I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
The aim of this lesson is for the students to assess how ‘great’ King Alfred was.
Students are given the context to Alfred’s reign with his attempt to unite the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to fight back against the Vikings and their area known as Danelaw.
There are quite a few key words used in this lesson, so students have to complete a heads and tails task.
They are also required to complete a missing word activity as well as analysing his statue at Winchester.
The main task will be judge and rate out of ten which of the sixteen statements make Alfred ‘great’ or not. An extended writing activity will allow them to make judgements and justify their decisions.
There is also chance to complete a verbal boxing debate using some of the key ideas of his rule from the lesson.
The plenary will check understanding with a truth or lie activity.
This lesson is also excellent as an introduction to studying the Anglo-Saxons and Normans for GCSE.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
Rise of the Dictators
This lesson aims to challenge preconceptions and assumptions that Hitler was a monster from birth, determined to commit mass murder and genocide.
Growing up with his parents, his schooling, his move to Vienna and his life as a soldier are scrutinised as students have many opportunities to make judgements which are ultimately challenged at the end.
The lesson starts with finding out what the students know about Germany after World War 1 and which statements Hitler could have said or supported during his life.
The lesson includes a lot of visual evidence (such as Hitler’s propaganda posters) and well as video evidence of his life as a young boy.
There is a differentiated research activity in which there is a chance for students to conduct their own independent investigations before reporting their final conclusions to the class.
This lesson would also be ideal for a non specialist or as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills, teaching the interwar years or World War 2 at Key Stage 4.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to assess if Henry broke with Rome for love.
Henry VIII is on the TV show ‘Take me out’ with Paddy McGuiness.
He is looking for love and has some questions for some eligible ladies.
The students of course have to interview the ladies first (as Paddy always does) and then feedback to the class.
Henry, complete with speaking voice, discusses his options and the reasons for his choices. At the same time he explains the consequences of his actions as the students fill in a grid.
This is a fun, engaging lesson, but with the serious and challenging concept of the break with Rome at the fore.
At the end of the lesson, students have to write an extended paragraph using key words to explaining the reasons for Henry becoming the Supreme Head of the Church.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to decide why an audacious plot was hatched against James 1 and why might the plotters themselves be framed by the Government itself.
This lesson is therefore split into two.
The first half examines the men and their roles in the infamous plot to blow up the King in 1605. Students are introduced through talking heads to Guy Fawkes and King James.
They also study sources from the time, including Robert Cecil’s account of the plot and analyse the words trying to make inferences between fact and fiction. A model answer is provided to aid their analytical skills.
Furthermore they will evaluate the causes and consequences of the plot and its significance today.
The second part of the lesson will require the interpretation of a number of sources to decide if the plotters were actually framed by Cecil and the government who allegedly knew about the plot all along and actively encouraged it.
Students have to decide for themselves before reaching a judgement using key words to aid them. This is excellent groundwork for source analysis they will later tackle at GCSE.
The plenary is to talk like an historian answering key questions using information from the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Suffragettes
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate how far women in Britain have gained equal rights.
From the Representation of the People’s Act in 1918, to the 1928 Act giving all women the right to vote at 21, has this meant women are now on an equal footing to men?
Unfortunately as the given adverts (both on tv and posters) suggest, there is still a long way to go.
Laws have been introduced since the war to give women more freedoms and rights; students have to decide if these changes have affected their home life, their personal life or their work life or do they interlink all together?
However, whilst some brilliant BBC footage show the changes women have undergone, students analyse recent figures which show the gender pay gap and the differences between part and full time work to prove the gap is still clearly significant and falls short of equality.
Their final task is to therefore answer the main aim of the lesson and decide how far women have gained equal rights in Britain, with a focus on the extent of change.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present
The aim of the lesson is for students to understand how attitudes towards Public Health finally changed in the Twentieth Century with a ‘new liberalism’ approach which recognised that being poor was not always the fault of the poor and that the government had to do something.
Students begin by analysing the source, 'unqualified assistance’, evaluating its significance and then prioritising the main reasons for this new approach, as the Government reforms aimed to create a fitter and healthier Britain.
Students have to fill in a grid which link the main reforms to the different groups in society and also evaluate the limitations of the reforms.
The plenary focuses on a scrabble game and literacy skills to recap the learning of the lesson
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745.
I have designed the lessons to be challenging and engaging as well as fun and enjoyable.
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand how peoples’ lives were shaped by the Tudors from Henry VII to Mary I, how they changed the course of British history and why we are still fascinated by their lives today.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout; for example, the concepts of continuity and change under Henry VII after the Wars of the Roses, recognising the causes and consequences of Henry’s break with Rome, explaining the similarities and differences in the reigns of the Tudors, analysing the significance of the Black Tudors and Edward VI as well as evaluating sources and interpretations, such as the reputation of Mary 1.
