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Ruth Messenger's Shop

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I've been teaching history for four years, and I aim to provide lessons that are ready to go with minimal tweaking just to personalise the resource to your class and their prior learning. I'm a big fan of paired discussion, group work, debates, living graphs and hot seating, and I provide a variety of tasks in each lesson to ensure learning happens at a pace and that all learning styles are catered for. All feedback gratefully received.

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I've been teaching history for four years, and I aim to provide lessons that are ready to go with minimal tweaking just to personalise the resource to your class and their prior learning. I'm a big fan of paired discussion, group work, debates, living graphs and hot seating, and I provide a variety of tasks in each lesson to ensure learning happens at a pace and that all learning styles are catered for. All feedback gratefully received.
Structuring an essay on why confidence in the US government declined from 1968-1980
ruthmessengerruthmessenger

Structuring an essay on why confidence in the US government declined from 1968-1980

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This needs to be included in a scheme of work on American politics during this period as it helps structure an essay, but it doesn't provide new knowledge on content. The lesson is focused on how to pick out themes and structure an essay at A Level. Students come up with their themes as a class, but suggestions are made in the lesson, students assess a model paragraph to find the evidence and analysis present. Students structure their own paragraphs around the model paragraph structure. The question this lesson considers is “The Vietnam War was the main reason the American public lost confidence in their President between the years 1968 and 1980” How far do you agree? This lesson was designed to be part of a Scheme of Work on Edexcel AS/A Level history Paper 1, Option F: The American Dream
Why did confidence in the US government decline between 1968 and 1980?
ruthmessengerruthmessenger

Why did confidence in the US government decline between 1968 and 1980?

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You need a specific textbook to use this resource - if you download this without it, you will have to spend time pulling alternative resources together. Lesson Outcomes: ALL Will be able to describe at least two reasons why confidence in the President declined MOST Will be able to assess which factor was most damaging SOME will be able to link the factors Lesson includes source analysis, independent research and structured explanations.
Was McCarthyism a threat to the US government?
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Was McCarthyism a threat to the US government?

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ALL Will be able to describe the key features of McCarthyism MOST Will be able to explain how this impacted on American politics and culture SOME Will be able to use detailed evidence to analyse the threat posed by McCarthyism to the American government Self contained lesson with all resources contained, differentiated questions and a homework paragraph structure.
Supreme Court challenges to the New Deal; Did Roosevelt overstep his Power as President?
ruthmessengerruthmessenger

Supreme Court challenges to the New Deal; Did Roosevelt overstep his Power as President?

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This lesson is designed to be used with Access to History:‘Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1980-1954 by Peter Clements, but could be used with another resource if your resource is: * of A level complexity or above (lesson skill focus is finding information in text) * details the Supreme Court challenges made against the New Deal * is no longer than 2 sides of A4 The skill focus is on finding information in text with a view to increasing student confidence in using the textbook and other more complex sources more independently. Tasks include 'skim it/scan it/scope it out' exercise, rephrasing complex concepts into student own words to improve comprehension, and differentiated tasks as per Blooms. Students will also be fully informed about Supreme Court challenges to the New Deal and able to analyse the changing relationships within the US Federal government.
How did Roosevelt's Presidential Style differ from his predecessors?
ruthmessengerruthmessenger

How did Roosevelt's Presidential Style differ from his predecessors?

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Students analyse change using continuum bars. will also need previous learning on previous Presidents (Wilson onwards) and a textbook to refer to on Roosevelt's presidency. The 'Edexcel Paper 1: Searching for rights and freedoms in the 20th century' is what I use. Tasks include: chronological placing of Presidents recall of previous facts learned about that President an examination of FDR from the textbook completing the worksheet on the continuum of change
How far did the New Deal change the Presidency?
ruthmessengerruthmessenger

How far did the New Deal change the Presidency?

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You need a textbook resource on the New Deal, or access to internet research for students to complete one of the tasks in this lesson. They just need basic information on the provisions of the new deal so they can summarise individual elements such as the NRA for each other. Learning Outcomes ALL Will be able to recall key facts about the New Deal MOST Will be able to explain how the New Deal helped the economy SOME Will be able to analyse the extent to which the New Deal altered the Presidency Lesson includes: Source analysis of a political cartoon Student paired research Student paired presentations individual students select evidence to support the point that the New Deal changed the Presidency in its relationship with Congress and business.
Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: Why didn't Hoover win the 1932 election?
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: Why didn't Hoover win the 1932 election?

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ALL Will be able to describe why Hoover didn’t win MOST Will be able to identify detailed and relevant material to support their points SOME Will be able to analyse the factors to show how they are connected This lesson includes differentiated questions on the values and promises of Franklin D Roosevelt compared with the disaster Presidency of Hoover. Students will either need the textbook for this, or another resource on the Bonus Army.
Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 10 Was the Great Depression Hoover's fault?
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 10 Was the Great Depression Hoover's fault?

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The Powerpoint contains images of Hoovervilles for students to see and for you to describe the effects of the Depression. The worksheet needs to be completed using the textbook. ALL Will be able to describe Hoover’s actions and the effects of the Great Depression MOST Will be able to explain Hoover’s limitations and the impact on public opinion of the Bonus Army SOME Will be able to predict the impact of Hoover’s actions on the former popularity of Republicanism.
Edexcel Paper 1: Option F LESSON 9 Boom and Bust
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Edexcel Paper 1: Option F LESSON 9 Boom and Bust

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If you are using this bundle and are looking for Lesson 8, it is the lesson entitled 'Red Scare'. Apologies this is not more clearly labelled. I'm uploading this lesson for free because the bulk of the lesson I taught on it was me drawing a flow diagram of the wall street crash and students making their own diagrams. There is a good clip though with a summary attached. ALL will understand that the Wall Street Crash resulted from the boom years of the 1920s, will also be able to describe the effects of the WSC MOST Will understand the relationship between the boom and the bust and explain the effects of the WSC SOME Will be able to analyse aspects of both the boom and bust to identify where ideas of isolationism and laissez-faire had contributed to the crisis.
Edexcel Paper 1, Option F - LESSON 6 What was the Appeal of Republicanism between 1921 and 1929?
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F - LESSON 6 What was the Appeal of Republicanism between 1921 and 1929?

