I have been teaching history since 2002 and I have been head of History at a school for 10 years which sees many of my students opt for GCSE, A level and beyond. I am passionate about History being taught well, and believe that this largely stems from good resources (as well of course effective delivery). My lessons and various teaching resources are therefore produced with the intention of inspiring students to think for themselves, to be challenged yet engaged.
I have been teaching history since 2002 and I have been head of History at a school for 10 years which sees many of my students opt for GCSE, A level and beyond. I am passionate about History being taught well, and believe that this largely stems from good resources (as well of course effective delivery). My lessons and various teaching resources are therefore produced with the intention of inspiring students to think for themselves, to be challenged yet engaged.
This resource has a number of revision tasks on the end of the Cold war and collapse of communism and the Post Cold War conflict period of the course. The task sheet is then followed by OCR specification style questions to help the students apply their knowledge to the questions.
This is ideal resource can be used as a lesson resource to allow students to work independently whilst supporting their individual needs, or can be printed off and given as an aid to help them with their private study at home.
This is 1/5 parts of the modern world element of the course. There is an overall pack which can be purchased covering all the units and the depth study of the USA 1945- 1975.
This is worksheet for a lesson in Year 9 in preparation for getting students to understand the various historiography for appeasement at GCSE. This simplistically encourages students to identify the arguments for and against the policy.
Student are then encouraged to complete an opinion poll and make a decision over how they would have felt about Hitler and the policy of appeasement in 1938 and then again for 1939. Students should be able to see how the circumstances surrounding Hitler’s actions changed people’s views and opinions.
This is an excellent revision on skills for the OCR modern world A syllabus with the depth study on USA 1945-1975. The lesson has some class led tasks on marking and answering certain styles of questions, with accompanying guidance on how they should go about answering the questions. At the end of the ppt there are extra questions which students can work through either in their own time or in another lesson. The lesson covers the short answer (2 mark), source work and the different types of styles that could be asked as well as the large 18 mark question requiring a balanced answer with a substantiated conclusion at the end.
This activity is an excellent revision, covering all the aspects of the A2 AQA American dream unit from 1945- 1980. Students are asked to categorise the key events from social, economic, political, international and religious and then identify key changes and examples of continuity.
The timeline alone is a useful resource for revision and can be printed out and used to check basic knowledge.
A lesson which incorporates some knowledge on the government’s response to the Red Scare - as the lesson starts off with a simple bingo game!
Students have to pick 3 out of the list of 7 and then have to guess by the clues if they have bingo or not! The answers are on the subsequent slides.
There is then a link to a clip about the rise of McCarthy and some questions on a slide that can be printed out for students to use to make notes from.
There is then a task which requires students to identify the different groups of people who did try to challenge McCarthy.
The final activities involve answering some Questions using the text book and then drawing a leg and making a note of the legacy of McCarthy.
A fun and easy lesson to help students understand the period where American citizens had their rights and freedoms trampled for the sake of their rights and freedoms.
A revision overview for students to complete. It is made up of a chart which is broken down into the three eras - Medieval, Early Modern, Modern and all the various wars. There is sections for students to complete key events and then spaces for the impact on the people, the government and other impacts.
On the back page there is exam guidance for Paper 2 OCR War and society for the 4 exam questions.
I usually print this off as an A4 booklet. The fact that it is in eras, really helps students then pull across the themes for the significance 14 mark Question and the comparing and contrasting period 24 mark question…
This is a Knowledge Organiser (KOs) which covers the settlement problems after the English Civil War, through to the execution of the king. Obviously as KOs, this only covers the absolute basics, however in conjunction with lessons and learning homework, the idea is that students gain valuable specific knowledge that they can then incorporate into their written answers.
This KO could be used as a starter, recap, or as a learning homework that is then assessed in subsequent lessons.
Some homework ideas that could be used along side this KO could be…
Create 2 different revision pieces showing Parliament’s division. (Revision cards/ mindmap/ Mnemonic, Look, copy cover etc)
Create a flow chart of escape, 2nd Civil War and execution.
Create a revision piece showing how the social and religious order had changed (The world turned upside down).
Create a piece of revision showing all the divisions with trying to create a settlement (use the divide symbol to help you locate all the divisions)
Create your own quiz on this page, to test someone else!
