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.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The lesson aims to explore the significance of the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Students are given the context of why each organisation was formed and then have to analyse each flag and explain the important of each symbol using prompts to guide them.
Furthermore students will need to discover how far Stalin is telling the truth about the Warsaw Pact in a true or false quiz.
There is a GCSE practice question on importance to complete with help if required and a model answer given.
Finally, students complete a checkpoint retrieval activity and challenge tasks to finish and reinforce the learning of the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice.
It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The aim of this lesson is to understand and discover how Stalin retaliated and reacted to the formation of the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid.
Students are given the key information about the setting up of Cominform (to counter the Truman Doctrine) and Comecon (to counter Marshall Aid). Students will then have to evaluate how much help and support Stalin gave to Eastern Europe.
They will complete this using an evaluation grid by colour coding the decisions made from not at all to significantly or extremely.
This will enable them to complete a choice of two GCSE practice question, will help given if required including a student friendly markscheme.
This resource also includes differentiated questions using Blooms taxonomy at the beginning as well as in the plenary to check understanding.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE exam practice and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the events leading to the Berlin crisis of 1948 and the actions of the Allies to unite a divided Berlin into Trizonia with its new currency, the Deutschemark.
Students begin by analysing maps of Berlin to understand its unique position in East Germany; they also use text to find out key information and decipher key words as well as evaluating how the crisis unfolded using a dual coding and text mapping exercise.
The plenary requires the students to use causational equations to explain how and why the crisis happened.
There is some GCSE exam question practice to complete, with tips on how to answer the consequences question, with model answers given if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE exam practice.
It also comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
This lesson focuses on the financial aid given to Western Europe as part of the Marshall Plan.
Students have to evaluate how significant it was in relation to the Truman Doctrine and how Stalin reacted this ‘dollar imperialism’.
There are differentiated questions which explore why this aid was also offered to Eastern bloc countries, how America was able to offer such huge sums and who received a majority of the aid. There is some text to therefore analyse and use to make inferences.
The plenary asks students a series of questions which recap the lesson and consolidate their learning from previous ones.
There is some GCSE exam question practice to complete, with tips on how to answer the consequences question, with a model answer given if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE exam practice.
It also comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the significance of the Truman Doctrine and its implications for East-West relations.
Students are asked to analyse two political cartoons of the time to establish how and why the new foreign policy of the USA was a direct challenge to the Soviet Union. There is help given if required.
As well as studying the finer details of the Truman Doctrine, they also have to understand its consequences for Europe and write this up in a GCSE practice question.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE question practice.
It also comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
This lesson focuses on the Satellite States created by the Soviet Union.
Students will be encouraged to question how far these states were willing participants in communism and happy to be part of a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
There is some source analysis as well as differentiated questioning to help them unpick the events which followed the fall of Berlin in 1945.
Furthermore they will evaluate how each eastern country fell into line with the Soviet Union and plot if it was through intimidation and threats and how much they resisted this control.
The plenary asks the students to think outside the box and link particular events to key images.
The final part of the lesson is some GCSE question practice on the ‘narrative account’ with some help given and a markscheme if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE question practice.
It also comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The lesson aims to explore the importance of the Kennan and Novikov Telegrams.
The context of the Telegrams is given at the start of the lesson, with students using video footage to explain the consequences if the atomic bomb was used.
Students will also learn of the recommendations each of the foreign ministers proposed to their respective superiors and the importance of their advise.
There is also a home learning challenge which the students can answer a key question and self assess themselves using a model answer.
The plenary make use of an interactive connect four game, complete with differentiated questions.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE question practice.
It also comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
This lesson focuses on the Conferences at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam and aims to evaluate their impact on East-West relations.
Students are required to decide who said what in a retrieval practice activity at first, before analysing the Conferences and evaluating what was agreed, bearing in mind a change of leadership in Britain and America between Tehran and Potsdam had a considerable influence on the outcomes for each.
The plenary sums up their knowledge through numbers.
Finally some GCSE question practice gives the students some strong and average model answers which they have to distinguish between and be able to explain why referring to the exam board markscheme.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE question practice.
