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 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.

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 lesson should take one hours to complete. The Power Point leads the students through all of the activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know the key events after the death of King Edward the Confessor, leading up to the Battle of Hastings. To consider which side was in the strongest position at the start of the Battle of Hastings. To predict what may happen at the Battle of Hastings in light of these prior events. Activities include a recap of the claimants to the throne where students quickly match the facts to the claimant. After a quick bit of context on what Harold actually did after Edward’s death, students work in pairs to discuss Harold’s options and their advantages/disadvantages using the information provided. Students then create a storyboard of the key events using the information sheet and then retell these events using only their storyboard. Finally, students analyse the advantages and disadvantages of both Harold and William pre-Battle of Hastings using what they have learnt this lesson.

This KS3 unit should take 2-3 hours to complete. The Power Point leads the students through all of the activities with accompanying resources included. Advice on writing technique is also included. Aims and Objectives: To know the main events of the Battle of Hastings. To understand the main reasons why William won. To reach a verdict on which reasons were more or less important. To be able to write up your ideas as an essay. Activities include a starter which asks students to draw inferences from the Bayeux Tapestry, followed by a short video which recaps prior events and then shows the key events of the battle. Students use this knowledge to cut out the jumbled events and match/stick them onto the storyboard. There is an extension on source bias using William of Poitier’s account. Initial on why William won are recorded in a thought-shower. Students then complete a card sort activity, categorising the reasons why William won into William’s strengths, Harold’s weaknesses and luck. There is an SEN version of simpler cards with a sorting grid included. Essay writing and PEEL paragraphing is then introduced with a worked example of poor-good paragraphing using PEEL. Students write their answers in essay style using the writing frame provided. A mark scheme is included.

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 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.

This KS3 lesson should take at least two hours to complete. The Power Point leads the students through all activities with accompanying resources. Aims and Objectives: To know the main events leading up to Becket’s murder. To have ideas about who was to blame and why? LESSON 1: Activities include a recap on the feudal system and a discussion on how the role of the Church could cause problems for the king. A whole class reading of the story with initial thoughts on blame. An analysis of Edward Grim’s first-hand account and source bias. A storyboard homework to consolidate the key events. LESSON 2: A starter which recaps the main events through matching pictures to sentences. A card sort where students group information into evidence that either Henry, Becket or the knights were to blame. A final write up with writing frame provided where students explain how each person/group might be to blame before reaching a conclusion.

This KS3 unit will take at least two lessons to complete. The Power Points lead students through all activities with accompanying resources included. LESSON 1: Aims and Objectives: To be able to define apartheid. To understand how and why apartheid existed. To be able to explain how apartheid affected people in South Africa. LESSON 2: Aims and Objectives: To know some facts about his life. To understand how Mandela’s life was linked to apartheid. To reach a judgement on whether Mandela’s campaign was more peaceful or violent. LESSON 1: Activities include a role play starter whereby students enter the room according to eye colour and are treated differently. They are asked how this made them feel. Key terms for this unit are then linked to their definitions. A short video is used to answer students’ who, what, why, where, when and how questions on Apartheid. Students then read through the fact cards and pull out those which are untrue. The remaining facts are sorted from the most to the least oppressive. Finally, students write a paragraph summarising what they have learned so far. LESSON 2: Having watched a 4 minute biography, students complete a cloze exercise on Mandela’s life. Using a Mandela quote, they consider what method he claims to have used to end Apartheid (co-operation with enemy). Students then use the timeline to find evidence to test his claim that he worked with his enemies, rather than fought against them. They end the lesson with a paragraph answer to this debate.

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 around two hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included and answers when required. Aims and Objectives: To know what they Trade Triangle was and how it worked. To understand how the Trade Triangle developed over time. To consider who was to blame for the Trade Triangle and why. To reach a judgement on who was the most to blame. Activities include a card sort starter on individuals involved. Students sort these people into a line from good to bad. This helps to break down stereotypes from the outset that all white people were powerful/bad and all black people were powerless/good, encouraging students to judge specific actions and not generalise. A series of tasks then ensure that students have the factual knowledge regarding the trade and its development. Students categorises reasons for the trade into tradition, African divisions and trade before writing a paragraph answer on who or what they feel was the most to blame for the slave trade.

This KS3 lesson should take around two hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included (although for the research stage the Power Point refers to school textbooks as one source of information and I’m obviously unable to include copies of pages I’d use. Wikipedia has a very detailed page on this topic and the link is included). Aims and Objectives: To know basic facts about a slave’s life and work. To extend this knowledge and understanding through group research and presentation. To be able to empathise with the psychological impact these conditions must have had upon the people effected, considering coping mechanisms. Activities include an inference starter using “The Sabbath among slaves” drawing which appears at first-glance to to be far less sinister than it actually is. Students then make further inferences with support from a range of images. They begin their research into mental/physical health, work and punishments using a ten minute video before breaking into groups of four to specialise in one area. The class collectively produce an assessment criteria for their poster presentations before researching and creating their posters. The following lesson, their poster presentations are peer assessed using their criteria and I use this as a competition. Finally, students add an entry to their ongoing slave diary about living and working conditions.

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 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.

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.