This engaging and interesting lesson aims to improve students’ knowledge of the social, historical, and cultural context of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It also aims to build their skills in creating clear and specific links between the text and it’s context, focusing on a specific extract from the novel. The lesson uses a range of tasks, that require students to use their visual and interactive skills. It follows this learning journey: - Understanding what dreams are and how they differ for each of us; - Defining the American Dream, The Wall Street Crash and The Great Depression; - Creating a timeline which visually depicts the other influential events of the time; - Reading and reflecting on an extract from the text; - Analysing the links between texts and contexts, from a success criteria; - Evaluating each others’ analytical attempts. All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation. You can choose to buy this resource alone, or as part of the ‘Of Mice and Men - All Lessons and Scheme’ bundle, which contains seven full lessons, resources, teachers notes, and PowerPoint presentations, plus a Pointless Of Mice and Men game, for just £5!

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’ Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - ‘Context: The Russian Revolution’ - to aid students with ‘Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;’ - ‘Orwell’s Description’ - to aid students with ‘Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;’ - ‘Napoleon’ - to aid students with ‘Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;’ - ‘Editing the Text’ - to aid students with ‘Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.’ Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I’ve also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

These resources enable students to understand and analyse the character of Squealer in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. More precisely, students learn to make clear and accurate interpretations regarding his role in within the consolidation of Napoleon’s dictatorship. Students also demonstrate their understanding of chapters 7 and 8, with a particular emphasis upon the actions of Squealer. There are easily enough resources here for two lessons. Students learn through the following tasks: - Gauging and collaborating previous knowledge of ‘propaganda’ through a discussion-based starter task; - Using an interactive, out-of-seat, group activity to build understanding of the features of propaganda; - Reading chapters 7 and 8 with a particular focus on the character of Squealer, and demonstrating their understanding through a related activity sheet; - Developing their understanding of Squealer’s actions, and finding textual evidence to back this up, through a scaffolded, retrieval activity; - Using their imaginative and creative skills, in addition to their knowledge of Squealer and propaganda posters, to construct their own propaganda poster for Animal Farm; - Peer assessing their partners’ learning attempts. The following resources are provided: - Engaging and colourful step-by-step PowerPoint - Teacher lesson guidance/plan; - Squealer’s Propaganda worksheet; - Four propaganda texts for group analysis; - Template for recording group analysis; - Chapters 7 and 8 worksheet (plus teacher answer sheet); - Copies of Chapters 7 and 8. All images and videos are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

These resources enable students to understand and analyse the rise of the pigs towards power in chapters 3 and 4 of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. More precisely, students learn to make clear and accurate interpretations about the emergence of the various characters as leaders on the farm, with appropriate links to individual characters and their allegorical relationship to context. Students learn through the following tasks: - Gauging and collaborating prior knowledge through a discussion-based starter task; - Reading chapters 3 and 4 and demonstrating their understanding through a related group quiz activity; - Developing their understanding of the changing nature of characters, and their allegorical ties, through a quotation retrieval mind mapping task; - Analysing the allegorical nature of the pigs, by further exploring their characteristics in relation to those of the communist Russian leaders of the early 20th century; - Peer assessing their partners’ learning attempts. The following resources are provided: - Engaging and colourful step-by-step PowerPoint - Teacher lesson guidance/plan; - Analytical paragraphs worksheet; - Mind-mapping activity template; - Copies of Chapters 3 and 4. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

