Did Derek Bentley deserve to be hanged?

This lesson is a 27-slide PowerPoint which begins by asking students to place various methods of execution into chronological order, from ancient beheadings to modern lethal injections. Then, students are invited to read two opposing viewpoints on Derek Bentley’s death, to be revisited later in the plenary. Graduated lesson aims are introduced (all will/most will/some will), along with background information for the teacher’s exposition. In the main task, students divide 18 pieces of evidence from the card sort (there is a color-coded version too if needed) into two columns: things that suggest he deserved to be hanged and things that suggest this was a miscarriage of justice. This leads to a class discussion and a written task, utilizing evidence maps. The lesson concludes with a plenary, featuring links to the death scene from the movie ‘Let Him Have It’ and a song entitled ‘The Ballad of Derek Bentley’, prompting students to vote on which earlier viewpoint they agree with.

This is obviously a delicate and sensitive subject, and I hope this fully-resourced lesson helps you achieve this with your high-achieving Key Stage 4 high school students, written in UK English.