This KS3 lesson should take around one hour to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities and all accompanying resources are included. Aims and Objectives: To know what Hitler’s aims were for young people in Germany. To know the methods that’s the Nazis used to indoctrinate/control young people. To use sources to reach a verdict on how successful the Nazis were in controlling young people. Activities include a starter which asks students to translate Hitler’s aims into an illustration of the ideal Nazi boy and girl (using symbols). A series of sources with questions are then used to investigate various elements of life in Germany from the Hitler Youth, to education and resistance groups. An SEN version of this exercise is also included. Finally, students write a paragraph answer/verdict on how effective the Nazis were in controlling young people.

This KS3 lesson should take one hour to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities and all accompanying resources are included. This is my first Year 7 lesson at the start of our first unit on Medieval Realms. Aims and Objectives: To know some facts about life in the Middle Ages. To select evidence from sources to answer a question. To apply this evidence to reached a balanced judgement about life in the Middle Ages (good and bad things). Activities include a true/false introductory medieval quiz, a source analysis exercise that encourages students to use source material effectively to support their points (this starts with a collection of negative sources before balancing these with positive sources), a vocabulary homework with test sheet on the next unit- The Battle of Hastings.

This KS3 lesson covers the reigns of Edward and Mary. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. Having spent a long time studying Henry and later Elizabeth, I’m afraid these two monarchs have been condensed into one lesson (sorry Edward and Mary). We focus of the religious problems as this is so integral to the students’ understanding of Elizabeth’s problems and indeed later on, the Stuarts and the English civil war. Aims and Objectives: To know and understand the main changes that Edward and Elizabeth made to the church in England. To reach a judgement on their actions- did Mary deserve to be known as “Bloody Mary”? To empathise with people living in England at this time and how these changes must have made them feel. The lesson starts with a whole class recap on Catholic and Protestant beliefs. All students have to get involved with their C and P cards. We then read a series of statements about Edward’s actions deciding which are true and false (based on the fact that he was Protestant). Mary is introduced with the Horrible Histories song. If you have the DVD then you can see the video in full but You Tube currently only has this clip with lyrics alone due to copyright. Students rank the cards on Mary’s actions from best to worst.They finally show their understanding by writing a letter using the framework provided from either a Catholic or Protestant perspective, explaining the religious changes implemented by Henry, Edward and Mary.

This KS3 unit of work should take around four lessons to complete. It includes the assessment for the unit on the Tudors. The Power Point leads students through all of the activities with accompanying resources. Aims and Objectives: To learn some facts about Henry VIII and decide whether these make him a good or a bad king. To consider why we have different opinions about Henry VIII and how our sources aren’t completely reliable. To use (critically) a range of different types of sources to reach a reliable judgement on the key question. The first lesson introduces the idea of source reliability by drawing inferences from the Holbein portrait and then considering two source samples- one which supports and another which contradicts the painting. Students are asked to consider why they are different. We then study the six wives of Henry, completing a cut and stick activity (wife to fate) and begin to make our notes on whether he was a good or bad king. The second lesson covers the break with Rome and then a card sort, adding further information to our good v. bad table. The extension activity asks students to use a range of resources to add to their notes. I used our class textbooks but also informatioin that I took from BBC schools. This is also a good homework task at this stage as it can be completd using the Internet. The third lesson is where there students prepare for the assessment using a collection of eight sources. An SEN version of the source sheets is also included. The fourth lesson is the assessment write-up. The students are asked to use both the sources and their own knowledge to present a balanced argument before reaching a final judgement. A mark scheme is included.

This KS3 lesson provides an overview of events and then analyses the reasons for the Allied victory in WW1. The Power Point leads students through all of the activities. After a brief introductory video, the students rate the level of the Allies’ success through seven closing stages. Having gained an overview of events, students then carry out a range of analytical activities using the cause cards provided. They are asked to group the cards into Allies’ strengths vs. German’ weaknesses, long vs. short term and then group them into social, military and economic. After reading a worked example of an explanation of military reasons, students select either social or economic reasons and produce an explanatory paragraph to demonstrate their understanding.

IMPORTANT: One of the activities in this unit (Night of Long Knives fact file) refers to the textbook "Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-1939 (editor Leonard A. and published by Pearson) ISBN 9781292127347 and will not be usable without a copy of this text or another text which explains the events of the Night of Long Knives. This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 2+ lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand the Reichstag Fire. The Enabling Act and the banning of other parties and trade unions. To understand the threat from Röhm and the SA, the Night of the Long Knives and the death of von Hindenburg. Hitler becomes Führer, the army and the oath of allegiance. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. Activities include a video starter asking students to consider how the Nazis overcame the obstacles to their dictatorship, conversion of a staged written explanation of the events into condensed bullet points, colour-coding of actions into legal and illegal, a Night of Long Knives fact file and an exam interpretation question on this topic including a possible structure.

