This lesson further explores the theme of William the Conqueror’s control and tightening grip on England as rebellion and opposition dominate his early years. Students will study William’s castle building program, from the Motte and Bailey through to stone keep castles and analyse their strengths and weaknesses. They will question why the Normans placed their reliance on these eye sores and how their features gave them control and defence against a hostile population. Furthermore they will evaluate how much control he was able to exert over the population using a control ‘o’ meter. Finally there is an interactive question and answer session with an Anglo-Saxon castle builder at the time who has some interesting things to say about his compliance in all of it. This lesson is therefore designed to be 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.

The aim of this lesson is to challenge and question the role of the Church in Medieval Society and after the Norman Conquest. On face value, the power it had over people was enormous and with power came great wealth, often at the expense and help of the population. But was it all corrupt and how much did people willingly give over their goods in return for salvation? These questions are explored through statistics, facts and video evidence. Students are ultimately required to justify if the Church was corrupt by colour coding and rating batteries (linked to a final post it note challenge) and evidencing their choices. There are also introduced to a number of key words which they are required to recall in the plenary. 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.

This lesson has two aims; to discover if medieval towns were dangerous places to live and to question how dirty and unhygienic they actually were. Students learn how Medieval towns grew up through Charters and Guilds and how shops and their names and surnames became intertwined. An exercise tests their ability to interpret shop signs. They analyse a number of statements about the dangers facing townsfolk and evidence this on a road map (or dirt track) using danger symbols and accompanying road signs. The second part of the lesson focuses on the filth and dirt of Medieval towns and questions how much the local authorities did. Students evaluate how hygienic towns were, colour coding thermometers and rating each step taken by the local authorities (or not as the case may be). This lesson is therefore designed to be interactive, fun, challenging and engaging and could be used over two 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 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.

The aim of this test is to find out how much the students know about history. The results will give you a baseline from which you can build upon. Once they begin to study history, they will begin to show progress in all areas, particularly in the amount of detail required in answers. The test focuses on chronology, cause and consequence, change and continuity, historical enquiry, interpretation and significance. This is a particularly useful assessment for a history department and as a starting point and ideally for Year 7. Most students sadly will not have studied a lot of history at their primary schools (apart from the odd day to study the Victorians or World War 2) as literary, numeracy and SATS still dominate primary school curriculum planning. The resource comes in Word and PowerPoint formats which can be amended and changed to suit.

The aim of this lesson is to assess the validity of four claimants to the English throne in 1066 before the Battles of Hastings. It also includes a script for those students who prefer a more kinaesthetic approach to this topic. Each contender is introduced and students have to assess who has the best claim to the English throne, which on the face of it is a difficult choice, which each having a strong argument and motive. This can also be completed by colour coding thermometers and rating them out of ten before making a substantiated conclusion. There are differentiated questions to ask the students once this task has been completed. The plenary asks them to think outside the box and link pictures to the issues and contentions raised. The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.

The Holocaust This lesson analyses the story of Anne Frank and celebrates her short life. It asks in a sequence of lessons I have produced, who is to blame for the holocaust? Was it the SS who rounded up the Frank family or was it friends or spies to blame for theirs and countless death during World War 2? The lesson tells her story and asks students to think of but, because and so. There are some great video links to accompany the lesson as well as some analysis on an extract from her diary and a virtual tour of the annex. A final true of false quiz checks recall and retrieval from 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.

The English Civil War The aim of this lesson is to decide why an audacious plot was hatched against James I by Catholic plotters and why the conspirators themselves might have been framed by the Government. This lesson is therefore split into two. The first half examines the men and their roles in the infamous plot to blow up the King on November 5th, 1605. Students are introduced through talking heads to Guy Fawkes and King James. They also study sources from the time, including Robert Cecil’s account of the plot and analyse the words trying to make inferences between fact and fiction. A model answer is provided to aid their analytical skills. Furthermore they will evaluate the causes and consequences of the plot, the reasons for its failure and the significance of the conspiracy today. The second part of the lesson will require the interpretation of a number of sources to decide if the plotters were actually framed by Cecil and the government who allegedly knew about the plot all along and actively encouraged it. Students have to decide for themselves before reaching a judgement using key words to aid them. This is excellent groundwork for source analysis they will later tackle at GCSE. The plenary is to talk like an historian answering key questions using information 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.