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This follows on from lesson 5 which introduces students to the ideas of isolationism, normalcy and rugged individualism. It aims to achieve these outcomes: ALL will be able to explain why the American public admired Republican ideas at this time. MOST will be able to relate these to ideas of ‘normalcy’,’isolationism’ and ‘rugged individualism and explain how the three Republican presidents used these ideas. SOME Will be able to support their answer on the appeal of Republicanism with context from the 1920’s. The lesson includes a clip with questions for students to discuss, a colour coding card sort activity, a paragraph which they use to highlight evidence, a homework sheet on Harding and Coolidge and a worksheet to focus the lesson activities.
Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 5 The impact of WW1 on US politics - isolationism and normalcy
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 5 The impact of WW1 on US politics - isolationism and normalcy

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ALL will be able to define these ideals and identify their appeal MOST will be able to explain how these ideas would affect politics SOME will be able to analyse the impact of these ideas on American politics This lesson explores how the First World War affected people in the US and includes lots of precise, detailed information for students to use in their essays. I use the term 'fantastatistics' for this kind of evidence (fantastic statistics) and this term is used in the PowerPoint. There is a task which follows on from the homework set in L4 to find out the definitions of 'isolationism' and 'normalcy', but you can allocate 5 mins to this in class if you are using this as a standalone lesson. The lesson asks students to imagine what kind of measures politicians would have to implement in order to return to a pre war country, and this should give students a handle on normalcy and what the US voters were looking for. The lesson also looks at isolationism and rugged individualism and students complete a venn diagram to see where these ideas overlap. This was a really successful exercise for my students who are now really comfortable with these political ideas. NB You will need the edexcel textbook to support this lesson, although if you have an alternate textbook I'm sure you could locate the information elsewhere.
Edexcel  Paper 1, Option F: In search of the American Dream LESSON 2 What is the American Dream?
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: In search of the American Dream LESSON 2 What is the American Dream?

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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: In search of the American Dream LESSON 2 What is the American Dream? Follow on from the intro lesson, this lesson uses the homework students were set in the first lesson as a task in this lesson. You could just print off some articles about the US in the news though and students could use those instead. - Students identify themes in the news articles - definitions of the American dream used and discussed as a basis for finding a class definition
Edexcel A Level Paper 1 Option F: In search of the American Dream: the USA 1917-1996 LESSON 1: Intro
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Edexcel A Level Paper 1 Option F: In search of the American Dream: the USA 1917-1996 LESSON 1: Intro

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Edexcel A Level Paper 1 Option F: In search of the American Dream: the USA 1917-1996 This lesson is an introduction to the course, it gives the teacher an idea of what students already know about the USA and gives a snapshot of what the USA is like at the moment. There are also slides on the structure of the US government, but I usually give my own description with the slides as illustrations. - Students name US states - Students use own tech and existing knowledge to answer general knowledge questions - homework which asks students to find an existing article about the USA today - slides on structure of government
Crime and Punishment - What was the Role of the Church in Medieval Law Enforcement?
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Crime and Punishment - What was the Role of the Church in Medieval Law Enforcement?

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Designed to be used for GCSE Crime and Punishment either Edexcel or OCR, you will need a textbook to support learning from this lesson as students will be prompted to find out information for themselves. This PowerPoint is essentially a focal point for the lesson, it covers Thomas Beckett and Benefit of the Clergy, Church Courts and moral crimes. It covers the following Learning Objectives: ALL will be able to describe how the Church affected law and order in Medieval England MOST will be able to used precise historical detail to describe the role of the church SOME will be able to evaluate who had more power over law and order; the church or the King.
Crime and Punishment - What was the role of the King in Medieval Law Enforcement?
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Crime and Punishment - What was the role of the King in Medieval Law Enforcement?

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This lesson looks particularly at Henry II and the changes he made in 1154. It includes a clip, a sock matching exercise and an alternative exercise if you prefer to keep your students seated. It includes a structured written exercise and a plenary. Learning objectives are: ALL will be able to describe how the King affected law and order in Medieval England MOST will be able to used precise historical detail to describe the changes the King brought SOME will be able to explain how much things change. All resources are included, no textbook needed. Questions are differentiated into traffic light colours.
Crime and Punishment - How did Crime change under Norman rule?
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Crime and Punishment - How did Crime change under Norman rule?

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Designed to follow on from a study of crime and punishment in the Saxon period, students will also need prior knowledge of the basics of the Norman conquest (they need to know it was a violent and foreign occupation). This lesson is designed primarily for the GCSE Edexcel depth study 'Crime and Punishment' and is updated for the brand new 2018 GCSE. This PowerPoint includes information and tasks with ideas for group work and differentiation included. It also includes a sample exam question on this topic with a suggestion for a writing frame. Although the textbook is not explicitly referred it, it may help students to have one to hand. The Edexcel textbook is ideal, but the OCR or SHP will work just as well. Lesson Objectives: ALL Will be able to describe new crimes MOST Will be able to explain how these new crimes were connected to the Norman Conquest SOME Will be able to identify change and continuity in crime from Saxon times