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 lesson aims to explore how Elizabeth approached the difficult subject of religion in Tudor England.
Students are given the context of the religious situation left to Elizabeth by her predecessors, which will then give them answers as to why she took a calm and pragmatic approach to it.
Furthermore they have to decide through a colour coding exercise which were the smallest and major problems she faced with religion before deciphering her religious settlement using a text mapping activity.
Key questions can be used to understand the decisions she took.
A sequencing activity reinforces the learning of the lesson and its significance.
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 assess how ready Elizabeth was to become Queen of Tudor England.
What was the young Elizabeth like and how did her background and Tudor upbringing prepare her to be a Queen?
Moreover how did the foundations of her life enable her as a woman to be strong in a man’s world?
This lesson attempts to examine her attributes growing up but also shows how luck and ruthlessness also played a later part in her life.
Students build up a picture of her early life through pictures, sources and video evidence before explaining her character and noting the problems she faced and how she overcame them from a young age.
Activities include a a chronology exercise, a true or false quiz, video and source analysis as well as using a tree to connect her early problems (branches) and character traits (leaves).
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 lesson sets out to question whether the reason that Henry broke from Rome all along was due to money.
His expensive tastes, his wives, his need to build up his navy and coastal defences and to show Europe his prowess all took a toll on his bank balance.
The monasteries with their wealth proved all too easy pickings for his Chancellor Thomas Cromwell in his ‘Valour Ecclesiasticus’.
The lesson therefore allows the students to build up a picture of his need for money.
Through some investigative work, they will shockingly find many ‘abuses’ and ‘vices’ in the monasteries, giving Henry the excuse to close them down and take their money for himself.
They also have to complete their own report on the reasons why Henry broke from Rome with these new findings and some deliberately falsified accounts.
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 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The decision to be a Protestant country not surprisingly caused Elizabeth many problems from Catholics at home and abroad. The lesson therefore is in two parts.
The first section deals with the Catholic threats at home, mostly from rebellions surrounding Mary Queen of Scots. Students plot the rebellions on a graph deciding how significant they were before being posed some challenging questions.
The second part of the lesson focuses on the threats posed by Allen and Campion and the Jesuits.
After analysing the evidence they decide on the most important ingredients for their threat to Elizabeth (also focusing on short and long term problems) and place them on shelves (prioritising the most important) ready to go into a cauldron.
The final part of the lesson involves deciding how Elizabeth reacted to these threats and planning and completing a GCSE ‘write an account’ question.
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 bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England 1568-1603.
Having taught this unit for a number of years, I have tweaked the order of lessons I now teach at the beginning.
As well as teaching Elizabeth I’s court, government and parliament, I have included Elizabeth’s favourites and an introduction to the religious settlement (which are offered as free lessons), as I felt students were getting confused without these aspects of the course being referred to early on.
The theme throughout this bundle of lessons is to examine how Elizabeth tried to assert her authority and control in the first half of her reign.
The lessons contain different tasks to challenge the students and are differentiated. Furthermore each lesson focuses on how to answer a GCSE practice question from the exam, notably in this unit a source, write an account and significance question.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: An introduction to Elizabeth
L2 Elizabethan Court and Government
L3 Which problems did Elizabeth face in her first ten years?
L4 Elizabeth and marriage
L5 Who were Elizabeth’s key people? (free resource)
L6 The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (free resource)
L7 Threats from the Norfolk and Ridolfi Plots
L8 The Essex Rebellion
L9 Catholic threats at home and abroad
L10 The Puritan threat
L11 The threat of Mary, Queen of Scots
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resources includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The aim of this lesson is to determine why the Essex rebellion (Robert Devereux) was different to the previous threats Elizabeth faced in her reign.
Students learn about Essex’s life and the reasons for him turning on Elizabeth in his failed attempt to ‘protect’ her from Robert Cecil.
Using differentiated materials and video evidence, they can either create a factfile on Essex or colour code information on his life focusing on different themes of importance.
