Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
A lesson designed for a flipped classroom approach. The content of the Word Document was put onto the class One Note with sources attached so that students could work through the lesson independently at their own pace. (Ideal for leaving as a cover or during school closures).
The resource includes:
The word document referred to above
A warm up where students receive the definitions for a range of Features of Evidence (used when analysing). They have to use their prior knowledge to match the definitions to the correct term.
A word document version of the History Skills explanation of Explicit vs Implicit meaning (in case the website link goes dead)
Questions for students to answer as they read chapter 14 of the 2015 Cambridge Textbook (see note below)
An explanation of the COMA acronym which can be used to interrogate visual sources and communicate your findings
Please note: your school will need access to the following textbook in order to complete one of the activities - Sowdon, T. (2015). Analysing the Chinese Revolution. [2nd e.d.]. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The end of term assessment for this unit was an Independent Source Investigation.
The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the China (1931-1976). The other resources are also available in my store – Aussie_Resources.
A PowerPoint used during the assessment phase of the unit. It begins by explaining what a rationale is and then provides a suggested structure (based on the QCAA exemplar). I have then colour coded and annotated the rationale from the QCAA exemplar to demonstrate the language features and key content. As a key component of the rationale is a tentative thesis statement (aka hypothesis), the PPT then shows how to write a tentative hypothesis and provides some good and bad ones for students to consider. Finally, the students have time to write their first draft of the rationale.
There is also a word document with sentence starters and a handout with 3 example rationales for students to annotate.
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The end of term assessment for this unit was an Independent Source Investigation.
The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the China (1931-1976). The other resources are also available in my store – Aussie_Resources.
A PowerPoint used during assessment phase of the unit (when students are completing a historical inquiry). It begins with information about how to do a BOOLEAN search. This is followed by a list of good places to look for sources online as well as a list of sources I don’t want to see. There is a recommended research process with tips and suggested word counts. This is followed by what information student should put into their IA2 source analysis tables (a reminder of the Features of Evidence which should be noted is provided via the CAMPORUM acronym). Finally, there are examples of what goes on the left and right side of the table.
An introduction to the topic that students were being assessed on in this particular unit: Eugenics in Nazi Germany. Other relevant terms that were explained in this lesson include euthanasia, hereditary, Aryan, Ubermensch, Untermensch
The lesson began by defining eugenics and sources of this ideology. Notes that students were to copy were underlined.
Information (historical context) was provided about the places that this happened in the world during the 20th Century. Specific examples of what happened in the USA (Indiana and Chicago) based on information sourced from a reputable journal article.
This was followed by some slides looking at how Social Darwinism was used to justify practicing eugenics. From here, I explored what transpired in Germany and how Jewish people became victims. There are slides explaining the Nazi party’s platform and how Jewish people were used as scapegoats to blame for Germany’s manifold problems.
A screen shot from a textbook which summarises major anti-Jewish laws that were introduced between 1933-1939. The subsequent slides provided information about specific laws including the 1933 “German Law on Hereditary Disease” and the 1935 “Marriage Health Law.”
This is followed by information about 2 key eugenicists / scientists in this era: Dr Ernst Rudin and Dr Josef Mengele. Students will learn about their motives and intentions + their actions (progression from eugenic theory > compulsory sterilization > to the killing of mentally ill patients + experimenting on twins).
For homework, students were given a list of scientists from this era. They chose one to research and had to create a poster to communicate their findings to the class.
A PowerPoint designed to teach students how to write an essay under exam conditions in response to historical sources. (In Queensland this is done once a year and students are given half of their sources one week before the exam, the remainder are unseen sources. The question is unseen until the assessment date.) The lesson will help build student assessment literacy as they become familiar with the criteria which they will be assessed with.
The lesson begins with tips for how to write a thesis statement (aka historical argument / hypothesis). Students are shown an example introduction (from QCAA’s sample IA1) and they must identify the thesis statement.
Students are then shown the example question used by the QCAA. As a class we discuss what we believe the task statement is asking the student to do. We unpack the words ‘to what extent.’ The PPT then goes through each of the criteria one at a time. The syllabus definition is provided along with what is required to get top marks. On the next slides this is followed by a look at a body paragraph which has been written with the criteria in mind (words which demonstrate this skill are highlighted). Sometimes an additional example from the subject report (these have been written by actual students.) This is followed by tips for engaging with sources, preparing for the exam etc. A recommended structure is provided for the introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion is also provided.