It also comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
This lesson aims to define what the Cold War was about, the differences between Communism and Capitalism and how after 1945, both the Soviet Union and America went from allies to enemies.
Students use a map and video footage to define what the Cold War was all about, with a writing frame supplied if required.
Students also learn about the different political spectrums in the world at the time and use this knowledge to categorise them in a colour coding activity.
They also had to analyse evidence of how mutual suspicions grew which they plot on a suspicion o’meter and justify their choices.
The plenary uses a mood board to distinguish between the various ‘moods’ of leaders and soldiers from the time.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Suffragettes
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate how much the vote gave independence to women in the roaring twenties.
Students have to assess how and why women became more confident and empowered with new technology and the introduction of the reckless flapper, shocking society with her wild behaviour.
There is video evidence, text mapping and source analysis for the students to complete to aid them in justifying their decisions.
Students will also evaluate the role of four pioneering women in a differentiated task by colour coding batteries to rate their contribution to ‘girl power’.
There is a chance to complete some extended writing using importance words as well as adding appositives to simple sentences in the plenary.
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 English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to understand why James lost his crown in the Glorious Revolution and how and why the lessons of his father were not learned.
Students will define what they think a Glorious Revolution might be, before learning about the reign of James.
They will have to judge how seriously Parliament saw him as a threat to the stability of the monarchy and how they could avoid turning the world upside down yet again.
They also have to assess the impact of the Magna Carta on the Stuart dynasty as well as completing a thinking quilt, defining key terminology such as Whigs and Tories under James II.
The plenary requires students to find and fix statements which will consolidate their learning from the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to question if James I was the most ‘suitable’ candidate to succeed Elizabeth I as monarch of England, Scotland and Wales.
The lesson begins with the death of Elizabeth and the suggestion of the enormity of the task that lays ahead for the new monarch.
James I puts down his own marker quite forcibly from the start in a letter to her chief advisor, Robert Cecil.
Students have to sift through the evidence provided to make up their own minds.
They are then required to report back to Cecil with their findings with scaffolding and key words provided if required.
The plenary uses the blob playground for students to make links to James and his ‘characteristics’.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the reign of Charles II who was determined to stamp his authority and bring back some sense of ‘normality’ to the country.
Students will be given the context of his return with a Head and Tails activity and an excellent video, in which they will have to justify his cautious return.
As well as reassessing how his brought back ‘partying’ to the country, some source scholarship requires students to summarise paragraphs and create images and headings to show and clarify understanding.
Students will also have to put themselves in the shoes of Charles to sort out some of his problems in the restoration.
A ‘talk like an expert’ activity for the plenary will show off their new found knowledge and skills from the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout 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.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to assess how Channel islanders survived the war with the only occupation of British soil by German armed forces.
Britain had taken the decision to leave the Channel islands undefended.
Therefore students are questioned as to why this decision was taken and how they might feel being at the mercy of the German occupation.
Use of a text and a thinking quilt will help students analyse the ways in which islanders survived, through rationing, acts of resistance and their treatment by the German soldiers garrisoned there.
The Germans attempted to make it a model occupation with respect shown to the islanders, but with curfews and censorship, students have to evaluate if this was the case.
Some excellent video footage will also explain the treatment of prisoners of war moved to the island to help build the Atlantic Wall defences and how they attempted to manage under appalling conditions.
Some real life testimony from survivors is also given to allow students to evaluate fully the significance of the occupation and survival techniques developed to survive.
A big thank you in my research for this lesson goes to Dan Snow and his podcast on the occupation as well as the book by Duncan Barrett, ‘When the Germans came’, as well as testimony from a family friend who is still a resident on Jersey.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout 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.
World War II
The aim of this lesson to analyse and evaluate the part played by women in World War 2.
Students will analyse a number of propaganda posters used at the time, with particular reference made to the use of headings, colour, messages and the images used.
Traditional teaching has always focused on work undertaken by women such as nursing, the W.A.A.F. or the Women’s Land Army.
Although the students will learn the about the vital role women played in these jobs, they will also learn about the Special Operations Executive set up by Churchill as he recruited sixty women to operate behind enemy lines to ‘set Europe ablaze’.
