In this quick quiz students have to guess which story the quote comes from. In the process, they learn a useful quote and a point to make about gothic writing, for which the quote is evidence. However, if your class needs more than a quick brushing up on the stories, use the worksheet first as a long starter or homework prior to the lesson. Discussion is key to the success of this lesson - the 'reveal' is not definative, its to stimulate thought. Ask students to recall what is happening n the story - the 'moment' - to put the quote in context and then to think about all the things they might say about the gothic on the strength of it. This type of exercise should leave them with an armoury of quotes and able to recall one suitable to the exam question, as well as generally revising the stories.

If you're sick of suggesting alternatives to 'weird', this is the starter you need! Everyday 'bland' words are given synonyms in a sort activity. To differentiate - or speed things up - there's a handout version to highlight. This series of starters focuses on building up the student's word-hoard [as the Anglo-Saxons called it]. Little and often is the best way to extend vocabulary and if it’s a game, so much the better.

While a Thesaurus can be a useful tool, it is a blunt instrument when used without understanding of the subtle differences in meaning of synonyms. The PP explores how things can go wrong, using words that could easily become part of each student’s word-hoard. Differentiated for slow writers or to speed the whole class up, the worksheet supports the PP in this longer self-check starter, designed to develop apt vocabulary that takes context into account. This starter could easily be developed into a whole lesson by inviting students to create their own muddles which other groups mend, using the PP sentences as a model.

In this lesson, explore the power of choosing the right verb. The Power Point provides the lesson from start to finish and the word doc. provides a fill-in opening for weaker students, to get them started. The Lesson provides a definition, an 'odd-one-out' task, some quick physical activity [select someone to demonstrate if the class would be unsettled by a bit of movement], an extract from 'The Recruit' and some writing suggested by photographs. At the heart of it all is 'show don't tell' to move writing up a gear.

This cluster of resources is rooted in two approaches to teaching: A] Flipped Learning – the students first go and find out about their topic. Your task is to bring all the threads together for them in a plenary lesson AND B] ‘Jigsaw’ – where students find out a piece of the whole then share information to get the complete picture. Allow several lessons and a homework session for this task as it involves research and feedback. The PP presents a useful way of introducing the poems, still keeping to the independent approach and providing a lead in to the tasks. On the Word docs are AO cards with links to guide students' search for information. To finish off, give students an idea of your exam board’s requirements for the poetry question, give them a mark scheme and ask them to write a model answer to a typical question using all the information they’ve gathered in their own research and from their classmates. Print out the planning sheet [assessment] on A3 so that students can plan to cover all the AOs in a trial question for each poem.

Using short extracts from both modern and classic texts, as well as visual stimulus material, this lesson focuses on how implied meaning in the description of a setting helps to create an atmosphere. Thus it both helps improve writing generally, but also prepares students for the demands of the new AQA spec English Paper1, fiction reading and writing. Section A is about reading fiction and in section B students have ‘to demonstrate their narrative and descriptive skills in response to a written prompt, scenario or visual image’,

With no past papers, it is useful to have a 'trial' exam paper {based on the AQA specimen paper for the 2015 Spec to be examined in 2017} to use as revision. The tasks are different, but the style is similar, so KS3s could familiarise themselves with the type of task, or it can be used as revision with KS4 in the future. The PP runs a strategy for thinking about the tasks, with some questions and examples to stimulate ideas. The last slide offers a quick correction task; with an extra click, the answers will be revealed.

The questions on the worksheet are valid prompts for any comparison of poems, but are particularly for the new EDUQAS style of Section C unseen poetry comparison. The first worksheet contains the poems and the questions, which are based of the specimen papers provided by the exam board. This makes an easy to set homework of cover lesson. The second worksheet has key points as possible answers. So the task can be self or peer assessed easily. For other exam boards or general poetry preparation, the 'answers' could be the springboard for an essay comparing the two poems, to help less able students cluster their response.

Keep students mindful of the need to proof-read with regular starters and short SPaG exercises. These self-mark starters consist of an instructions slide and an answer slide PP and the text to be corrected on a handout, either for the whole class to aid speed or as differentiation to aid weaker/slower students.

In this writing lesson, students exercise both their close reading of fiction - learning from published authors - and writing creatively ‘to demonstrate their narrative and descriptive skills in response to a written prompt, scenario or visual image’, which is the requirement for AQA's new English Paper 1 Section B creative writing question. Whether you're preparing KS3 students for what will be required at GCSE , or revising skills with KS4, these tasks focus on writing for effect and noticing how published writers have done so, which can only promote improvement.

Both these starters aim to fine-tune vocabulary so that students actually say what they mean. The vocabulary match gets definitions right to expand their word-hoard, while the connectives exercise picks up on some common mis-usage and gets students to choose more appropriate connectives. In each case the first slide gives the task which is also on the handout and then the students can check their won work from the PP. A drip-feed of SPaG starters will keep students mindful of using language correctly while improving their knowledge of how the language works.

