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Ruth Messenger's Shop

Average Rating3.44
(based on 19 reviews)

I've been teaching history for four years, and I aim to provide lessons that are ready to go with minimal tweaking just to personalise the resource to your class and their prior learning. I'm a big fan of paired discussion, group work, debates, living graphs and hot seating, and I provide a variety of tasks in each lesson to ensure learning happens at a pace and that all learning styles are catered for. All feedback gratefully received.

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I've been teaching history for four years, and I aim to provide lessons that are ready to go with minimal tweaking just to personalise the resource to your class and their prior learning. I'm a big fan of paired discussion, group work, debates, living graphs and hot seating, and I provide a variety of tasks in each lesson to ensure learning happens at a pace and that all learning styles are catered for. All feedback gratefully received.
The Lives of Peasant Women in Medieval Times/The Middle Ages
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The Lives of Peasant Women in Medieval Times/The Middle Ages

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This lesson should follow a previous lesson on peasants as this lesson highlights the differences in gender roles. Learning Objectives: ALL: Will be able to describe the traditional roles of men and women in medieval times MOST: Will be able to do so in detail SOME: Will make inferences from a source that they will include in their detailed description. This lesson is highly visual with pictures and a matching task for LA students. There is an element of numeracy in interpreting two graphs on the causes of death of each gender, and a literacy based task in which students write a diary entry of a peasant. I usually allow them to pick their gender, but it would be equally more valuable to make them all be women. I've put on two PowerPoints as I taught this to two classes of differing abilities. There are no monumental differences. If you like this lesson, have a look at my other Medieval Resources in my shop - I have a big chunk of resources that could form a large part of your scheme of work.
The Windrush and migration to the UK after the Second World War - Black History Month
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The Windrush and migration to the UK after the Second World War - Black History Month

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All necessary resources included, this lesson includes a music based starter, questions on a British Pathe clip, a cart sort exercise, a structured literary task and a guided research homework task that asks them to assess the prediction they made in the plenary. The big question that students can answer following this lesson is 'Why did people migrate to Britain after the Second World War?' The lesson covers both push and pull factors and examines why Britain wanted immigrants to come in the first place. Lesson Objectives: ALL: Will be able to identify reasons why Britain wanted immigrants and why people in the West Indies wanted to emigrate MOST: Will be able to describe the push and pull factors and come to a conclusion as to why people migrated in the 1950’s SOME: Will be able to bring their ideas together to explain why so many people migrated in the 1950’s and predict what effect this might have on communities in the UK Suitable for all KS3, HA KS2 or LA KS4 All activities are differentiated and resourced, this lesson can be a standalone lesson or part of a series of lessons on either migration, race or post war recontstruction.
Segregation in the Southern States of the USA
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Segregation in the Southern States of the USA

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A complete lesson - ready to go if you’re in a hurry, or full of tasks to pick and choose from if you have time to personalise this for your class. All resources included on the Power Point to make it easy to access and print the necessary parts. Aims to cover these objectives: * To understand how segregation came about * To give detailed descriptions of segregation * To explain the attitudes towards race that made segregation so pervasive * To predict the challenges faced by civil rights campaigners Includes a variety of tasks, classroom discussion with additional information for the teacher to support questioning, group work task with opportunity for students to move and a 7 minute clip of a primary source for students to evaluate. Includes ideas for differentiation for each task and so is suitable as a stand alone resource for KS 3 and KS 4, a great intro to the topic for KS 5 but would need to be accompanied by a textbook on the topic to support the research task. Originally designed to support teaching of Edexcel AS Level D5 Civil Rights module.
Dunkirk: Victory or Defeat? Newspaper Task with supporting resources
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Dunkirk: Victory or Defeat? Newspaper Task with supporting resources

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The main bulk of this is the newspaper task, designed to meet the following LOs * ALL: Will be able to describe aspects of what happened at Dunkirk * MOST: Will be able to support an opinion as to whether Dunkirk was a defeat or a victory * SOME: Will be able to use the origin of the source to comment on whether the source is reliable. * ONE or TWO... Might be able to use their analysis of source reliability to explain why they trust some sources over others and how this has affected their own overall judgement. There is a presentation about Dunkirk with pictures and statistics, you may choose to deliver this yourself, or stick it up around the room for students to find and examine themselves. They may then read the interpretations/opinions sheet in which various sources give their verdict on Dunkirk, and the Dunkirk survivors sheet which does the same. Finally I have included an electronic template for the newspaper front page that the students will write, this could be set for homework over a VLE, or printed and handed out for students to fill in. If they are making handwritten copies, I would recommend having a stash of plain paper ready as most students prefer to establish the layout themselves. Thanks to Paul Durnall who gave me parts of this.
Toussaint L'Ouverture, Slave Rebellion and Haitan Independence
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Toussaint L'Ouverture, Slave Rebellion and Haitan Independence