They then plan and write a significance GCSE question, using the suggested skills and tricks of answering a significance question as opposed to writing a narrative account of his life.
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 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
This lesson aims to evaluate the threats posed by the Northern rebellion and the Ridolfi plot to Elizabeth.
Students analyse these threats and dangers to Elizabeth both through video footage and written text before coming to their own conclusions based on the criteria set out for them.
They complete an essay question on what they have learnt, using the structure provided and key argument words.
Ultimately they will recognise the seriousness and therefore significance of the threats to Elizabeth in her early years.
The lesson includes learning activities such as structuring an answer, analysing and evaluating the plots, the use of video evidence and using tier 2 and 3 vocabulary and argument words in an answer.
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 challenge the assumption that Henry broke with Rome on account of his faith.
This lesson explores this argument using a 2p coin, which brings the lesson some relevance today with its inscriptions.
Students complete reading a script, or can opt for actors’ voices.
They then have to complete a card sort activity, prioritising Henry’s reasons for his decision to become the Supreme Head of the Church.
In their final task, they are required to write a letter to the Pope explaining in no uncertain terms their reasons for the break with Rome. There is an excellent writing frame to complete this task if required.
They also have to justify their choices on a timeline, whether it was love or faith alone which had the final say in his religious decisions.
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 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
This lesson looks at the significance of marriage for Elizabeth I 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 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
This second lesson on Elizabeth focuses on the workings of her government. Where did the real power lie in Elizabethan England?
Students question who Elizabeth might want in her government and using a text mapping exercise find out who is who in the different establishments.
The second part of the lesson examines a significance question and compares the inner workings of her government to today’s cabinet and the role of Parliament.
Students have to write about the importance of the Royal Court using the information provided, which is also linked to a brilliant BBC video clip and with a model answer included.
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 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603 **
This lesson is an introduction to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
It starts by finding out what the students already know using a true or false quiz, source material, video evidence and using some portraits of Elizabeth.
The emphasis is also on the precarious nature of her early life which has a major impact on how she rules when she becomes Queen.
The second part of the lesson uses differentiated resources and requires the students to plot, explain and prioritise her early problems on a tree (using the trunk, branches and leaves).
The third part focuses on a typical GCSE question on the usefulness of a source giving tips and notes on how to answer this question.
The lesson also gives a brief introduction to the course and includes a tracking sheet which the students stick in their books detailing the assessment objectives of the course and the four main question types.
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 assess if Henry broke with Rome for love.
Henry VIII is on the TV show ‘Take me out’ with Paddy McGuiness.
He is looking for love and has some questions for some eligible ladies.
The students of course have to interview the ladies first (as Paddy always does) and then feedback to the class.
Henry, complete with speaking voice, discusses his options and the reasons for his choices. At the same time he explains the consequences of his actions as the students fill in a grid.
This is a fun, engaging lesson, but with the serious and challenging concept of the break with Rome at the fore.
At the end of the lesson, students have to write an extended paragraph using key words to explaining the reasons for Henry becoming the Supreme Head of the Church.
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 evaluate the devastating consequences that alleged witchcraft had on communities in Stuart England.
Students will be posed questions such as: Why were the Stuarts so obsessed with witches and witchcraft? How and why did the Pendle witch trials cause so much historical notoriety and infamy? and How could you even recognise a witch and why should they be feared in the local community?
These questions will be answered and explained in this lesson, which ultimately focuses on the Pendle witch trials and its results for English society as a whole, who soon lived in fear and terror for their lives.
Activities include evidence collection, a true or false quiz, a literacy challenge as well as video analysis.
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
This lesson aims to question the character and personality of Oliver Cromwell.
Students will decide if he set out to kill the King from the start and make himself a despot or did circumstances dictate that this was his only option?
Moreover, with his puritanical ideas, did he make England and the Commonwealth a better place for it, or was it exclusive only to the minority?
