Harry Chapin's CATS IN THE CRADLE about wish fulfilment, father and son relationships and the irony of getting what you always hoped for is presented here in full lyric, with a fifteen part multiple choice set of questions and an exemplar essay analysis of the poem, presented as a punctuation exercise.

This is a lesson in itself, or an assessment item as preferred. Alfred Noyes' celebrated ballad THE HIGHWAYMAN in full. Visually realised with the text is fully annotated, with difficult words explained in side bars. Reading comprehension about literary elements. Then a letter writing exercise on point of view. Do play the best recording of the poem by PHIL OCHS obtainable on You Tube as part of your presentation.

For English and historyteachers and values educators, this power point resource is a pre-timed examination of how we perceive the world, containing stills, animation and challenges for the class to respond to. It is approximately four minutes in length, featuring some of history's best examples of visual illusions, and examines how we see the world in ways that can be inaccurate and distorted. The final slides cover stereotyping and false judgements. The presentation will be useful as a stimulus / starter, getting students to consider how perception and reality are not always the same. Useful for literature studies on racial attitudes, discrimination based on perceived difference and flawed thinking leading to injustice. For example - "To Kill A Mockingbird," "1984," "Brave New World," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" Useful for values classes in social studies, philosophy and ethics classes.

This is a student handout providing an annotated exemplar of an analytical essay on The Soldier by Rupert Brook (sorry but this site will not allow publication of his proper spelling). On the same page is a set of guidelines for the student to then respond to Wilfred Owen's It Is Sweet and Honourable Et Decorum Est.

Don McLean's VINCENT is presented with a visual representation and annotation for all the difficult words on the side of the poem. Questions are structured to go from literal to metaphorical, and are 1. multiple choice 2. short answer 3. short essay response

Here are two handout items on the anti-war poem / song lyric AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA by Eric Bogle. The first contain the text of the poem / lyric which use has shown works best by playing the video version from Youtube to being to life this immensely powerful and moving lyric. There are a series of comprehension questions which can be used for formal assessment or group discussion. The letter writing task contains an example of a letter to the editor about the thematic relevance and literary qualities of the poem. The student is then provided with a question task of their own to complete on a war poem of their choice.

This is a power point presentation intended to create a reflective response from studetns. It can be used for history teaching, although I find it works effectively as part of English teaching of war poetry and war fiction. Of course, if the class is doing John Hersey's Hiroshima, it fits perfectly.

This is a middle school creative writing lesson and (practice / homework?) assessment task. The power point and student diagrammatic handout gives an outline of main techniques in creative writing. The exemplar and comprehension task provides a rich example of descriptive writing and the questions tied to targeted concepts which are themselves explained (Justify, Explain etc). The assessment task provides for a range of student abilities, with an outline of suggestions about what to write about in the descriptive passage. The criteria for the writing task is explained in simple language to provide student feedback.

SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT DOWN THE MINE A HANGING Three essays, presented in a visually enhanced manner, with vocabulary and meanings list, comprehension and extension questions. I have used these for Years 10, 11 and 12. For engaging students who are covering Orwell texts such as “Animal Farm” and “1984” these essays with close analysis examine Orwell’s sense of social justice, his understanding of the structures of tyranny, and his keen eye for observation. There are annotated commentaries on Orwell’s choice of language and each essay is constructed as sufficient for a lesson of class work. This has also been useful in my classes as an extension reading comprehension for stronger students, and for homework activities. Word and PDF format for each should you wish to shorten or add your preferred commentary and questions.

This ten page study guide covers all the elements of plot characters and themes in the play. It is envisaged as all the teacher will need for a two to three week unit. The activities invite close reading and reflect on social conscience issues, and are presented in a visually stimulating setting with the emphasis on depth of comprehension of plot, characters and themes. There is an analytical essay provided as an exemplar which summarises the work covered on character relationships and the theme of social responsibility.

