I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is for the students to understand the causes and prioritise the reasons for the failure of the Spanish Armada.
As the students are posed with the question, ‘why did the Spanish eat rope?’, they make up an explosive cocktail to understand the main causes of the invasion.
As the story unravels as to the failures of the Spanish invasion fleet, students have to analyse and prioritise which were the main reasons for English success, against Spanish superiority in numbers and firepower.
The plenary requires students to evaluate the Blob bridge and explain which blob represents the best fit in this story, from an English sailor, the Spanish public right up to Queen Elizabeth and King Philip.
The lesson is differentiated and includes video evidence as well as an interactive diagram plotting the route of the Armada.
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.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to understand how Germany was punished after World War 1 and how harsh its terms were to many Germans.
The first part of the lesson looks at how the map of Europe changed.
Students then have to think why the Big Three had different ideas on how to treat Germany.
Through various images and video footage students can see what they decided and have to justify why they came to these decisions.
The terms of the Treaty are discussed and then shown how to be remembered using a chatterbox (a template is included).
The final part analyses and evaluates a number of sources on the Treaty and their meanings.
A recap plenary at the end of the lesson uses a spinning wheel which can be used in a competitive challenge.
This lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Middle Passage and its horrendous journey for the slaves is shown in this lesson through video, audio and source based evidence.
Students analyse how the slaves were treated and the conditions they endured.
They then have to catalogue these conditions in a grid before trying to persuade a film director, who is making a film on slavery, that he is being misled about the journey. The advise the director is being given is from a slave ship owner, Captain Thomas Tobin.
Some differentiated key questions check their understanding through the lesson.
Students finally have to prioritise the worst conditions the slaves faced and justify their choices in an extension 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 suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to decide if Winston Churchill deserves the title as the ‘Greatest Briton’?
When the BBC conducted a poll entitled ‘Who is the Greatest Briton?’ Winston Churchill came out on top, besting some strong competition.
This lesson therefore challenges this assumption and evaluates the four areas the BBC cites as his fortitude; for being the greatest British Gentleman, for inspiring the nation, for symbolising the spirit and strength of Britain and for his comforting speeches.
The evidence for this task is through radio broadcasts, video footage and source analysis (using a battery rating) from which students will conclude and either concur or not with the poll.
A splat the bubble plenary will test their new assumptions.
This lesson is ideal as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills or teaching the interwar years or WWII at Key stage 4.
It 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 activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Historic Environment Question for 2024
This nine page Revision Guide is aimed at students to help study, organise, revise and be prepared for the AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England 1568-1603 Historic Environment question for 2024.
I have included 6 possible questions for GCSE exam practice on the themes I believe stand out in the literature provided. Within the guide itself, I have broken down the main details of the Americas and Drake’s circumnavigation into manageable chunks.
This guide focuses on the main concepts prescribed by AQA. For example it examines the location of the New World and its growing importance for Drake and his fellow navigators, the function and structure of seafaring as new navigational techniques and ship design allowed more exploration.
It will also analyse the people connected to Drake’s circumnavigation including Sir John Hawkins and Diego as well as giving information on Drake and the different interpretations of him at the time.
Furthermore the culture, values and fashions connected with Drake’s circumnavigation are examined as untold riches such as feathers, pearls, jewels and gold became essential accessories for the fashionistas of Elizabethan England.
Finally important events are linked to Drake’s voyages from his initial slave excursions to his revenge attacks on Spanish shipping and his circumnavigation, as well focusing on the detailed maps and illustrations in his diaries and journals of new lands he discovered.
All the information and more included is advised by AQA through their Paper 2: Shaping the nation resource pack guidance.
I have also gained a brilliant insight into the Americas and Drake’s circumnavigation from renowned historians such as Ben Johnson, Miranda Kaufman and the superb Professor Jowett, as well as numerous other sources, including the fabulous BBC History Today magazine and podcasts.
The resource comes in PDF and Word formats if you wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews on this resource which would be much appreciated.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the effects of hyperinflation upon German society.
