Predict, Experience, Question, Vocabulary, Visualisation, Chunk. Six reading strategies that students can use independently when they are asked to read that are out of their reading age comfort zone. Designed for use at KS2 (Years 5 and 6), KS3 and KS4. Gives students suggestions on how they can use each strategy to work out meanings of texts independently or get the most out of texts to broaden and deepen understanding. Designed for student use but also useful for teachers who are less familiar with the ins and outs of reading strategies or just a brush up of your own excellence. Great for persuading and supporting the more reluctant reader to pay more attention to the clues in a text or the ways they can push themselves forward. Use as a mat on desks for students or create a resource that is bound by a key ring. Senior Leadership will be glad you are tackling this! They might even insist you roll it out school wide. In which case, you’ll need a school license. Contact me on Twitter @alisonshuttlew1

This A3 revision sheet traces a journey through the play for the character of Macbeth, focussing on his tragic journey. The grid is divided into AO1 qualities, evidence, AO2 subject terminology and writer's purposes and AO3 contextual understanding. It is laid out in chronological order in clear yet bitesized pieces of information. Reassure yourself that, for those students who like to be minimal in their revision, this will at least give them knowledge of the main journey undertaken in the play. It also provides a great basis for setting students the task of tracing other characters' journeys in the play using the resource of the grid as a model. Designed for Eduqas/WJEC but would also suit any other exam boards who follow the respond, evidence, analyse, context model.

Students at KS 3 or KS4 if you are exploring Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Dracula or another Gothic novel, get to learn the wider contexts of the Gothic Genre from its beginnings in the late 1700s. The PPT lasts a whole lesson and uses skim and scan reading, note making and colour-coding as a mnemonic for learning and revision. The main event is a 'Running Research' task in which students work in pairs (would work individually as well as in groups up to four) to go on a quest throughout the classroom to find research to fill in understanding under various headings that cover the Gothic genre. Pesky boys tend to love this one as they are up and about.

This PPT resource with embedded worksheets enables students to complete an AO1, AO2 and AO3 study of ‘The Darkness Out There’ for the AQA Telling Tales anthology as part of Paper 2 Modern Texts. The sequence of learning looks at how knowledge of Lively’s writing style, her themes and beliefs, literary and cultural contexts help us to understand the rising action, crisis, climax and resolution of the short story that are contained in the tea drinking sequence. Activities for students to complete throughout and a final task of an extended task response. 2-3 hours of learning here at a grade 5+ level. Great accompaniment to https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/the-darkness-out-there-literary-contexts-11836384?theme=0 which looks at further literary contexts of the short story as a modern fairy tale.

Dice or no dice, this six by six grid helps students quickly zhoosh-up their descriptive pieces beyond the mythical power of yet another simile! Lots of quick to apply professional writer's tips and tricks gleaned from my work tutoring undergraduate writing workshops! Don't be fooled - it's much easier to get them to go up two grades in an edit with this than you think. I use it as an original mat during practice pieces and as an editing tool if they writing has become rather prosaic. Easy to remember a few for the examination itself. Little bit of numeracy thrown in with the old 'along the corridor, up the stairs' style of grid reading thrown in as an outstanding bonus to your lesson.

Most creative prose resources rely on inserting more similes and adjectives into a poorly thought out story. This resource is different because it allows students to create imaginative characterisation from a character's inner and outer world even before they have even felt the effort! (This is a little more challenging in approach than my resource 'Really Creative Creative Prose' so great for Grade 5 and above but the resource is fully differentiated through choice and rising challenge tasks). The learning sequence will take about two hours and is made up of a PPT of 27 slides that helps you run a creative prose workshop session using simple lists and everyday experiences students ahave (but disregard most of the time). They end the lesson with a section of creative prose that is focused on inner and outer worlds in a story that has more convincing, original and imaginative detail and avoids cliche without the sweat, seemingly. Based on my work as a professional creative writing tutor and short story writer, this method is probably something you haven't come across before. I developed this as a lesson observation that was graded outstanding. Goes nicely with 'Really Creative Creative Prose' A lovely accompanying resource is the Improving Creative Writing Grid which is a godsend learning mat that I've used across the secondary years for developing the evaluable skills in examined creative prose. Available a a creative writing bundle alongside 'Really Creative Creative Prose'.

Once they’ve done the first draft, it’s the (dreaded?) editing to second draft stage. Take the pain away with this resource. Stop your learners from reducing the skill of editing to mere proof-reading by using this writing editing prompt sheet. It works as a learning mat in its entirity or you can cut and paste sections to focus on one editing detail e.g The Cut or The Add. Wide range of prompts given in each section so plenty of choice for low threshold, high ceiling differentiation. Suitable for the older primary literacy classroom or for use at KS3 or KS4 in English.

A five page workbook for students that helps students targeted Grade 5+ take an initial exploration of the poem. Differentiated with vocabulary work, research and additional hints and questions to aid the less confident learner, students can complete this independently in class or as an extended homework. Helps to initiate discussion on the poem and to raise awareness of its literary and biographical contexts as well as the theme of long-distance ambiguous relationships. Makes links with the other romantic love poems.

