This lesson was borne out of a necessity to explain and clarify the theatres of war in World War II after teaching this unit of study at Key Stage 3 to my classes. Having taught this unit last year without this lesson, I found students were getting confused as to where World War II was being fought on a global stage; whether it be fighting in Europe, in the Atlantic, North Africa or in the Far East. Therefore this lesson aims to simplify the geographical locations covered. Using a world map, they have to plot which countries were involved and who they were fighting for, be it for the Allies or the Axis powers. This map will also appear throughout this unit of study to pinpoint where in the world the lesson is focused on. Students will also analyse and study famous photographs of World War II and try to explain why they are significant, such as Hitler at the Trocadero in France, the image of St. Pauls in London during the Blitz or the Soviet flag being waved on top of the Reichstag. Students are also required to plot a timeline of events using information provided and subsequently noting whether each event was a success or failure for each side. The subsequent plenary tests students’ general knowledge about the war in an ‘odd one out’ activity. This lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The French Revolution The aim of this lesson is to investigate how rotten Robespierre was. At first, students have to decide and discuss makes a good leader, with suggested answers given They are given some context of the Revolution before they are introduced to Robespierre. The main task of the lesson is to decide whether he was an outstanding leader and a ‘champion of democracy’ or rotten to the core and a ‘depraved monster.’ Students will work through the evidence, which is differentiated, before completing this an extended piece of writing with argument words and a writing frame to help if required. An odd one out plenary to finish aims to challenge what they have learnt in the lesson. The lesson comes with differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. It is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

The French Revolution The aim of this lesson is to examine the significance of the French Revolution today. Students are given information on seven ways it still has a lasting legacy; Bastille Day, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, Politics, the tricolour, Paris, the National Anthem, the Code Napoleon and the Legion of Honour. Students have to decide the most important part of this legacy in their opinion and explain why. There are some excellent video links to the BBC and Youtube as well as a virtual tour of the Eiffel Tower. The lesson comes with differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. It is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

Suffragettes Why were so many people in the Nineteenth Century prepared to die for universal suffrage? How had the Industrial Revolution created so many divisions and changes in society where towns such as Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham had no MP’s and thus went unrepresented in Parliament? Could Parliament see the injustice of denying the vote to working class men and industrialists who were making Britain the workshop of the world? Thus the story starts with why having a vote is so important today and who had the vote in the Nineteenth Century. Students are given a slip at the beginning of the lesson only to realise many of them don’t have a vote much to their annoyance. The final part of the lesson is to analyse the events of the Peterloo Massacre (named after the battle of Waterloo) and why the magistrates of Manchester were so scared at giving people the vote. However the battlelines were drawn and so setting the seeds for the Suffragette movement at the turn of the century. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson to analyse and evaluate the part played by women in World War II. Students will analyse a number of propaganda posters used at the time, with particular reference made to the use of headings, colour, messages and the images used. Traditional teaching has always focused on work undertaken by women such as nursing, the W.A.A.F. or the Women’s Land Army. Although the students will learn the about the vital role women played in these jobs, they will also learn about the Special Operations Executive set up by Winston Churchill as he recruited sixty women to operate behind enemy lines to ‘set Europe ablaze’. There are four case studies to unpick as well as some great video links to accompany the lesson. The plenary requires the students to match the key word to the images shown. It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of the lesson is to question how we should treat prisoners of war in Britain during World War II. Students might be influenced initially in their thoughts by their prior knowledge of Nazi and Japanese treatment of captured prisoners. There is a discussion task with a number of scenarios which will allow the story to unravel of Italian and German prisoner experiences in Britain during the Second World War. Pathé news also has some excellent links to video footage of capture prisoners and the commentators emphasis on their good treatment and being given a square meal each day. A case study of Eden Camp in Yorkshire, site of a former prisoner of war camp, will enable students to analyse what happened there and if treatment was good, fair or bad. It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to question the integrity of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, one of the most controversial figures of the First World War. Does Field Marshal Douglas Haig deserve the nickname of ‘The Butcher of the Somme’? Students are given the context of the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ argument and are then led through a journey of audio, video, and source evidence from which they have to make a judgement at the end if he deserves his nickname. They will also recognise and analyse how views about Haig have hardened and then softened over time. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to understand why building trenches led to a static war of attrition in the First World War. It focuses on some key questions: Why did they build trenches in World War I in the first place? Why were the trenches built in zig zags? Why were there lines of trenches behind the front ones and how did they use the barbed wire and sandbags? Through video footage and visual aids, students build up a picture of what a trench looked like, the equipment a soldier would have to carry to build them and the advantages and disadvantages of protecting themselves in a trench. Key knowledge Bingo for the plenary will test students understanding of the lesson. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question of ‘How frightening was the First World War?’ using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The American West 1835-1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel This lesson aims to explain how the Plains Indians believed that everything in nature had a spirit. Students analyse how humans and nature work together and complete a thinking quilt linking key ideas and key words together. They are also challenged as to what significance certain objects have as well as ascertaining why some tribes went to war . They will evaluate why land was so important to the Plains Indians and why they had difficulty when the US Government tried to allocate them certain areas of the Great Plains. This evaluation is put to the test with some GCSE exam question practice using the 8 mark ‘consequences’ question. The final learning task is writing a recipe and mixing up key ingredients of the lesson which will reinforce the learning during the lesson. The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice is also included. It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.

