A five page workbook for students that helps students targeted Grade 5+ take an initial exploration of the poem. Differentiated with vocabulary work, research and additional hints and questions to aid the less confident learner, students can complete this independently in class or as an extended homework. Helps to initiate discussion on the poem and to raise awareness of its literary and biographical contexts as well as the theme of long-distance ambiguous relationships. Makes links with the other romantic love poems.

Full teaching sequence aimed at Grades 5-9 for Charles Causley's Eden Rock from the AQA Love and Relationships anthology. Supported for Grade 5 and differentiated for stretch and challenge up to Grade 9. Wide range of activities to suit learner modalities. Easy to follow PPTs for teachers and their learners. Bargain bundle of over 3 hours teaching.

Powerpoint learning sequence to enable students at KS3 to succeed at creating a chapter of a gothic/mystery/ghost story through blending character action and setting. New techniques to describe that your students may not have thought of before that really lift their creative prose work and secure progression. They plan, draft and edit before assessment and so follow the National Curriculum for the writing process. Easy to follow throughout and uses low threshold, high ceiling differentiation. Lots of scaffolding in the planning stage for those students who need it. Included is Powerpoint and the editing learning mat for them to self-edit their work to a higher standard. Also available as an economical bundle that includes the Improving Creative Writing Grid. See my bundles to locate the additional resource and save money.

Once they’ve done the first draft, it’s the (dreaded?) editing to second draft stage. Take the pain away with this resource. Stop your learners from reducing the skill of editing to mere proof-reading by using this writing editing prompt sheet. It works as a learning mat in its entirity or you can cut and paste sections to focus on one editing detail e.g The Cut or The Add. Wide range of prompts given in each section so plenty of choice for low threshold, high ceiling differentiation. Suitable for the older primary literacy classroom or for use at KS3 or KS4 in English.

A full lesson on PPT for use in KS2 Years 5 or 6 and KS3. Helps students focus on how writers use sounds to entertain the reader. Enhances knowledge of sound techniques in writing. Some numeracy activities for cross curricular links included. Great for inclusion in a unit on poetry or as part of whole school literacy during tutor time or as a discrete literacy lesson. Includes focus on alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm, rhyme, sound patterning and plosive sounds.

Developed in creative writing workshops from my professional creative writing life and transferred to outstanding classroom practice, this learning sequence helps students deal with the tricky middle parts of descriptive writing when things can get a bit flat and students run out of steam. The learning sequence broadens descriptive writing skills beyond the use of ‘regular’ linguistic and structural devices to lift their achievement through the GCSE grades. Plenty of quick delivery and small practice to build a piece of descriptive writing of exam length. All techniques are easily memorable and fully transferable across any piece of descriptive writing. Learning mat embedded into the powerpoint. Hugely methodical in delivery. Students will have a developed piece of writing with opportunities to consolidate learning through a practice task that can be done in class or at home for independent consolidation. Really suits the AQA English Language paper but also sufficiently generic for improving all descriptive writing. Available as a bundle alongside writing great descriptive openings and endings. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/descriptive-writing-move-to-higher-grades-creative-writing-11848472

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.

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.

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.

Suited to KS2 Years 5 and 6 or early Year 7 as transition work, this unit of work takes students through the heritage of children’s books and leads up to leaflet/webpage writing. Skills included: evaluation, numeracy, plan, edit, draft, publish skills. Dips into Aesop, The Bible, Shakespeare, Gulliver’s Travels and more modern children’s fiction characters to show the timeline of literature read by children. Great for post SATs pre-transition for light-hearted fun linked to NC.

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.

An ‘everything you need to know’ 14 page A4 booklet very suited to all exam boards on writing informal letters that includes: • A good modelled example • An outstanding modelled example • Guidance on how to plan • Guidance on how to structure detailed, developed paragraphs • Guidance for content suitable to form • Sophisticated ‘tricks and flicks’ • Five practice tasks

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 lesson aimed at getting borderline students up to Grade 5 from the get go of the novella by exploring how the Preface to the novella primes the reader for writer’s purpose and gives the modern reader an opportunity to explore Victorian class contexts.

A full fiction reading exam practice paper with Eduqas style English Language Paper 1 Section A questions. Extract from ‘The Great Gatsby’. Fully line referenced. Follows question pattern: list five impressions how does the writer (craft language) …? how does the writer (mood and atmosphere) …? build argument/evaluate Indicative content included to support marking.

I’m sharing this freely for subscribers to my YouTube channel as the workpack that is referred to in the support video. How to write a review of a website/websites for GCSE transactional writing. Please download if you think it will be useful but it will need adapting to suit your students.

Designed on PPT with any print offs on the slides, this resource takes students through a professional creative writer’s workshop to find a range of characters and potential problems to give them. Small activities so that it is pacy and none of the tasks ever seem too ‘taxing’ for students. This works as a discrete lesson from which they could go on to create a narrative. The extended version of this sequence that takes students through the full version of plot planning is availabe for purchase here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/planning-effective-short-stories-and-narratives-11846098

An A4 sheet to stick into exercise books (front or back covers are ideal for this) that becomes a homework and independent reading log for a half term. Parents find it easy to track independent reading - they have to sign to say they've heard it, seen it or discussed it - and any further homework that is set for the week. Template is great for KS3 when a one reading homework, one other homework model is used. Minimal input from teachers - you can just record that the homework was great and you gave a reward or you can note late, partially or not completed homework. Clear communication with parents and helps to organise students and get a sense of satisfaction as all the boxes are filled. I use a final reward in the half term if everything is complete for the half term. Save your sanity with this aspect of work that can easily get out of control otherwise.