Created for a year 8 class as part of a unit exploring some of the work of Charles Dickens, this 14 slide powerpoint takes as its focal text the scene in “Oliver Twist” where Oliver and Mr Sowerberry go into a slum to deal with the corpse of a woman who has starved to death. The aim of the lesson is for the pupils to explain how the writer’s methods help to convey his viewpoint. To lead up to this, there is some discussion and pair work which builds (after a verbal model) to the pupils writing their own explanations of how Dickens’ methods help to convey his attitudes towards his subjects.

Planned for year 9 with a focus on building and polishing skills in the run up to GCSE, this lesson uses Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “An Obstacle”. Pupils are led through questions with a tiny bit of relevant context (Gilman’s gender and the year of the poem). There’s a slide focused on the use of the indefinite article in the title and what might be inferred from this. The first two verses of the poem are explored via questioning which asks the pupils to focus on a couple of features in each verse. In the run-up to the pupils’ written response, there is an ‘I do’ slide providing a model and a ‘We do’ slide providing sentence openers for discussion and completion. After this, the intention is that the pupils should work independently to write their response. This could also be used with year 10 to build their confidence and skills in responding to unseen poetry.

This lesson uses four stanzas from Oscar Wilde’s “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”. In these stanzas, there is a very clear, critical viewpoint about the prison system and its impact. The stanzas contain a wealth of language methods which should enable less confident pupils to find something to explore and give more confident pupils the opportunity to link ideas. Planned for a year 9 class to build and hone the skills of analysis of previously unseen poetry, this lesson uses close questioning and modelling to support the pupils in a response to a question requiring analysis of the writer’s methods. The wording of the question echoes the question to be found on AQA’s English Literature GCSE Paper 2. Slide 3 of the ppt can be used as a printable.

The aim of this lesson is for the children to explain a writer’s viewpoint and to write effectively to describe. The text used is “The Spell of the Yukon” by Robert W.Service. The lesson begins with an image of a prospector and there are questions to prompt some really basic knowledge of the context and then to prompt the building of a word bank. The focus then changes to the poem itself. There are four slides taking the pupils through the first verse and the effect of its verbs, simile and metaphor. The pupils are then asked to explain the speaker’s viewpoint - as expressed in the last two lines of the first verse - in their own words. The pupils are then asked to read the whole poem with a focus on the writer’s viewpoint and how it’s communicated. One slide provides an opportunity for a recap on abstract nouns - as Service uses plenty in the poem. Finally, there is a writing activity which takes the pupils back to the original image and asks them to write a description inspired by that image, using a simile, a metaphor and an abstract noun in each paragraph of their writing.

A workmanlike comprehension activity based on the excerpt from chapter 23 in which Victor discovers that Elizabeth has been strangled and tries to shoot the creature. There are ten questions focusing on comprehension, inference, methods and their effect. Useful for homework, for cover or even for structuring a guided discussion of the text.

Emily Dickenson’s “Summer Shower” with 11 questions intended to encourage close reading and some simple analysis. Planned for year 7 as part of a unit on poetry but also suitable at the top end of KS2. Could be used as a homework activity or for cover - the questions could also be used to structure a guided reading session.

This is a comprehension activity - structured for increasing difficulty - with the tasks and questions divided into four sections: vocabulary, information retrieval, inference and explanation of methods. Useful for cover or for homework. Useful for a focused study of this particular section of Stoker’s novel.

This is an activity that I created for a year 7 class as part of their home learning. It uses an excerpt from Alice in Wonderland in which Alice meets the Caterpillar and a worried pigeon. There are five tasks, four for reading and one for writing. The reading tasks increase in difficulty and focus on (in turn) information retrieval, inference, analysis and evaluation. The writing task asks the children (hopefully inspired by the extract) to write a short descriptive piece, describing the landscape of a dream. Could be used for cover or set as homework.

I've created this revision powerpoint for my year 11 class - it's a detailed walkthrough of the poem with a focus on language and structural features (the metaphor of the mind-forg'd manacles, the effect of the first verb, wander, the symbol of the river, Blake's use of contrast and of a semantic field). The lesson begins with a reference to the French Revolution and asks the students to link the mind-forg'd manacles to the slogan of the revolution. It uses a lot of questioning - the questions form a large part of the powerpoint - and the intention is that the pupils should annotate their anthologies or copies of the poem as they work through the lesson.