A lesson designed to provide students with an understanding of events between the Warlord era (1916) to the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party.
The lesson includes definitions for terms including Kuomintang/Guomindang, Communism (which students need to add to their glossary)
Information is provided about the diverse nature of warlords. The impact of the Treaty of Versailles meeting in 1919 (and the decision not to return the Shandong province to China) is briefly mentioned. This leads to an exploration of the May Fourth Movement, the New Culture Movement and the Guomindang (Nationalist party). Sun Yat-Sen’s 3 guiding ideological principles are shown. Information is provided about how he was inspired by the 1917 Marxist revolution in Russia. Information about how Marx’s theory had to be modified to fit China’s situation (is provided). This is followed by details about how the CCP formed (with the help of a Comintern Agent) in 1921. A brief bio of the following figure is provided for students to copy down (Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kai-Shek). Why the CCP initially allied itself with the Nationalist party and how this relationship became fractured. A brief bio of Mao Zedong / Mao Tse-Tung is introduced.
**Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The end of term assessment for this unit was an Independent Source Investigation.
The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the China (1931-1976). The other resources are also available in my store – Aussie_Resources.**
The lesson begins with an overview of the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria. This is followed by a competitive Google challenge where two teams must race to Google the dates for key events displayed on the board. Students have to then record their homework (a research task) in their diaries.
A recap of what we have previously learned is provided. This is followed by a 22 minute YouTube viewing activity (Mao Zedong: The Chairman of Communist China).There are some notes about Mao’s ideologies for students to record in their books. There is also information about the conflicts which arose between Mao and the CCP’s Russian-oriented Central Committee (The Politburo). There is a 4 minute video about The Long March. A visual map of the routes they took, along with information about the weather and conditions, is provided. Historical interpretations of this march are displayed for students to read and discuss.
This is followed by information about The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and how this eventually led to the CCP achieving victory and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October 1949.
The lesson ends with an examination of Mao’s first Five Year Plan.
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The end of term assessment for this unit was an Independent Source Investigation.
The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the China (1931-1976). The other resources are also available in my store – Aussie_Resources.
A great resource for revisiting punctuation basics with high school students. This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities.
This document introduces students to the three major uses of the apostrophe: to make words possessive, to make contractions and to make odd plurals. Each section includes a range of activities for students to apply what they have learned (short response and some multiple choice questions taken from past NAPLAN tests).
It also includes some follow up activities that can be set for homework.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
A PowerPoint designed to inform students about the additional protections provided to parents in the workforce. It begins with a warm up - a paragraph writing activity about unions and how they support workers. A key term - what constitutes a ‘workplace’ followed by a checking for understanding activity. A review of term ‘workplace rights’ and a list of rights you should have at work. Sources of employment rights and obligations - a workplace rights pyramid. An overview of the communication skills students need for their exam and the key topics (content) students need to know. How to answer a short response question (using the RAF acronym). This is followed by a scenario reading activity (involving a pregnant employee) and students have a chance to practice using RAF to offer their interpretation of the case in a concise way. Before students read the scenario, I give an explanation of the cognitive verb ‘interpret’ and some clever connectives which can be used when interpreting and students view a clip explaining redundancy. Students read the case study and complete a graphic organiser (answers provided on subsequent slides). They then write a TEEL paragraph in response to a question similar to one they will encounter in their exam. Afterwards we look at other rights for women in the workplace (around breastfeeding and pregnancy). To conclude this lesson we go through a list of ‘I Can’ statements which break down the criteria into simple terms for students to understand.
Two word documents of sentence starters to help students to write their essay about identity theft / financial fraud.
Sentence starters for QCIA students on a modified program (organised for each paragraph of the essay - cloze passages)
Sentence starters grouped by cognitive verb (helping to build student assessment literacy - they need to work out which sentence starter option works best for their needs)
Two exemplar essays which can be deconstructed with the class to discuss their pro’s and con’s
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
An explicit scaffolding lesson to help students to begin writing their essay about identity theft / financial fraud. I always encourage students to write their body paragraphs before writing their introduction but make sure they have a clear idea of what their thesis statement (overall argument) will be so they can link to this in their body paragraphs.
This is for a low literacy class so it assumes they are mostly unfamiliar with the genre. It explains what a thesis statement is and has prompts for how to write one.It provides specific advice about criteria 2.3 (which requires students to make a decision and justify it) as this decision / recommendation will naturally influence their thesis.
