The French Revolution The aim of this lesson is to understand the social position and place of the three classes or Estates in French society. Students are given information about all three Estates from which they have to categorise their privileges and duties, which they can present in a diagram or in written form. There is some source analysis as well as a brilliant video clip which highlights the class gap between the second and third Estates. They will also be required to explain how each Estate feels with their position in society and which taxes had to be paid as duties. The plenary gives numerous fictitious people from which the students have to identify the Estate they belong to and whether or not they would support the King. The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

The French Revolution The aim of this lesson is to assess the personalities and characters of King Louis and Marie Antoinette and how these contributed to the French Revolution. Students are required to build up a picture of the French monarchy using some source scholarship and written accounts from the time. This will enable them to decide and explain the most important reasons why they became so unpopular with the French population. Furthermore, they will be required to chart a popularity rating for each of them and justify their choices, using some extended writing techniques. The plenary uses a summarising pyramid to evaluate and condense what they have learnt in the lesson. The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

The French Revolution The aim of this lesson is introduce the types of Government that existed within Europe in 1780. Students are given a map of Europe in 1780, from which they learn the various rulers and how they each individually ruled their countries, making links and connections between them as well as recognising their differences. They will also study contemporary accounts of France and evaluate the reasons why the seeds were sown already in France for a revolution. The plenary requires students to use their knowledge from the lesson to complete a multiple choice quiz. The lesson comes with differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

The British Empire The aim of this lesson is to discover how tough it was to colonise the New World for British settlers and why America fought for its independence from Britain. The lesson begins with the Pilgrim Fathers and students discuss the reasons why they and many families began to settle in the New World. Further analysis requires students to judge how tough it was to set up in America and the impact they made on the local communities they came into contact with. Having made their judgements, students can engage in an extended writing task with key words and a writing frame to use if required. The second part the lesson analyses the reasons why the colonists became so angry with Britain and claiming no taxation without representation. Students are then required to give reasons as to why a war ensued and the significance of George Washington of the Declaration of Independence. A true or false plenary focuses on the legacy of Britain’s Empire in America and its links to today. The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

