Ease the pain of comparing poetry. Developed using my skills as a professional poet and Lead Teacher in English with an emphasis on calming the nerves of students in Component 2 Section B AQA Literature exam. An A3 sheet that includes a framework built around a mnemonic comprehensively covering reading poetry skills. Differentiated so that the first parts of the mnemonic support lower grades to comment or allow higher grades to give a rapid overview. Moves through to the skills that help Grade 5 achieve - by exploring language closely - and ends by helping extend the achievement of grade 5+ by exploring poetry as a form that is highly structured, employs aural sensibility and enables exploration of how ideas develop over the course of the poem. Rich in terminology to help focus on AO2 in poetry. Methodical to use in class for practice and easy to remember in the examination as a framework.

Ease the pain of unseen poetry. Developed using my skills as a professional poet and Lead Teacher in English with an emphasis on calming the nerves of students in this ‘unseen = unknown’ part of the EDUQAS Literature exam. An A3 sheet that includes a framework built around a mnemonic comprehensively covering unseen poetry skills. Differentiated so that the first parts of the mnemonic support lower grades to comment or allow higher grades to give a rapid overview. Moves through to the skills that help Grade 5 achieve - by exploring language closely - and ends by helping extend the achievement of grade 5+ by exploring poetry as a form that is highly structured, employs aural sensibility and enables exploration of how ideas develop over the course of the poem. Rich in terminology to help support extension into AO2 from AO1 ideas. Methodical to use in class for practice and easy to remember in the examination as a framework.

An A3 framework grid students can use to explore extracts in class or learn the framework sequence to prepare for extract exploration in the actual examination. Gives lots of key terms as prompts as well as questions to stimulate responses to extract. Puts AO2 as the focus to allow for AO1 commentary. Has context and perspective reminders if they are relevant to your exam board.

Celebrate International Children’s Book Day 2nd April or teach students the history of children’s books in an engaging way then create a playful leaflet inspired by a villain. Best suited to Years 4-8. Draw on prior knowledge, have a giggle, re-frame existing knowledge, add knowledge to the understanding of this literary canon and create a very modern publicity leaflet in which a children’s book villain attempts to change the public’s perception of them. 28 PPT slides with lovely graphics, challenge, differentiation, support, numeracy and wit to amuse them! Would last at least two hour lessons to complete with the leaflet task.

A revision tool over four A3 sides on Helen Dunmore’s ‘My Polish Teacher’s Tie’ with several activities to encourage engagement with the revision content. Covers all the assessment objectives, main and minor characters, themes, modern perspectives, writer’s stylistics, writer’s purpose and relevant subject terminology. You need look no further! Has many low threshold - high ceiling ideas which are suited to those aiming for Grade 4 through to 9 but could be edited back to simpler ideas for grades below this.

Five ideas to help poetry writing to celebrate poetry on your school’s Poetry Day, Poetry Week or to supplement a unit of work on poetry. Suited to KS2 students. I have also used this early KS3 for lower ability learners as a celebration of poetry. Also works well for transition days. Why not make a five poem anthology? Ideas include: soundscapes blackout poetry haiku question and answer poems scaffolded poems Students encounter three poems from Robert Louis Stevenson, Shakespeare and Walter De La Mare and use them as springboards into their own creativity. I also include here two FREE resources for advocating any school Poetry Day - a quiz on a dozen famous characters in children’s poetry and the chance to write a nonsense poem.

Get them to write the stories you will need them to create for GCSE right now! This PPT sequence of learning has everything you need for a 4 week unit (it would dovetail beautifully to reading short stories alongside or a class novel). Lay the foundations of creative prose for the remainder of the secondary years. Designed following extensive visits to KS2 classrooms to absorb the rigour and with the aim of avoiding the wasteland years of Years 7 and 8. Unit has had a full run through by my department and has differentiation for lower ability and challenge built in to the tasks for higher ability. Covers: Plotting Character Setting Dialogue Action-Description-Emotion triangle Narrative order and Story Order Builds to a 300-500 creative prose assessment. Includes the Improving Creative Writing Grid for writing and a Learning Mat for self-editing which can be used throughout all years and are really classroom tools that are essential beyond this unit.

Neatly avoiding the ubiquitous ‘autobiography unit’ - believe me, they have already been there and done that at KS2, this PPT sequence of learning has everything you need for the first 3-4 weeks of Year 7, helping them aim for a Grade 3+ story and lay the foundations of creative prose for the remainder of the secondary years. Designed following extensive visits to KS2 classrooms to absorb the rigour and with the aim of avoiding the ‘national dip’ in Year 7. Unit has had a full run through by my department and is pitched at Grade 3 but with support for lower ability and challenge built in to the tasks for higher ability. Covers: Plotting, Character and Setting, Dialogue, Action, Description, Emotion writing, Narrative order and Story Order. Builds to a 300-500 creative prose assessment. Includes the Improving Creative Writing Grid for writing and a Learning Mat for self-editing.

A set of response notes on themes of isolation and belonging in ‘My Polish Teacher’s Tie’ with tasks for students to complete to braoden the notes e.g. adding short quotations and blending context with personal informed response. Useful for initial learning and revision and independent work or homework.

Three homeworks or classroom activities that help lower grading students 1-4 revise or establish straightforward ways to regard Carla Carter in the beginning, middle and end of the story. Contains key quotes and key informed personal responses. Also a sheet on Dunmore’s writing style. Low price reflects the ‘no frills’ worksheets which are clearly presented by have no graphics to anchor learning.

A part response for improvement by students following three clear suggestions of ways to improve essay style. Suits middle grades 3-6 in particular. Questions asks about the way characters communicate and there is a response that goes some way to tackling Steve’s communication style and self-expression. Students work into the essay to improve it following instructions. Chance to complete the essay and revise given content.

A no-frills ppt that can be used with students just before the transactional writing examination or as a straight forward revision tool for them, especially those you suspect might do very little wlthout you! Covers quick ideas on how to plan, how to introduce the forms, developed and detailed paragraphs, conclusions.

Invaluable resource for teaching those more nebulous skills for Grades 8 and 9. A high level modelled or exemplar response to a task on ‘Love’s Philosophy’ and the theme of desire. Compared with ‘The Farmer’s Bride’ for AQA English Literature Paper 2 Love and Relationships poetry cluster. Plenty of high level ideas ready to be learned within the response and also a good range of activities provided to encourage students to interact with the essay response, pick it apart, learn it, borrow the style and to encourage wider research. Rich in applied contexts and perspectives.

Invaluable resource for teaching those more nebulous skills for Grades 8 and 9. A high level modelled or exemplar response to a task on ‘When We Two Parted’ and the theme of heartbreak. Compared with ‘Winter Swans’ for the AQA English Literature Paper 2. Plenty of high level ideas ready to be learned within the response and also a good range of activities provided to encourage students to interact with the essay response, pick it apart, learn it, borrow the style and to encourage wider research. Rich in applied contexts and perspectives.

Take the fear out of short creative prose for the Eduqas/WJEC English Language Creative Prose Paper 1 Section B with this 550 word exemplar short story with full story arc for use as what a good one looks like and to adapt and borrow from to inspire similarly structured and controlled work from your students.

Take the fear out of short creative prose for the Eduqas/WJEC English Language Creative Prose Paper 1 Section B with this 550 word exemplar short story with full story arc for use as *what a good one looks like * and to adapt and borrow from to inspire similarly structured and controlled work from your students.