It specifically unpacks the term ‘recommend’ and provides some sentence starters for recommending. There is a gradual release slide where there is an I do, we do and you do for making recommendations about an unrelated topic. This is followed by a brain break video about catfishing a teen using social media. After students make a decision for their assessment topic and draft their thesis, this is followed by a review of TEEL paragraph structure. Finally, time is provided for them to begin writing body paragraph 1 (utilising teacher prompts on the slides).
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
A PPT designed to introduce the class to employer rights and responsibilities. It begins with a cloze passage getting students to define workplace rights. This is followed by a brainstorm activity to get them thinking about what characteristics make a good employer / boss / manager. A list of employer responsibilities from the Legal Studies textbook are provided followed by a TEEL paragraph writing activity and a ranking activity. Students view a clip about how to address being treated unfairly at work. It concludes with a paragraph writing activity about their own career direction.
A homework sheet with three scenarios for students to read and respond to. They need to complete a graphic organiser listing the workplace violations and making recommendations to the employees about what they should do.
A lesson designed to teach students the skills that they need to complete their inquiry booklet. This lesson focuses on teaching students how to evaluate whether a source is reliable and worth quoting in their essay. It also practices the skill of drawing key points from sources like web pages and news articles.
A PowerPoint which introduces students to the cognitive verb ‘evaluate’ and gives them an opportunity to practice evaluating sources provided by the teacher. It includes an explanation of the graphic organiser students need to complete in their inquiry booklet. There is an explanation of how to evaluate to meet criteria 2.1 to a C standard and to an A standard. Then they read an article about Social media and try to work out which points are most important. I have modelled answers on the slide as a way of talking through my decision making process. I also have included my answers to the graphic organiser. This is followed by a ‘brain break’ (interesting video) after which students read another article and do the evaluation independently or in pairs. There are additional activities at the end of the slide for if the students progress through this more quickly than expected.
A handout which contains the two articles referred to in the PowerPoint.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
A PowerPoint for the first lesson of the term. It begins with students completing a KWL chart about the Vietnam War. Students are given a homework task (to create a timeline of key events). The slides go through some of the key features of a timeline to ensure students know what to include. Information is provided about the assessment task and an example Inquiry Question from a past student is provided as an example. This is followed by a mapping activity (to familiarise students with key place names and features e.g. rivers, the demilitarised zone, military bases). After the key term activity students have time to add to the L section of the KWL chart. The lesson concludes with some important dates for the term.
A handout for the first lesson of the term. It begins with a mapping activity (an outline of Vietnam at the time and the division between North and South has been provided with the key places covered up with text boxes for the students to label after consulting an Atlas). There are 10 prompts to assist students to complete this. This is followed by a list of key terms on post it notes. Students need to match the terms to definitions in the table below and think of synonyms if they can.
**NB: Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the Vietnamese Independence Movement (1945-1975). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. The end of term assessment for this unit was an essay.
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A PowerPoint designed to be delivered at the end of a term to introduce the next topic (Vietnamese Independence Movement). It outlines the key question and five sub questions, provides brief information about the assessment task & summarises the learning intentions and success criteria for the unit. It also includes information about Cornell note taking (a style that students will use in the next lesson which will be run like a university lecture.)
A worksheet designed to be used alongside the documentary Vietnam and the War (2015) – available at https://clickv.ie/w/0iwn. It includes 30 questions which I wrote as I watched the documentary (so they can be answered chronologically).
NB: Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the Vietnamese Independence Movement (1945-1975). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. The end of term assessment for this unit was an essay.
The beginning of the PowerPoint is a handout of the IA3 task for 11 Modern History (a 1500-2000 word historical essay based on research). It includes a suggested word count breakdown for the various sections of their essay. There is information about what is and is not counted in the total word count. This is followed by an exemplar written by a previous student (not perfect by any means but with a lot of potential). Students are to read the introduction and make note of the strengths, weaknesses and how it could be improved. One lengthy body paragraph is provided which students can evaluate and check against the TEEASC structure. This is followed by a recap of tips for writing a conclusion and the student’s sample conclusion (very brief). A better conclusion from the QCAA is provided as a point of contrast. NB: to avoid plagiarism, printed copies of the exemplar should not be given to students.
This is followed by explicit teaching on how to write a hypothesis (something that students must complete for homework and submit as an assessment checkpoint). It explains what a hypothesis is and includes an example from the historyskills.com website and other examples. There is a slide with an example vs non example to provide clarity to students. This is followed by information about how to test their hypothesis and fine-tune their argument. An example graphic organiser is provided to show how you then build from the final hypothesis to write your essay (showing how a writer dot pointed their ideas and evidence to justify each element of their hypothesis). This is followed by an example intro for students to read and identify where the thesis was featured.
