Students can achieve grade 7 and above just from reading this - they wouldn’t even have to read the novel! When they do, it will make so much more sense to them. They get a very clear summary, linked to lots of top grade interpretations, ready to simply fit into their essay writing.

This resource teaches students how to take even ordinary people they know and shape a story round them. Teach 7 techniques which guarantee a good story. It shows them how to structure what they know so that it has a beginning, a middle and an end. It illustrates how to craft the ending with a twist. It provides the full short story, as well as questions to help students realise how it is put together, so that they can plan and write their own. The story is also provided in Word form, so you can adapt it for your class, or annotate it with them, or print it for them.

Students struggle to create interesting plots and characters. This story and presentation shows students how to use a celebrity they know a bit about, and choose a moment of crisis in their lives. Yes, it covers all the usual techniques we all teach: alliteration, simile, metaphor, the senses, etc. But it also pays particular attention to: Repetition Allusion Powerful Verbs Contrast. Overdoing some techniques Minimising adjective and adverb use Showing the character's state of mind. Each paragraph has 3 explicit teaching points. You get two copies of the story - one as a Word document for you to customise or read. The other, in Word, to teach each of three explicit points for each paragraph.

Teach your students how to use the indicative content to write their revision essay. Then show them how to refine this to a grade 9 essay which can be done under exam conditions. Next teach them from the model. Show exactly how it meets all the exam criteria for AQA and Edexcel. Here is an extract:

A full analysis of the purpose and role of violence in the novel, and a grade 9 essay for your students to learn from or retain for the exam.

This complete scheme of work teaches students through: Lesson activities to develop the skills of reading and writing Examiners's advice as well as the criteria Links to demonstration videos Ways to improve spelling and punctuation Assessments Model answers of varying quality for students to assess and improve A teaching sequence to use and remember Rhetorical techniques A mnemonic to remember these techniques: AH!FASTERCROCH A PLC (Personal Learning Checklist)

Dickens is a master of his craft, but by God, you can tell he was paid by the word, can’t you? Never was a man so in love with a sentence, loaded with clauses, garnished with phrases and then, to add to the confusion, the main clause tagged on at the end. What 16 year old wouldn’t struggle? I’ve abridged this great novel down to 20,000 words, from 27,000. That’s a quarter less time to read it, and a quarter more time to teach the content. Better than that, it actually makes for a more entertaining read. The conversation feels much more natural, and has some real pace. You can easily have your students taking parts. And of course, none of the essential quotations are left out! Here is a sample:

Dickens is a master of his craft, but by God, you can tell he was paid by the word, can’t you? Never was a man so in love with a sentence, loaded with clauses, garnished with phrases and then, to add to the confusion, the main clause tagged on at the end. What 16 year old wouldn’t struggle? I’ve abridged this great novel down to 90,000 words, from 163,000! So each chapter can be read in 20 minutes or less. That’s a 45% reduction in reading time, which buys you an 45% more time to teach your analysis! Better than that, it actually makes for a more entertaining read. The conversation feels much more natural, and has some real pace. You can easily have your students taking parts. As a bonus, I’ve placed in bold the most important quotation in each chapter. This means your students should find it much easier to make notes, and you can find it easier to decide on key passages to approach in your teaching.