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This resource provides a one lesson overview of the slave revolt on St Dominique (later Haiti) and asks students to make a judgement as to how far it was the actions of Toussaint L'Ouverture that gave Haiti its independence, and how far it was events in and ideas coming from France. Tasks include: source based starter living graph identifying information to make an argument with speaking to persuade in pairs writing a structured paragraph that has been differentiated for learners between L3-L6 and may easily be adapted for SEN, or be part of an extended essay for the most able to achieve L7. If you download this, please review! I'd love so WWW/EBI so I know what works well.
The Life of the Medieval Peasant/Villein
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The Life of the Medieval Peasant/Villein

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This lesson has a large visual element as pictures are used to illustrate peasant tasks. There is a moving around the room to find out information element and a structured literacy tasks with literacy challenges such as 'include three adjectives in this answer'. Resources fully differentiated, just print and go. ALL: Will be able to describe aspects of a peasant’s life MOST: Will be confident using keywords in their explanations SOME: Will write a detailed account using keywords and grammar challenges to describe the life of a peasant
How to Make a Revision Plan
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How to Make a Revision Plan

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This PowerPoint guides students through how to make an effective revision plan. It is aimed at students aged 16-18 and encourages them to make a long term, practical and realistic plan. Here is one slide: Mark on the calendar the days you will NOT be working. Eg family events, birthdays, rugby matches, hairdressing appointments. Split the remaining days into 3 parts – morning, afternoon and night. Work only 2 of these parts. So crack on in the morning, take the afternoon off to paint your toenails/ go for a run/ whatever it is you do, and do more in the evening. Use your list of chucks to plan which topic you will do on which day. If you like a bit of variety, you can do two chunks from different subjects on one day. Write on the calendar the subject areas/ chunks/ topics/ chapters you will get done. Make sure you have leisure / kickback time. TRUST YOUR PLAN and change it if you really need to
Nanny and Sam Sharpe - Freedom fighters and Slave Rebellions in Jamaica
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Nanny and Sam Sharpe - Freedom fighters and Slave Rebellions in Jamaica

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This highly versatile resource can be used as part of a scheme of work (following on from my Toussaint L'Ouverture resource) or as a stand alone lesson. It is aimed at KS3 but contains sufficient challenge for KS4 and can be adapted down for LA KS3 (students aged 11-16). It has been designed to enable students to meet these objectives: LO: To be able to describe the actions of these freedom fighters LO: To make a comparison of their strengths and weaknesses LO: To evaluate their significance in ending slavery in Jamaica There are a range of activities contained, these include: - a very brief overview of Jamaican history up to colonisation - individual reading task that can be adapted to move students around the room - paired peer to peer teaching task - a worksheet that encourages additional detail to be used in answers (old NC level 5) - opportunity for students to set their own criteria to assess significance - opportunity for debate - ideas for homework task and plenary This lesson is ready to go once downloaded for the majority of learners, just minor tweaks needed if you want to differentiate down, or refer back to the prior learning of your class. Teacher notes included with slides. Feedback gratefully received, Ruth
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
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Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

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This resource is designed for a KS3 class and covers the following lesson objectives: LO: To find out information from primary sources LO: To describe the underground rail road using detail LO: To make inferences from combining sources LO: To explain significance using PEE It may be used as a standalone resource, or in combination with other resources on freedom fighters such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Nanny of the Maroons, Sam Sharpe or Bussa. It contains a variety of tasks such as source analysis, and links to literacy objectives of using metaphors, clarifying the meaning of words using a partner, and refining a PEE paragraph. US teachers - this resources is designed for UK students who have little existing knowledge of the underground railroad and haven't heard of Harriet Tubman. As such, it provides an overview rather than an in depth examination of Tubman which you might want to go to if your classes have a higher level of pre-existing knowledge. NB I have made a map for students on which I have roughly drawn borders and rivers freehand. In case this isn't precise enough, I included a hyperlink to an online map with more precise borders - I didn't use this in the first instance because my whiteboard isn't too great and I don't think many students will be able to see the borders. All feedback gratefully received! Ruth
Role Play and Creative Writing on the Black Death/ Plague
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Role Play and Creative Writing on the Black Death/ Plague