There is much debate on whether Germany had the ability to pay its reparations; students have to decide how exaggerated German woes actually were.
Moreover Germany had been suffering from inflation since 1918; students again have to decide why the government pursued an inflationary policy and how this was enforced politically upon them.
Students are also required to assess the winners and losers of hyperinflation and who was affected in the short, medium and long terms.
Finally there is a literacy bodged plenary to complete together with some source exam question practice, with a planning sheet and generic markscheme if required.
There is a enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
The Holocaust
This lesson directly tackles the overriding enquiry question throughout this sequence of lessons, namely who was to blame for the holocaust?
They will continue to map out their ideas (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how difficult it is to blame a single individual or event for this catastrophe.
The lesson focuses on Police Battalion 101 who were ‘instructed’ by their Commander, Major Trapp to execute Jews in Poland and send many others to the extermination camps.
Two historians have conducted extensive research in this area and either concluded they were willing executioners or just ordinary men, victims of an extraordinary situation.
It is up to the students to make up their own minds by tracking one of the battalion’s first ‘actions’ against 1800 Polish Jews living in the village of Jozefow.
There are accompanying worksheets and grids to colour code as well as excellent links to video footage and differentiated tasks to help students of all abilities.
Other figures to blame in the lesson debate include Adolf Eichmann, the organiser of the transportation of the Jews as well as the German public, train drivers, Camp Commandants or foreign governments who failed to respond. Students have to prioritise their responsibility list in the plenary.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
The Holocaust
The aim of this lesson is to understand why we should remember the holocaust and why we commemorate it every year.
Some misconceptions are given at the start, such as what the holocaust actual means and the differences between concentration and extermination camps.
Throughout the lesson the students build up their ideas and add them around a lightbulb to focus on the central aims of the lesson.
Students are also given numbers and have to decide the significance of each from 6 million to 2 minutes and 2 seconds or 90cm by 90cm for example.
The final part of the lesson refers to the powerful and moving story of Erica, thrown off the train by her parents before she reached Auschwitz and therefore knowing very little about herself.
The plenary focuses on some odd ones out exercises and recent genocides to emphasise the importance of remembering the holocaust.
There is some excellent video footage to accompany the lesson.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
This lesson analyses the reasons for Hitler and Stalin signing the Nazi Soviet Pact and how and why Britain and France were rebuffed by Stalin.
Students have the chance to understand the background to their decision and how Stalin had finally had enough of the Allies foreign policy aims towards Hitler.
They do this through using some differentiated resources, including video footage, some higher order questioning as well as evaluating some key sources from the time.
Towards the end of the lesson, students are required to recognise the short and long term consequences of the pact and have the chance to answer a 16 mark GCSE practice question, with some help if required.
The plenary focuses on a literacy task using the key words used in 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 suggested teaching strategies, some retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Suffragettes
The lesson focuses on the main differences between the Suffragists and Suffragettes, but also looks at their similarities.
Students are asked as to why women wanted the vote and how they were going to achieve it?
Further into the lesson, students have to analyse the various methods used by both groups and have to question, prioritise and justify their effectiveness.
Included is a thinking quilt which tests pupils’ understanding and links the key ideas, dates, people and definitions together.
A differentiated plenary questions and checks their understanding 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 suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Industrial Revolution
The aim for writing this lesson is to challenge the traditional view that Jack the Ripper targeted prostitutes or sex workers in Victorian London.
Whilst much has been written about the Jack the Ripper and how clever he was to avoid detection, very little has been written about the lives of his victims.
Therefore with this in mind, students will learn how difficult it was for Victorian women to lead comfortable lives as marriage, children, work, alcoholism, the workhouse and poverty took its toll on them.
Students begin the lesson with an overview by learning what is known about Jack the Ripper, who he killed and how the police had little evidence or clues to go on. There is a video link and a true or false activity to complete this.
They will then have to use a number of images to decide how hard life was for Victorian women and the pressures they were under. A differentiated missing word activity can be completed to piece together many of these problems, based on the lives of the five women murdered.