There are four case studies to unpick as well as some great video links to accompany the lesson.
The plenary requires the students to match the key word to the images shown.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout 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.
World War II
The aim of the lesson is to question how we should treat prisoners of war in Britain during World War 2.
Students might be influenced initially in their thoughts by their prior knowledge of Nazi and Japanese treatment of captured prisoners.
There is a discussion task with a number of scenarios which will allow the story to unravel of Italian and German prisoner experiences in Britain.
Pathé news also has some excellent links to video footage of capture prisoners and the commentators emphasis on their good treatment and being given a square meal each day.
A case study of Eden Camp in Yorkshire, site of a former prisoner of war camp, will enable students to analyse what happened there and if treatment was good, fair or bad.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout 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.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to understand how the British Government prepared for war and why it introduced rationing.
The lesson begins by deciding which foods were rationed and why. Students will also have to work out which foods also became unavailable and the reasons for this.
There has always been an assumption that as foods were rationed and restricted, people on the Home Front therefore struggled to make ends meet.
Students are given information on all the goods rationed and compare this to the recommended weekly healthy intake per person today. As they will soon find out, rationing did not always mean everyone suffered as a result.
Students will also be required to analyse the effectiveness of some posters at the time, encouraging people to grow their own food and well as a comprehension task and a challenging thinking quilt on clothes rationing.
The plenary uses flashcards to question their understanding of the lesson.
The lesson comes complete with embedded videos and a lesson plan on how to use the activities.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout 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.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to decide if everyone celebrated VE Day and the end of World War 2 in May 1945.
At first glance, it would appear so as famous pictures at Trafalgar Square show soldiers and civilians alike celebrating as well as the famous faces on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.
Students are also given information about the lead up to the German surrender in the form of a quiz, in which they have to choose the right options to gain points.
However, further investigation reveals the Americans were still fighting the Japanese in the Pacific, as well as prisoners of war still held captive around the world.
Students also have to consider the terrible losses people had gone through and therefore had little cause to celebrate.
I have also included some curious questions such as why did divorce rates surge at the end of the war or why were there rumours that soldiers were to be trained in jungle warfare?
There is lots of video evidence from the time to accompany the lesson as well as a talking heads plenary, which analyses which leader said what at the end of the war in Europe.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end 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.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to question whether the breaking of the Enigma Code led to Britain winning the Second World War.
Having watched the ‘Imitation Game’, I was fascinated to learn more about the story of Alan Turing and the injustice he received at the hands of the British Government.
I was therefore inspired to write this lesson for my department especially after his contribution to the war effort and his brilliance of mind.
The first task naturally is for students to crack the code and find out what they will be learning about in the lesson.
They will also learn about the significance of Bletchley Park and how the code for the Enigma Machine was deciphered by Turing and his team in Hut 8, using a missing word activity.
A thinking quilt will also test and challenge their understanding of his early life, his work during the war as well as his legacy.
There are some excellent video links using the bbc website and an exert from the film above.
The plenary will finally test their understanding of the lesson, using a true and false quiz as well as images to link to the key ideas of the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout 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.
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 conflicts of the Second World War.
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand significant aspects of World War 2 on a global scale and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by this conflict.
I have created and used these lessons to challenge and engage students, but also 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 the types of warfare used, the causes and consequences of the evacuation of Dunkirk and the similarities and differences of Hitler’s invasion of Russia as compared to Napoleon.
They will also learn about the significance of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan,VE Day, collaborators and refugees in World War 2 as well as interpretations as to whether Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris should be considered a war hero or not.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Overview of World War 2 (free lesson)
L2 Invasion of Poland
L3 Evacuation of Dunkirk
L4 The Battle of Britain (free lesson)
L5 The Battle of the Atlantic
L6 Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union
L7 Sir Arthur Bomber Harris
L8 D-Day landings
L9 The attack on Pearl Harbour
L10 Dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Japan
L11 The role of Collaborators
L12 Refugees in World War 2
L13 VE Day
This bundle includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials.
All lessons come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included two free lessons in the bundle to give an idea of what is being offered.
