I designed this lesson to encourage my students to be reflective Historians capable of textured debate. Students divide 39 pieces of evidence (textual and photographic) into columns which suggest the leader of Charlie Company during the My Lai massacre in Vietnam was a war criminal or a scapegoat. The cards are colour-coordinated to allow for differentiation and provide the perfect scaffold for a debate or piece of exended written analysis. This is a hard-hitting lesson which always provokes outstanding levels of historical reasoning and debate but please be aware many of the images and text are graphic in content and should be taught to students with the emotional tools to deal with sensitive issues. Students will learn about the death of Ron Weber, the ‘and babies?’ photograph, Captain Medina’s role, and the ‘black blouse girl’ and much more. My hope in sharing this resource is that more students will learn about and learn from the heartbreaking tragedy which took place in My Lai.

This lesson is titled “How similar and how different was the treatment of Conscientious Objectors in the First and Second World Wars?” The lesson begins with an Odd One Out Starter Activity which invites students to pick out Elvis Presley (the only one of the three who picked up arms to fight for his country). This then introduces the lesson’s Key Question/title and aims are given along with graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The class are then allocated roles within teams and begin a Gallery Walk which they use to fill in their grids to show similarities and differences. After this they complete a piece of written work to answer the Key Question. Lesson objectives are revisited, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity where they are invited to come up to the board and to add a similarity or difference to one of the two categories (trash cans) given. Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is titled “What impact did women have on the Civil Rights movement?” This lesson begins with a What’s Behind the Squares Starter Activity which reveals a work of art entitled ‘The liberation of Aunt Jemima.’ It is an assemblage piece created by Betye Saar, a female artist, and features Black Power symbols. It introduces the class to the importance of the role women played in the Civil Rights movement. The PPT then explains the title of the lesson and aims and objectives are graduated into all will/most will/some will. There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. These include examples of women in terms of leadership, activism, media and communication, protest songs, grassroots work, legal cases, as well as inspiration for the future. Following this the class are told they will begin their main task which is to research one important woman and create a speech explaining their importance and impact to the class. They must include and analyse at least one source relating to them, and examples are provided. They are told to try to include 5 x people/places, 4 x dates/events, 3 x statistics, 2 x quotations, and 1 x opinion. The class peer assess using the template provided. The lesson concludes with a plenary in which they are invited to place a post-it note on a pentagon on the board – the more central they place their notes denotes how important they feel each groups’ person was. I hope your students get as much out of this important topic as mine always do. It has been designed for older high school students with good research skills but can be adapted to meet the needs of younger learners.

This lesson is titled “What really happened to the Roman Army’s Ninth Legion?” The lesson begins with an Odd One Out Starter Activity in which the class are invited to consider some truths and one mistruth about the Ninth Legion that mysteriously disappeared. The Key Question is then introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition as well as a slide which features a pizza (because it has three points) which has three corners labelled with the key theories (that it was defeated in battle and wiped out, that it was reassigned, or that it assimilated with local people). The class are then given a 15 piece card sort and divide the information into these three categories. A color-coded version is also supplied in case any one needs a little extra help. The class then get broken into teams of four and are tasked with producing a TV chat show discussion explaining the main theories and they act these out. An example is given using real historians so students can see a model of what their work might look like. The lesson objectives are revisited and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which they are invited to come to the board and add information to the three sided object they saw earlier (under the correct theory). They then answer the Key Question by reviewing the evidence/knowledge acquired. I hope your students get as much out of this History Mystery as mine always do. Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is titled “Why did the Mughal Empire collapse?” The lesson begins with a Blankety Blank style Starter Activity in which students are invited to fill in the missing word. This then leads to the Key Question and the introduction of aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are slides of background information to enable teacher exposition. Students are then placed in groups of six and given a one slide fact file on either regional fragmentation, external invasions, European powers, internal problems, weak succession, or economic decline. Their jigsaw activity is to research their topic using the cards as well as internet/library to then return to their group as an expert and convince them of the importance of their single factor. After this they are asked to work together to complete a piece of writing to answer the Key Question. The lesson objectives are revisited, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which students vote on the most convincing reason. This lesson has been designed for high school students. I hope yours get as much from it as much as mine do. Please be aware this lesson is pitched to students who have reasonable research skills. Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson will really get your students to engage with evidence handling and to think like Historians. I am confident that the level of detail and precision in my resources is much stronger than you will find elsewhere (because of the amount of pride I take in my own historical research). During this series of activities students are introduced to John through singing along to the lyrics of a Disney song in the PPT. They then read through background information before siphoning through 31 detailed factor led and differentiated evidence cards about King John’s life ranging from his military defeats in France through to his love of bad wine and fondness for chewing his nails. Students place these two columns, positive and negative qualities and choose which cards are most significant and which to discard. The lesson concludes with a PPT asking students to vote on a report that John was the ‘worst Briton’ ever. I hope you enjoy this lesson as much as my students do! It is an excellent lesson in helping students comb through evidence to form historical interpretations.

