Revising Sheila from 'An Inspector Calls'

This lesson asks students to analyse what Sheila Birling’s dialogue shows about her as a character and consider how the audience is meant to react. The lesson starts by asking students to list the moment important moments in the play involving her. There is a ‘challenge task’ also provided which asks them to think about what she may symbolise to a modern audience.

There is a list of quotes from across the play attached as a handout which students can think about in pairs and they can then be annotated on the board by students/the teacher.

Students are then asked to list the positive and negative aspects of her character and what she does across the play.

The lesson ends with a chance for students to write independent essay paragraphs with the AQA English Literature GCSE success criteria which can be adapted for your course. There are 3 options on how to approach essay writing: ‘layers of meaning’, PEA, or the ‘reading ladder’ which follow the same idea. There is then an opportunity to self or peer assess according to the key skills.