This engaging and informative lesson students to make insightful and developed interpretations of The Ghost of Christmas Past in Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol.’ In particular, they explore the ghost’s physical appearance, actions, and mannerisms, and analyse the extent to which the ghost symbolises the power of memories. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Reading and understanding the key plot elements of stave 2 - in which The Ghost of Christmas Past appears; - Identifying and exemplifying the key features of the ghost, including its appearance, actions, and mannerisms; - Analysing the extent to which the ghost represents the power of memories; - Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Extract - Chapter 2 of A Christmas Carol; - Features of The Ghost of Christmas Past Worksheet (and completed answer sheet for teachers); - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make insightful and developed interpretations of Dickens’ use of language in describing ‘The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come’ in A Christmas Carol. In particular, they explore how the descriptive language used to describe the appearance, mannerisms, and movements aid the haunting portrayal of the ghost. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Reading and understanding the key plot elements of stave 4 - in which The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears; - Identifying and exemplifying the key language features used by Dickens in describing the ghost, including its appearance, actions, and mannerisms; - Analysing the extent to which the language used creates a haunting and imposing image of the ghost; - Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Extract - Stave 4 of A Christmas Carol; - Dickens' Language: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Worksheet (and completed answer sheet for teachers); - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This checklist provides teachers with a clear yet effective tool for planning engaging starter activities. (A full CPD on Engaging Starters, including this resource, a full visually-engaging presentation, and further resources is also available from TandLGuru.) It breaks down the four key components of 'Meaningful Engaged Learning:' - Environment; - Motivation; - Experience; - Meaning. This gives teachers and support staff a clear platform upon which they can devise and facilitate truly inspiring, motivating, differentiated, and relevant starter activities, and hence promote student engagement in learning.

This engaging and interesting lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of one of the key characters in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Lady Macbeth. In particular, they learn to make insightful interpretations about the character, and are enabled to draw links between Lady Macbeth and their knowledge of women in Shakespearean times. The lesson utilises a range of tasks, that require students to be visual and interactive learners. It follows this learning journey: - Inferring key information about the character of Lady Macbeth from picture clues; - Identifying and ordering the key events in the text in which Lady Macbeth is involved; - Understanding her role in the rise and downfall of Macbeth; - Comparing and contrasting between her character and the expected role of women at the time the play was written; - Analysing Shakespeare’s development of Lady Macbeth as a key character throughout the text; - Evaluating the learning in the lesson. Included in this resource pack are: - A well-presented, thorough, and informative, whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Resources for the sequencing activity, detailing Lady Macbeth’s numerous actions throughout the play; - A template to help scaffold the main task, complete with P.E.E instructions; - A comprehensive teacher guidance form/lesson plan to assist delivery. All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation.

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make clear, detailed and well-informed interpretations regarding the purpose of Boo Radley’s character in To Kill a Mockingbird. In particular, students develop their understanding of how the character is introduced, before understanding how perceptions of him change across the novel. Students then consider Lee’s purposes for Boo’s inclusion, considering social and historical context. -The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: -Reading selected extracts from the text and answering comprehension questions about boo’s introduction at the start of the novel; -Tracking how Scout’s perception of Boo changes over the course of the novel; -Understanding how the character of Boo aids Lee in getting across her key messages about society, considering social and historical context; -Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; Boo Radley development graph sheet; Selected extract (from chapter 1); Character Profile template; Essay template; Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with year 10 and 11 classes, however colleagues have used them for between year 8 and year 13 with some adaptations. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make insightful and developed interpretations regarding the ending of Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol.’ In particular, they explore how the ending is in keeping with the traditional features of resolutions stage in the narrative structure model. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Clarifying the events leading up to the end of the novel; - Reading and comprehending the events of Stave 5 - the end of the novel; - Understanding the key stages of Narrative Structure and applying 'A Christmas Carol' to this model; - Analysing Dickens' ending in relation to the key features of traditional resolutions; - Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Extract - Stave 5 - Narrative Structure Template; - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This CPD session offers an engaging and original approach to introducing or revisiting effective questioning. Grounded in educational research, this CPD session is interactive, well-structured, and has been successfully tried and tested. The aim of the CPD session is to develop the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed in order to utilise questioning even more effectively in lessons, and it achieves this by embarking upon the following learning journey: 1. Fully understanding the various reasons for questioning; 2. Gaining familiarity with the different types of effective questions (linking to Bloom's and higher/lower cognitive questioning); 3. Gaining an awareness of the most appropriate questions for different situations, topics, and students; 4. Identifying the commonly agreed strategies in educational research for effective questioning; 5, Planning effective questioning into our own teaching. Included in this pack are: Full PowerPoint presentation, a video for analysis, resources for CPD activities, a Bloom's helpsheet, instructions and guidance for trainers/ presenters. All images and videos are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide.