This is a practical study guide for Roald Dahl’s “Boy.” It is an 8 page handout* that will guide students through the plot, characters and themes of the autobiography, and is presented in a visually appealing way to make the analysis enjoyable, while building vocabulary (significant words and their meanings are provided), challenging deeper reading of the text and creative exercises. The emphasis in this resource is a practical comprehension and vocabulary unit that is self-working for students who read ahead, and is able to be immediately used without teacher explanation because of direct, clear activities. The activities are comprehension questions for each chapter vocabulary and meaning for each chapter grammatical exercises to identify parts of speech creative questions to develop the ideas in the memoir the pages are numbered - a pet issue with me to avoid time wasting “where are we?” questions and immediate “go to” in giving class instructions

Handout sheet for discussion and analysis on Oscar Wilde's chief character quotes in "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Useful for analysing Wilde's witty inversion of the superficial and the profound, and the tragic perspective of the character's doomed efforts to retain that which is impossible - the lustre of youth and the invincible appeal of physical beauty.

Fifteen Power Points, each containing nine letters in cells, the objective being to make words from the nine letters. The quiz is effective as a lesson starter, and can be incorporated into language skills lessons to vary the class routine of doing whole lessons from the textbook. Each power point contains up to fifty answers, alphabetically listed, covering the words that can be constructed from each of the letter sets. Rules of the Quiz Students can’t form words by doubling up and using a single letter twice Each time a word is made all nine letters can be used again for constructing the next word All words must be English language - no nic-names or abbreviations Useful to set a time limit of 3 to 5 minutes. Differentiated learning possibilities include Encouraging strong students to be competitive in demonstrating vocabulary and word construction skills, achieving over the average score (provided on each power point) for each quiz Goal setting for less able students - set an objective within their reach for the number of words they can find (usually a dozen) and also encourage them to beat their previous score from the last quiz if used on a regular basis Vocabulary enhancement for all students - new words can be entered into vocabulary list (each of the 15 activities have some challenging words that will represent new vocab for most students)

This is a practical handout which is aimed at Year 10 to Year 12 students, and covers work for two or three lessons, made up of the following material Characteristics of the genre of eulogy and tribute writing - tone, structure, purpose, language choices, use of anecdote Preparation overview - note taking and planning suggestions Exemplar of a tribute - annotated with explanations of structure Two practice writing activities Famous eulogies - texts of two historical eulogies in full, with comprehension Audio of the eulogies

This is a complete unit of work for use in the study of the animated film “A Bug’s Life.” The seven pages of activities are varied, well illustrated to gain interest, and sequenced for comprehension of plot, character, characterization and theme. The material is practical, so that students at various levels of ability can proceed through the work at their own pace, with self-explanatory language and a magazine style visual presentation that does not require teacher clarification and guidance. The material is intended for Years 7 to 9 The material guides students through the following steps Plotting - cloze exercise Characters - reading comprehension Characterization - comparing and contrasting External and internal elements of characterization - comparative case study Tweety Bird / Flik Using evidence and quotes from the text - identifying key elements of dialogue and drawing conclusions Paragraph writing - revision and practice writing exercise Themes and Ideas in the film - summary and practice questions.

A set of visual exemplars of sexist advertising accompany the handout which will take at least a lesson or two to complete. It includes an overview of what to identify in gender-discriminating advertising, with exemplar responses and explanations of how to write more effectively. Student exercises follow to apply the knowledge learned. A brief power point about the deconstruction of advertisements is included.