The 12 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 The War of the Roses
L2 An introduction to the Tudors (free lesson)
L3 Henry VII
L4 Henry VIII introduction
L5 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for love?
L6 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for faith?
L7 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for money?
L8 The dissolution of the monasteries
L9 The sinking of the Mary Rose
L10 Edward VI
L11 Bloody Mary
L12 Black Tudors
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and debate from the BBC and other sources.
The lessons are fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit. I have included a free lesson to give an idea of what is being offered.
Although this bundle is aimed at Key Stage 3, it is ideal if you are studying the Tudors for GCSE as it covers the main themes, concepts and skills required.
With the National Curriculum in mind, I have created a set of resources for ‘the challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day’ which focus on the First World War and the Peace Settlement.
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand how frightening World War 1 was from its inception with the alliance system and the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand to the battlefields on the Western Front and how industrialisation changed the fighting into a static war of attrition.
I have created , readapted and used these lessons to challenge and engage students, but also to show how much fun learning about this part of history really is.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout such as the continuity and change in the recruitment of men for Kitchener’s army, the causes of the war and the consequences which followed, the similarities and differences of the weapons used on the battlefields, the significance of women on the Home Front and Empire soldiers in the trenches and interpretations about whether it is fair to call Field Marshall Haig as the ‘Butcher of the Somme.’
Each lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and debate from the BBC and other sources. The lessons are fully adaptable and can be changed to suit.
The 14 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 The long term causes of WWI
L2 The short term causes of WWI
L3 Recruitment in WWI
L4 Why build trenches?
L5 Was life in the trenches all bad?
L6 Is it fair to call Haig ‘the Butcher of the Somme’?
L7 Cowardice in WWI
L8 War in the Air
L9 Weapons of WWI
L10 The role of women in WWI
L11 Conscientious Objectors
L12 The end of WWI and the Armistice
L13 The Treaty of Versailles
L14 Empire Soldiers
Key Word Literacy Display included
All the resources come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The lessons also include differentiated materials and suggested teaching strategies.
I have created a set of resources for ‘the challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day’ which focus on Civil Rights in America.
The aims of this bundle are to understand how black people were treated in the USA in the Twentieth Century and how they began to fight for their civil rights.
I have created, readapted and used these lessons to challenge and engage students, but also to show how much fun learning about this part of history really is.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout such as the continuity and change in the rights of black people in the USA, the causes consequences of the Civil Rights movement which followed, the similarities and differences of the tactics used, the significance of key figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and various interpretations about how far black people have achieved equality today.
Each lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and debate from the BBC and other sources.
The lessons are fully adaptable and can be changed to suit.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Abraham Lincoln
L2 Jim Crow Laws
L3 Little Rock Nine
L4 Emmett Till
L5 Rosa Parks
L6 Protesting
L7 Martin Luther King
L8 Malcolm X
L9 Ku Klux Klan
L10 Jesse Owens
L10 Civil Rights in America today
L12 Black people in the American Civil War (bonus lesson)
The aim of this lesson is for students to question and evaluate different interpretations in history.
Students have to analyse various explanations and viewpoints of Richard the Lionheart from his statue outside the Houses of Parliament, to modern day films and the views of historians.
As sentiment might overrule reality, they are ‘led’ to conclude he is a King of outstanding repute.
They are then given details of the context of his reign and are shocked to discover his real temperament, brutal nature and even the fact that he didn’t speak English!
Students finally re-evaluate their original judgements and justify which of the interpretation is now the more realistic one.
They will continue to plot the power struggle between the king, the church, the barons and the people in a sequence of lessons.
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Links to video footage
Printable worksheets
Differentiated tasks
Suggested teaching strategies
Homework ideas
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
American Civil RIghts
This lesson aims to explain how black people in America voiced their protests against their lack of Civil Rights in the 1950s and early 1960’s.
Students are introduced to the various forms of protest they used which they have to research and ultimately decide how effective each form of protest was, from music to sits ins, to marches and changing the law for example.
There are quite a few links to video footage at the time to reinforce the learning.
Students use the key words at the end of the lesson to summarise their new found knowledge.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to discover why the Elizabethan Poor Law was introduced and to assess its impact on Elizabethan society and beyond.
Students first of all have to analyse the causes of poverty and prioritise which has been the main reason for its increase whether that be the actions of local landowners and Henry VIII in his break with Rome or the debasement of the coinage.
