This 30-slide PowerPoint is a fully resourced lesson which addresses the Key Question ‘what impact did the USA have on the Philippines?’ and is part of a unit of lessons on the history of the Philippines. The lesson begins with a starter activity in which students identify the Statue of Liberty and read the words on her unchained feet. They then explore a famous source which comments on US annexations post Spanish-American War, and this introduces us to the concept of American imperialism. The lesson title, aims and objectives are introduced, and these are graduated by criteria (all will/most will/some will) and students are invited to refer back to these later to see how much they have learned. The main activity is a 32-piece card sort in which students divide information up into social, political, military, and economic impacts the USA has had. They then use this information to write a mini essay. The lesson concludes with a discussion plenary. Students are invited to comment on the geopolitical situation in Asia and in particular whether they think the Philippine government should allow US naval forces to station themselves in the islands. They draw on the historical knowledge they’ve acquired to help them form thoughtful and evidence-based responses. A homework task is set to help students prepare for a follow up lesson in the unit (Second World War).

This lesson begins with a starter activity in which students are invited to cut out and stick together a 12-part jigsaw. This features turning points in Filipino history up to this point (the early inhabitants, the Battle of Mactan, Spanish colonization, and Andres Bonifacio. It also features an image of Jose Rizal.) Once glued in students label the key turning points which introduces us to Dr. Rizal. The lesson title and aims as well as graduated criteria (all will/most will/some will) are introduced and there are some teacher expo slides which explain the second order concept of historical significance. The acronym GREAT is used (ground-breaking, remembered, importance at the time, affected the future, and turning-point) and examples are given to aid discussion and understanding of these as they relate generally and more specifically to Jose Rizal. This information is collated onto one slide which can be distributed to the class as they begin their main activity (to make a digital, written, or visual model celebrating Rizal’s importance.) The lesson concludes with a fill in the blanks Have I Got News For You? activity designed to remind students that Rizal died for nationhood. A consolidation homework task is included where students write an answer to the Key Question.

In this 1-slide PPT you will find a student learning journey about Stalin’s Russia The template is easily editable and provides you with an outline of a scheme of work which can be delivered. I like to ask students to glue these into their exercise books so they know exactly where on their own learning journey they are. This learning journey is broken down into inquiry units and individual lesson titles within these.

The aim of this lesson is to let students showcase their awareness of the Triangular Trade using plenty of subject specific vocabulary and precise historical details (names, dates, people, places, events, quotes and statistics) and I normally give them a couple of lessons to achieve this. The objective is to write a five-part poem detailing: The causes of slavery Conditions on the Middle Passage Life in the Americas Resistance Abolition Throughout the 24-slide Power Point there are five slides with heaps of precise historical detail to help students decide what to include in their poems, and there are five examples too. Please be aware that the slides are deliberately heavily packed with information to ensure students can write different accounts. I use this lesson to tie together the unit once students have already got a good grasp of the subject knowledge. It’s a powerful way to remember and to allow for some cross-curricular overlap between History and English. If you have any questions about this lesson let me know and thanks for stopping by.

I couldn’t find a book on USA 1919-41 which suited my high ability IGCSE students so I wrote one myself. This is my 215-page PDF which covers all of the key parts of the CIE specification and which includes comprehension questions and activities at the end of each chapter. I give it to students to supplement the course. It also includes detailed revision menus. If you prefer you can find it on Amazon in published form but am selling it here also in case anyone prefers a digicopy they can print. Wishing you a great day, Daniel

I couldn’t find a book on Russia 1905-41 which suited my high ability IGCSE students so I wrote one myself. This is my 240-page PDF which covers all of the key parts of the CIE specification and which includes comprehension questions and activities at the end of each chapter. I give it to students to supplement the course. It also includes detailed revision menus.

This lesson begins with a What’s Behind the Squares? Starter activity in which students are invited to shout out what they see in a Medieval interpretation of St. George. The lesson title and aims as well as graduated criteria (all will/most will/some will) are introduced and there are some teacher expo slides which explain the second order concept of historical significance. The acronym GREAT is used (ground-breaking, remembered, importance at the time, affected the future, and turning-point) and examples are given to aid discussion and understanding of these as they relate generally and more specifically to St. George. This information is then used as the class begin their main activity (to make a digital, written, or visual model celebrating George’s importance.) The lesson concludes with a Design Your Own Question retrieval knowledge activity. A consolidation homework task is included where students write an answer to the Key Question.

This lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which students are invited to match up celebrity Hollywood actors with Shakespeare roles they have appeared in. The lesson title and aims as well as graduated criteria (all will/most will/some will) are introduced and there are some teacher expo slides which explain the concept of significance. This invites students to explain their perspective on what makes someone or something important. The acronym GREAT is introduced (ground-breaking, remembered, importance at the time, affected the future, and turning point) and examples are given to aid discussion and understanding of these as they relate specifically to Shakespeare. This information is then used as the class begin their main activity (to make a digital, written, or visual model celebrating his importance.) The lesson concludes with a Design Your Own Question retrieval knowledge activity. A consolidation homework task is included where students write an answer to the Key Question. I created this as a series of 2-3 lessons and its pitched at high achieving Key Stage 3 students for Shakespeare Day. If you have any questions do let me know and I wish you a wonderful day.

In this lesson students receive background information before sequencing a 33 piece card sort to explain the terrible conditions enslaved Africans endured on Guineamen slave ships. This then leads on to the main task in which students are given a card listing three conditions experienced on the ships. They then create a class oral history project which can be recorded and stitched together. This is always an extremely powerful lesson and one which needs to be taught sensitively and with purpose.

If you need a quick boost to how you provide for your students for whom English is an additional language (EAL/ESOL) this 50-page PDF is for you. 50 of the most popular subject specific words in History translated into the world’s 8 most popular language. Each poster includes a visual clue also. Simply print them off and stick them around your classroom. English words are in UK-English but are almost (!) the same in US English (just civilisation and industrialisation that we spell differently in these 50 words). I hope this resource is of use to you and your students. Wishing you a great day.

I take great pride in leading my students to the Manila US military cemetery every year. Now you can purchase my 27-page pack which focuses on the areas of background, civilians, POWs, war crimes, the Battle of Manila, resistance, technology, the fallen, the chapel, Leyte Gulf and much more. This pack is designed to complement in-class studies and comes with a staff copy with answers. It has been designed specifically for this historic site and is of use only to teachers leading a trip to the cemetery. Please let me know if you have any questions and I wish you a wonderful day.

This lesson begins with a starter activity in which students are asked to sequence four key events of American history in the correct order, the last of which is Ruby Bridges’ first day at an all-white school in Louisiana. The class are then introduced to the lesson title with graduated criteria (all will/most will/some will) and the PPT has some background information for teacher exposition. The class then begin their main activity in which they cut out 24 cards. The start and end cards are labelled but all the others need to be placed in the correct order using the heads and tails sentences. This then tells the story of Ruby Parks. The class then use this information to create a rollercoaster map. Examples are given and this enables students to consider which aspects would have been most distressing or dangerous. The lesson then concludes with a plenary in which the class are asked some comprehension questions on a famous Norman Rockwell painting about the incident to consolidate their knowledge and understanding. Lesson aims are revisited and a two-paragraph homework task is set. This lesson on Ruby is one that students always connect with and I hope your students appreciate her as much as I do. I don’t normally include URLs in my lessons because they expire but I’ve put in a link to a great segment from a chat show in which Ruby explains her role in history.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the concept of Jim Crow in a ‘What’s Behind the Squares’ starter activity. Once the squares are revealed, they witness a white American pouring acid into a swimming pool which had previously been a whites-only pool. There is then background information for teacher exposition in which students become aware of Plessy V Ferguson and the nature of segregation and discrimination in the USA at this time. Examples are given of various Jim Crow Laws with images before the main task is introduced. Lesson aims are graduated (all will/most will/some will), and the class is asked to create their own ‘museum’ of Jim Crow artefacts. They are only allowed a maximum of 8 objects (examples are given, but they are encouraged to research their own). Students then present and explain their choices as presentations. The lesson concludes with a plenary where they are asked to find one photograph by Gordon Parks online (from his Segregation Story series) and to create dialogue between the people featured based on their knowledge and understanding acquired in the lesson. There is also a homework task at the end of the 49-slide PPT. I hope your students get as much from this very important lesson as mine do. As with all History lessons about Civil Rights, it is important it is taught sensitively but head-on. I hope the materials here allow you to do just that.

This lesson is a 25-page PowerPoint presentation in which students are introduced to the topic with two divergent opinions on the impact of sit-ins (which are revisited later) and a Starter Activity in which the teacher asks them to close their eyes as they are read information about a typical Southern diner in the 1960s. Towards the end, a sit-in is described, focusing on the experiences of the participants. Students are given a choice of three options and then watch a three-minute video clip from the movie “The Butler,” which reveals the violence and verbal assaults sit-in protestors experienced (please be aware there is racially offensive language in the clip). They are asked to revisit their response. The lesson title is introduced, along with graduated aims (all will/most will/some will). The class is then provided with background information on teacher exposition slides before beginning the main activity, which is a two-page source analysis activity (5 sources, 15 comprehension questions). There is then a written activity inviting students to respond to the Key Question using the knowledge they have acquired and the sources. Following this, there is an opportunity for group discussion before the conclusion of the lesson. The class listens to the lyrics of the song “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke (or if you prefer “A White Man’s Heaven is a Black Man’s Hell” – also good but harder to make out the lyrics) and relates this to today’s learning, before deciding which of the two earlier historiographical perspectives they now agree with by moving to a designated area. As always, teaching Civil Rights needs to be done maturely and head-on but with a sensitive approach. I hope this PowerPoint resource enables you to do so for this important topic and helps your students see the importance and courage of the sit-in protestors.