This KS3 lesson should take around one hour plus a homework to complete (depending upon how much you ask students to write for the diary entry). The Power Point leads students through all of the activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know what The Middle Passage was and how it worked as part of the Slave Trade Triangle. To use source material to investigate how slaves were treated. To consider what this shows us about attitudes towards slaves. To empathise with those who went through this horrific experience. Activities include a mystery image starter of a bird’s eye view of a slave ship below decks, a video and questioning exercise on the story of the slave ship Zong, a source analysis activity whereby students look for specified evidence in a range of source. There are extension questions and a simpler SEN source set provided. The finally activity is to write a diary entry from a former slave describing the treatment endured during the Middle Passage. This activity works in isolation, although my classes build the diary up over this and the subsequent lessons on living and working conditions.

This KS3 unit should take around two hours + one homework to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with all accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know and understand the main causes of the British Industrial Revolution. To consider which factors are more/less important and how they worked together. To consider the importance of individuals and reach a judgement on how achieved the most. Activities include an odd one out starter, research and mind map activity on the causes with a linking exercise as an extension, group research and information poster on one individual who contributed towards the Industrial Revolution, followed by a carousel/information sharing activity. Finally, there is a class vote on who contributed the most, followed by a homework/paragraph answer explaning who the student thinks contributed ther most.

Three one-hour lessons with all activities explained on Power Point. The focus is on continuity and change between 1750-1900. Once students understand the basic changes which took place during the Industrial Revolution, they carry out more detailed research and analysis using the information provided. They also develop their knowledge of key terms for this unit via a homework and key terms test. The lessons end with an assessed piece of writing analysing areas of change and continuity (writing frame and mark sheet included)

IMPORTANT: Some of these activities refer to the textbook “Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History, Medicine through time, c1250-present” (editor Leonard A. and published by Pearson) ISBN 9781292127378 and will not be usable without a copy of this text. This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 1-2 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To learn about the extent of change in care and treatment: the impact of the NHS and high-tech medical and surgical treatments in hospitals. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying worksheets. It also provides feedback/answers/demonstrations at intervals. Activities include watching the very quaint contemporary promotional cartoon which showcases the improvements offered by the NHS, cloze exercise, thought-shower, analysis of high-tech treatments and discussion/linking of NHS to the introduction of high-tech treatments.

IMPORTANT: The final revision task refers to the textbook “Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History, Medicine through time, c1250-present” (editor Leonard A. and published by Pearson) ISBN 9781292127378 and will not be usable without a copy of this text. The rest of the lesson works independently. This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 1-2 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand how the Great Plague in London, 1665, was dealt with: approaches to treatment and attempt to prevent its spread. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying worksheets. These include information prioritisation, categorising/analysing information, creating an illustrated table, a 4 mark exam answer and some end of unit revision using the textbook.

IMPORTANT: One of the activities refers to the textbook "Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-1939 (editor Leonard A. and published by Pearson) ISBN 9781292127347 and will not be usable without a copy of this text or one which explains the roles and functions of the various institutions of the Nazi police state. This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 2-3 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand the role of the Gestapo, the SS, the SD and concentration camps. To understand the Nazi control of the legal system, judges and law courts. To understand the Nazi policies towards the Catholic and Protestant Churches, including the Reich Church and the Concordat. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. Activities include a video starter on who controlled Germany and how, a research table on the role/function of each institution, source analysis on the ways in which they justified their activities, a 12 mark exam explanation question with advice, paired discussion on methods for ensjuring fair sentencing, thought-shower on Nazi control of the legal system, problem-solving starter using a range of symbols and images to compare Nazi and Christian values, analysing a written passage on the church looking for evidence of co-operation and oppression and a final summary revision diagram. The Power Point also contains answers and fedback at intervals.

To tackle the pressure of limited contact time and such a vast topic, I produced this KS3 unit and managed to condense the delivery down to two hours (although I’m sure more time could be spent on this topic). The Power Point leads the students through all activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know the main events leading up to the outbreak of World War Two. To work on reading, note-taking and analysis, explaining the significance of these events and how they inter-relate. To make a judgement on the effectiveness of Appeasement. Over the two lessons, the students create a detailed information sheet which breaks the unit into four key areas with specific tasks for each. The booklet provides all of the information required to complete the tasks and there are two versions with one being shorter/easier. There is a focus on reading and comprehension with the teacher increasingly taking a step-back as the work progresses (whole class- paired- individual reading). The four key activities include explaining why the Treaty of Versailles angered Germans, why Germans came to support Hitler, summarising Hitler’s foreign policy aims and considering their appeal, map work on their application and a judgement on the effectiveness of Appeasement. There are extension tasks on linking factors and comparing their importance. There is also a starter quiz to recap lesson one’s work in the second half. This can be done in two hours- I’ve done it.