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Too often do year 7 arrive in my classroom having learned the basics of the 1664 plague at primary school and so thinking they already know about the 1348 plague as the symptoms were the same. This creative writing task and role play revitalises what can for some students be a surprisingly well trodden topic. NB: Primary school teachers - this task is equally appropriate for KS2 when covering the 1664 plague, although I imagine you will want to add more structure to the writing task. Melton Task: Students will write a short story detailing the events in the fictional village of Melton when the Plague arrives. The story will be in three distinct stages that are already prestructured for students: What happens when the Black Death reaches Melton, how the villagers respond and what happens to the survivors. Melton Background - this is the beginning of the story, or the prelude. You can get students to read this, read it too them or do a 'knock and read' to keep students following along. (This is where you begin to read and circle the room, knock on the table of a student you want to read next, then keep walking and knocking so as many as possible get to read. the uncertainty of knowing who is next makes all students keep up with the reading in front of them.) Melton Role Play - the second part of the play asks students to detail a discussion the villagers might have had in the village church when they knew what they were up against. This task allows students to role play in groups, you will want to prompt them to be finding solutions - what 'cures' were on offer? What did people believe caused the Black Death? Finally students will write up their story, most likely they will do this for homework. There is great potential for you to use your own success criteria to generate a relatively painless level for this work. Thanks to Paul Durnall who gave me these.
Roman Trading Game
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Roman Trading Game

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This is a great game for introducing numeracy into a history topic. Students work their way around a Roman Empire trading map and at each port they are offered opportunities to trade goods that the Romans would have traded, for denarii. Once they get to the next port, they flip a coin or roll a dice to find out what price they receive for their goods, then they have options to buy more goods of a different time and move on to the next port to find out what their luck brings. The accountancy sheet helps them to keep track of their money, they will need counters to indicate their position on the map and coins and a dice to help them work out what happens with their products. As mentioned, this game is great for numeracy, but also in giving students an idea of the scope of the Roman Empire and how trade opportunities were increased by the stability offered by the Empire. Perfect for KS3, but not too tough for the top end of KS2. Many thanks to Paul Durnall who gave me this.
Children in Factories during the Industrial Revolution
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Children in Factories during the Industrial Revolution

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Straightforward lesson on factory conditions with the following tasks: A picture source starter, a 6 minute clip with accompanying questions, then a source analysis of a grisly factory death. Its totally gross, but year 8 love this disgusting source, particularly the bloodthirsty ones! Learning Objectives: ALL students will be able to describe how factories were dangerous for children MOST students will be able to explain why factory owners employed children and how the children ended up there. SOME students will be able to analyse the caption of a source to assess reliability.
XFactor Game for contenders to the English throne in 1066
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XFactor Game for contenders to the English throne in 1066

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This resource really got my year 7 classes engaged and involved with the 'who should be king?' conundrum because they really liked taking on the personas of the judges from the X factor. The PowerPoint is a pretty straightforward mini play that students read out to the class in the persona you have allocated to them. It worked really well as a whole class activity, but it could also work in groups. As they go, students fill out their voting sheet, giving points out of ten for how well each contestant performs in each question. Your role as teacher is simply to ham it up, express suspicions about William's intentions, play the devil's advocate with students as they chose their King. Finally, the class vote and a King is chosen. This lesson works best if students haven't yet found out who wins the battle of Hastings, it tends to put them firmly on Harold Godwinson's side!
Student friendly CV writing guide
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Student friendly CV writing guide

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Before teaching, I worked in recruitment. When I became the Head of Year 12 I combined my expertise in recruitment with my experience working with young people and put this guide together to help students write a CV that will show off their skills to potential employers. Suitable for all teenagers and young people, but aimed at teenagers aimed 16 and above, this resource could be used in form time or PSHE, or you could upload it onto your VLE for students to access as and when they need it. Here is the beginning so you know what you're buying, but please be aware that all formatting has been taken out as TES doesn't support it in this blurb. This guide is designed to help you write an excellent CV which will show off your talents to a potential employer. For each section I will tell you first ‘What the Employer wants to see’, then ‘How YOU can do this’ and finally ‘Traps to avoid’. I’ve given you some examples of how you might want it to look, but don’t forget its your CV, so try experimenting with different fonts etc. CONTENTS: P1. Name and Contact Details Section, ‘Profile’ P3. Education Section P4. Work Experience section P5. Key Achievements section P6. Computer Skills, Interests P7. References P8. Need more help? Name and Contact Details What the Employer wants to see - Your name nice and big so they can pick it out of the pile of CVs they have on their desk, your contact details so they can call you and get you in for an interview. How YOU can do this – Don’t take up too much space but make sure they are clearly visible. Get an email address that sounds professional, DON’T use silly ones like fishboy43_@hotmail.com. Example: Mahatma Ghandi 66, Plainsboro Road, Ipsley, Birmingham, B14 7EJ Tel: 0121 444444 Mob: 0789876543 email:mghandi@gmail.com It is not necessary to put your date of birth or marital status on your CV. This is because this information is not relevant under employment law and could only possibility be used to discriminate. If you do chose to include this information then put it somewhere a bit lower down according to your formatting. You don’t want it to distract from the important stuff.
Factory Conditions Board Game
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Factory Conditions Board Game