There's been a murder! This exciting, engaging investigation activity allows students to control the direction of their own learning, through speaking, listening, discussing, and reasoning. I initially created these resources to provide something interesting for the students to engage with for their Functional Skills Speaking and Listening discussions, but it has since been used across Citizenship and PSHE departments, as well as by form groups, as a catalyst for social and moral discussions. Students play detectives aiming to solve the case of a death of an old lady. Using a range of evidence, from video clips, to interviews with key suspects, to positioning events on maps, students work in teams to try and solve the case. They must use skills of communication, to decide which leads to prioritise, and which evidence to discount. They also need to use their skills of literacy, to read and understand key evidence, and skills of numeracy to ensure that they keep their case within budget! Included in this resource pack are: - Full PowerPoint lesson talking students through the case; - A range of 'Exhibits' - evidence that the students use to build a case, including video clips; - A map of the local area, to help visualise the events leading up to the death; - Budgetting and recording sheets to track their progress; - A prime supsects list; - Clue cards containing interviews with prime supsects; - Full teacher guidance. Considering the time and effort that it took to create these resources, I think that they offer exceptional value. Whenever I have used this activity before, it has taken at least 2-3 lessons, including the introduction, investigation, conclusions, and evaluation. I orignally have used this with lower ability Year 8,9, and 10 groups, but colleagues have adapted it easily for students of all key stages. All images have been cited at the end of the PowerPoint presentation and are licensed for commercial use.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Robert Swindells' 'Stone Cold.' Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS3 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children have found these resources engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - 'Context: Homelessness in London' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Know the purpose, audience and context of the writing and drawing on this knowledge to support comprehension.' - 'Swindell's Description' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Know how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, present meaning.' - 'Ginger' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Study setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these.' - 'Vocabulary Inspector' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Learn new vocabulary, relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and understanding it with the help of context and dictionaries.' Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is 21 pages in length!) I've also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

These interesting and engaging resources enable students to build their understanding of the context of J.B. Priestley’s play ‘An Inspector Calls.’ In particular, students learn how to make clear and appropriate links between the social and historical context and the play itself. This gives students a really stable knowledge-base from which to make inferences and interpretations about other parts of the play. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Recall the main events that occurred between 1912 and 1945, through an interactive group activity; - Remember some key information about J.B Priestley and his beliefs; - Read and understand the opening of the play; - Make links between the opening of the play and the historical context - both in term of when the play was set, and when it was written; - Analyse how Priestley links historical context to his characters, in order to get his messages across to the audience; -Peer/self-assess learning attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - A clear and interesting worksheet for the development task; - The opening of the text for students to read and interpret; - Context information cards for the card-sorting game; - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

This engaging and informative lesson students to make sustained and developed links between Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and its social and historical context. In particular, students learn about the harsh treatment of the poor in Victorian society, the selfishness and cruelty of those in power, and attitudes towards sin, religion, and the supernatural. The lesson explores how Dickens explores these ideas through the allegorical nature of the text. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Understanding key information about Charles Dickens, his life, and influences; - Researching and sharing key contextual understanding about the rich, poor, healthcare, and religion in the 19th Century; - Reading Stave 1 of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and identifying evidence of contextual influences; - Analysing how Dickens presents his views about the cruelty of 19th Century life through the opening of the text; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Extract - Chapter 1 of A Christmas Carol; - Template for researching 19th Century life (and completed answer sheet for teachers); - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make insightful and developed interpretations of Dickens’ use of allegory throughout ‘A Christmas Carol.’ In particular, they explore how Dickens utilises various characters and events to reveal hidden meanings about selfishness, greed, and hidden ugliness in Victorian society. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Defining the key term ‘allegory’ and establishing the key message of Dickens’ allegory; - Reading and understanding the selected extracts to determine how Dickens’ characters are allegorical; - Demonstrating an understanding of the allegorical meanings of individual events and scenes in the novel, through a fun interactive game! - Analysing the extent to which the allegory is effective in presenting Dickens hidden message; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Selected extracts demonstrating Dickens’ allegory; - Features of Dickens’ Allegory Worksheet (and completed answer sheet for teachers); - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make precise and sustained interpretations regarding Susan Hill’s portrayal of Eel Marsh House in the early chapters of The Woman in Black. In particular, they consider how the language (e.g. similes and pathetic fallacy) are used to introduce and develop the imagery and atmosphere of the house. They also consider how the features of the house (e.g. its isolation and age) relate to the generic conventions of scary settings. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Defining the key conventions of ghostly settings; - Reading extracts introducing Eel Marsh House, and relating the conventions of ghostly settings to the description of Eel Marsh House; - Identifying and exploring how the features of Hill’s language help to create imagery and an atmosphere that surrounds Eel Marsh House; - Analysing how Hill’s language and subject matter are effective in the description of Eel Marsh House; - Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Extracts from ‘The Journey North’ and ‘Across the Causeway’ of The Woman in Black; - The Features of Ghostly Settings worksheet; - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This interesting and highly-stimulating lesson enables students to gain a clear understanding of how the characters of Ralph, Jack, and Piggy are introduced and developed in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Students learn to analyse the characters, with particular reference to the dramatization of the conflict between the characters’ instincts of savagery and civility, and how their psyche alters over time. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Use illustrations to explain what they already know about each of the characters; - Understand how each of the characters are introduced, and demonstrate an awareness of the role that they play on the island; - Read and understand Chapters Two and Three of the play, with a particular focus upon how the the characters of Ralph, Jack, and Piggy develop over time; - Analyse key quotations about/by each of the three main characters, highlighting how their psyche is altering; - Complete two diary entries from the viewpoint of one of the characters, showing a clear understanding of how the character has developed; -Peer assess each other’s learning attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - Detailed worksheets, with answer sheets where necessary; - Links to the extracts of the text needed for the lesson (Chapters Two and Three in this case); - Original images for students to complete their annotations; - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - ‘Context: The Barbaric Nature of World War II’ - to aid students with ‘Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;’ - ‘Golding’s Description’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ - ‘Jack’ and ‘Simon’ - to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ - ‘Editing the Text’ - to aid students with ‘Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).