This KS3 lesson should take at least one hour to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with an accompanying student task booklet. Aims and Objectives: To know the key events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. To understand why it happened and with what consequences. To understand its significance in changing the course of history. Activities include a quick starter recap on communist dictatorships vs. capitalist democracies, followed by the necessary background information. Students label a political cartoon and then create a caption. They then analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the various options open to Kennedy. Using the time line of events, students create a tension chart to demonstrate the rise and fall of tensions. They then consider reactions to and effects of the crisis before a final plenary discussion on what can be learnt from this.

This KS3 lesson should take one hour to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities and accompanying resources are included. Aims and Objectives: To know the main reasons why each of the contenders thought they should be king. To understand why it is difficult to know what really happened. To consider who had the strongest claim and explain our choice (reach a judgement). Activities include a fun and slightly silly Pictionary starter on the key words for this unit. Students then use the information sheet to make notes on each individual’s claim to the throne. There is an SEN version where students can draw lines from facts to people. There is also a G&T extension which asks students to look more closely at source material on this topic. Students then show their understanding through writing a paragraph answer to the question “Who should be king?”.

This KS3 unit should take around 2 hours to complete depending upon how detailed you want the final letter to be. The Power Point leads students through all activities, giving answers when required. All accompanying resources are included. I showed my classes an extract from the film Goodnight Mr Tom as part of their research, although I have not included a clip here and you would need to source your own DVD or find a clip on YouTube. This would officially make your department the only one in the country not to have this DVD in a store cupboard. Aims and Objectives: To know the main facts surrounding evacuation- who, what, why, where and when? To understand the great range of experiences and types of people effected, considering the impact upon their lives. To create a piece of empathetic writing exploring these ideas. Activities include a short video starter where students use the clip to answer the who, what, why, where, when and how questions about evacuation. A cloze exercise quickly summarises the key facts. Students then sort the attitude/feeling cards from positive to negative. Using the source booklet, they carry out independent research into the range of evacuees, hosts and feelings/attitudes expressed. They are to try to find concrete examples to illustrate the attitudes/feelings on the cards. The following lesson has a quick recap quiz. Students then demonstrate their understanding through writing an evacuee letter home, describing the process of evacuation and expressing thoughts/feelings to show empathetic understanding.

This Key Stage 3 unit explores the causes of WW1 and then goes on to analyse the reasons why the German Schlieffen Plan failed, leading to trench warfare. It will take around two lessons to complete. The Power Point leads students through all of the activities. There are a number of very nice short video clips on the causes of WW1, including a great Horrible Histories clip (when available) but I particularly like the Blackadder clip attached. Be warned- the final punchline is “bollo**s” and I often censored this with a timely cough much to the annoyance of the class. The lessons start by contextualising Europe in 1914 with some map work and identification of alliance systems. We then identify and analyse the causes of WW1 using the passage provided. The following lesson, the students start by problem-solving Germany’s dilemma and proposing their own war plans- I’ve had some very interesting and intelligent responses to this, along with some quite frankly bizzare/amusing. After studying the Schlieffen Plan, students translate the actual events into a series of annotated maps before analysing the reasons for the plan’s failure and writing this up in an extended paragraph.

This KS3 lesson should take at least one hour to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To consider the problems which William faced immediately after the Battle of Hastings. To understand that he applied different methods to each of these problems. To empathise with people who lived through the Norman Conquest. Activities include a think, pair, share starter considering what William’s potential problems might be and how he may address them. His problems are then summarised as 1) Controlling population 2) Resistance in the north 3) Collecting taxes and tackled separately. An extended source is analysed to understand how the resistance in the north was handled. The nature of hierarchies is introduced via modern-day examples before students complete their own diagram of the feudal system using the structure and jumbled phrases. An SEN version is also included. Students consider who they would most/least like to have been. A five minute video is finally used to explain the Domesday Book.

This KS3 unit of work should take at least two hours to complete (depending upon how long you allow your class to spend on the board game activity). The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know how medieval people practised their faith and the key words that are linked to this. To understand why religion was so important to them. To understand medieval views on Heaven and Hell and apply this by creating a board game. Activities include key words/definitions matching, independent reading and summary note-taking, analysing a medieval wall painting, sorting actions into good deeds/sins and ranking these and creating a medieval religion snakes and ladders board game.