A simple and straightforward revision activity. 20 questions (suggested answers provided on a separate sheet). Could be used in class as a springboard for more developed answers through discussion. Useful for homework or cover. Created as a revision activity to enable students to identify gaps in their knowledge so that they can focus their next steps.

This is a straightforward comprehension activity, useful for developing students’ understanding of the context of “A Christmas Carol” and why “some would rather die” than go to the workhouse. There are 10 questions and the activity could be used in class, as a cover activity or for homework. Suggested answers are provided.

This is a multiple choice quiz with 20 questions (answers provided) on Puck’s speech from near the end of the play - “Now the Hungry Lion Roars”. Could be used as homework to secure and embed knowledge once the speech has been studied in class. Could be used as a pre-reading/flipped learning activity. The questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

This uses an extract from Arthur Machen’s story, written in 1914, (it is in the public domain) in which a group of English soldiers are facing a mighty German advance. There are 12 questions. The questions cover the reading skills of information retrieval, inference and explaining the effect of the writer’s methods. This task could be used for cover or for homework. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading activity. Suggested answers are provided - which means that this task could also be set for a student working from home who would like to do some self-assessment.

This is a straightforward worksheet using Thomas Hood’s poem, “I Remember I Remember”. The intention is that once the students have worked through the 9 questions, they will be furnished with ideas to support them in answering the exam-style question that’s printed above the title - How does the poet present the speaker’s ideas about childhood? The sheet can be used to guide paired or group discussion in class. Alternatively, it could be used for homework so that students are prepared for a timed essay in class. Planned for a year 10 class but this could be used to support an introduction to unseen poetry at key stage three.

This is a short and straightforward activity giving students an opportunity to practise and develop the skills of writing an analytical essay about an unseen poem. The poem is “Spellbound" by Emily Brontei so no issues with copyright. The first slide of the ppt has a copy of the poem and the essay question. The second slide gives students a suggested pattern for tackling the task, the idea being that they should go through each of the steps in every paragraph of their response. The third slide can be used for self/peer assessment and developing the response further.

This is a short and straightforward activity giving students an opportunity to practise and develop the skills of writing an analytical essay about an unseen poem. The poem is “A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti so no issues with copyright. The first slide of the ppt has a copy of the poem and the essay question. The second slide gives students a suggested pattern for tackling the task, the idea being that they should go through each of the steps in every paragraph of their response. The third slide can be used for self/peer assessment and developing the response further.

Three straightforward writing starters planned to improve student approaches to the paper 2 writing task for AQA English Language. Each is intended to take 15 minutes although of course you could then allow more time for students to develop their initial ideas into a developed piece of writing. The first slide is merely about generating a range of ideas to support a clear viewpoint. The second and third slides extend this by reminding students to use a range of sentence types and varied punctuation.

This is a simple and straightforward powerpoint planned to support students in their preparation for the unseen poetry task for English Literature GCSE. The poem used is “The Deserted House” by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge. Slide 3 of the powerpoint is for differentiation - to support less confident students in getting to grips with the idea of the poem as an extended metaphor. This slide can be deleted for those students who don’t need it. The final slide is for peer or self assessment - or could be modified and used as a scaffold for those in need of support.

This uses an excerpt from Elizabeth Gaskell’s “The Grey Woman” which uses many of the features of the gothic genre. There are 14 multiple choice questions which could be used for flipped learning or to structure a guided reading activity. Alternatively, the questions could be used as a starting point for class discussion of the extract, for homework or for cover. Answers are provided.

This is a 20-question multiple-choice quiz on Thomas Hardy’s “Neutral Tones”. It could be used for revision, for homework after the poem has been covered in class or as a flipped learning activity so that the students read the poem and attempt the quiz prior to teaching - that way, subsequent teaching can be targeted towards gaps and misconceptions. Answers are provided so that the task can be self or peer-assessed.