Note only first two paragraphs now visible This is a teacher written essay, written in the simplest, most straightforward style. It is not elegant or advanced, but good to illustrate a structure for those who have to learn how to write good essays. Assess the view that the nuclear family is good for society and the individual. "The nuclear family is the traditional family of the industrial society in the UK. It is seen as ideal and another name for it is the cereal packet family because the ideal is like the families represented in adverts. Familial ideology suggests it is better than any other type of family and is good for society and the individual. In this essay these assumptions will be evaluated." TIP: I give my students 4 coloured highlighters, one for supporting arguments, one for criticism , one for correctly idetified theoriests and theroetical terms and one for concluding or summative commentary. we go through the essay comparing the colour patterns at the end. It is a great confidence booster for them

AQA sociology religion, lesson on secularisation. This is the lesson which builds on the video starter i have uploaded. It contains statistics, definitions, arguments for and against secularisation. There is an additional lesson which includes theoretical commentary

Print out the slides on cards, prepare enough packs for one between 4 students. You will need one die for each group The cards are a little like the chance cards in Monopoly. Each has a chance of adding years to life or taking years away. The game should take about 15 minutes to play, 10 minutes afterwards in discussion and completing life chances table. This can be followed by teacher input. The subject matter can be used for health unit or wealth poverty and welfare It focuses on the main sociological explanations for inequalities in health and turns them into a game of chance

This is developed for sociology but with minor alterations could be used elsewhere in the curriculum. This resource could also be used in teacher training/mentoring on how to teach students how to write essays. It provides step by step instructions and has a task at the end. You need to provide your own exemplar essay or download one of mine to use with the tasks at beginning and possibly the end too

This is a presentation and lesson on how disability is presented in the media. It could be supplemented by one of the many interviews given by Liz Carr (Of Silent Witness Fame)

This presents the key theoretical questions associated with positivism and research methods in sociology. This is suitable for second year A level

I used to teach in a school where some very weak students ended up doing sociology. I developed this resource to explicitly teach then the differences in the answers expected at A level to achieve good marks/grades. This resource could also be used in training/mentoring teachers in the use of blooms questioning, which I found very useful. I used to write out questions and target them according to the student. This can be a useful discipline when teaching classes with widely differing abilities until you get used to them.

Students find this hard to understand so i developed a whole lesson to explain Gidden's view of High Modernity and his theory of structuration

This is a discussion of positivism and how it influenced sociological research and its limitations. It is meant to support the synoptic element of the A level exam where question may ask for an evaluation of the contribution of positivist methodology to our understanding of sociology today.

This is a two lesson bundle on the hypodermic syringe model of media effects. It looks at the theory and also criticism. It is complete but needs to be approached with other models for the exam

This is a short video 4 minutes long summarising the key issues we face today with traditional religious activity and secularisation in the northern hemisphere as it tends to affect christianity.

Many lower ability A level students get "pushed" toward sociology because there is a perception in some quarters at least, that it is an easy subject.It is not, especially if literacy is a weakness. I have used this presentation along with some work sheets I developed to help weaker students grasp two essential elements of the sociological writing: 1. presenting competing arguments 2. writing in an analytical/ detached style

The framework was not an original idea but the worked example is. This is a teacher written essay, written in the simplest, most straightforward style. It is not elegant or advanced, but good to illustrate a structure for those who have to learn how to write good essays. An examine essay requires two or more different perspectives given equal weight. It does not require one perspective which is evaluated. this is the title and introduction: Examine ways in which childhood can be said to be socially constructed Childhood, seen as a separate existence from adulthood has not always existed. Similarly ideas about childhood: its length, characteristics and how children are regarded vary from place to place. When a characteristic such as childhood varies between cultures and at different times it is said to be socially constructed. This essay will examine the ways in whether concepts of childhood are entirely socially constructed TIP: I give my students 4 coloured highlighters, one for point of one perspective , one for each subsequent perspective , one for correctly idetified theoriests and theroetical terms and one for concluding or summative commentary. we go through the essay comparing the colour patterns at the end. It is a great confidence booster for them

A lesson outline introducing the nature of postmodernism using images/ questions etc..

a bad questionnaire for students to criticise

Introducing qualitative methods for first year sociology. includes introducing Verstehen and PERVERT

This is a resource I constructed for "weaker" A level students who had difficulty with theory it applies the theory to class. I used it during an intervention session where I went through each approach and then got the students to make a revision resource for each section . It does not contain many theorist names so is more suitable for the current AS exam rather than the A level. It could be printed out and given as revision cards for students.

To accompany other two lessons and starter arguments against secularisation

This is a lesson to go with the first. it includes a student directed activity (Foxes thinking tool based) with instructions to help them get to grips with the arguments and theories.

This is a lesson with activities to introduce qualitative methods. These is a lot of content in this so you may want to split into two. The basic content could also be adapted for psychology too. Students need to understand PERVERT for an exercise included here but it is fully explained in a slide you can use or print out as a "mat" for lessons