**NB: Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the Vietnamese Independence Movement (1945-1975). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. The end of term assessment for this unit was an essay.
**
This lesson utilises an Inquiry Based Learning approach. Previously students have learned how to use BOOLEAN search methods to research historical terms, concepts and issues. The attached handout has a list of topics for students to research – I had a class of 11 so each student had two topics. However, this could be modified so each student only has one topic and they do it in more depth. The graphic organiser was placed on the class one note (an interactive document) so students could all add to it at the same time. Within the 70 minute lesson they needed to find reliable sources to answer their question – keeping the links, summarising the info into dot points and keeping key quotes to utilise as evidence in their TEEL paragraph. Once finished, they needed to write a TEEL paragraph synthesising what they learned from the sources they found.
Students can read the paragraphs written by their peers and gain a quick insight into a variety of topics connected to the quest for Vietnam’s Independence. This should allow them to find something that interests them that they may be able to use as inspiration for their essay based on research.
NB: Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the Vietnamese Independence Movement (1945-1975). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. The end of term assessment for this unit was an essay.
Two resources: a PowerPoint presentation and a lesson plan designed for use in a year 11 Modern History class. Within this lesson I revisited the historical concept of ‘empathy’ through the use of passages from a biography about Phan Thi Kim Phuc (who was caught in a NAPALM attack in 1972). By engaging with biographical sources I hoped to contextualize the experiences of those who lived in the past and to also encourage students to consider how historical conditions shaped the perspectives and decision-making of people who lived in Vietnam from 1945-1975. Lastly, I wanted them to be able to evaluate the relevance and reliability of biographical sources as they may come across these in their own research for their historical essay.
This PowerPoint includes a warm up (quick quiz) to settle students and to discern their prior knowledge. This is followed by some answer slides which include an explanation of why empathising is an important skill for historians. Afterwards there is a viewing activity to introduce students to the subject for today’s lesson and the infamous photograph taken of her. This video is used to broach a discussion about ‘perspective’ and what factors can shape a person’s perspective.
Subsequently, the differences between biography and autobiography are included on a slide side-by-side for comparison. This is useful for determining the level of reliability and usefulness of these two genres.
Following this, there are some dot points about the biography ‘The Girl in The Picture’ written by Denise Chong. There is information to establish what life was like for Kim Phuc’s family and how their life was impacted by the Vietnam War. There is an extract about her mother’s encounters with the Viet Cong on her way to and from work. These extracts show how civilians were impacted by the war and include descriptions of the modus operandi of the Viet Cong (a group which students may wish to research for their assessment). After reading the source and asking students what stood out to them from the passage, we talk about whether this source could be utilised in the assessment.
Students are asked to consider to what extent is it ‘useful’ and ‘reliable’. To help students learn how to articulate an evaluation, they are introduced to the terms ‘subjective’ and ‘objective.’ They are also provided with some information about the author Denise Chong and her writing process. This can help students make a more educated assessment of the source’s reliability.
This is followed by a discussion of how a historian might corroborate the information found in this source. A third extract (showing the photographer’s perspective) is provided as a point of contrast. This passage is useful for discussing writing techniques used as these are a means of evaluating source reliability (e.g. neutral vs persuasive, facts vs opinions).
A brochure template for students to use to create their brochure. It features instructions about what students need to add.
A series of example brochures which can be evaluated (pros and cons). The template file requires Microsoft Publisher to open.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - Aussie_Resources. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons. The end of term assessment for this unit was a 90 minute short response examination.
A PowerPoint for an assessment literacy lesson where students learn more about their upcoming exam including word limits and the communication skills needed for the exam. Students are given a copy of the ‘I can’ statements which shows what an A, B & C looks like for each of the criteria. This is followed by focused teaching around Criteria 1.1 (how to write thorough definitions). This begins with explaining what a definition is and what makes a good definition. It also unpacks what makes a definition bad. Then a sample definition for ‘Gender Identity’ is provided using the four quadrant method (modelled response). Students are informed they will complete their own definition for ‘domestic’ at the end of the lesson after viewing a range of informative videos about this issue.
‘I can’ statements handout which breaks down the criteria into simple terms for students to understand (also assists teachers to mark the assessment with ease)