but could be adapted. Tasks include: - writing mini-essays - Analysis of Quotes - Looking at key themes and scenes

Resources to run a pupil voice conference that allows pupils to evaluate their pupil council and ways of moving forward. Resources include: - conference plan - Presentation - Group work resources - Evaluation Forms

Project based on A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. Pupils research and create a brochure/booklet on a particular moment on history. The booklet is for time travel tourists who want to blend in into a historic moment. Resources include: - Research sheet - Specifications - Letter and background information on key area

Close Reading/Reading for UAE resources including - Passage and Questions (Looking at Britain's inability to deal with snow) Questions look at variety of skills but there is a focus on tone. - Marking Scheme - PPT introducing passage and hints on how to answer tone - PPT with Marking Scheme Passage is taken from The Times and questions could be used for a National 5 or Higher class

Six PowerPoints that will take pupils through annotation of the Scottish Text Duffy poems - suitable for National 5 or Higher.

Scaffolded unit that explores four poems with the theme of loss: - My Busconductor - Roger McGough - The Identification - Roger McGough - Sorting Through - Liz Lochhead - Mid Term Break - Seamus Heaney The lessons go from class work-group work-paired work and individual work for each poem. There is also workbooklets to extend the work for two of the poems.

Resources to help pupils develop their Reading for UAE/Close Reading Skills. The article focuses on the positives (or not!) of supporting a football team - which appeals to a lot of boys. The resources include; - Copy of the article - Article with techniques identified and accompaying worksheet that lets pupils analyse technqiues - PPT to help pupils create their own CR/RUAE questions - PPT with help to answer specific RUAE style questions (focus on National 5) - Resources to help pupils break down and read the passage in more detail

Resources include - Critical Essay Skills PPT - Handouts on improving vocabulary - Checklist for essay skills

Class Quiz used to revise Reading for UAE skills including: - Vocabulary - Imagery - In Your Own Words - Link - Sentence Structure - Connotations

Powerpoint that encourages pupils to develop their analysis so that they write their answers in more depth. There is examples, an explaination of the difference between explain and analyse and several practice passages. Each practice has a MUST/SHOULD/COULD success criteria to allow pupils to work on different skills

Resources include: - Introduction to poetry - Study pack - Copy of poem - Analysis of poem - Essay Skills

Themed Unit looking at the City. Tasks/Work includes: - Listening Task on Roman Cities - Poetry Study - Hotel Rm 12th Floor - Fiction Study - On The Sidewalk Bleeding (leading to an critical essay) - Group Discussion - Design a Refugee Camp

Resource includes: - Copy of poem - Writing task - Pair Activity with questions on poem

Looking at skills in these FOUR areas Distinguishing Fact vs Opinion Summarising a writer’s arguments Analysis Skills Writing my Opinion