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.
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
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.
**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.
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 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on the change in policy towards the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis.
Students have to put events into chronological order and understand why the beginning of World War II changed everything.
Students also learn about the Wannsee Conference and the experimental attempts by the Nazis to murder the Jews in Europe from shooting to mobile gas vans before deciding upon the use of Zyklon B crystals.
Using numbers and figures they also discover the sheer scale of the atrocities involved in this genocide and what happened in the concentration camps.
There are some excellent links to video evidence to accompany the lesson, which are suitable to show.
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 third and final part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons apply the skills necessary 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 Youth Groups to life in Germany during the war.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the role of women and how their lives were transformed and the causes and consequences of the Final Solution.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example the Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht lesson whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on how far the Nazis controlled the Churches in Germany.
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resources includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 The Nazis and the economy
L2 The Hitler Youth
L3 The role of women in Nazi Germany
L4 The Nazis and the Churches
L5 Hitler’s hate list
L6 The Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht
L7 The Final Solution
L8 Opposition in Nazi Germany
L9 The German Home Front 1939-45 (free resource)
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing this unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
This bundle is the complete series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons apply the skills necessary 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 Wall Street Crash and the transformation by Hitler of the Nazis into an electable force.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the economic problems facing Germany and the causes and consequences of Hitler becoming Chancellor.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example The Night of the Long Knives lessons whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the limited opposition in Nazi Germany and the conversion into a totalitarian state.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: Kaiser Wilhelm II (free resource)
L2 The Kaiser’s Government and Weltpolitik
L3 The impact of World War 1 on Germany (free resource)
L4 The Weimar Constitution and Political Parties
L5 The Treaty of Versailles
L6 Political Uprisings – the Spartacists and the Kapp Putsch (free resource)
L7 The Ruhr Crisis and Hyperinflation
L8 The Munich Beer Hall Putsch
L9 Super Stresemann
L10 The Golden Age of Stresemann
L11 The Wall Street Crash
L12 The rise of the Nazis and the transformation of the Nazi Party
L13 How did Hitler become Chancellor? (free resource)
L14 How did Hitler consolidate his power?
L15 The Night of the Long Knives
L16 The Nazi Police State
L17 The Nazis and the economy
L18The Hitler Youth
L19 The role of women in Nazi Germany
L20 The Nazis and the Churches
L21 Hitler’s hate list
L22 The Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht
L23 The Final Solution
L24 Opposition in Nazi Germany
L25 The German Home Front 1939-45 (free resource)
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing each unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
Each resource gives suggested teaching strategies and are differentiated . They come in PDF and Powerpoint formats and can be amended and changed to suit.
Please note that due to Bundle restrictions of 20 lessons, the free resources (L1, L3, L6, L13, L25) need to be downloaded seperately.
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.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson is an introduction to Kaiser Wilhelm II.
It focuses on the background of Kaiser Wilhelm II, his family and relations, his paranoia and disability, but with a focus on the problems he encountered as a leader of a new Germany.
Included in the lesson is a thinking quilt, a map of Germany, links to informative videos and a summarising pyramid at the end.
This lesson comes complete with a tracking sheet and the noted exam skills required for the students to stick in their books.
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.
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 Britain: Health and the People c1000 to present **
This is an introductory lesson and sets out to establish some key dates, people and discoveries associated with Medicine.
Moreover it introduces the concepts of Medical beliefs, ideas and treatments through the different time periods and questions whether these factors improved or regressed over time.
Students plot these key people, events and ideas on a timeline, which they can develop in the class and/or at home.
I have also included a personal tracker which the students can stick at the front of their books and track various assessment points throughout the unit using different colours for achievement.
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.
With revision in full swing, I have started to make these revision workbooks, which my Year 11 students love (as an alternative to death by Powerpoint).
We pick certain sections each lesson to revise and come up with model answers and discuss the best way to tackle each question, considering exam time constraints.
I print out the sheets in A5, which the students stick in their books and use to colour code
They answer the questions next to or underneath the sheets.
They can also be used for homework or interleaving.
The Industrial Revolution
The aim of this lesson is to introduce the new breed of Factory Owner in the Industrial Revolution
What made Richard Arkwright such a success and how far did he change social and economic fabric of Britain forever?
Students learn how he built up his business and the steps he took became a millionaire and questions how people at the time felt about this.
Activities include completing a thinking quilt and a worksheet on the steps to his success with an explanation as to why, analysing video evidence as well as studying and evaluating text before making a conclusion at the end.
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 challenge the Government’s claim that during World War II, a Blitz spirit of togetherness emerged across the country in defiance of the bombing of Britain’s cities.
This lesson takes students on a journey through archive video footage, government announcements and source information to determine if there was indeed a Blitz Spirit during the Second World War.
Students are given details of what the Blitz entailed using some contextual evidence and a thinking quilt.
They then have to analyse and evaluate a variety of sources and statistics before they conclude and justify which sources best suit the driving question of the lesson.
