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.
The British Empire
This lesson has been designed to look at specific countries which were part of the British Empire.
Claimed by Captain James Cook in 1768, students study how and why the British used Australia as a penal colony.
Using a real life example of a young boy sent there for petty crimes, students analyse his and others stories from the start of the voyage through to life in the colony.
They track and ultimately decide the worst aspects for the convicts.
There is lots of video footage to consolidate understanding and the plenary evaluates the conditions and lives led by the convicts
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 GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The overarching aim of this and the subsequent bundle of lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth tried to assert and establish her authority in the early years of her reign.
The lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of her difficulties in trying to overcome this.
This fourth lesson looks at the significance of marriage for Elizabeth and the subsequent problems it caused her throughout her reign.
There are retrieval practice activities to start the lesson including an odd one out task and ‘splatting’ the board to choose the correct answers.
Students are introduced to the criteria for why Elizabeth should marry and then check the criteria against the possible suitors, thus coming to a conclusion about the best candidate.
There is also a GCSE practice question to answer. There are sentence starters provided for differentiation and the lesson comes complete with fun activities and video footage.
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 GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c.1000 to present **
This lesson aims to find out why the public health in Medieval towns was so poor.
Some local councils tried their best, but the laissez-faire attitude of many including the government of the day proved a major hindrance.
Students have to decide the most important issues, both short and long term, causing the poor public health conditions by putting and prioritising the main ‘ingredients’ on shelves ready to put into a cauldron.
There are some fabulous links to video footage as well as a true or false quiz and a game of noughts and crosses to finish.
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 comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
Britain: Health and the People c1000 to present
The aims of this lesson is threefold; for students to recognise the introduction of sulphonamides and how the first magic bullets were discovered, analyse the growth of the pharmaceutical industry and evaluate the difficulties of eradicating the new superbugs which are resistant to antibiotics and alternative medicines.
The first task for students is to analyse the work of Ehrlich and Domagk in their quest to cure diseases such as syphilis, malaria and blood poisoning.
Students then have to judge how significant their work was and justify this in a grid (from not a all, partially, moderately, substantially and significantly)
The second task evaluates the work of the Pharmaceuticals such as Wellcome, KlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, the positive work they do into researching new medicines but also looking at the negatives as well, such as the drug Thalidomide.
The final part of the lesson requires students to analyse how and why there are diseases resistant to antibiotics using current research available from the NHS as well as reasons why people are turning in increasing numbers to alternative treatments and medicines such as acupuncture and homeopathy.
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 comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
The aim of this lesson is to establish how much the students know about history, how historians talk about the past and how this can be applied in a historical context.
They are introduced to key words such as chronology, where they form a human timeline, millennium, decade, century and periods of history as well as the misconceptions around AD and BC.
Students then have to use these words to describe their favourite piece of history, with the challenge to include as many of these time associated key words as possible.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to assess the impact of humanism and the arts upon the reign of Henry VII.
Students begin with some source scholarship on the Renaissance before assessing the significance of three humanist scholars as well as the invention of the printing press.
They also begin to plan an exam practice question by evaluating the importance of education, drama, music and the arts upon England and giving each an impact percentage rating.
Some scaffolding, hints and tips as well as a generic markscheme enable students to answer the exam question in detail.
The plenary checks the understanding and how much they can remember of the lesson completing the sentences given.
There is an enquiry question posed and revisited 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.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
This resource in booklet form sets out the course in two sides of A4.
This is ideal for the student who wants a quick recap and summary before the exam as it sets out all the main details in bullet form.
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 connected with the course with a focus on exam requirements.
I have included both PDF and word documents in case there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to judge the success of Elizabethan exploration and colonisation.
Students are first introduced to the most influential seafarers of the age; Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh
Students are required to evaluate the significance of their activities, such as slave trading, the colonisation of Virginia and attacks on Spanish shipping as a result of the attack on San Juan de Ulua.
They also analyse the reasons why exploration increased with new ship design and navigational techniques.
As well as focusing on Drake’s epic circumnavigation of the globe and the enormous revenue he generated for the crown, some misconceptions are also clarified such as what colonisation meant to the Elizabethans and how much overseas trade expanded as a result of voyages to the New World.
There is some exam practice to complete if required, which questions if Drake’s exploits were the main cause of hostilities with Spain.
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 judge how significant the role played by Thomas Cromwell was in the break with Rome.
Students recap on the weaknesses of the Catholic Church on the eve of the Reformation and how Henry was being influenced by numerous Humanist writers as well as his new Chief Minister.
There is some source scholarship to complete on Cromwell to emphasise the part he played, as well as some focused reading to ascertain if he was just a master planner for Henry or a devious master manipulator.