Quizzes on Socrative.
The second sheet is exam specific criteria to help students identify the key skills for the GCSE Modern World A - Personal Rule to Restoration depth study.
A whole lesson, that starts with some recap questions with answers on the Red scare in 1950s America.
There is a link to the clip - He may be a communist.
Students then need to complete a display page with images and words to complete about the reaction of the American government to the red scare using the text books - students
The following slides are then advice on how to answer certain exam style questions on the American paper.
There is advice and guidance for a 2 mark question and a 5 mark source work question.
This is a game of strategy and planning designed specifically to help understand the difference and importance of feudal knights and vassels etc and how conflicts required vast amount of resources.
This links to the OCR explaining the modern world Paper 2 war and society unit and deals with Edward I’s wars with Wales and Scotland.
Students would ideally need to have completed their lessons on these conflicts first.
Students have to strategise what they would take for each of the campaigns.
The game is then a sequence of historical scenarios which sees them lose or gain points depending upon their earlier decisions.
This has worked really well with our GCSE classes but is also something that could be done as a drop down day needed skills of collaboration, maths, strategy, planning and organisation.
This is a 38 slide ppt which includes printable resources for students to make notes plus a sheet which explains the various roles of each of the soldiers.
A mini topic on the gun powder plot - I link it to our overall enquiry which examines the impact of the European reformation and changes to British society.
It is primarily aimed at KS3 yr 8 - but may be useful for teaching skills of collaboration, instructions or drop down days for KS4.
There are questions supporting a documentary - which can take approx 2/3 lessons with supporting activities.
The Escape Room (style) activity lesson.
You will need a coded padlock and a lockable tin! I have shared my codes etc - but you are obviously welcome to change any of this. All of this is explained on the PPT
Students work in small groups and compete to get the codes (to escape) first. To truly win they will need to use all the evidence they have acquired along the way.
There are 4 PPT 3 with resources and one which has all the lessons:
Worksheet / mini booklet for all the lessons - includes cover sheet, Questions for documentary / mini source analysis / excape room charts and tables / cross word quiz (6 slides plus cover 7)
Answer sheets for staff - for all elements of the escape room (4 slides)
The evidence cards. (19 slides)
PPt for the lessons (28 slides)
The documentary takes about 2hours with all the other activities.
The Escape room is approx 1 hour.
Students work through breaking the various codes until they are able to crack the numerical code!
I use a keysafe box (you could use something with a padlock) students then gain access to the key and then to the safe. I do then keep the last activity (cross word) locked in the safe - this is where they have to have read the evidence carefully to truly win! I have found doing this maintains enthusiasm for all the other groups who are a bit slower as they all stand a chance of winning!
Enjoy :)
A lesson that explores parliamentary democracy in the UK and brief comparisons to other nations and its importance when examining human rights.
The lesson contains some questions to accompanying clips, gap fill activities as well as plenty of discussion opportunities.
There is also a quiz to be used at the end of the session
The ppt is 64 slides in length including worksheets for students and various quizzes.
This is just one lesson exploring the role and responsibilities of British people in the slave trade. It introduces the idea that whilst some were heavily involved in the slave trade there were many ordinary British people invested in the slave trade. This is great for discussions on diversity, acceptance, societal ‘norms’ and a great introduction into abolition.
The lesson involves 2 clips from BBC teach. There is a work sheet to go with the two clips. The first part of the worksheet has a space to make notes under Britain’s forgotten slave owners and the second clip which covers abolition and why it was opposed has a number of questions.
The PPt is only six slides in length but has a hinge question to check knowledge and understanding.
Approx 2 lessons exploring the Early Modern World.
This explores the beginnings of the Reformation in Europe and sets the scene for the aftermath.
Includes 2 work sheets with activities and a supporting ppt (adaptable) plus a timeline of the Early Modern world.
There is also a link to clip about Martin Luther which is supported by an activity.
A KS3 lesson to introduce the Early Modern Period and some of the key changes across the period.
There is a a timeline included which encourages students to examine chronology and look at big periods of time identifying changes that occurred.
Students should then select 2 examples and write them up and draw a picture to go with it.
The final takes encourages students to identify which change they considered to be the most important and why.