This lesson provided the perfect link for my GCSE pupils between the Trojan War and the founding of Rome. It’s all dual-coded to ensure cognitive load isn’t an issue and this way of presenting information really helped the story to stick in the minds of my classes. The slides take you through Aeneas’ escape from Troy and introduces students to the Aeneid by Virgil in quite a light way. The fact that it was commissioned by the emperor Augustus is also discussed. Two useful and entertaining videos are embedded seamlessly within the PowerPoint which helps add colour to the slides and your other exposition. The final task involves students creating images on 3 storyboards (all the writing is already there) which just tells the story of Aeneas’ journey to Italy, and why he many consider him the first Roman, in an interesting and very accessible way. If you’re looking for a lesson that just tells students straight up how Aeneas got to Italy and why he is important to the Romans then this is perfect.

This lesson focuses on two key aspects of Roman Society: The paterfamilias and the patron-client system. The first half of the powerpoint focuses on the paterfamilias and the second half focuses on the patron-client system. All the information pupils need for GCSE Classical Civilisation: Roman City Life is contained in here, although anyone not studying the GCSE will get all the information they need from this lesson too. The final part of the powerpoint focuses on which of the two things played a greater role in the functioning on Roman society and why. The powerpoint would ideally b delivered over two hours, although could be delivered in a single hour if you cut out some of the written tasks which are included so students can synthesise their learning and demonstrate their levels of understanding. The resource is fully dual coded which we have found helps reduce the cognitive load for our students, allowing them to focus and retain knowledge more easily. There is also a coloured overlay on each slide (which can easily be deleted if you don’t need it) to aid learners with dyslexia / Irlen’s. Video clips are also embedded within the resource to help elucidate the two pertinent roles in Roman Society that the lesson focuses on. Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisation GCSE 9-1 Spec in mind. As part of the Myth and Religion unit students need to know about a number of ancient religious festivals. This lesson is designed to give students a deep understanding of the details of the Lupercalia and why it was important to the Romans. After a couple of starter activities, students are given a brief overview of the festival with key words missing and they must select the appropriate words from the list attached. The main part of the lesson is given over to the completion of a leaflet to be handed out in ancient Rome advertising the festival. A template is included within the .ppt file attached at the appropriate point in the lesson. All the information for each heading is also included so students have plenty of information to work with without feeling swamped. There are explanation questions at the end of the lesson which are designed so students can exhibit the extent of their learning, just before a short plenary activity.

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisations 9-1 GCSE in mind. Specifically, Paper 1 (Myth and Religion) topic 1.6 Myth and Symbols of Power. it is designed to run over 2 hour long lessons. All worksheets referred to below are contained within the .ppt file in the appropriate places during the lesson which can be printed out and given to students. All instructions are also contained in the ‘notes’ section for each slide (in addition to helpful video links). The lesson starts with a comprehension starter regarding how Augustus came to power and an accompanying video. There is then some class reading on the aims of Augustan art in general and the messages Augustus was keen to promote. The lesson then moves onto the Prima Porta statue (a prescribed source for the new course) with an analysis of each aspect of it that students can record on a worksheet (pictured). There is another summary video followed by study questions surrounding Augustus’ supposed divine status. The lesson finishes with a plenary where students get commissioned by Augustus to design a new statue.

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE in mind. Specifically, Paper 1 (Myth and Religion) topic 1.7 Death and Burial. it is designed to run over 2 hour long lessons. All worksheets referred to below are contained within the .ppt file in the appropriate places during the lesson which can be printed out and given to students. All instructions are also contained in the ‘notes’ section for each slide (in addition to helpful video links). The lesson does have a lot of information for students to get their head around and therefore students are asked to condense the information into note form at various points. There’s nothing to stop you printing out the info and highlighting it instead and annotating it - either works in my experience depending on the students in your class. Information students are introduced to goes from the preparation of the body after death up until burial of the ashes. In addition there is information on both the Anthesteria and Genesia which were festivals which honoured the dead in Ancient Greece. Stele are looked out and compared to modern gravestones followed by a final plenary of questions based on the learning. There are 3 different exam questions included too ( two 2 mark questions and an 8 mark question) plus there are handouts (pictured on the Iliad and Odyssey which challenge pupils at the top end to think about how the Greeks themselves perceived the importance of death and burial. Video links are included throughout to help students visualise what went on.