The American West 1835-1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel This lesson aims to introduce students to the course and some of the key ideas which will affect America in the 19th Century ranging from Manifest Destiny to survival, colonisation, migration and civilise. Students are introduced to the Great Plains and its weather extremes as well as the Plains Indians and their communities. Using an enquiry based learning question, students are required to annotate around a lightbulb. This is central to this unit of study and students will map this out over the course of each lesson to show progression. Questions are also asked throughout to challenge assumptions, culminating in a balloon debate as to who can move America forward into becoming a great nation. A road map task on the American West at the end tests their new knowledge and is ideal for setting as a homework. The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. It comes in PowerPoint formats if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship This lesson focuses on Weltpolitik and the dangers for the Kaiser faced with increasing industrialisation in the country and his pursuit of creating an Empire abroad so that ‘Germany could have its place in the sun’. Included in the lesson are a number of sources and charts, links to videos and information for the students to analyse and evaluate to decide the strength of Germany under the Kaiser and its weakenesses/ Some GCSE exam question practice is included with help given to answer them if required. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to assess how Channel islanders survived World War II with the only occupation of British soil by German armed forces.Britain had taken the decision to leave the Channel islands undefended. Therefore students are questioned as to why this decision was taken and how they might feel being at the mercy of the German occupation during the Second World War. Use of a text and a thinking quilt will help students analyse the ways in which islanders survived, through rationing, acts of resistance and their treatment by the German soldiers garrisoned there. The Germans attempted to make it a model occupation with respect shown to the islanders, but with curfews and censorship, students have to evaluate if this was the case. Some excellent video footage will also explain the treatment of prisoners of war moved to the island to help build the Atlantic Wall defences and how they attempted to manage under appalling conditions. Some real life testimony from survivors is also given to allow students to evaluate fully the significance of the occupation and survival techniques developed to survive. A big thank you in my research for this lesson goes to Dan Snow and his podcast on the occupation as well as the book by Duncan Barrett, ‘When the Germans came’, as well as testimony from a family friend who is still a resident on Jersey. It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Rise of Dictators The aim of this lesson is to question if Saddam deserves his reputation as the ‘Butcher of Baghdad’. Students are at first questioned as to what they know about Saddam and are given information on the importance of Iraq and the Middle East with its oil rich economies. Some source scholarship analyses the death of Saddam and the reasons why he was executed. Together with a thinking quilt, students learn about Saddam’s brutal reign of terror together with the Iran-Iraq war and his invasion of Kuwait. Thus so far, the lesson appears straightforward and there is little to argue against his reputation. However students will also learn through video and source evidence of revisionist ideas of Saddam and the consequence of his execution with the instability within Iraq today. Thus they will be challenged on their original assumptions and evaluate how this reputation has been given to Saddam; is it a just a Western perception? Whilst Iraqis may not necessarily doubt his brutal regime, do they insist life was better than now? The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes some retrieval practice on Dictators, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The French Revolution The aim of this lesson is to understand how and why Louis’s financial problems precipitated the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution The lesson begins by questioning how our present government raises money through taxes, both directly and indirectly. This is then linked to how much debt Louis is in and how he can raise money to run the country (and pay for his extravagances). Moreover, students must prioritise what he should spend his money on and the reasons for this. Students are then given a number of options, from which they have to decide whether this is a good idea to raise money or not and what could be the consequences as a result. This is an evaluative task which will challenge their thinking outside the box, although answers are given or can be revealed to help if required. The true or false plenary will test their knowledge of what they have learnt and check understanding. The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