World War I The aim of this lesson is to question how much Britain valued its Empire soldiers in World War 1. This subject is very topical at present as historians such as David Olusoga are putting cultural diversity at the forefront of our British history curriculum. The starting point of the lesson is to analyse the story of Private Johnson Beharry, focusing on his background and the reasons why he was awarded a Victoria Cross, through source or video evidence. Students will then link his story to World War 1, where they will learn how more V.C.’s were awarded to Empire soldiers than anyone else and discover which parts of the Empire contributed to the war effort and why. There are case studies in the lesson focused on troops from the Punjab and the West Indies. The main task students face is to judge how valued Empire soldiers were at the time and if not, how and why they were viewed differently. Ultimately they will need to clarify why this varied widely according to country and race. They will also be required to write an extended answer using their own opinions, with argument words and scaffolding given if required. There is a plethora of video evidence to accompany this lesson, with brilliant clips from the BBC and other sources. Students will finally consolidate their learning by creating sentences from ‘fragments’ and a retrieval task. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to analyse African American experiences in the Civil War. The lesson begins by students exploring the reasons why the law changed, allowing black people to join the US army Some video footage and statistics give an insight into some of the experiences black people encountered, before students complete a thinking quilt linking key terms to events in the Civil War as well as challenge questions. Students also have to evaluate the significance of black regiments by analysing a quote from Frederick Douglass at the time and deciding which statements apply and fit the criteria, before justifying their choices. An interactive blockbusters plenary questions their knowledge from the lesson and checks understanding. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to analyse why slaves escaped from their masters and evaluate the significance of Harriet Tubman. The lesson begins by asking why slaves ran away and how would they prepare for it. Some source scholarship focuses on an advert placed in 1838 to retrieve a runaway slave. Key questions on inference require students to analyse and read between the lines on why the owner was desperate to recapture the slave. The second part of the lesson examines the underground railroad and the roles of those who helped the escapees and relocate to the northern states. Harriet Tubman was instrumental in this and students undertake an extended written piece on her significance. Finally some famous escapes are highlighted and debated by the students as to which were the most daring, interesting, lucky and famous. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to decide if Franco should be loved or loathed. This lesson focuses on the policies of Franco in his time in office and opinions today over his legacy. The lesson does however steer clear of the political machinations of Spanish politics of the time and the events of the Spanish Civil War. Students learn about Franco’s early life and have to chronologically order key words in his rise to power. They also have to evaluate the controversy of moving his burial site from the Valley of the Fallen and the significance of doing this. The main task is to analyse key policies in his reign and decide whether he should be loved or loathed. This can the be written up an an extended writing task. The final task requires student to decide which phrases and images associated with Franco are the best fit; students also need to explain why this is the case. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to decide if Robert Mugabe was a hero or a villain. Students are introduced to his early life in a text mapping exercise which they have to decipher to understand his credentials for Presidency. They are given information about Mugabe’s career from which they then have to give a number of ratings as to whether he was indeed a hero or villain. Subsequent video footage gives the thoughts of people from Zimbabwe today as well as other commentators to help them in their comprehension of the task in hand. An extended written piece, using a writing frame, will allow students to demonstrate their understanding and give a full evaluation of his rule. A fragment exercise as well as a find and fix plenary recaps on what they have learnt in the lesson and reinforces their judgements of him. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to decide if Idi Amin was either an idiot or just simply evil. Students learn about his early life with an absent father and a poor education, completing a missing word exercise, Thus their initial leanings of sympathy towards him may lead them to question the aims of the lesson. However they will soon have to analyse information of how he came to power and his subsequent rule of Uganda. By rating each episode of his life, this should be able to challenge their original assertions and begin to make valid judgements about him. Further video evidence will enable them to make an overall evaluation on his reign as Ugandan President. Being a heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda gives a nice link to a ‘boxing’ debate on his leadership qualities and personality. The debate also recaps on some key words used as with the plenary which requires them to complete a literacy race. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to question if Saddam deserves his reputation as the ‘Butcher of Baghdad’. Students are at first questioned as to what they know about Saddam and are given information on the importance of Iraq and the Middle East with its oil rich economies. Some source scholarship analyses the death of Saddam and the reasons why he was executed. Together with a thinking quilt, students learn about Saddam’s brutal reign of terror together with the Iran-Iraq war and his invasion of Kuwait. Thus so far, the lesson appears straightforward and there is little to argue against his reputation. However students will also learn through video and source evidence of revisionist ideas of Saddam and the consequence of his execution with the instability within Iraq today. Thus they will be challenged on their original assumptions and evaluate how this reputation has been given to Saddam; is it a just a Western perception? Whilst Iraqis may not necessarily doubt his brutal regime, do they insist life was better than now? The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes some retrieval practice on Dictators, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to decide how evil Tsar Nicholas was. Students are given facts about Tsar Nicholas and his family which suggest he is a caring and devoted family man as well as a competent ruler. Inferences will be made using video, source and photographic evidence. Students are then given more information which will challenge their original assumptions. Incompetence, an ambitious and influential wife, a massacre as well as the growing influence of a ‘mad monk’ will enable students to give him an ‘evil rating’ out of 10. An extended written piece using argument words and a writing frame if required will allow students to give their final judgements and be able to justify their conclusions as to how evil they think he was, or not as the case may be. In the plenary activity, students have to prove they are not a robot by ticking the correct images which link to the learning of the lesson. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes some retrieval practice on Dictators, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to decide if Castro was a callous or courageous leader of Cuba. Students will learn about how important Cuba was to the USA geographically as well as economically, with the rule of Batista and the corruption in his Government. They will have to decipher some text mapping and dual coding to find this out. They will also be introduced to Castro using video evidence, before given key facts about his rule. They will then have to decide where this evidence fits in with their judgements of him being callous or courageous with the extra challenge of judging how strong or weak the evidence is. An extended writing activity with a writing framework and key words to help will enable students to show off their judgements and new found knowledge. The final task is a road mapping exercise with differentiated questioning to see how far they can travel in Cuba. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to assess whether Mussolini’s legacy can be compared to Julius Caesar. Did he match up to his accomplishments such as the Julian calendar, being a successful military leader, a consul of Rome as well as an Imperator. Students begin by explaining what they already know about Italy and its historical past. They also analyse the rule of Julius Caesar and what he achieved in his lifetime. They will then be given facts about Mussolini’s early life and use the information to make a judgement about him as a person, using key words and a writing framework if required. The main task will then involve them plotting Mussolini’s life on a graph taking into account his successes and failures. From this, they will then be able to evaluate if he indeed deserves to have a similar reputation and legacy to Caesar, whom he admired and attempted to emulate in his Fascist Dictatorship from 1922-43. There is some excellent video footage to accompany the lesson, together with challenging tasks culminating in a ‘what is the question task’ and an ‘odd one out’ activity. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes some retrieval practice on Dictators, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is for students to judge how much love there was for Mao Zedong in China. There is also some retrieval practice which can also be used to tie with the other Dictatorships of Hitler and Stalin. This lesson can be delivered over two as there is quite a lot of information given so that students will be able to make their own assumptions and judgements. The lesson begins with questioning what the students already or might know about China throughout its history. Students will learn about the background of communism in China and Mao’s rise to power, which they will answer key questions on. They will ultimately be required to evaluate Mao’s term in office and decide how much love there was for him amongst the Chinese population with his policies on industry, land reform, women, education and youth for example. There is also an extended writing task to complete for students to show off their new found knowledge. They are some key words and phrases to analyse such as the Long March, collectives, purge, anarchy, the ‘New Leap Forward’ as well as the ‘Cultural Revolution’. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is for students to assess and judge the character and legacy of Stalin. The lesson begins by discovering what the students already know about Russia today or about Stalin. They will also analyse some video footage, complete a true or false quiz and then use this information to prioritise some significant facts about his early life. The main task will involve students evaluating how evil Stalin was, by giving him a rating out of 10 for a number of his policies during his rule of the Soviet Union. This can be followed up by an extended writing exercise, using prompts and key literacy words to help. A connect 4 interactive plenary activity will consolidate the learning of the lesson of Stalin’s life and his dictatorship of the Soviet Union. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and lessons to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The Norman Conquest The aim of this lesson is to challenge the overarching question as to whether the punishments fitted the crimes in the Middle Ages. There is a key focus on literacy throughout the lesson, as students are introduced to a number of key words which they have to fit into a missing word activity and well as using some differentiated story source scholarship to define certain key words using inference and analytical skills. This resource uses visuals to explain the punishments used in the Middle Ages as well as the causes of crime. There is also some excellent BBC video footage to accompany the lesson. Students will be required to complete an extended piece of writing, using the key words they have learnt from the lesson as well as having to justify and explain the key concepts of crime and punishment in an odd one out activity. This lesson is designed to be interactive, fun, challenging and engaging. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end using a rate ‘o’ meter to show the progress of learning. The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.

Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 The aim of this lesson is to analyse the new spirit of co-operation between the Superpowers but understand the context as to why this collaborative approach ultimately failed. Students begin by examining the three baskets of agreement in the Helsinki Accords of 1975 and have to explain what was achieved by both sides, with argument words to help in a written activity. Furthermore they evaluate the failings of the SALT 2 talks and have to decide why the American Senate did not ratify this treaty. The plenary concludes with a find and fix activity. There is some GCSE practice on the narrative account question with some hints and prompts to help. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning. The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question. The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice. It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 The aim of this lesson is to assess the importance of Gorbachev’s new thinking and evaluate the consequences of his new policies with the collapse of Soviet control in Eastern Europe Therefore this lesson is divided into two parts and can be delivered over two lessons. The first part of the lesson analyses Gorbachev’s problems when he became the leader of the Soviet Union. Students will analyse sources and decide on the biggest problems he faced before prioritising these in an evaluation task. The second part of the lesson requires the students to undertake a quiz, picking up points on the way with the right decisions made, as Eastern European satellite states began to increase their freedoms and break away from the Soviet Union. Students can write an extended answer from what they have learnt with literacy help given. A GCSE practice question on the importance of Gorbachev’s policies can be completed after a colour coding plenary task to summarise Gorbachev’s premiership. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning. The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question. The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice. It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 This lesson aims to explore the reasons why the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the effect it had on Détente and international relations. Students are given a quick Geography lesson before deciphering some text mapping to work out the events leading up to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They are also required to complete some questions relating to the Carter Doctrine as a consequence of the invasion. There is a colour coding activity to complete on the impact of the invasion as well as a true or false quiz on the deterioration of international relations. The plenary uses statistics to get the students thinking about the human as well as the financial cost of the war. There is some GCSE question practice to complete, with help given and a student friendly markscheme if required. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning. The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question. The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice. It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.