They are also required to write to the local landowner, using suggested key argument words, to express their sympathy for the poor which was in sort supply in the Elizabethan era.
As well as source analysis, students learn the so called tricks of the trade for begging and how Tudor propaganda shaped these negative views of the poor.
Students subsequently have to assess the details of the new Elizabethan Poor Law, the reasons for a change in attitude towards the poor and assess its significance and impact upon society as a whole.
The final task is to talk like an historian and answer the questions in a quiz picking up points for the harder questions.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
The aim of this lesson is to explore the consequences of the Battle of Little Big Horn as public perceptions of the Plains Indians changed from weak savages to a real threat.
Students are introduced to General Custer before analysing some text on the causes of the Battle and his subsequent defeat. For further challenge, they are then given some fragments of sentences which they have to fill out and complete.
They are also required use key words to evaluate the consequences of the battle and recognise a new direction of policy for the US Government when dealing with the Plains Indians.
The plenary is to create a brewing pot of ingredients which led to Custer’s last stand and defeat.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice is also included to recall the significance of treaties.
It comes in Powerpoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the reasons behind Hitler’s invasion of Poland and to evaluate if his actions were justified.
Within this lesson, students learn about Blitzkrieg, making comparisons with the static and attritional First World War and understanding how the German Army had learnt from their previous mistakes.
Students have to also complete a thinking quilt to test their comprehension and literacy skills as it requires them to explain and justify these initial German successes in 1939 and 1940.
The plenary finally asks the students to predict what is about to happen in the future through conjecture and formulation their opinions using the information from the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
This lesson aims to explore the reasons why the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the effect it had on Détente and international relations.
Students are given a quick Geography lesson before deciphering some text mapping to work out the events leading up to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
They are also required to complete some questions relating to the Carter Doctrine as a consequence of the invasion.
There is a colour coding activity to complete on the impact of the invasion as well as a true or false quiz on the deterioration of international relations.
The plenary uses statistics to get the students thinking about the human as well as the financial cost of the war.
There is some GCSE question practice to complete, with help given and a student friendly markscheme if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice.
It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The British Empire
The aim of this lesson is to discover how tough it was to colonise the New World for British settlers and why America fought for its independence from Britain.
The lesson begins with the Pilgrim Fathers and students discuss the reasons why they and many families began to settle in the New World.
Further analysis requires students to judge how tough it was to set up in America and the impact they made on the local communities they came into contact with. Having made their judgements, students can engage in an extended writing task with key words and a writing frame to use if required.
The second part the lesson analyses the reasons why the colonists became so angry with Britain and claiming no taxation without representation. Students are then required to give reasons as to why a war ensued and the significance of George Washington of the Declaration of Independence.
A true or false plenary focuses on the legacy of Britain’s Empire in America and its links to today.
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
The French Revolution
The aim of this lesson is to understand the significance of the Tennis Court Oath
Students are introduced to some key words before they analyse what tipped the French people over the edge. This includes some interactive slides explaining the rise in prices particularly with bread.
The main task is to complete some source scholarship on the Tennis Court Oath, as the events are broken down into sections, with some modelling of how to complete this task if required.
There are some key questions on the Tennis Court Oath to summarise, followed by a significance activity, where the students rate each significance by colour coding a thermometer and then justifying their answers and the choices they have made.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the success of Henry’s foreign policy after Wolsey from 1529-1547.
Students recap events leading up to the Battle of Pavia ands Charles V’s dominance in Europe.
They are introduced to Henry’s policy of defence during the divorce and his quest for further military glory afterwards.
They then analyse his policy towards France, Spain, Ireland, Scotland and the Holy Roman Empire and evaluate how successful Henry was in his pursuit of glory. They must be able to justify this with examples and details.
There is some exam practice to complete together with a writing frame, prompts and a markscheme to use if required.
There is an enquiry question during the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to assess the short and long term impact of the dissolution of the monasteries.
Students learn about the role monasteries played in English society and how they became a fundamental part of the break with Rome.
They are given the facts of the dissolution by numbers to help them evaluate the impact of the dissolution as well as the techniques Cromwell used to close them.
There are some great video links included as well as shocking revelations brought to light.
The plenary allows students to reflect on how various sections of society accepted or disputed the dissolution.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
The Industrial Revolution
This lesson aims to describe and explain the conditions of Victorian prisons through the eyes of a young person awaiting trial.
Students learn how a poor diet, pointless tasks and a payment system for every amenity meant a miserable existence for inmates.
So why did things begin to improve? How did key prison reformers change attitudes and make the government of the day reform the prisons?
These questions and more will explored through prose, quizzes, video links and knockout tournament competitions to see and judge how far the prison reforms went and how effective they were.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