The English Civil War The aim of this lesson is to be able to distinguish between the two sides of Cavaliers (King Charles) and Roundheads (Oliver Cromwell) in the English Civil War. Students will be researching how they differed from their dress, their mannerisms, what they believed in and their goals. They will also be analysing some real life examples from people today who discuss which side they would prefer to be on and why. Students will be using various written sources and video evidence to find out which side they would support. Ultimately they will have to produce a propaganda leaflet encouraging people to join their campaign as a Royalist or Cavalier using persuasive literacy techniques and song lyrics. Exemplars and scaffolding is included if required. This is a fun lesson with a number of activities designed to get all students involved actively and to enjoy their learning. 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.

AQA GCSE Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present The aim of this lesson is threefold; to understand the beliefs and treatments of the Black Death, to recognise why these had a detrimental affect on medicine and to understand the similarities between the Black Death of the 14th Century and the Plague of the 17th Century. This lesson can be delivered over two, owing to the content and challenge. There are numerous learning tasks for students to complete, from tabling the symptoms of the Black Death and Plague, using sources to map out the beliefs and treatments at the time, a thinking quilt, as well as plotting the similarities of the Black Death and the Plague on a skeleton hand and tackling two GCSE practice questions. A find and fix task at the end checks understanding and challenges student thinking. 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 GCSE Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present The aim of this lesson is to assess the contributions made by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch to improvements in medicine (such as vaccines and bacteriology) in the late 19th Century. By the late 1800’s, the focus had moved away from antiseptic to aseptic surgery. Students will learn how Pasteur made his monumental breakthrough in 1861 with his Germ Theory, aided through the factors of chance, government and scientific experimentation. However as he was only a chemist it was the German doctor Robert Koch who applied Pasteur’s theory to human disease to convince doubters that microscopic germs could kill something as advanced as a human. Students will rate their progress in these discoveries and make substantiated judgements on their effectiveness and performance in the development of vaccines. There are also links to Charles Bastion and William Tyndall and their similar rivalry in Britain. The lesson includes GCSE practice questions on factors and significance with source analysis and video links throughout. 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 GCSE Britain: Health and the People, c.1000 to present If Islamic medicine was so good, why did many of its ideas fail to spread to Christian Europe and Britain? What skills did Islamic surgeons have to make them specialists in particular areas? How did Islam promote medicine to become so advanced in the first place? These questions are analysed and answered through the lesson as students decide which Islamic doctor (Rhazes, Avicienna and Abucasis) deserves which podium finish for being the most effective. Furthermore students tackle a GCSE practice question on similarities with Christian medicine in Britain with a student friendly markscheme to help peer or self assess their work. 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 GCSE Britain: Health and the People c1000 to present The aim of this lesson is to make the factor question (factors affecting the development of medicine such as war, individuals, science and technology, government, individual brilliance and chance) more accessible to students. A question that we think is an easy one for them to answer in fact causes the students the most difficulty. I find students begin to panic and forget everything they have learnt over the course; many answers become scrambled into a vague paragraph or into a few sentences on some individual’s stories. This lesson can be delivered over two as there is quite a lot of information to get through. A ‘model’ answer is given to them, only for it to be dissected and the ‘generalisations’ identified and highlighted. Some key assessment tips and advice from the exam board to their markers is shared to show students how to create a model answer reaching the higher boundary grades. Students can be properly assessed using recent specimen questions which come complete with an up to date mark scheme from the exam board and my own student friendly mark scheme to peer or self assess in class, where they are shown how they can improve. Further activities include revision on how to categorise the factors and topics which could possible come up in forthcoming exams. It is inevitable that this question will undoubtedly become more demanding and specific as the course embeds itself. 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 GCSE Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present The aim of this lesson is to assess the significance of John Hunter in his lifetime and beyond and decide if and why he deserves a place in a Medical Hall of Fame. An analysis of his life, his surgical brilliance and his specimen collection (complete with a brilliant video link to Professor Robert Winston’s short documentary on his life) gives the students the tools necessary to be able to tackle and write a longer analytical essay question with substantiated judgements. Students will also analyse the relationship between anatomy and surgery in Hunter’s work, his impact on medical education and his influence on later surgeons such as Joseph Lister. Students ultimately have to judge how far he deserves a place in the Medical Hall of Fame, with help and sentence starters given if required. The plenary is in the form of a literacy challenge, 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 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 GCSE Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present The lesson aims to distinguish between inoculation and vaccination, before analysing Edward Jenner’s scientific discovery of the vaccination for smallpox using documentary and video evidence. Students then have to answer questions, explain the significance of his discovery of vaccinations over time and link factors to his story. They also have to analyse source information, complete an 8 mark GCSE practice question and understand why, despite his brilliance he received criticism and opposition to his discovery. The lesson finishes with a true or false quiz and a ‘Have I got news for you?’ plenary. 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 GCSE Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present The aim of the lesson is for students to understand the role of war in medicine and how strides are made due to investment made by Governments to treat its wounded soldiers. The lesson begins with the students linking war and its effects on medicine before they have to distinguish which advances have been made in both World War I and World War II. The second part of the lesson is based on the wonderful information given by BBC I Wonder on the plastic surgeon Harold Gillies and his attempt to focus on the physical appearance of soldiers affected by war. This part of the lesson is differentiated and requires students to analyse, prioritise and evaluate their judgements. The plenary requires the students to find and fix the statements from what they have learned during the lesson. 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 GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603 This lesson focuses on the threat posed by the Puritans and how Elizabeth dealt with this challenge, despite prominent members in her Government, such as Walsingham, being Puritans. Students begin by understanding the nature of Puritanism and how they disagreed with the religious settlement. They are given information about a number of controversies raised in Elizabeth’s reign and by colour coding decide how much of a (Puritan) threat they posed. A threat’o’meter give an overall picture which they will have to justify where their judgement lies. This lesson also focuses on two GCSE questions with a ‘write an account’ and a ‘How convincing is the Source?’ question given for GCSE exam practice. Students can answer both or choose which one to tackle. The information is included in the lesson to assist in their answers. 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.

AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603 This lesson aims to evaluate the threats posed by the Northern rebellion and the Ridolfi plot to Elizabeth. Students analyse these threats and dangers to Elizabeth both through video footage and written text before coming to their own conclusions based on the criteria set out for them. They complete an essay question on what they have learnt, using the structure provided and key argument words. Ultimately they will recognise the seriousness and therefore significance of the threats to Elizabeth in her early years. The lesson includes learning activities such as structuring an answer, analysing and evaluating the plots, the use of video evidence and using tier 2 and 3 vocabulary and argument words in an answer. 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.

AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603 The aim of this lesson is to determine why the Essex rebellion (Robert Devereux) was different to the previous threats Elizabeth faced in her reign. Students learn about Essex’s life and the reasons for him turning on Elizabeth in his failed attempt to ‘protect’ her from Robert Cecil. Using differentiated materials and video evidence, they can either create a factfile on Essex or colour code information on his life focusing on different themes of importance. They then plan and write a significance GCSE question, using the suggested skills and tricks of answering a significance question as opposed to writing a narrative account of his life. 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.

AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603 The decision to be a Protestant country not surprisingly caused Elizabeth many problems from Catholics at home and abroad. The lesson therefore is in two parts. The first section deals with the Catholic threats at home, mostly from rebellions surrounding Mary Queen of Scots. Students plot the rebellions on a graph deciding how significant they were before being posed some challenging questions. The second part of the lesson focuses on the threats posed by Allen and Campion and the Jesuits. After analysing the evidence they decide on the most important ingredients for their threat to Elizabeth (also focusing on short and long term problems) and place them on shelves (prioritising the most important) ready to go into a cauldron. The final part of the lesson involves deciding how Elizabeth reacted to these threats and planning and completing a GCSE ‘write an account’ question. 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.

**AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603 ** This lesson is an introduction to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It starts by finding out what the students already know using a true or false quiz, source material, video evidence and using some portraits of Elizabeth. The emphasis is also on the precarious nature of her early life which has a major impact on how she rules when she becomes Queen. The second part of the lesson uses differentiated resources and requires the students to plot, explain and prioritise her early problems on a tree (using the trunk, branches and leaves). The third part focuses on a typical GCSE question on the usefulness of a source giving tips and notes on how to answer this question. The lesson also gives a brief introduction to the course and includes a tracking sheet which the students stick in their books detailing the assessment objectives of the course and the four main question types. 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.