Celebrate International Children’s Book Day 2nd April or teach students the history of children’s books in an engaging way then create a playful leaflet inspired by a villain. Best suited to Years 4-8. Draw on prior knowledge, have a giggle, re-frame existing knowledge, add knowledge to the understanding of this literary canon and create a very modern publicity leaflet in which a children’s book villain attempts to change the public’s perception of them. 28 PPT slides with lovely graphics, challenge, differentiation, support, numeracy and wit to amuse them! Would last at least two hour lessons to complete with the leaflet task.

High grading essay response comparing ‘Tissue’ as main poem and ‘Poppies’ as a comparison poem. Tips on how it was planned and easy tips to elevate essays. Examiner experienced teacher and writer created. Offers potential for new interpretations of a complex text and also revision potential.

Homeworks but nothing to stop the tasks being adapted for cover lessons or into classroom activities. It's a smorgasbord of activity! Full set of homeworks differentiated for Grades 1-9 to accompany teaching of Macbeth. Designed to consolidate and extend learning and encourage students to use a range of learning modalities. The original word document is 18 pages long and you can make it into bespoke take away sheets for your students. Divided into Acts so that you can team up with your teaching. At least 100 tasks to choose from and very quick to edit - e.g. choose the grades 6-7 column for the term. Plenty to please parents who want their child to be busy and engage in homework and revision. Tasks encourage independence. Use alongside my free download to track the completion of homework alongside parents and students.

Suited to KS2 Years 5 and 6 or early Year 7 as transition work, this unit of work takes students through the heritage of children’s books and leads up to leaflet/webpage writing. Skills included: evaluation, numeracy, plan, edit, draft, publish skills. Dips into Aesop, The Bible, Shakespeare, Gulliver’s Travels and more modern children’s fiction characters to show the timeline of literature read by children. Great for post SATs pre-transition for light-hearted fun linked to NC.

Invaluable resource for teaching those more nebulous skills for Grades 8 and 9. A high level modelled or exemplar response to a task on ‘When We Two Parted’ and the theme of heartbreak. Compared with ‘Winter Swans’ for the AQA English Literature Paper 2. Plenty of high level ideas ready to be learned within the response and also a good range of activities provided to encourage students to interact with the essay response, pick it apart, learn it, borrow the style and to encourage wider research. Rich in applied contexts and perspectives.

Invaluable resource for teaching those more nebulous skills for Grades 8 and 9. A high level modelled or exemplar response to a task on ‘Love’s Philosophy’ and the theme of desire. Compared with ‘The Farmer’s Bride’ for AQA English Literature Paper 2 Love and Relationships poetry cluster. Plenty of high level ideas ready to be learned within the response and also a good range of activities provided to encourage students to interact with the essay response, pick it apart, learn it, borrow the style and to encourage wider research. Rich in applied contexts and perspectives.

Invaluable resource for teaching those more nebulous skills for Grades 8 and 9. A high level modelled or exemplar response to a task on 'Follower' and attitudes to parents. Compared with 'Mother, any distance' for the AQA English Literature Paper 2. Plenty of high level ideas ready to be learned and also a good range of activities provided to encourage students to interact with the essay response, pick it apart, learn it, borrow the style and to encourage wider research. Rich in applied contexts and perspectives and full use of those aspects of poems students often neglect - structure and form - the response looks at sounds (because poetry is an aural form) and both big (journey structures) and smaller structures.

Invaluable resource for teaching those more nebulous skills for Grades 8 and 9. A high level exemplar response to a task on ‘Letters from Yorkshire’’ and difficult to define relationships. Compared with ‘Climbing My Grandfather’’ for the AQA English Literature Paper 2 Section B. Plenty of high level ideas ready to be learned and high level response style and also a good range of activities provided to encourage students to interact with the essay response, pick it apart, learn it, borrow the style and to encourage wider research. Rich in applied contexts and perspectives and full use of those aspects of poems students often neglect - structure and form - the response looks at sounds (because poetry is an aural form) and both big (journey structures) and smaller structures. Offered as a pair of resources - a framework for exploration in class and tasks and exemplar essay.

A revision tool over four A3 sides on Helen Dunmore’s ‘My Polish Teacher’s Tie’ with several activities to encourage engagement with the revision content. Covers all the assessment objectives, main and minor characters, themes, modern perspectives, writer’s stylistics, writer’s purpose and relevant subject terminology. You need look no further! Has many low threshold - high ceiling ideas which are suited to those aiming for Grade 4 through to 9 but could be edited back to simpler ideas for grades below this.

This resource provides a full-length high grade response (Grade 9) to a typical task set for AQA English Literature Paper 2 Section A Love and Relationships anthology. Plenty of further activities provided to stimulate good use of the essay and further response practice and research. High graders lap this one up!

Take the fear out of short creative prose for the Eduqas/WJEC English Language Creative Prose Paper 1 Section B with this 550 word exemplar short story with full story arc for use as what a good one looks like and to adapt and borrow from to inspire similarly structured and controlled work from your students.

Take the fear out of short creative prose for the Eduqas/WJEC English Language Creative Prose Paper 1 Section B with this 550 word exemplar short story with full story arc for use as *what a good one looks like * and to adapt and borrow from to inspire similarly structured and controlled work from your students.