I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world, 1901 to the present day with a focus on the rise of Dictators
The aims of this bundle are to know and assess the characters and personalities of a number of Dictators of the Twentieth Century and understand how they have shaped our history today.
I have also created and used these lessons to challenge and engage students and to show how much fun learning about this part of history really is.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout such as change and continuity in Dictatorships of the Twentieth Century, the causes and consequences of Castro’s Cuban Revolution and the similarities and differences of Dictators such as Hitler and Stalin.
They will also learn about the significance of the abdication of Tsar Nicholas and his subsequent murder, the execution of Saddam Hussein as well as interpretations as to how much love their was for Chairman Mao in China.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Tsar Nicholas
L2 Adolf Hitler
L3 Josef Stalin
L4 Benito Mussolini
L5 Chairman Mao
L6 Fidel Castro
L7 Saddam Hussein
L8 Idi Amin
L9 Robert Mugabe
L10 Francisco Franco (free resource)
This bundle includes some retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials.
All lessons come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCSE Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the terms of the Treay of Versailles and its impact upon Weimar Germany.
From the start, students have to understand how difficult it was for the Allies (the Big Three) to decide how to treat Germany at the end of the war.
Moreover when they did eventually agree, how did it affect Germany with its reparations for example and what were it terms?
The emphasis is also on how students can remember the terms of the treaty, especially with the land lost, complete with difficult spellings such as Schleswig-Holstein and Alsace-Lorraine.
Learning tasks include making notes from video evidence, creating a chatterbox, analysing sources, completing quizzes and filling in a ‘find someone who can’ worksheet (a brilliant idea from Aaron Wilkes).
The second part of the lesson focuses on GCSE exam practice using cartoon sources related to the Treaty as well as how to answer the first three source questions on the exam, with help on how to answer each.
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.
This resource in booklet form sets the AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945 Democracy and Dictatorship course out in two sides of A4.
This is ideal for the student who wants a quick recap of the course as it sets out all the main details, people and events in bullet form.
It is also great for quickly printing and giving out for revision lessons, interleaving or for homework, especially when the course content has now doubled for the GCSE 9-1 exam.
I have included PDF and Word formats if there is a need to change or adapt.
This is cheap to photocopy and includes a summary of the exam questions from the start.
If you like this resource, please check out my full revision guide for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945 here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/aqa-gcse-9-1-revision-guide-germany-1890-1945-11764985
This resource in booklet form sets out the whole AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People c.1000 to present course in two sides of A4, including the exam questions
This is ideal for the student who wants a quick recap before the exam as it sets out all the main details in bullet form.
The summary guide includes all the main individuals, events and discoveries made which are asked in the exam.
It is also great and cheap for quickly printing and giving out for revision lessons, especially when the students claim they cannot remember anything you have taught!
I have included both PDF and Word formats if there is a wish to change and adapt.
What happens at a slave auction? How are the slaves prepared? Who attends the auction? Who is chosen and why?
This lesson attempts to answer these questions and more; from branding to advertisements and the auction itself.
Students also learn of the heartache and pain of those who are sold and how and why slaves are sold at different prices.
They are also challenged in a task to think who would be more expensive and why.
By the end of the lesson, students have to give examples in a true or false quiz of what they have learned in the lesson, including having to decide the worst aspects of the slave auction.
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 evaluate just how efficient and effective the new weapons of the Twentieth Century were.
Students have two objectives; to rate the effectiveness and killing power of the weapons used during the First World War and to explain how well equipped the soldiers were in the trenches, particularly the British Tommy.
The lesson begins with discussing the type of weapons used and for students to recognise the continuity and change of many of these pre, post and during World War I.
The historian Dan Snow is quoted as saying the British soldier went into the First World War ‘as the best prepared soldier on the planet.’
The lesson subsequently unfolds to explain and evaluate the new weapons used and the advantages (or not) they gave each side.
The plenary requires students to link the effectiveness of the weapons to images and to explain how and why this is the case.
This 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.
Edexcel GCSE 9-1 Medicine Through Time, c1250-present
These key individual flashcards aim to get the students thinking of key people and their significance in medicine.
