This KS3 unit should take around two hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all of the activities with support and all resources referred to are included. Aims and Objectives: To know the main events which led up to the outbreak of civil war in 1642. To pick out the key reasons/causes and sort these into categories. To explain your understanding of the causes in an essay using PEEL. To reach a judgement on which causes were the most/least important. Activities include a starter which links this unit to current civil wars and defines “civil war”, an analysis of Charles I’s personality using a portrait and facts determining how this contributed towards the conflict, searching for evidence to support the three key factors of money/religion/power in a written passage (SEN version of passage provided), an introduction and worked example of PEEL paragraphing, an assessment essay aalysing causes with a plan and SEN writing frame (mark scheme inlcuded).

This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers 2 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand… the reasons for economic recovery, including the work of Stresemann, the Rentenmark, the Dawes and Young Plans and American loans and investment. the impact on domestic policies of Stresemann’s achievements abroad: the Locarno Pact, joining the League of Nations and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. Activities include a whole class Stresemann human graph starter where students rate his level of success versus failure in light of new information before reaching an overall verdict (this can be done on a piece of paper with a line labelled from -5 to +5 for a quieter lesson), a summary table on Stresemann’s achievements, extension work considering perspective and how some achievements could also be regarded as failings, a source usefulness exam question with advice and support.

This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 3 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand changes in the standard of living, including wages, housing, unemployment insurance. To understand changes in the position of women in work, politics and leisure. To understand cultural changes: developments in architecture, art and the cinema. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. Activities include an inference starter on living conditions, summarising/condensing information on changes in living standards, source comparison of women in early 1900s and 1920s, categorising evidence to show how society did and did not change for women, an extension diary entry for a young German woman (possible homework), defining key artistic terms and identifying examples of these artistic trends in a range of sources including art, architecture and film, analysing areas of art that might have come under criticism from the left and right-wing, a four mark interpretation source question and a final Weimar Republic revision quiz.

This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 3 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand the growth of unemployment- its cause and impact. The failure of successive Weimar governments to deal with unemployment from 1929 to January 1933. The growth of support for the Communist Party. To understand the reasons for the growth in support for the Nazi Party, including the appeal of Hitler and the Nazis, the effects of propaganda and the work of the SA. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. Activities include starter video analysis on why the Wall Street Crash helped the Nazis, source analysis on the effects of the depression, a cut and stick activity categorising the effects, comprehension questions on the failing of the government and the rise of extreme parties, photo source analysis on Hitler’s appeal, note-taking on this topic with provided grid, card sort activity on reasons Nazis appealed to different sections of society and a full interpretation exam question with advice, examples and writing frame.

IMPORTANT: Some of the activities refer 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. 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 Hitler’s early career: joining the German Workers’ Party and setting up the Nazi Party, 1919-20. The Power Point leads students through all activities with an accompanying task booklet. Following a starter which answers 5W questions about the origins of the party using a short passage, students work in pairs to discuss the steps that would need to be taken to set up a new party. The booklet tasks then work through each stage, charting the early development of the party. Activities include colour-coding of a selection of the 25 Points into nationalist and socialist, making inferences from sources to understand why membership grew, note-taking/table on the impact of the changes Hitler made, an analysis of what key members bought to the party and a series of comprehension questions on the early SA.

This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 3 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand the reasons for, events and consequences of the Munich Putsch. To understand the reasons for limited support for the Nazi Party, 1924-28. Party reorganisation and Mein Kampf. The Bamberg Conference of 1926. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying worksheets and resources. Activities include a video starter giving an overview of the causes, events and consequences of the Munich Putsch, a card sort/analysis activity on the causes of the putsch, a storyboard task on the events whereby students have to retell the story without reference to their notes, a colour-coding activity on the successes/failures of the putsch, a 12 mark explanation question with advice, worked example and writing frame, a ranking of Hitler’s views from Mein Kampf from moderate to extreme, analysis of written passage to understand how Hitler utilised the lean years to strengthen the party internally and a summary exercise on the reasons for their electoral disappointment at this time.

IMPORTANT: Some of the activities refer 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. This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 3-4 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand the reasons for the early unpopularity of the Republic, including the “stab in the back” theory and the key terms of the Treaty of Versailles. To understand the challenges to the Republic from Left and Right: Spartacists, Freikorps, the Kapp Putsch. To understand the challenges of 1923: hyperinflation; the reasons for, and effects of, the French occupation of the Ruhr. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying worksheets. These include a presentation on the context and terms of the Treaty of Versailles which asks students to consider why these angered the German people, a summary table of reasons why the treaty angered Germans and a 12 mark explanation question on this issue with advice and examples. There is also a homework which asks students to cross-reference a source with their own knowledge to prepare them for future work on interpretations. The Kapp Putsch is introduced through two sources and a problem solving starter. The concept of right and left-wing politics is explored before a summary table of the Spartacist and Kapp uprisings is completed. A card sort is used to explore the concept of hyperinflation and a video activity asks students to summarise causes, events and consequences of the occupation of the Ruhr. There is also another optional 12 mark question on this topic.

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 legacy of WW1. The abdication of the Kaiser, the armistice and revolution, 1918-19. The setting up of the Weimar Republic. The strengths and weaknesses of the new constitution. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying worksheets. These include an introduction to the Paper 3 question types, a timeline/overview starter activity giving context to the entire course, short video on the impact of WW1, an introduction to the inference question with a practice question and sample answer, a factual introduction to the foundation of the republic (matching questions to answers), and a card sort/analysis on the weaknesses and strengths of the Weimar constitution. There is a homework vocabulary sheet exercise.