They are given a print out of the Reformation Parliament containing all the Acts passed between 1529-34. There is also a distinction made between statute law and canon law.
There is some exam practice to complete on the role of Cromwell in the break with Rome, complete with a model answer to scrutinise and a detailed markscheme.
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.
**The early settlement of the American West c.1835-c.1862 **
This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for Edexcel GCSE 9-1 The American West, c.1835-c1895
Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of the early settlement of the west from the customs, traditions and lives of the Plains Indians through to the lawlessness of the towns.
They will focus on the settlement of the Great Plains with the coming of the early settlers and the problems they faced farming the land.
They will learn about the conflicts and conquest of the Great Plains such as the Gold Rush of 1849 and the use of the Oregon Trail by the Donner Party for example.
Questions will target consequence such as the US government policy towards the Plains Indians and the treaties which followed such as the Indian Removal Act, the Indian Appropriations Act and the Fort Laramie Treaty.
Furthermore students will be empowered to master the significance of key events such as the Mormon migration west and write analytical narratives such as the perils of the Oregon Trail.
I have dispensed with individual learning objectives for each lesson to focus throughout on a specific enquiry based question which addresses the knowledge and skills required for the GCSE questions and shows progression in learning required during this course.
Moreover it allows the students to critically think for themselves to decide who was benefitting from this rapid change to America as well as how and why.
For assessment purposes each lesson, with the exception of the first two, is accompanied by one of the three key exam questions with help and exam tips if needed. These can be completed in the lesson or for homework tasks if required.
The lessons are all differentiated and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons come in PDF and Powerpoint formats if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Introduction to the Plains Indians (free resource)
L2 Plains Indian society
L3 The Great Plains and the Buffalo
L4 The Spirit World (free resource)
L5 Conflict over land
L6 The Oregon Trail
L7 The Gold Rush and the Donner Party
L8 The Mormon Migration
L9 Early Settlement on the Plains
L10 The Fort Laramie Treaty
L11 Problems of lawlessness
These lessons are designed to meet the needs of the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum and cover the development of the Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509; the struggle between Church and crown, Magna Carta and the emergence of Parliament.
This bundle addresses key historical skills from the outset: What made a successful Medieval Monarch? Why did King Henry II want more power over the Church and why was he forced to publicly say sorry? What were the differences and similarities between the reigns of King Richard and his brother King John? What were the causes and consequences of King John signing the Magna Carta? What was significant about the Peasants’ Revolt or Edward II’s promotion of his favourites?
These skills are addressed in each of the lessons and allow students to be able to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends and be able to create their own structured accounts and written narratives.
Moreover this bundle allows students to understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims on the reputations of King Richard and King John.
The lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 Medieval Monarchs introduction
L2 The murder of Thomas Becket
L3 Was King Henry II really sorry?
L4 King Richard the Lionheart
L5 King John
L6 The Magna Carta
L7 The siege of Rochester Castle (free resource)
L8 The Peasants Revolt
L9 King Edward II
L10 Bonus lesson - Genghis Khan
These lessons are designed to be fun, challenging, interactive and engaging.
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start and revisited at the end to show the progression in learning and who held the power in Medieval England.
All the lessons are differentiated and come with suggested teaching and learning strategies and link to the latest interpretations from the BBC and other sources.
The resources come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for Edexcel GCSE 9-1 Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991.
The lessons are all differentiated, fully resourced, amenable on Powerpoint and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the formation of the Grand Alliance to the outcomes of Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam as well as the ideologies of East and West and the Berlin crisis.
They will explain and analyse (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in tensions between East and West, the causes and consequences of the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact as well as the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Origins of the Cold War
L2 Conferences of Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam
L3 The Kennan and Novikov Telegrams
L4 Soviet Satellite States
L5 Truman Doctrine
L6 Marshall Aid
L7 Cominform and Comecon (free resource)
L8 Berlin Crisis 1948
L9 NATO and Warsaw Pact
L10 Significance of Arms Race (free resource)
L11 Hungarian Uprising
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lessons and revisited throughout 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 form mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resources include retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE exam practice questions and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to question whether the Government was right to punish conscientious objectors during World War 1 and how frightening it was for individuals to refuse.
This is a controversial subject and was extremely difficult to understand and address at the time.
Therefore the lesson explains why many people in World 1 refused to fight, despite government propaganda and pressure from society for them to do so as they became targets of abuse.
Luckily now there is a wealth of video and audio evidence in this lesson (linked to the BBC in particular) which deconstructs and challenges the old arguments of cowardice and shame as well as understanding individuals’ rights to uphold their beliefs and consciences.
Students are given two case studies to analyse before engaging in a mini debate on the right or wrongs to conscientiously object to war.
The plenary challenges them to decide if the given statements from the lesson are true or false.