These informative and engaging resources enable students to build the skills needed to interpret and analyse 19th Century non-fiction texts. This will aid students through the new Paper 2 Section A of GCSE English Language - for which they need to become confident readers of 19th, 20th, and 21st Century non-fiction texts. These resources give students a strong foundation of knowledge of features of non-fiction texts in the 19th Century, using newspaper stories from the time based on 'Jack the Ripper' as the predominant examples. There are easily enough resources for at least two lessons within this resource pack. Students learn through the following tasks: - Inferring and deducing contextual knowledge through an interactive starter task; - Understanding the features of London in 1888 through a video introduction; - Building close reading skills through a study of a non-fiction extract about Jack the Ripper; - Answering exam-style questions interpreting and inferring the key meanings in the text; - Using models and templates to write extended analysis responses about the language used in the non-fiction extract; - Peer assessing their partners' learning attempts. The following resources are provided: - Engaging and colourful step-by-step PowerPoint; - Jack the Ripper newspaper extract; - Teacher lesson guidance; - Interpretation worksheet; - Analysis worksheet; - Writing to analyse. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Susan Hill's 'The Woman in Black.' Teachers have found them particularly useful in comprehension or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of children towards meeting the KS3 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework. Children have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that children gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - 'Context: The Rural North' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Know the purpose, audience and context of the writing and drawing on this knowledge to support comprehension.' - 'Hill's Description - The Horse and Trap' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Know how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, present meaning.' - 'Mr Jerome' and 'The Woman in Black' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Study setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these.' - 'Vocabulary Inspector' - to enable students to demonstrate that they can: 'Learn new vocabulary, relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and understanding it with the help of context and dictionaries.' Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is 21 pages in length!) I've also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This engaging and informative lesson enables students to make insightful and developed interpretations regarding the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol.’ In particular, they explore how his character is originally introduced, and then developed throughout the appearances of the three ghosts. The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through: - Reading and understanding the selected extracts to determine the key traits of Scrooge's character at different points in the text; - Noticing trends in Scrooge's character throughout the text, observing how he has developed from the opening of the text through completion of a 'Character Arc.' - Analysing Dickens' intentions in developing the character of Scrooge throughout the text; - Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive; - Selected extracts demonstrating Scrooge's development; - Character Arc template; - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to mixed ability year 10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This CPD session offers an engaging and original approach to introducing or revisiting assessment for learning. Grounded in educational research, this CPD session is interactive, well-structured, and has been successfully tried and tested. The aim of the CPD session is to develop the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed in order to utilise assessment for learning even more effectively in lessons, and it achieves this by embarking upon the following learning journey: 1. Understand what assessment for learning is and why it is effective. 2. Break down the individual components of assessment for learning. 3. Observe and evaluate a model of assessment for learning 4. Collaborate in developing your own assessment for learning strategies. Included in this pack are: Full PowerPoint presentation, videos for analysis, hyperlinks to Youtube videos, resources for CPD activities, instructions and guidance for trainers/ presenters. All images and videos are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide.

This clear, detailed and visually-appealing resource offers a complete reference point for children learning about Elizabeth I as a part of their history study of ‘Significant Individuals.’ It contains comprehensive sections entitled: Overview; Times in Her Life; Important Vocabulary; Elizabeth I Timeline; Answers to the Important Questions; Top Ten Facts. The resource is designed to be printed onto A3, and is provided as both a PDF and a Word version (so that you can edit if you want to). All images used are licensed for commercial use.

This informative and engaging double lesson aims to improve students’ ability to compare and contrast two different texts based on a similar subject. They will focus particularly on the purpose, audience, language, and structure of texts, and will learn to use comparing and contrasting connectives to highlight any similarities and differences. This has always been a crucial skill in English, but has an increased importance in the new GCSE for English Language, as there is a greater requirement for students to be able to make links and comparisons between texts. The lesson follows a clear and logical learning journey, with students learning to: - Understand the key terms 'compare' and 'contrast', and the importance of these skills in English; - Categorise the different features that they can compare, under the headings 'Purpose', 'Audience', 'Language' and 'Structure;' - Read (and identify the key features within) two morally and ethically intriguing texts, offering diverse views of young people in the media; -Compare the two texts, using a clear and concise template, and newly-acquired knowledge of different types of connectives; - Peer-assess each other's comparative essay attempts. Included in this resource pack are: - Whole double lesson, colourful and engaging PowerPoint presentation (Including assessment for learning referral slides) - Cards for card-sorting activity; - Two interesting and thought-provoking non-fiction media extracts (one a newspaper extract from The Evening Standard, and another a persuasive leaflet, both focused on the issue of how young people are perceived.) - Template for main comparative analysis task; - Full teacher guidance plan. All images are licensed for commercial use and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint presentation

These resources enable students to understand and analyse the Old Major’s dream and the events of the animal revolution, in the opening two chapters of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. More precisely, students learn to make clear and accurate interpretations about events and characters, with appropriate links to the Orwell’s allegory and relationship to context. Students learn through the following tasks: - Gauging and collaborating previous knowledge through a discussion-based starter task; - Reading the first two chapters and demonstrating their understanding through a related activity sheet; - Developing their understanding of characters and context through a a making links activity; - Analysing the allegorical nature of the opening chapters by further exploring the connections between characters and contexts; - Peer assessing their partners’ learning attempts. The following resources are provided: - Engaging and colourful step-by-step PowerPoint (includes links for video) - Teacher lesson guidance/plan; - Chapters 1 and 2 worksheet; - Making Links Activity Sheet (1x more difficult, 1 x easier); - Copies of Chapters 1 and 2. All images and videos are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint. Note - internet connection is needed if you plan to use the video.

