I'm a passionate secondary English and History teacher and am the main planner of resources for my department; as such, I thought I would start sharing them here with the wider community of teachers and professionals. I am Australian trained, but currently teaching GCSE and A- Level (AQA specifications). All lessons are very visually engaging, with images, clips and a variety of activities. You won't find any boring/blank resources here!
I'm a passionate secondary English and History teacher and am the main planner of resources for my department; as such, I thought I would start sharing them here with the wider community of teachers and professionals. I am Australian trained, but currently teaching GCSE and A- Level (AQA specifications). All lessons are very visually engaging, with images, clips and a variety of activities. You won't find any boring/blank resources here!
At our school, year 7, 8 and 9 all do formative and summative assessments that mimic the GCSE style Language Paper 1. Students are given a literary extract and then complete the following:
One comprehension question
One language analysis quesiton
One creative writing question in response to a prompt.
These are some exam papers that I created for my class to practise, and can be used either at the beginning of term as a broad diagnostic of skills, part way through the term to assess progress, or as a end of year paper.
The three extracts for these papers are from The Hobbit, The Eye of the World, and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe.
A one off lesson, as part of an "Introduction to Shakespeare" unit for KS3. A focus on language, plot and some characterisation. Posted as a freebie to give you an insight into my lessons- if you like this then please feel free to check out my shop :)
A good formative or summative revision tool. This quiz is included in my "Literary Devices" pack (22 lessons covering all different language techniques geared at KS3-4) but am posting it for free as it can be used separately. Enjoy :)
Suitable for higher ability classes, these 3-4 lessons cover:
- An introduction to the short story form
- Recap of form, language and structure
- An analysis of the short story “The Flowers” by Alice Walker
- Creative writing
- Self and peer marking activities
Enjoy :)
Find enclosed all resources required for teaching an entire scheme of work for "The Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde" (AQA GCSE).
- All lessons and activities covering themes, plot, characters, language, context and critical theory
- Formative "Hot Task" assessment
- Worksheets
- Termly homework grid
- How to write an essay- two part lessons for surmising the unit.
25-30 lessons of content in total.
I am teaching this currently- enjoy!
A great lesson for introducing these English terms or revising them. The lesson looks at the poem “I Carry Your Heart” by EE Cummings; an excellent poem for examining language, structure and form. Lots of structured activities included: paragraph writing, revision of language techniques, peer marking, and an extension creative writing task.
My year 7s are studying non-fiction at the moment, which I personally find very boring! To spice things up, we’ve been looking at non-fiction textual forms through the theme of comic books (see my other lessons for examples). This lesson/2 lessons examines the features of speeches, with examples being the grand speeches comic villains perform.
Included:
Two clips of Ego and Bane- why are their speeches convincing?
Analysis activities for the Joker’s speech from The Dark Knight
Model critical paragraph
Creative: students write their own villain speech
Extension: Students create a comic page featuring their villain and given speech.
My class loved it. Enjoy!
A lesson for a mixed ability KS3 class, analysing the short story form and Hemingway’s application of the “Icerbeg Theory”.
Activities include:
Key words
Information about Hemingway and summaries
Introduction to iceberg theory
Applying iceberg theory to creative writing
Reading, comprehending and analysing the short story “Cat in the Rain”
There is individual, paired, and whole-class activities included.
Enjoy!
This unit of work is designed for AQA’s A Level “Love through the Ages”, looking at Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening.”
All content is what I taught over the course of two terms. Find enclosed
- Whole lessons covering plot, context of creole culture etc
- Worksheets
- Critical theory (particularly philosophy of Descartes, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre and de Beauvoir)
Enjoy!
A useful lesson for teaching comparison skills between these three Romantic poems. Part of the GCSE Power and Conflict poetry unit. Also includes a study crib sheet that students can use as a revision tool.
I set this for my low-ability year 7 class just before the half-term break (holiday homework!), but you can use this lesson at any point throughout the term.
A lesson that introduces book reviews and provides students with a checklist for writing their own. The worksheet helps students understand how to structure their review. Enjoy!
A single lesson for higher set classes studying "Macbeth." Examines the role of women (Lady Macbeth, Hecate, Lady Macduff and the witches) in the play.
Original analysis by myself included- can be printed as a "write on the reading" activity for students.
For GCSE Language Paper 2 (non-fiction), this lesson facilitates students’ development of comparison and critical writing skills, for question 4 of the exam.
Clips introduce comparison skills, which are consolidated in examining non-fiction extracts surrounding the Titanic (original news report and survivor’s journal).
A scheme of work with 15 lessons, all power-points, resources and activities included. I created this for my year high ability year 7 class- is suitable for KS3 or low ability KS4.
Myths and legends covered include: Prometheus, Pandora’s Box, Hercules, Perseus, Beowulf, Medusa and the Canterbury Tales. Skills are focused around identifying language techniques and writing both critically and creatively, while understanding the role of myth storytelling in human literary history. I’ve also included a termly homework project.
Find included a scheme of work with all activities, power-points and resources for teaching a broad introduction to Shakespeare, geared at KS3.
Part one includes a "Why Study Shakespeare?" lesson, plus four other lessons on context, the Globe and genres. Part two includes three lessons on the Comedies (Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night and Taming of the Shrew). Part three comprises the histories (Richard III, Henry V and Julius Ceasar) and also the tragedies (Romeo & Juliet and Antony & Cleopatra) .
Key skills: plot and character overviews, introductions into Shakespeare's language (looking at extracts) plus creative activities.
This PP can be taught over a few lessons either during or after a study of "The Hobbit". The purpose of these activities is to build creative writing skills in the fantasy genre. The PP discusses how the genre (with the Hobbit as an example) crafts character, world building, and language and style.
Price is set due to my own research spanning various fantasy texts (specifically the character study of pro/antagonists). I delivered this as a talk to year 9 while visiting another school, and later taught it alongside a Hobbit novel study with a year 8 class.
A one off lesson looking at George Orwell's essay "The Sporting Spirit" as non-fiction stimulus for building the skills required for AQA's English Language Paper 2.
Introducing my 12 week Crime & Punishment unit!
Introduce your students to the two GCSE language papers through this fun unit, focusing on the crime and detective genre. This program of study explores the history of the detective genre, conventions, characterisation, archetypes, language, genre, textual form, and structure. Students will build their critical and creative writing skills through a close study of several key 19th century and modern crime texts, such as “The Speckled Band” and “Perfume: Story of a Murderer.” They will experiment with crafting crime stories of their own.
The unit is split between fiction and non-fiction, so as to cover the skills required for the GCSE Language Papers 1 and 2, questions 1, 2, 3 and 5.
Included:
All power-points and lesson resources
Worksheets and homework
A social justice project focusing on the inquiry question: when is the law unjust? You can choose to therefore draw connections between the Crime & Punishment unit and real-world application. We personally took part in the Amnesty International “Write for Rights” Campaign, where we investigated unjust political processes around the world and unfair detainment of political prisoners.
Practise GCSE Language Paper 1 exam
Group projects (2-4 lessons alone)
Model texts (non-fiction and fiction)
I’m very proud of this unit- I hope you enjoy!