This is a small unit taking you through writing a critical essay on Desiree’s Baby. It has an introduction to the story, some notes and then introduces writing the essay with an example paragraph.

This unit introduces the WW1 background and focuses on the poem “Dulce et decourum est”. Tasks include: Basic poetic technique revision Basic war background A propaganda poster tasks Analysis of symbolism used in Kasabian’s music video “Empire” Introduction to the poem (analysis not included) Critical essay on theme of war

This is a complete unit on ‘Jojo Rabbit’, using the Scottish curriculum. It looks at different media techniques such as camera angles and sound and has a variety of individual and group tasks on the film. The final outcome is a critical essay (in the style of a potential National 5 essay) on Interesting Character.

This is for display in classrooms. It gives some facts about the benefits of reading. Make sure you set to Portrait when you print.

This is a critical essay using the PEAR structure (easily adapted) to answer on how Felix changes as a character. It includes page suggestions for quotes and takes pupils through each step of writing an essay. I’ve also included a differentiated worksheet for anyone struggling.

This is a unit on creating a zombie apocalypse story. It looks at some chapters from the book “The Enemy” (chapter printouts included) and considers tension, hook openings, character, plot and setting, as well as an essay plan (for those who need it) and extension tasks. Suitable for BGE- no video clips included are particularly bloody or gory.

This is a guideline for a National 5 essay on the beach shark attack in Jaws. This guides you through 4 main techniques- character, sound (diegetic and non-diegetic) and camera angles. This can be used to produce a very quick National 5 essay. You wouldn’t even need to watch the whole film with a class. I’ve included the analysis of each of these, an essay paragraph plan and activity board. This is very teacher-lead- my class were a repeat N5 and needed a lot of support.

This powerpoint includes lots of different ideas for your bookclub. I ran this for several years and although we had the usual bookclub tasks- discussion of favourite books, author visits, staff members visiting to discuss books etc, I also needed a couple of filler ideas for when we didn’t have something going on. We never had the money to purchase groups sets for the club, and if I’m honest, a lot of the children who came voluntarily to the lunchtime club tended to really just want a safe space, so tasks had to be inclusive and non threatening. These are ideas I have used throughout the year - some word games, some imaginative writing, some discussions. Hopefully it’ll help your bookclub get started too!

This is a powerpoint with notes on the Janice Galloway short story ‘Mary Moon and the Stars’. It includes a how to guide on critical essays on an Interesting Character, and the Theme of Neglect. There is also a quote guide. I have also included a powerpoint about common mistakes my class were making- summarising the story, no techniques- so use this if your class are similar!

This unit introduces the class to the poem ‘The Death of Marilyn Monroe’ by Edwin Morgan. It introduces Marilyn’s history and the corruption of Hollywood and comments on the structure of the poem. Then it takes the class through the writing of a critical essay on a Memorable Event. There are a couple of tasks and some video clips. **Important: **this does not include the annotation of the poem- there are other powerpoints by others for that available. This is focused on how to write a National 5 essay.

This is a unit of work for the play Frankenstein by Philip Pullman/ Mary Shelley. This includes some guided questions for each Act, group discussion tasks, Understanding questions, a task to design a set, a storyboard and the final outcome is a critical essay on Sympathy. This could be used with S1-S3. I’ve included the SchoolTube link to the play starring Benedict Cumberbatch but I wouldn’t recommend watching the entire play- parts are not appropriate for lower school. I suggest you watch ahead and decide which are suitable.

This is a version of my N5 RUAE Ultimate Guide except I have tried to choose easier model example questions. This should be suitable for teaching S3 or lower, the RUAE skills they will need.

This is a media unit for Spiderman 2. It takes your through a couple of techniques, getting the class to analyse the film as they go. There’s a Create your own Superhero task, and a critical essay at the end. Suitable for S1-S3

This is a lower/ mixed ablility unit that I made initially for S3, but could be used for a S2, or perhaps a N4 S4. This has several starters, fun and interesting tasks as well as a focus on RUAE skills - In Your Own Words, Word Choice, Sentence Structure, Imagery. We look at Theme and Characterisation as well. I’ve included group tasks of a Tarsia puzzle, a Hot Seating task, a Homework research task and the final outcome is a critical essay on the theme of good versus evil.

This powerpoint clearly explains how to complete the 8 marker on Tally’s Blood, giving a model answer and one to try themselves.

This is a guide to writing a critical essay on a memorable poem- “Trio” by Edwin Morgan on. It takes learners through the different stages of writing an essay. It is heavily hand held and includes some example paragraphs. There is an essay outline which can be printed for struggling pupils.

This is a critical essay guide for Theme and Character for Robin Jenkins’ short story ‘Flowers’. This takes pupils through a PEAR structure essay (easily adapted to PEER or similar) and gives some example PEAR paragraphs.

This is a setting essay on the early chapters of Gatsby. It’s my experience when tackling a novel that I like to get pupils to tackle an essay quite early on rather than wait until the finishing the novel- it makes me feel more secure. Setting is a popular Higher question and these paragraphs can easily be tweaked into other questions- character, theme etc. The powerpoint takes the class through different settings with hints of analysis that can be used. It encourages pupils to find their own quotes and gives PEAR paragraph examples. I’ve also included a Key Quote booklet for help, and a list of popular previous essay questions that work for Gatsby. After this, I’ve added a Character question on Complex character whom you feel sympathy for- and detailed slides to help my class who were struggling. This is for when you have finished the whole novel.