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 1
The aim of this lesson is to question how frightening trench life really was.
This lesson begins with a familiar look at trench life. An analysis of sources, audio clips and prose using higher order thinking skills as well independent learning will bring students to the conclusion that trench life was extremely tough for soldiers.
A chance to write a letter home, before realising the problems of censorship, will suggest to students that soldiers had to struggle in the mud and squalor surrounding them.
However historians such as Dan Snow question how long soldiers spent in the trenches and discovered that in fact 45% of their time was spent behind the lines and in relative safety.
Therefore the overriding aim of the lesson of evaluating how frightening trench life was now becomes more apparent.
Finally the use of historical hexagons will challenge thinking and challenge students to link ideas together.
The 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.
This is a fun, entertaining as well as a challenging lesson, designed to question and evaluate the causes of the Great Fire of London in the summer of 1666.
The hook is Samuel Pepys; why did he bury his cheese and why did he bury it alongside items that were surely more valuable?
The lesson comes complete with differentiated resources as students have to plot the causes and consequences of the fire on a visual display using logs,flames and smoke.
Notes have been put on each slide on how to deliver the activities and answers to some of the questions posed as well as suggested teaching strategies.
This lesson is active, exciting and engaging and would also suit a non specialist. It is aimed at key stage 3, but can be delivered to key stage 2 pupils also.
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are 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.
The American West 1835-1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
This lesson aims to examine the role of the two leaders of the Mormons; Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and the story of the Mormon migration West to Salt Lake City.
Students learn the teachings of the Mormons and how isolationist the movement became in the face of so much hostility and persecution.
Students have a choice of tasks using key questions or a story board to plot the life of Young and then annotate some text to analyse the leadership qualities of Brigham Young.
They also complete a prioritisation activity as well as a planning thinking quilt of Brigham Young to ascertain his successful migration west.
There is some GCSE exam question practice on the ‘importance’ question, with help if required and a noughts and crosses quiz at the end to reinforce the learning of the lesson.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice is also included.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format is there is a wish to adapt or change.
The American West 1835-1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
This lesson aims to assess how positive the US Government’s early attempts were to ‘civilise’ the Plains Indians between c.1830-1851.
By adopting a westward expansionist policy, students have to question how beneficial this was and for whom?
Was America to benefit from improving the Plains, by ploughing it for farming, digging up its minerals for manufacturing or simply clearing its forests for timber?
Students are given various scenarios and laws such as the Indian Removal Act and the Indian Appropriations Act and individually rate each scenario by colour coding a battery to signify positive or negative before coming to a conclusion as to who benefited from this conflict over land.
There is some follow up exam question practice using the ‘write a narrative account’ worth 8 marks.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice is also included using causal equations.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
The aim of this lesson is to understand the rise of the cattle industry and the impact it had on the American West.
Students are given a Texan Cattle Industry Thinking Quilt which introduces them to new concepts and key words.
They are introduced to Joseph McCoy and have to decipher a number of statements relating to him which have specific errors in them to correct.
They analyse various texts and video links on the Goodnight-Loving Trail as well as the rise of John Iliff and have to work out relating statistics as well as key questions which aim to challenge assumptions and beliefs.
There is some GCSE exam practice on the ‘consequences’ question, with help given if required.
The plenary is a talking heads activity.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice on source recall is also included.
It comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
The aim of this lesson is to explore the rivalry and tensions that grew up between ranchers and homesteaders on the Plains from the 1860’s onwards.
Students have to think why conflict arose on the Plains and what the arguments might be with some initial guidance.
They also learn about the checkerboard allocation of land and the issue of free ‘public land’. Using some typical scenarios which arose, they have to come up with solutions to the problems.
There is some GCSE exam question practice on the ‘consequences question’, with some help given if required.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice linking key words and subject is included.
The plenary links key words from the lesson together to form sentences to reinforce the learning. There is also some retrieval practice at the start.
It comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
This lesson aims to understand the reasons for the relative success of Red Cloud against the US Government as opposed to Little Crow and Black Kettle.
Students have to piece together the causes behind Red Cloud’s decision for going to war despite his tribe being divided and the awareness of the previous consequences of fighting back.
They learn about Fetterman’s Trap and the second Fort Laramie Treaty. They then have to decide the reasons or limits of Red Cloud’s success (such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refusing to sign the Treaty).
I have also included an interactive click and drag exercise using activex textboxes which moves text to complete gap fills to reinforce the learning of the lesson.
The plenary uses an interactive flashcard activity linking to Plains Indian Chiefs.
There is some follow up exam question practice using the ‘write a narrative account’ worth 8 marks, with help given if needed.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some recall retrieval practice is also included linking key words together.
It comes in Powerpoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