This short novel is riveting, so ideal for a boy-heavy class or those not too keep on reading. The lesson begins with a true or false starter dressed up as 'Would I Lie to You': depending on the group you could invite students to come up with their own facts, perhaps researched for homework and present them with more spin, or divide the group into two opposing teams. These facts are chosen for their general relevance to the story. The next phase is looking at the opening of the novel to notice how succinctly so much is said - a good exercise in inference. The PP takes students through the thinking process and the handout sheet enables them to annotate the text without re-writing the sentences. The lesson ends with a writing exercise in which they try to emulate Sedgwick's concentrated writing in 75 words. These extracts could also be used to supplement a unit on 'survival', or a focus on reading: 'how does the writer use language to...'

The PP contains the lesson, which focuses reading: by practising finding apt quotes; inferring and deducing; and writing about reading by analysing key words. Slide one presents a starter question which partners can discuss briefly. This gives students a POINT. Subsequent questioning leads them to EVIDENCE and EXPLORE/ANALYSE and there are slides with possible answers to allow for self- or peer assessment. The lesson ends with a SPaG plenary on the use of quotation marks. There is also a differentiated handout, one page giving a condensed lesson for weak or visually impaired students - could work with TA outside the classroom [give the TA a slide handout for reference]- and another for slow workers who need to be given a copy of the quote rather than write it out.

Using a variety of sentence openers is an effective and easy way to improve writing. The PP begins with a reminder of the ways in which sentences can be opened more effectively. The worksheet task - 2 to a page to cut costs - is to label the openers in a piece of writing, using the reminder slide if needed. Students check their own work from the next slide, writing in correct answers. This task is also useful preparation for any task that requires close reading. A final slide challenges students to complete the story in at least 4 more sentences, each with a different opening, a task which could be set as homework, a plenary or extension work.

These tasks lend themselves to the revision of any topic or content subject and all you have to do by way of preparation is apply the tasks to the specifics of your subject and provide the postit notes. Slide one has 6 images – choose any icon to click on in a way that engages the class [throw a di, ask a question, choose a quiet student to make the choice]. A hyperlink will take you straight to the relevant slide, where the tasks will come up in steps on your click [adapt the wording of these to suit your specifics if you wish]. At the end of the lesson ‘end show’ to get back to slide 1 for the next lesson. Each task is explained in your ‘recipe for success’ word document and alternatives or ways to differentiate suggested. The central idea is to get students helping each other while you facilitate only when required.

Typical AQA questions begin with a critical stance to be applied to an extract and then the play as a whole. The starter PP gives the critical stance and asks students to formulate the question [a paper version is available to cut time wastage ] and chose - in groups with discussion- a suitable extract for the question. The homework is a log to fill in for each Act, providing a key focus and some key quotes. A note on essay writing outlines a strategy to follow as well as giving feedback from AQA on the way they prefer essays written.

The new AQA English Spec. for teaching from 2015 includes a whole reading and writing paper [Paper 1 in the specimen material] given over to both reading and writing creative material. These exercises can be 'drip-fed' to KS3 and KS4 to help them hone the skills for this task. This set of tasks focuses on descriptive vocabulary and figures of speech. I've marked them A-C in order of how I use them, but they stand alone; the extract handout goes with PPT C. All photographs by Graham Hobbs.

Kids love playing teacher and in this exercise they get to 'mark' Clarence P. Clapp's spelling. The answers are on the second page and can be projected or handed to a group or table to check their marking. If you can, let pupils mark in red pen to add to the game. This work is aimed at weaker KS3 students, but should also suit KS2. 'The Boy who Swam with Piranhas' is written by David Almond, published by Walker Books and is illustrated, so ideal for reluctant readers. As an extra challenge, project a letter table containing a 9-letter word from the task. students should find the 9letter word as well as 4-or more letter words using the letters. Answers are on slide 2.

This 'trial' exam paper is based on the AQA specimen paper for the 2015 Spec to be examined in 2017. The tasks are different, but the style is similar, so this work sheet can be used as exercises with current KS3s to familiarise them with the type of task, or as revision with KS4 in the future. The PP starter gives them a strategy when faced with a similar exam paper and some extracts to inspire their writing. On the last slide an extra click of the mouse [when they've had time to try] reveals the answers.

The thing for teachers to emphasise in preparing students for this task is that alliteration works by sound, not letter - so 'cough' and 'kill' have the same sound. The advert draws on specific descriptions in David Almond's novel and chapter and page numbers are given for the 2012 Walker Books edition. Some students like to get on and read the book in one go after the initial chapters, so let them do the more creative tasks when they've completed the story. Best pieces can be displayed - encourage students to be creative as well as to use slogans, alliteration, rule of three etc.