This study guide, with extensive visuals and historic inserts framing key questions students want answered about the Holocaust, is envisaged as a three week program of vocabulary building, language and literacy exercises, extended responses and opportunities for students to debate, reflect and extend themselves in further reading. Intended to reflect the power of the text, the material is focused on close reading together with historical backgrounding to give students context and detailed knowledge to enable students to make detailed, justified responses in extended prose, as well as in genres of letter writing, persuasive writing and creative reflection. The sections covers, in a visually engaging manner, the plot, characters and ideas of the memoir, with focus questions on each of the numbered pages. There is a vocabulary list of historical terminology, as well as vocab building exercises based on the language used by the author in the memoir. In addition to close analysis of the use of language there are sections on ~ the author’s themes and purpose, with text examples immediately following in close reading exercises, with comprehension questions on authorial positioning, implied reading and language devices ~ compare and contrast exercises ~ practice paragraph and essay topics ~ language activities on euphemism ~ topics for class debate and discussion ~ list of extension material for further reading and viewing The study guide is intended to be a complete self-contained program of course work which can be assigned to the students for completion at their own pace.

Gordon Lightfoot's stirring ballad THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD is a powerful tool to use when teaching the ballad form. The enthralling and terrible tale of the mighty transport ship that never made it across Lake Superior in one of Canada's greatest naval disasters is presented here as 1. a film clip, MP4 with the full lyrics 2. student handout with the lyrics and comprehension questions

THE POETRY OF WAR - COMPLETE UNIT In Depth Power Point (one lesson)- overview of the evolution of attitudes and representations in war poetry, from the Victorian patriotic versifiers to the oppositional school of World War One, and up to the the poetry of the nuclear age and the anti-war poems of the Vietnam War era. Focus is on the values and assumptions of the different time periods, and how poetry reflects the time in which it is written. The presentation is composed of fifty slides, introducing the key poetic terms, ideological disposition of each generation, the landmark poets and their achievements, and how poets can be social legislators, not just reflecting their times but influencing them. STUDENT STUDY GUIDE (completely self contained unit of work - approximately 3 weeks - 18 strongly illustrated pages of activities, with comprehension activities for each poem, exemplar essays on two of the poems, a practice essay rubric providing a paragraph by paragraph structured response, and discussion stimulus pages. Poems covered - “The Charge of the Light Brigade” - Tennyson “The Soldier” - Rupert Brooke “The Rear Guard” - Siegfried Sassoon “Dulce Et Decorum Est” / “Exposure” - Wilfred Owen “The Grave”* - Don McLean “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”* - Eric Bogle “Men in Green” - David Campbell “Your Attention Please” - Peter Porter “I Feel Like I’n Fixin’ To Die Rag”* - Joe Macdonald Items marked with an asterisk are verses that have been used as song lyrics - students will further engage with the material if the easy-to-find Youtube clips of these being performed are used as part of the instruction. For those wishing to go beyond a reading study of the handout text, the items set to music will enhance enjoyment and the visual presentation in the clips will give contextual clues so that students can connect the poetry to social information.

This is a comprehensive guide intended for class use for a full unit of study of Sophocles’ ‘ANTIGONE.’ This can be used as a stand alone unit for exclusive study of ‘Antigone’ only, as It provides contextual background of the Theban plays so that students do not need to have covered ‘Oedipus Rex’ or ‘Oedipus at Colonus’ to understand in depth the plot, characters and themes of ‘Antigone.’ If your students are covering additional Theban plays in their literature course, I offer a separate student study guide, “Oedipus Rex,” sold separately here. This study guide is a highly visual resource aimed at engaging students with a variety of activities, including paragraph writing, crossword, class debate and discussion ideas, and contemporary examination of the thematic content. Each of the numbered pages contains comprehension questions to check student understanding, reinforce learning and extend student processing of the thematic ideas of the text. The sections in the guide are 1. Background and context to the Oedipus cycle 2. Analysis and tasks on the nature of tragic drama 3. Levels of meaning in the text 4. Alternative interpretations and readings of the text 5. Comparative viewpoints within the text 6. Feminist reading of the text 7. Language usage in the text 8. Analysis of themes This guide is created as a self-contained unit for students to work through independently at their individual rate. The material is of graduated complexity, taking students from basic elements to more advanced reasoning and the application of higher order skills. The material has been chosen and presented to engage students through a variety of activities to suit different skill levels.