This will ultimately be down to students’ own judgement as they plot his actions on a grid and justify their own conclusions.
Analysis of video evidence also helps to track his ideas and personality and gives the students ideas for writing his obituary and question why his burial place in Westminster Abbey bears the inscription 1658-1661.
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 aims of this lesson are to analyse the Battle of Marston Moor and evaluate how the New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell won the battle, as well as to question if Parliament had decided to kill King Charles I from the start.
Therefore this lesson comes in two parts.
This first lesson focuses on how the two sides fought in the Civil War.
Students learn about the musketeers and pikemen, before analysing their role in the Battle of Marston Moor.
The students take on the job of Oliver Cromwell and make key decisions to win the battle, gaining points as they go along.
However they must be careful not to make mistakes and lose the battle with catastrophic consequences for Parliament and the New Model Army.
The second part of the lesson looks at an alternative view of the Civil War. Was the decision taken to kill the King early on, or did Parliament arrive painstakingly at this decision over time.
Students plot this on a graph before reaching and justifying their own conclusions, using some argument words for help if required.
A lightbulb is posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The English Civil War
This lesson aims to explore the problems Charles brought upon himself to cause the English Civil War.
Students are given information which they have to analyse and decide how and why there were opposing views from Parliament and the King on how to run the country.
The use of contemporary accounts and propaganda posters will challenge the more able as well.
Students justify who in their opinion is to blame for the Civil War and demonstrate their learning at the end of the lesson using factor and function symbols.
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 decide why an audacious plot was hatched against James I by Catholic plotters and why the conspirators themselves might have been framed by the Government.
This lesson is therefore split into two.
The first half examines the men and their roles in the infamous plot to blow up the King on November 5th, 1605. Students are introduced through talking heads to Guy Fawkes and King James.
They also study sources from the time, including Robert Cecil’s account of the plot and analyse the words trying to make inferences between fact and fiction. A model answer is provided to aid their analytical skills.
Furthermore they will evaluate the causes and consequences of the plot, the reasons for its failure and the significance of the conspiracy today.
The second part of the lesson will require the interpretation of a number of sources to decide if the plotters were actually framed by Cecil and the government who allegedly knew about the plot all along and actively encouraged it.
Students have to decide for themselves before reaching a judgement using key words to aid them. This is excellent groundwork for source analysis they will later tackle at GCSE.
The plenary is to talk like an historian answering key questions using information 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.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Power and the People, c.1170 to the present day
This 33 page Revision Guide is broken down into four sections: challenging authority and feudalism, challenging royal authority, reform and reformers and equality and rights.
The Guide starts by explaining the 4 questions types asked in the exam and gives suggestions and tips on the easiest way to tackle these.
The Revision Guide gives over 20 typical exam questions asked on each topic (from significance, to how useful, to similarities and differences to factors) and how to put these questions into practise with model answers.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and can be adapted and changed to suit with PDF and Word formats supplied.
This Guide can be used for revision, interleaving, within the classroom as well for homework purposes.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated.
The aim of this lesson is to understand why building trenches led to a static war of attrition in the First World War.
It focuses on some key questions: Why did they build trenches in World War I in the first place? Why were the trenches built in zig zags? Why were there lines of trenches behind the front ones and how did they use the barbed wire and sandbags?
Through video footage and visual aids, students build up a picture of what a trench looked like, the equipment a soldier would have to carry to build them and the advantages and disadvantages of protecting themselves in a trench.
Key knowledge Bingo for the plenary will test students understanding of the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question of ‘How frightening was the First World War?’ 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.
The aim of this lesson is to question the integrity of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, one of the most controversial figures of the First World War.
Does Field Marshal Douglas Haig deserve the nickname of ‘The Butcher of the Somme’?
Students are given the context of the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ argument and are then led through a journey of audio, video, and source evidence from which they have to make a judgement at the end if he deserves his nickname.
They will also recognise and analyse how views about Haig have hardened and then softened over time.
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.