In this lesson students begin by exploring Maoist propaganda of a source using the OPVL technique (origin, purpose, value and limitations) before moving on to work through a set of notes about the Great Leap Forward and the Five Year Plans. Students are then given a job application activity where they need to apply for one of two jobs using the information provided. The lesson concludes with a game of bingo to test understanding of all the key words (emboldened in the notes). My students love this topic and I created this resources whilst teaching History in China so they mean a lot to me. I hope you will find them just as useful in your own teaching.

A comprehensive fully resourced lesson. Students begin with a ‘what’s behind the squares?’ starter PPT which gets them to think about the brutality of the regime prior to the May 4th Movement. The class then work through a detailed set of notes before taking on the challenge of creating a rap-style confrontation between Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao (to help with this there are modelled responses and a crib sheet of key information on both). If students prefer they can of course also replace the rap with letter writing. The lesson concludes with a formative assessment PPT which tests students subject knowledge acquired in the lesson in which they decide if a piece of information relates to the GMD or the CCP. I love this lesson because it makes tracking student progress very clear. I hope you enjoy it.

In this lesson students explore how Hitler consolidate power between 1933-34. The class begin with a mix and match starter to test subject knowledge before working their way through the notes. They then complete a playdoh storyboard to consolidate their learning (this can be done as a simply drawn storyboard if the teacher prefers). The lesson finishes with a back to back plenary in which students are awarded points for guessing their partners key words (there are given words they are not allowed to use). In this lesson students explore a high level of content in an engaging and active manner designed to embed subject knowledge in long-term memory.

My students love this lesson. They begin with an odd one out activity designed to get them thinking about Stalin as the ‘man of steel’ before working their way through detailed notes. They then proceed to take part in a tale of the tape activity where they identify Stalin’s strengths and Trotsky’s mistakes/weaknesses. Following this students complete a piece of structured piece of writing before completing a plenary exercise in which they create a pentagonal plan of reasons which address the Key Question. I hope your students enjoy this lesson as much as mine do.

This forty three-page pack is the incredibly detailed and complete set of notes I have written for my students. It is basically an entire course on Twentieth Century in one pack! Suitable for G.C.S.E, AP, A Level, and I.B. students. Notes are broken down into the following sections: What were the causes and events of the revolution? How was China ruled after the revolution? How significant was the May 4th movement? Why did Mao triumph? What changes did Mao make to the economy? What was life like in China under Mao? How successful were Deng’s reforms? Why were people killed on June 4? I am confident you will love this resource because there is nothing on the Internet which I have found which offers the same level of breadth and detail on this topic. Your students will find the notes supremely useful and they will help them achieve examination success.

This is a powerful lesson in causation. Students read through the detailed background information before arranging 17 extremely detailed and precise information cards into factors (economic, cultural, and people). This activity helps students scaffold a response to the key question which can then be used as the basis for a piece of assessed or extended written work. I hope your students find this as useful as I know mine have!