I always find students have revised thoroughly for exams, but do not push their grades into the higher brackets as they focus on content rather than the individual’s impact and importance, particularly over time.
These flashcards are great when addressing the 12 mark ‘explain why’ question, particularly when arguing over rapid change.
There are 33 individuals listed, including those for the Historic Environment; The British sector of the Western Front.
Students can use them in class (I use them as starters and plenaries) or to take home and use for their own personal revision programme.
I also display them in the classroom (enlarged) and use when teaching this unit of study.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The aim of this lesson is to analyse why slaves escaped from their masters and evaluate the significance of Harriet Tubman.
The lesson begins by asking why slaves ran away and how would they prepare for it.
Some source scholarship focuses on an advert placed in 1838 to retrieve a runaway slave. Key questions on inference require students to analyse and read between the lines on why the owner was desperate to recapture the slave.
The second part of the lesson examines the underground railroad and the roles of those who helped the escapees and relocate to the northern states. Harriet Tubman was instrumental in this and students undertake an extended written piece on her significance.
Finally some famous escapes are highlighted and debated by the students as to which were the most daring, interesting, lucky and famous.
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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is analyse how Henry ruled the country through his government and to make comparisons to how the country is ruled today.
Students are given information on Henry’s government, including his relationship with Parliament and the controversial Council Learned and his use of Justices of the Peace.
To check their understanding, students undertake a quiz with 150 points up for grabs to give it a competitive edge!
A final odd one out activity uses some retrieval practice from 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 and retrieval practice activities.
**EDEXCEL GCSE 9-1, SUPERPOWER RELATIONS AND THE COLD WAR 1941-1991 **
There is no doubt that students are finding this unit of the course extremely challenging. Therefore I have been inspired to write this summary guide for my students to help pass the GCSE examination.
This resource sets out the whole course in two sides of A4.
This is ideal for the student who wants a quick recap and summary before the exam or an internal assessment, as it sets out and gives all the main knowledge required.
It is also great for quickly printing and giving out for revision lessons, especially when the students claim they cannot remember anything you have taught!
It covers the main events, issues and people and key terminology connected to the topic, with a focus on the exam requirements at the beginning.
I have included both PDF and word documents in case there is a wish to adapt and change.
The British Empire
This lesson explores the rise and fall of Robert Clive of India. Should he be regarded as a hero or a villain of the worst kind?
The first part of the lesson establishes his heroic reputation through video and source analysis.
Students then sift through a variety of source information and plot a graph coming to their own conclusions and judgements.
They also analyse the Battle of Plassey as an additional task and decide whether their judgement has been correct all the time.
The plenary requires them to create a plaque for Clive of India to sum up his reputation according to the evidence.
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the impact the Great Depression had upon Germany.
Students are given the context to the Wall Street Crash and then have to decide if Germany’s problems throughout were the sole consequence of the Wall Street Crash.
They are given further details of the effects of the slump in Germany, from which they answer some differentiated questions.
Various scenarios are also put forward, from the social, political and economic effects, to who suffered more - the young or the old and the rise of extremism. These can be debated and discussed in groups or individually.
The plenary further challenges which particular groups suffered in the Depression and why.
Some source exam practice can be completed, 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.
The aim of this lesson is to analyse life in a slave plantation.
What was a typical day like? How hard was the work? Was it made easier by the invention of the cotton gin? How did they relax if at all in the evening and what were their living quarters like?
Learning tasks include comparing a day in their school life with the day of a plantation slave and recognising the hardships endured.
Students also have to use a number of sources, which are differentiated according to ability and challenge a statement which suggests a slave’s life wasn’t really that bad.
The plenary asks them to use four letters and come up with as many associated words as they can from their learning.
The lesson comes with a retrieval practice activity, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
American Civil Rights
This lesson questions how far the African American community in America has come since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The lesson starts with focusing on the inspirational actions of two American athletes during the Mexico Olympics of 1968.
The students are questioned on the symbolic nature of their protest and how their message had far reaching implications.
Seven case studies are investigated by the students from the achievements of Michael Johnson and Barak Obama to the tragic incidents surrounding Rodney King, James Byrd and George Floyd.