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Fairly straightforward game for consolidating knowledge at the end of a unit, or for revising for a test. Board game is already assembled, students need a dice and a counter to represent them. Depending on what they land on, the game either gives a fact about factory conditions and instructs them to move further or back, or it prompts them to ask a question in order to advance one space. I have provided a question sheet, but you may want to supplement it with your own specific revision/ consolidation questions or get students to make up their own. A huge thanks to Paul Durnall who gave this to me :-)
Student guidance on answering questions for the new AQA spec Paper 1: Understanding the Modern World
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Student guidance on answering questions for the new AQA spec Paper 1: Understanding the Modern World

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This resource is designed for use with the NEW History 8145 AQA specification Paper 1: Section A: Understanding the Modern World. This guidance is appropriate for: 1A America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation 1B Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and dictatorship 1C Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and communism 1D America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and inequality (all examples are from this paper) So what is this? Well for each question I have prepared a 'how to' guide. This includes: - Student friendly guidance to the marking levels - Examples of what an answer at each level would look like - a writing grid to help answer each question - Student friendly self assessment grid for Assessment for Learning - Suggestions for how to use these resources in your lessons and incorporate these skills into your SoW DISCLAIMER: I do not work for AQA and I haven't examined for them. However my experience working as an examiner for Edexcel combined with four years teaching KS4 makes me as confident as its probably possible to be with this new exam spec. This resource is not provided by AQA, but has been compiled following a thorough investigation of all resources online as well as speaking to the advice centre at AQA.
Intro to the Ideologies of the Cold War: Communism and Capitalism
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Intro to the Ideologies of the Cold War: Communism and Capitalism

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Designed for KS3, the HA resources are appropriate for KS4, with an additional research task this could be adapted for KS5. This lesson considers the ideologies separate from their historical contexts so it is a great introduction, but also provides space for debate that would be appropriate to a politics or citizenship lesson. Tasks: a vocab based starter, a main that encourages group work with speaking and listening the main method of learning, a class vote as to which ideology is best and a plenary that sneakily uses group work to consolidate learning. Learning Outcomes for this lesson: To be able to identify differences between ideologies To describe one ideology and give a way in which the other ideology is different To explain the differences between the ideologies and why they appeal to people To analyse the pros and cons of the ideologies to understand how they would work in practice Please note this is a self contained lesson with all necessary materials included (unless you want to adapt for KS5), no textbooks needed and no potentially problematic youtube clips to play. Whether you love it or you hate it, please review below so I can keep adjusting these resources to suit! Many thanks, Ruth
The Battle of Hastings - re-enactment and news report
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The Battle of Hastings - re-enactment and news report

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This is an active lesson which borrows heavily from thinkinghistory.com and their re-enactment instructions http://thinkinghistory.co.uk/ActivityBase/BattleofHastings.html I have provided the resources I use before and after the re-enactment; weighing up the advantages of each side, a quick paragraph on who is most likely to win, the re-enactment itself and then the news report with NC level success criteria. Lovely lovely lesson, works well as part of my Hastings Scheme of Work that you can find in my shop.
Edexcel Paper 1: Option F LESSON 9 Boom and Bust
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Edexcel Paper 1: Option F LESSON 9 Boom and Bust

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If you are using this bundle and are looking for Lesson 8, it is the lesson entitled 'Red Scare'. Apologies this is not more clearly labelled. I'm uploading this lesson for free because the bulk of the lesson I taught on it was me drawing a flow diagram of the wall street crash and students making their own diagrams. There is a good clip though with a summary attached. ALL will understand that the Wall Street Crash resulted from the boom years of the 1920s, will also be able to describe the effects of the WSC MOST Will understand the relationship between the boom and the bust and explain the effects of the WSC SOME Will be able to analyse aspects of both the boom and bust to identify where ideas of isolationism and laissez-faire had contributed to the crisis.
Je Suis Le Roi - the Harrying of the North and how William gained full control of England
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Je Suis Le Roi - the Harrying of the North and how William gained full control of England

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This resource is essentially just a link to an external website. I have uploaded it because it forms the fourth lesson of my scheme of work, but is not my creation so of course it needs to be a free upload. My Hastings lesson is also free if you want to try out a more substantial resource of mine and if you like this style of teaching, please have a look at the full scheme of work in my shop. All I will say about this is you will read it through and be daunted, no doubt your year 7 class are new to you and new to the school, and possibly just a little crazy. But take a risk and give it a go! The more you make this a pantomime, the more fun it is and the more memorable it is for students.