The French Revolution The aim of this lesson is to question who supported the French Revolution both internally and externally The lesson begins with the students giving their own opinions as to whether they would support the Revolution. They are then given the context with a literacy challenge, as to how attitudes at the time began to change with the September Massacres of 1793. No lesson is complete without James Gillray’s ‘Un petit Souper a La Parisienne’, which is analysed. Some help with prompts and guidance is given if required. A study of the British reaction is also scrutinised as students learn how opinion became divided with the published works of Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine. The main task is to analyse how different groups within France reacted; these include the Church (with a model answer given on how to complete the task), the Sans-culottes, nobles, Jacobins and Girondins and finally Counter-Revolutionaries. Students can feedback and present their findings to the class. The plenary required a talking heads activities and to distinguish which group would be attributed to the various comments and opinions used. The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. It is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603 The aim of this lesson is to assess how successful Elizabeth’s policy of plantation in Ireland really was. Students begin by plotting areas on a map of Ireland and are required to explain previous Tudor policy in Ireland with some prompts when needed. After being given the context to Ireland in 1558, they then analyse Elizabeth’s policy in Ireland and rate how effective each was, bearing in mind rebellions such as Shane and Hugh O’Neill. There is some exam extract analysis practice to complete if required, complete with markscheme. The plenary focuses on some interactive flashcards which recall the learning in the lesson. There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work. The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit. The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.

AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603 The aim of this lesson is to analyse the reasons why England went to war with Spain. A first part of the lesson is focused on Elizabeth’s policies in the Netherlands and how this antagonism finally led to war. The second part of the lesson analyses the reasons why the Spanish Armada failed. Whilst students appraise Philip’s plans for the invasion, they also have to make connections throughout its voyage as to why it was doomed from the start. Included is a significance activity to complete, where students rate how important each event is in relation to Philip’s decision to go to war. There is some exam practice to complete if required and a plenary which tests students’ ability to debate and counter argue. This is accompanied with a detailed markscheme. There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work. The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit. The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.

AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45 The aim of this lesson is to judge how far Jewish people assimilated themselves into German society. Students learn about how many Jewish people became important figure in Weimar society from producers and directors in the film industry, political editors, journalists as well as being successful in finance, banking and cabinet ministers. They will also assess how events such as the Barnat scandal turned some Germans against the Jewish community and finally judge for themselves how assimilated they had become by 1929. The plenary is a flash card activity where the students link people and events to themes throughout the lesson. There is a enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work. The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit. The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.

AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45 The aim of this lesson is evaluate the consequences of the collapse of the Grand Coalition for the Weimar Republic. Students begin the lesson with some differentiated questioning on the reasons for the collapse of the coalition and its immediate impact on Government as well as analysing the opposition to the Young Plan and the effects on law and order. They are also required to evaluate the impact of the decrees passed and the result of Bruning’s disastrous economic policies. The plenary Is an odd one out activity to consolidate the learning from the lesson. Some exam practice can be completed at the end, with help and structure given to answer the question if needed. There is a enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work. The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit. The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.

AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45 The aim of this lesson is to assess the short and long term impact of the Night of the Long Knives for Hitler and the Nazis Students begin by analysing a speech by Hitler and his thoughts on a ‘Second Revolution’ They learn about the rise of the SA and are given the profile of Ernst Rohm and his increasing power. Students have to decide through a number of choices as to why the SA were a growing threat to Hitler There is a colour coding task to complete on the events of the 30th June together with its aftermath. Finally students have to justify the most important reasons and significance of the events before tackling a source based practice question, with help given if required. An enquiry question posed at the beginning of the lesson will be revisited throughout to track the progress of learning during the lesson and the subsequent unit of work. The lesson is available in PowerPoint format and can be customised to suit specific needs. It is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.