There is much accompanying video footage as well as differentiated tasks to enable students to make a judgement at the end.
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.
Middle Ages
The aim of this lesson is to decide who rules in Medieval England - the Crown or the people?
As the lesson unfolds the overriding question becomes more challenging; in the short term the Peasants’ Revolt ultimately failed but the consequences in the longer term for the people were much more positive.
The scene is set with each student taking on the role on a peasant and spokesperson for their village. They complete a grid sheet throughout the first part of this lesson to clarify their significance in the village.
As the demands of the King become ever more unacceptable, they have to make choices, using a quiz to choose the correct actions to take, gaining or losing points in the process. This can be completed as a class or independently.
The second part of the lesson examines what happened to Wat Tyler – piecing together evidence from the King’s supporters at the time.
Ultimately they will write a narrative account of the Peasants’ Revolt using differentiated tasks which give guidance and help if required.
They continue to plot the power struggle between the king, the church, the barons and the people on a graph in a sequence of lessons.
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Links to video footage
Printable worksheets
Differentiated tasks
Suggested teaching strategies
Homework ideas
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
The British Empire
The aim of this lesson to investigate the causes and consequences of the Boer War (1899-1902) for the British Empire and the character of Lord Horatio Kitchener, appointed Commander of the British Army in South Africa.
Students are required to analyse and make judgements on his character by deciding how heroic he was, before, during and after the war by rating each of his actions.
They are soon shocked to find his underhand tactics of trying to win the Boer War through initial incompetence to devastating ruthlessness as the war progressed with his scorched earth policy and the setting up of concentration camps.
They also learn how the war impacted upon the Government at the time, culminating in the Liberal Reforms and evaluate how these measures helped improve public health which left a lasting legacy on Britain.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials 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 lessons are 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 decide how much of a financial genius Henry really was.
Students are given the information on how Henry collected his revenue and are introduced to key terms which they try to unpick.
They then complete a colour coding task to judge and ultimately decide which source of income was he most successful at collecting and justify this with the evidence given.
A recap on the Council Learned as well as challenging two opposing views of Henry, will allow students to plan and write a 25 mark exam practice question. There is a writing frame and a comprehensive markscheme given if required.
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 assess and judge the strength of the economy under Henry VIII.
Students begin by recapping Henry VII and the measures he undertook to deal with a changing economy.
This is then compared to Henry VIII as the students have to test the judgement made by John Guy who said England was ‘economically healthier, more expansive and more optimistic at any time since the Roman occupation’.
Students are also required to give an efficient rating on Henry VIII’s policy on the economy and explain if he could have been more efficient (as with a household energy rating).
The plenary asks students to expand their explanations, which is a brilliant idea taken from @MrFitzHistory
There is some exam practice to complete with a supplied writing frame and markscheme to use if required.
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.
This is the first in a series of lessons I have created on the Tudors.
This lesson is broken down into two parts. The first part describes and explains the events surrounding the Wars of the Roses.
Students learn about the Kings involved and the battles fought through fun tasks, video evidence and role play of which they have to make choices on the victors.
With this new found knowledge they have to explain what they have learnt through a ‘talk like an historian’ quiz.
The second part of the lesson focuses on the previous Tudor perceptions of Richard III. Was he really a deceitful and cunning person, ‘a lump of foul deformity’ with a hunchback according to Shakespeare, More and Virgil?
Archaeological evidence from King Richard’s remains is analysed by the students to prove or disprove some of these popular ‘misconceptions’ about his posture and character.
Students are then challenged to write to the current Education Secretary to make sure correct history lessons are now taught about Richard III in secondary schools.
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.
This lesson is fully resourced includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This lesson focuses on the factors which allowed William the Conqueror to win the Battle of Hastings.
The aim of this lesson is for the students to recognise how the factors link together (embedding GCSE skills) and how William could just have easily lost the battle.
The students have to first decide who might have said or did what in the battle before completing a card sort activity with various statements which they order into the different categories.
The learning tasks culminate in writing a narrative account of the events which is differentiated and key skills and prompts advise on how best to answer this.
The plenary checks understanding with a true and false quiz.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
