A bundle of 8+ lessons focusing on the novel, I Am David. There is a success criteria attached and some resources.

A collection of lessons on teaching key aspects of creative writing but doing it through Greek mythology. Lots of random stories from Greek mythology taken from the web to support writing.

Part 2 to my language techniques in poetry lesson, this lesson teaches students how to analyse metaphors through the story of King Arthur.

Using a short story about Mulan, students look at identifying language techniques.

A lesson helping students identify word types, especially in poems. This uses I’d love to be a fairy’s child to do this.

A lesson introducing students to poetry & what they expect to see. Uses the poem ‘Becoming a Villainess’ for discussions.

Looking at an excerpt about Atlantis, students refresh their memories on sentence structures.

A bundle with about 7-8 lessons about Gremlins. There are resources, assessments & marking criteria in the bundle. I use this with a Y9 NZ class but you may be able to use with Y8.

A short lesson on what students can do for their wellbeing with a practice at bulletjournaling to see if this is something that works for them.

A unit that should take 6-8 lessons on The Lovely Bones novel. Students must have read the novel before completing these tasks. There are printable resources, etc. This covers context, themes, characters and essay writing for NCEA L2.

A lesson on the background behind The Outsiders with a research project or two at the end.

2 lessons on using vocabulary to create effects in gothic literature and how to use/identify figurative language.

A lesson about improving sentence starters and paragraphing, using an excerpt from The Woman in Black.

An introduction to gothic literature, using Dracula by Bram Stoker. This goes through how to use the senses in writing and what gothic features/settings there are.

Four lessons of the film study of Hacksaw Ridge. Used for NCEA English in NZ for L2.

A lesson where students discuss the meaning of first impressions and make some of their own. Students then read Chapter 2 and 3 and make first impressions of Bod and Scarlett before writing mind-maps with the info and finding quotes to back up their impressions. This is part of a full 7-week unit I am putting together currently, which will be uploaded as a full SoW when completed.

A brief lesson where students write a poem about Queen Elizabeth II and her reign. It’s a nice way to let students reflect on their feelings or even just put a bit more thought into her reign. The first few slides discuss what we think of to do with the Queen, some fun facts, and why people will be grieving and how we can mourn/grieve or pay tribute to the Queen. It then teaches about what form is with a few examples. The lesson gives an example of a poem about the Queen, which students critique. They then plan their own, using a table. I have wrote an example of this but I’m not the best writer of poetry. Students then can self-critique their poems and decorate them at the end. May be a nice lesson to outline some homework or something.

A lesson where students use the title, cover, reviews, blurb and chapter one to make predictions about the characters, setting and plot of The Graveyard Book. This is part of a full 7-week unit I am putting together currently, which will be uploaded as a full SoW when completed.

A lesson that aims to have a back to school poem written by the end of it. Students will discuss what a poem is and what features a poem may have. Teacher and students then discuss form, alliteration and similes, and planning a poem. There is an opportunity here to mark a given poem and find reasons why they give it that mark, alongside self-assessment using a success criteria. Some slides have printable resources but these can just be copied into a student’s book too. Poetry was written by me - I know it’s shoddy, feel free to bin that and never use again!

This lesson can be used to welcome students and access their attitudes towards English and their writing skills. It begins with a few questions about what they like and dislike about English and a goal setting activity for the year. It then moves in to a brief intro to autobiographies, a criteria for writing one and then has students write a few paragraphs of one for themselves. The lesson can incorporate peer reviewing if you want AND/OR teachers can take a sample of the work to gain an idea of students’ writing capabilities.