Background notes * 16 character cards * 48 piece evidence sort (small and large version) This 32-page pack contains background knowledge as well as 16 different character cards to issue to your students, ranging from Captain Smith, ship’s architect Thomas Andrews, down to lesser known characters such as 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller (who failed to fill the lifeboats). Once in character students then work through 48 detailed evidence cards to help them answer the question who was to blame for the large number of deaths (more than 1,500). This is one of my favourite activities and students always find it both fun and interesting and it helps hone historical skills such as evidence handling, refining questions, and formulating arguments. I hope you get as much out of this activity as my students always do.

My students love this project! In this 14 page pack you will find background information on the Industrial Revolution as well as information cards on 20 different inventions ranging from John Kay’s Flying Shuttle through to James Watt’s Steam Engine. Students need to research their invention and make a case for its historical significance using specific criteria (durability, importance at the time, number effected etc). The class then present to the Dragon’s (for me its usually SLT). This mini-project really brings the past to life and is one of the highlights of my teaching career. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do.

This is one of my most detailed and most enjoyable lessons. Students are issued with a suspect character card of their own (there are 21 including Druitt, Kosminski, and Chapman) and then have to siphon their way through 13 very detailed pieces of evidence to find information that suggests they might be the notorious serial killer. For example, Polish butcher John Pizer might argue that he is local (Evidence A), has an expert knowledge of anatomy (B), and came from Poland where there were a large number of Jews (Evidence L). Students then present their cases and the class vote on who makes the best case. This is an excellent lesson designed to engage students and get them to question evidence, structure, and present their findings. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do!

This resource features a starter in which students compare two sources on life in 1930s USA using a VENN diagram. The PowerPoint then provides some background information before inviting students to break down 22 factor-led thought bubbles into columns (these are colour-coded into social, economic, cultural and political). Students then use this information to create a written account of what life was like before concluding with a fun singing plenary. I really enjoy delivering this lesson (partly because Hoover is my favourite US President!) and hope you find it useful!

My exam revision packs are the resources my examination students value the most. I offer essay plans to the most popular questions on topics within the Cold War which give students structure and which teem with precisely supporting material. In this pack the revision notes are focused on the following questions: Who was to blame for the start of the Cold War? What were the causes and consequences of US involvement in the Korean War? Who gained the most out of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Why did the USA get involved in Vietnam? Why did the USA withdraw from Vietnam? What were the similarities and differences between Hungary and Czechoslovakia? Why was the Berlin Wall built in 1961? What was the main reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union? Issuing these notes to students prior to an examination massively boosts their attainment in examinations and I’m very proud to share this resource with you and them. It certainly saves my students a lot of exam stress and has given me excellent results year after year.

In this lesson students begin with a ‘what-would-you-do?’ style starter activity in which they score point according to their reactions to losing their freedoms. This stimulates discussion over how enslaved people might react and leads into the main activity which is a card sort. Students divide up the very precise 13 cards into examples of passive and active resistance and try to explain how they prioritised them. So for example was Nat Turner’s revolt much more high risk than say kicking a cow? Students then go on to use this card sort as an effective scaffold for a piece of extended written work before finishing the lesson off with a plenary about cultural appropriation (in particular whether it is right for a slave-trading nation like Britain to use a slave spiritual ‘Amazing Grace’ in its sporting fixtures). My students always find this a really powerful life lesson and one which hones their historical skills fantastically well. I hope you find it useful with your students too.

In this lesson students work through background information before completing a card sort to show positives and the many negatives of slave life from getting off slave ships through to working on plantations. Students need to place the events in a chronology in order to recount a story of the conditions and place them on an emotional rollercoaster graph to show which conditions they felt were the most horrific and why. This is a powerful lesson which should be taught with great sensitivity and a flavour of which can be experienced in the video file attached.

Includes background notes, history mystery record sheet, and 15 evidence cards.