In this 41-slide PowerPoint presentation, the lesson begins with a Starter Activity inviting students to examine pictures of 18th Century England and comment on transportation at the time. They write their observations on post-it notes and stick them on the board, outlining how these features might facilitate highway robbery. The lesson title is provided, along with graduated criteria (all will/most will/some will), followed by background information on Turpin for teacher exposition. The main activity is introduced, during which students sift through a 13-piece hexagonal card sort and categorize reasons for the growth of highway robbery into social, economic, and political factors. A written task is assigned, and students are encouraged to share their thoughts with the group. Before concluding, the lesson revisits its aims, and students participate in a ‘Have I Got News For You’ style lesson plenary, where they fill in the blanks to test their acquired knowledge. This lesson is tailored for Key Stage 4 students in mainstream settings, written in UK English.

This lesson is a 27-slide PowerPoint which begins by asking students to place various methods of execution into chronological order, from ancient beheadings to modern lethal injections. Then, students are invited to read two opposing viewpoints on Derek Bentley’s death, to be revisited later in the plenary. Graduated lesson aims are introduced (all will/most will/some will), along with background information for the teacher’s exposition. In the main task, students divide 18 pieces of evidence from the card sort (there is a color-coded version too if needed) into two columns: things that suggest he deserved to be hanged and things that suggest this was a miscarriage of justice. This leads to a class discussion and a written task, utilizing evidence maps. The lesson concludes with a plenary, featuring links to the death scene from the movie ‘Let Him Have It’ and a song entitled ‘The Ballad of Derek Bentley’, prompting students to vote on which earlier viewpoint they agree with. This is obviously a delicate and sensitive subject, and I hope this fully-resourced lesson helps you achieve this with your high-achieving Key Stage 4 high school students, written in UK English.

In this 39-slide PowerPoint, the lesson begins with a starter activity designed to introduce students to Henry through one of his portraits. The lesson title and graduated lesson aims (all will/most will/some will) are introduced, and there are some slides of background information for teacher exposition. The class then begins the main activity, which is a 26-card hexagonal evidence sort. Students are encouraged to break the cards down into domestic and foreign policy issues and also personal qualities (there is a color-coded version for purposes of differentiation). They then decide for each column if the evidence is positive or negative. This evidence mapping exercise prepares the students for a piece of extended writing to answer the Key Question. There is time for class discussion, and the lesson aims are revisited before students vote on how good a King Henry was in the plenary. This lesson was written for high achieving high school students and is written in UK English.

I have designed this lesson as part of a local History unit on the Philippines but it works just as well as a stand alone lesson if you are teaching war in the Pacific. It is titled ‘What was life like for Filipinos under Japanese occupation?’ The lesson begins with a starter activity about a Primary school teacher, Miss Fernandez. Students are asked to say what they see as squares are revealed. Ultimately it shows her as a guerilla fighter with 200 Japanese scalps to her name. This invites the question why her life took such a change and this in turn introduces us to the graduated learning objectives (all will/most will/some will). The main task is outlined - to create a museum exhibition which answers the key question. There is then very detailed information given on 7 areas of life under Japanese rule. These are the Bataan Death March, the Battle of Manila, Japanese war crimes, resistance movements, rule and government, Kamikaze fighting, and the Leyte landings. After information on each area there are suggestions for possible exhibitions. Students then present these exhibitions before a plenary in which they are encouraged to review over 40 pieces of vocabulary they have been introduced to as well as a homework task in which they write a letter as Miss. Fernandes explaining her actions to future generations. I hope your students get as much from this lesson as mine do. Have a great day, Daniel

In this 56-slide PowerPoint, the lesson begins with a ‘What’s Behind the Squares’ starter activity. This reveals a woodprint of a witch being interrogated and asks students initial questions to get them thinking about the topic and period. The lesson title is then introduced along with graduated criteria (all will/most will/some will), and there are some background information slides for teacher exposition. The main tasks then take place. Students are asked to read three sources and to attempt comprehension questions on them before attempting a Diamond 16 activity, in which they identify social, economic, and political reasons for the rise of witchcraft (and Hopkins) before then prioritizing them in order of what they consider their importance to be. This then leads to a written task. The lesson plenary is a ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ activity in which students test the knowledge they have acquired by filling in the blanks. This lesson was written with a desirable difficulty level for Key Stage 4 high school students and is written in UK English. I hope your students get as much from it as mine always do, and please message me if you have any questions.