A case study of Annie Chapman, the Ripper’s second victim, will centre around her privileged life before alcoholism took over, forcing her to separate from her husband and children as she moved from a village near Windsor Castle to the doss houses of Whitechapel.
Here, students have to colour code the main factors and problems which affected her life.
An extended writing task can then be completed, with a writing structure and key words given to help if required.
The plenary poses some differentiated questions from the learning completed in the lesson.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
A big thank you goes to Hallie Rubenhold, whose fabulous book ‘The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women killed by Jack the Ripper’ inspired me to write this lesson.
With the National Curriculum in mind, I have created a set of resources which focus on ’the development of the British Empire' with depth studies on India and Australia.
Furthermore I have been inspired to review and adapt these teaching resources due to recent debates about the impact of the British Empire on the indigenous peoples it conquered and the legacy of Empire and how it influences us still today.
I would like to thank Sathnam Sanghera for his brilliant book ‘Empireland’ and his enlightened debate on the British Empire and how and why it should be taught in schools.
This bundle includes historical concepts such empire and colonisation, continuity and change with a focus on the East India Company, the causes and consequences of British rule in India, similarities and differences within the British Empire, the analysis of sources and different interpretations of colonisation such as Australia and finally the significance of people such as Robert Clive, Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Kitchener and their legacy today.
The 13 lessons are broken down into the following:
1) An introduction to Empire
2) The American War of Independence
3) The British East India Company
4) Robert Clive
5) Focus Study – India
6) Gandhi and Indian independence
7) Focus Study - Transportation to Australia
8) The colonisation of Australia
9) The Scramble for Africa
10) The Zulu Wars
11) The Boer War
12) Apartheid and Nelson Mandela
Bonus lesson:
13) Empire soldiers in World War 1
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies, retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lessons are fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be adapted and changed to suit.
The English Civil War
This lesson aims to analyse the personality of King Charles and questions how and why this might have implications for his reign.
Following in his father’s footsteps, his vanity and obsession with the Divine Right of Kings are major causes of concern for those in Parliament.
Students learn about his fragility in his younger life to eventual arrogance as he became King and will link a number of reasons together as to why this was to lead to Civil War.
Video footage and sourcework are used to gather the evidence and the students will have to think outside the box to understand his motives and actions and link ideas together.
The plenary is a literacy challenge to help evaluate his personality using key words from the lesson.
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.
Cold War
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the causes and consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis, its significance and its effect on future relations between the USA and USSR during the Cold War.
In an anger management task, students link various emotions to emojis as they learn why tensions (and therefore anger) between the USA and Cuba escalated following the coming to power of Fidel Castro and his subsequent alliance to the USSR.
In a text mapping exercise they analyse how Castro defied the West by organising the placement of nuclear missiles on Cuba and how Kennedy reacted to this report and the stark choices he faced, urged on by the Hawkes and Doves in his assembled special committee, Excomm.
Furthermore students undertake an interactive quiz which is designed to be engaging and challenging as they have to make 13 decisions in the 13 days of the crisis.
The plenary is an interactive blockbusters and there are links to video evidence as well a recall, retention and retrieval task.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives during the Cold War? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present
The aim of the lesson is for students to understand how Public Health reached a crisis point and why the Government was finally persuaded to make Public Health its priority from its previous laissez-faire stance…
Students will learn about 5 key figures (Chadwick, Snow, Bazalgette, Booth and Rowntree) and their attempts to change the health of the nation, from tackling cholera, miasmas and sewage, to the passing of Public Health Acts.
Moreover, students will evaluate why attitudes changed and how the Government realised a healthier workforce was needed to compete with challenges to the Empire from abroad.
Each of the five individuals are analysed and their work scrutinised to judge how effective their recommendations or improvements were, culminating in a decision as to who made the most significant contribution to Public Health.
The lesson includes worksheets for all the individuals, GCSE practice questions on factors and source analysis, quizzes and video links throughout.
There are also plenaries for each individual to check understanding and recap on their contribution to Public Health.
This lesson is fully resourced and can be delivered over two-three lessons.