The plenary is a take on the television programme, ‘Would I lie to you?’ and the idea is to again challenge assumptions.
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.
It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Edexcel 9-1 Medicine in Britain, Thematic study and historic environment
This lesson aims to give the context of the British sector of the Western Front and the theatre of war in Flanders and Northern France, the Ypres Salient, the Somme, Arras and Cambrai. They will also discover that not all the fighting was done in muddy trenches as most students generalise about.
Students will learn why there was a salient around Ypres and the advantages this gave the Germans on the higher ground, including Hill 60.
They will analyse the horrific death and injuries suffered on the first day of the battle of the Somme and why this battle was initiated in the first place.
Furthermore they will investigate the tunnelling system around Arras and the hospital built there, now called the Wellington Tunnels.
Finally they are given information about Cambrai and judge the impact of the tank in the overall outcome of the battle.
Activities include retrieval practice, the use of video evidence, a prioritising exercise as well as discussion and debate.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
The aim of this lesson is to explore how historians find out about the past using historical sources.
Students are firstly questioned about how we can find out about Castles or Roman artefacts for example with usually some interesting replies.
They then have to study four historical sources with differentiated questioning to help decipher and discover their provenance.
There is an extended writing task to complete with their new found knowledge, with help and prompts given if required.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
This is a great game to be used after having studied attacking and defending a Medieval Castle in Norman England.
Students take on the role of the defenders of a Medieval Castle (in this case loosely based on the siege of Rochester Castle by King John in 1215).
They have failed to pay their taxes and King John and his knights are marching on the Castle.
Their job is to defend the Castle at all costs by making wise choices and thus collecting points as they go.
When they have completed the tasks, they are given a student friendly markscheme which will by the end give them great status as geniuses of siege warfare or not as the case may be!
Students can write out the choices they make or just the numbers and corresponding letters. They can only make one choice per question.
Please note that that it best presented by enlarging onto an A3 sheet.
This resource (in booklet form) sets out the OCR Medicine unit, The people’s health, c.1250 to the present day in two sides of A4.
This is ideal for the student who wants a quick recap before the exam as it includes 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 they have been taught!
This resource can also be used for interleaving and homework.
This resource is editable and can be changed to suit. If you like this resource, please check out my Summary Revision Guide for Conflict and Cooperation at : https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ocr-gcse-9-1-conflict-and-cooperation-1918-1939-summary-revision-guide-11769163
AQA GCSE A Level 1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
I have produced this bundle of resources on Elizabeth to help A level history students access the course and make the transition from GCSE to A Level smoothly.
Elizabeth’s 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. During it a secure Church of England was established. The image of Elizabeth’s reign is one of triumph and success. However, it faced many difficulties with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France through Scotland. The nation also suffered from high prices and severe economic depression, especially in the countryside, during the 1590s.
The enquiry question throughout this bundle of resources will be to question what sort of a Queen Elizabeth was throughout her reign and how and why she changed or adapted over time .
Students will learn how Elizabeth dealt with religion in the Religious Settlement of 1559. They will assess her character and aims and how Elizabeth’s Government worked on a local as well as National level.
They will judge the significance of her foreign policy in relation to Catholic threats at home and abroad as well as her attempts to tackle poverty with increasing inflation and poor harvests.
Finally they will evaluate how much the arts, education, exploration and colonisation can be attributed to a Golden Age.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Introduction
L2 Problems
L3 Consolidation of power
L4 Government of Elizabeth
L5 Elizabeth and marriage
L6 Background to the Religious Settlement
L7 Elizabethan Religious Settlement
L8 Catholic threats and rebellion
L9 Mary, Queen of Scots
L10 The Puritan threat (free resource)
L11 Foreign Policy introduction
L12 War with Spain
L13 Elizabeth and Ireland
L14 Economy and Society
L15 Trade and exploration
L16 Elizabeth Golden Age
The lessons include the two types of exam question used, with examples of how to tackle them, using model answers, helpful hints and tips, structuring and scaffolding as well as markschemes. However, please refer to the AQA website for further assessment materials as they are subject to copyright.
The lessons are also differentiated and fully resourced and allow students to reach the very top marks.
This is the final bundle of four I have created for the Tudors A Level history course.
If you have any questions about the lessons, please email me via my TES shop, or any other information about the course. I would also welcome any reviews, which would be gratefully received.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the reasons why the RAF won the Battle of Britain.
With Hitler having conquered France, he soon began his preparations to invade Britain. But with a numerical advantage in planes and skilled fighter pilots, how were the RAF able to defend Britain so effectively? How were they able to overturn another certain disaster into a victory?
Students analyse video footage and a ‘top secret report’ to evaluate how the RAF gained an advantage.
They also judge how effective the Government’s poster campaign was to convince the public they were in safe hands with the RAF.
Ultimately students decide and explain why the RAF won, be it through pilot skill, fuel advantage, the technology of radar, winning the propaganda war or through sheer determination and grit.
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.