These resources enable students to understand and analyse the significance of the ending in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. More precisely, students learn to make clear and accurate interpretations regarding the increasing inequalities on the farm. Furthermore, students analyse how the final events of the novel help Orwell to get his message across to the reader. It is likely that there are enough resources here to be used over at least two hour-long lessons. Students learn through the following tasks: - Gauging and collaborating previous knowledge of ‘equality’ through a discussion-based starter task; - Reading chapters 9 and 10 with a particular focus on the increasing inequalities between the different animals, and demonstrating their understanding through a related activity sheet; - Gauging the inequalities between the animals through the design and explanation of an ‘equality graph’ (template and instructions provided); - Understanding how the events of the final chapters help Orwell to get his message across to the reader; - Analysing how the inequalities between the animals are evident through either a character analysis of Boxer or Napoleon (template and success criteria provided); - Peer assessing their partners’ learning attempts. The following resources are provided: - Engaging and colourful step-by-step PowerPoint - Teacher lesson guidance/plan; - Equality graph template; - Two analysis template: Boxer and Napoleon; - Chapters 9 and 10 worksheet (plus teacher answer sheet); - Copies of Chapters 9 and 10. All images and videos are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

Based on the popular game show ‘Pointless’, this resource is perfect for use as a whole lesson resource, enrichment option, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change questions. (I’ve also added a blank template so that you can make your own games from scratch). Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, interesting tasks, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build or revisit knowledge of characters, plot, and themes in ‘Animal Farm.’ Round 1. The characters in Animal Farm Round 2. Quotations from the text Round 3. Settings and Objects Round 4. Themes in Animal Farm The nature of this game ensures that the resource can challenge students of all levels. A blank template has also been added, so that you can create your own games!

This engaging and stimulating lesson enables students to create travel brochure texts containing appropriate and imaginative language choices, utilising a range of different language techniques with subtlety in order to craft writing that serves the dual purpose of being descriptive and persuasive. In particular, students learn how descriptive language such as of similes, metaphors, and personification, in addition to persuasive devices such as statistics, rhetorical questions, and personal pronouns, can help to create truly authentic and effective travel brochure pieces. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Define what travel brochures are and understand their purposes; - Identify the persuasive and descriptive language devices that travel brochure writers employ - Analyse the effects of the language in a model travel brochure text; - Utilise a clear and challenging success criteria document in order to construct their own travel brochure pieces; - Self/Peer assess travel writing attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - An interesting and ambitious travel writing extract (with a highlighted version for teachers): -A logical and challenging worksheet, encouraging students to analyse key features; - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint.

I delivered this CPD session to all members of our staff team who maintain regular contact with parents and other stakeholders, in a bid to improve the quality, accuracy, and clarity of our written communications. I'd recommend that the session takes about 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes to deliver. We had received some negative feedback comments, regarding our communications, varying from examples of poor grammatical accuracy, to instances in which the tone of emails, letters, and other forms of correspondence were perceived as rude. It is surprising how common this is across schools, and how little training is provided on these forms of interaction. Following this training, we are receiving far fewer complaints, and many staff members now keep the help-sheets pinned up by the desks to refer to when communicating with parents. Participants learn through: - Participating in a fun pub-style quiz to eradicate common spelling, punctuation, and grammar misconceptions and errors; - Considering the role of parents, their needs and interests, and what they expect from their child's school, as a means to understand why schools sometimes receive difficult communications; - Reading and analysing examples of poor written correspondence, considering how both the tone and the accuracy can be improved; - Exploring different language strategies to create a personal, polite tone within emails, by considering the connotations of different words; - Taking away help sheets that can be referred to whenever written communications are being drafted. The resource pack includes: - Colourful and engaging whole-session PowerPoint presentation ; - Examples of written communications for participants to analyse; - Quiz answer sheet; - Accurate Written Communication help-sheet; - Polite Written Communication help-sheet. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide. (Please note that the only section of the PowerPoint that you may wish to modify is with regards to the distinct features of parents at your own school - Aside from this, the resources are good to go!)

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol.' Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - 'Context: 19th Century Britain' - to aid students with 'Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;' - 'Dickens' Description' - to aid students with 'Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;' - 'The Ghost of Christmas Past' - to aid students with 'Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;' - 'Editing the Text' - to aid students with 'Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.' Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I've also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This informative and engaging lesson aims to improve students’ knowledge and understanding of the character of Lennie in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It also aims to improve their analytical skills, so that they can demonstrate sustained and sophisticated interpretations of the character. This pack includes the full lesson presentation, with animations and key information, a worksheet with clear and concise instructions, an example analysis extract, and full teacher guidance. The learning journey is clear and progressive, following a pathway of progressively more difficult tasks, including: - An engaging memory game task to recognise and remember items and ideas that are related to the character of Lennie; - A worksheet that enables students to demonstrate understanding of key quotations about Lennie, and to link Lennie to key themes and ideas. - Close reading of a modelled example analysis paragraph; - Joint creation of an analysis success criteria; - An opportunity to answer an exam style question based upon the character of Lennie; - A chance to peer assess against the success criteria. Students should have read, (or during this lesson read) up to the section in which George and Lennie meet their new boss, in order to fully access the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the presentation. You can choose to buy this resource alone, or as part of the ‘Of Mice and Men - All Lessons and Scheme’ bundle, which contains seven full lessons, resources, teachers notes, and PowerPoint presentations, plus a Pointless Of Mice and Men game, for just £5!