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 comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question preconceived ideas of Henry being a strong and successful King.
Students will need to analyse video and source evidence as well as complete some multiple choice questions to decide how much of a strong and successful king he really was.
They will also study the Tudor family tree and explain why he might have had a more secure and legitimate claim to the English throne than his father did.
There is a missing word activity for the plenary as students work out the correct answers to what they have learned from the lesson.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
I have created these set of resources for the History Key Stage 3 National Curriculum ‘challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day.
These lessons are also useful if you are studying Germany at GCSE, where never enough time can be devoted to the holocaust in depth and which students find so fascinating.
The central question throughout these nine lessons is to find out who is to blame for the holocaust. They are closely linked together and students continually plot their ideas around a lightbulb, which can be referred back to each lesson (either dated or colour coded) to show progress throughout.
Pupils will learn the significance and impact of the holocaust on the wider world and be able to see the causes and consequences of the systematic attacks on Jewish communities throughout Europe since the Middle Ages.
They will learn key historical terms such as discrimination, persecution and genocide and understand the differences between concentration and extermination camps. They will be given sources to analyse such as the evidence from Anne Frank’s diary or an anti-Semitism tax return from Norwich in the Middle Ages and make historical inferences from them. Furthermore they will be able to write structured accounts and narratives of who was to blame from the Camp Guards or the SS, to Josef Mengele and the Einsatszgruppen units.
The 10 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 An introduction to the holocaust
L2 Anti-Semitism in Britain
L3 Anti-Semitism in Europe
L4 Extremism to Extermination
L5 How was it organised?
L6 Who was to blame?
L7 Jewish Resistance
L8 Liberation of the extermination camps
L9 Diary of Anne Frank
L10 Nuremberg Trials
L11 The hunt for Josef Mengele
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and ideas used by current history teachers.
The lessons are fully adaptable in Powerpoint format and can be changed to suit. I have included a couple of free lessons to give an idea of what is being offered.
I strongly recommend using GCSE style questions from your chosen exam board and markschemes to assess the pupils at the end of this unit, which are always available on line.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate just how efficient and effective the new weapons of the Twentieth Century were.
Students have two objectives; to rate the effectiveness and killing power of the weapons used during the war and to explain how well equipped the soldiers were in the trenches, particularly the British Tommy.
The lesson begins with discussing the type of weapons used and for students to recognise the continuity and change of many of these pre, post and during World War 1.
The historian Dan Snow is quoted as saying the British soldier went into World War I ‘as the best prepared soldier on the planet.’
The lesson subsequently unfolds to explain and evaluate the new weapons used and the advantages (or not) they gave each side.
The plenary requires students to link the effectiveness of the weapons to images and to explain how and why this is the case.
This lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to understand how the British Government prepared for war and if they were successful in doing so.
The lesson begins by analysing a source and making inferences about the precautions to be taken in times of war.
Furthermore students will also have to decide the Government’s priorities by making judgements as to whether they are low or high, from ideas such as rationing to aid raids or war work to conscription.
They will then complete some research focusing on four areas: warning people of air attacks, the Homeguard, the use of gas masks and the blackout.
Students will plot what the government did or didn’t do on a grid and then after analysing and processing the evidence, justify their conclusions using a colour coding evaluation table as well as completing an extended written task.
The plenary requires students to answer differentiated questions to check their understanding.
It 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 retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This is a fun, entertaining as well as a challenging lesson, designed to question and evaluate the causes of the Great Fire of London in the summer of 1666.
The hook is Samuel Pepys; why did he bury his cheese and why did he bury it alongside items that were surely more valuable?
The lesson comes complete with differentiated resources as students have to plot the causes and consequences of the fire on a visual display using logs,flames and smoke.
Notes have been put on each slide on how to deliver the activities and answers to some of the questions posed as well as suggested teaching strategies.
This lesson is active, exciting and engaging and would also suit a non specialist. It is aimed at key stage 3, but can be delivered to key stage 2 pupils also.
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are 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 lessons are fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