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.

This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 3 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: To understand the work of Goebbels and the Ministry of Propaganda: censorship, Nazi use of media, rallies and sport, including the Berlin Olympics of 1936. To understand Nazi control of culture and the arts, including art, architecture, literature and film. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. Activities include a short Derren Brown video to introduce the idea of mind control, last man standing on forms of propaganda, source comparison of Hitler and Goebbel’s methods, a Goebbels CV (possible homeowork), analysis of short extract from Triumph of the Will looking for examples of propaganda at the Nuremberg Rally, rearching examples of both propaganda and censorship and a Chamber of Culture simulation exercise sorting art work into keep and dismiss with discussion.

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 unit of work should take around 2-3 hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know the key events surrounding the evacuation. To understand how and why the event has been portrayed in different ways through studying sources. To reach a judgement on the accuracy of one portrayal (the film “Atonement”). Activities include a quick recap on the key events through questioning and information slides (at this stage in our course we have done an overview of the key events of WW2), an image based starter which considers similarities and differences in portrayal and why? We then move onto the main focus, which is to evaluate how accurately the Dunkirk evacuation is portrayed in the film Atonement when compared to actual source material. I used the beach scene from Atonement (please mute the first minute as there are f-bombs but apart from this it is fine for KS3). However, the lesson could easily be adapted to assess any film clip, such as the new Dunkirk film. Having noted down their summary of the portrayal in the film clip, students then analyse a series of sources, considering what they each show them about the evacuation and whether this agrees or disagrees with the film. A worked example is included. There is an SEN version with fewer/simplified sources- you’d just need to remove some source numbers from the research table if using this version. Students then move on to the assessment stage, where they produce an extended written answer to the following question “How accurately does the film “Atonement” portray the events of the Dunkirk evacuation?”. A writing structure and mark scheme is included. The pack also includes a quick quiz starter for lesson 2 and a model conclusion that I used during “red to react”/“level up”/review time.

A complete revision guide for Edexcel AS/2 History Paper 1 The Crusades, c1095-1204. Content covers all areas of the specification. Simplified student assessment grids for Sections A/B/C AS and A2. 66 pages long.

This KS3 unit of work should take around two hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities. All resources referred to are included. Aims and Objectives: To know the key events leading up to and during the execution of King Charles I. To understand both the arguments for and against his execution. To write persuasively for one side of the argument. Activities include an introductory definition of “treason” and discussion as to why this is a controversial accusation in this case. A simple overview of the background events such as Pride’s Purge is given before the students analyse a short clip from the program “The Devil’s Whore” to consider the attitudes demonstrated by those involved. Whilst listening to an account of the execution day, students create a series of illustrations and symbols as memory joggers. They then retell the events as a class using their memory joggers. A Dutch engraving of the execution is used to make inferences before a series of statements are categorised into reasons for and against the execution. Students then use their understanding to write a speech either for or against the execution. We then listen to these speeches and turn it into a competition.

This KS3 lesson should take at least one hour. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know the main events of the Great Fire of London. To figure out what caused it, why it spread so quickly and who/what was to blame. To understand how it changed London forever and decide overall if it was a good or bad thing for the city. Activities include a question formation/answer starter whereby students form their own who, what, why, where, when and how questions and then see how many they can answer using the short video. We then sort the cause cards into evidence that the fire was intentional/a plot vs. an accident. We then move on to consider the effects by comparing a picture of London before and after the fire. Having gone though some facts on the extent of the improvements made to the city, students write a paragraph answer deciding whether, on balance, the Great Fire of London was a good or bad thing.

This KS3 unit should take around two hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all of the activities with accompanying resources provided. Having spent considerable time looking at the causes, I tend not to get too bogged down in the events themselves as I’ve found that the students like the lessons on the trial and execution more. This is why I’ve condensed it into two hours. Aims and Objectives: To know who fought who during the English Civil War and to compare the differences between the two sides. To use sources to learn about what life was like at the time in England. To know the key events of the Civil War and select the main reasons why Parliament won. To consider how King Charles might have done better. Activities include a video starter on fighting in the 1600s which enables students to visualise this period of time. Students then label a Roundhead and Royalist soldier and consider which side was better equipped. They analyse a range of sources including a painting, cartoon and written passage to gain insight into what life was like. In the second lesson, they read a passage in pairs to highlight reasons why the king lost. There is also a card sort on this topic which I use as an extension or with my G&T groups. Students then use their understanding to write a letter to King Charles during the war advising him on ways in which he could be more successful.

This KS3 lesson should take around one hour to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included. Feedback/answers are also provided when required. I use this lesson at the start of our scheme of learning on WW2 as it clarifies the political landscape in the 1930s and provides students with the necessary vocabulary and political understanding. Aims and Objectives: To know the different types of political systems and link them to 1930s pre-war politics. To understand how they are similar and different. To consider their strengths, weaknesses and impact on people’s lives. Activities include a video starter which uses a short cartoon to introduce key political concepts. Students use this to match definitions to concepts and then consider what type of political system we live under. They then categorise a series of facts according to the belief system which they describe. As an extension, students list all the differences between democracy and dictatorship and then compare the similarities and differences between communism and dictatorship. Finally, students write a paragraph explaining which system they would most like to live under and why.

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.