This lesson is designed to fit into an hour and guides students, in a very straightforward but detailed way, through the key features of a Roman insula (apartment building) that was the cornerstone of Roman City Life for the average city-dwelling Plebeian. Roman insulae were subject to collapse, fire damage and unscrupulous landlords and there is a handout included as a slide within the powerpoint file taking students through what different Roman authors had to say about these high-rise apartment blocks. The final task before the plenary is a more creative one encouraging students to write about insulae in the style of the satirist Juvenal, who famously moaned a lot about them! Ideal for anyone teaching Classical Civilisation GCSE, the powerpoint is graphically designed in a way that students experience as little cognitive load as possible which my students definitely appreciate - allowing them to more readily access the information they need to embed. Two video clips are included too (hence the large file size) ensuring students have access to learning about the topic through a a few different kinds of media. Thanks for taking a look :-)

This lesson was designed for my GCSE Classical Civilisation class for their Myth & Religion Unit. It’s fully dual coded to reduce cognitive load, increase engagement and aid knowledge retention. There are two handouts included as hidden slides for printing and each slide has a coloured overlay to help pupils with dyslexia / Irlen’s - which can be removed if you don’t need or want it. The lesson picks up from where the last one (Hercules’ fight with Achelous) left off. It tells the story through Ovid of how Hercules came to meet Nessus on his way back to Tiryns with Deianira. Students are then presented with a short passage from Ovid which they stick in their book, highlight and answer questions on (verbally or written - depending on how you want to run the lesson). This is important as Nessus gives Deianira the cloak that will eventually kill Hercules - as is told in the next part of the lesson. Students are again presented with a (longer) passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses which describes the lead up to Hercules’ death, and the death itself, in great detail. Students are to highlight key information on their copy and use it to answer some written questions that gradually increase in the level of challenge posed - in order to stretch their thinking and allowing them to demonstrate the full extent of their understanding. Finally, students are asked whether this is a fitting end to a hero such as Hercules, and what his death says about the relationships between the Olympian gods themselves. Thanks for taking a look - it’s a really straightforward lesson which will fit into an hour if the first comprehension is done verbally, or can be stretched over two hours if the first comprehension is written (like the second) and you include the optional plenary at the end involving an obituary for Hercules :)

This lesson was designed for my students who are studying OCR’s GCSE Classical Civilisation Myth and Religion Unit. It’s fully dual coded, which my students are big fans of as we’ve found it reduces cognitive load and aids knowledge retention - it eliminates excess ‘noise’ on the screen / board so that pupils know what they need to focus on. The lesson starts by going into the background of why Hercules is called Hercules and not Heracles by the Romans, followed by the reason why Hercules was important to the Romans, how he found himself in Italy during his 12 Labours etc. A handout is then provided with passages from Virgil’s Aeneid on it from which pupils create an 8 part story board to cement their knowledge of the chronology of the story. The handout and storyboard template are both included as hidden slides for easy printing. A series of questions designed to stretch students’ thinking are then posed - these can be answered verbally as a class, or can be answered individually by students and peer-assessed. Finally, pupils are encouraged to link the Hercules and Cacus legend with the Romans’ own identity and how they viewed themselves. There is a coloured overlay on each slide for pupils struggling with Dyslexia/ Irlen’s - but this can easily be deleted if it isn’t needed. Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson was designed my students studying OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation Myth and Religion. It’s fully dual coded to reduce cognitive load, enhance engagement and aid knowledge retention - we’ve found our students really like this style and they find it helps them access the content more readily. The lesson starts with a video reminding them why Hercules is famous, before launching into the story of Hercules and his fight with Achelous over princess Deianira of Aitolia. Primary source work is included throughout as students are presented with passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and are prompted with challenging questions associated with them. They can answer these verbally or in their books depending on the type of class you have and students you teach. The lesson will fit quite neatly into 1 hour and it finishes with a video where students are encouraged to listen to the original text from Ovid being read aloud, and use this to add more detail to their answers, followed finally by some peer assessment. There are coloured overlays on all the slides to help any students with Irlen’s / Dyslexia but these can easily be deleted if you don’t need them. Thanks so much for taking a look :-)

I created this lesson out of a feeling that often, in teaching Romulus and Remus, there is a distinct lack of proper history skills involved. This lesson is my attempt to create a lesson which imparts knowledge of the (genuinely intriguing) story of the twin founders of Rome, but also hints at the historical inaccuracies, the story’s mythical nature and cultural significance to the Romans themselves. This lesson is aimed at students 13-16 (although more able students who are younger can access it) in order to introduce them to: The story of Romulus and Remus (which they would need to know for their OCR Class Civ or Ancient History GCSE (9-1) Ancient Historians (specifically Livy who is mentioned throughout and a required for GCSE Ancient History - yet often difficult to access). Modern Historians (specifically Mary Beard) through her retelling of the story in SPQR which is quoted and attributed appropriately throughout (and sometimes adapted slightly for easier understanding). The Lesson starts with a series of images to see if students can guess what the lesson might be about. Some students might have more knowledge of the ancient world than others but whatever answers they come up with can become talking points. Attention moves to the geography/setting of the story and the story itself is then split up into 3 parts; beginning, middle and end. Each part includes an appropriate work sheet which are contained as slides within the .ppt file (in the right places within the presentation) which can be printed, photocopied and worked through. This can be done together as a class or individually. There is a challenge task (focusing on provenance/other versions) on each worksheet for the more able students. Worksheets involve summarising Mary Beard’s account of the Romulus and Remus story in images and words. There is a strong literacy focus throughout with students encouraged primarily to highlight words they don’t understand and annotate their sheet with definitions. There is also additional guidance in the ‘notes’ section of each slide to help you as you teach. The lesson finishes with students attempting to answer the question that is the lesson title using a quote from Romulus (via Livy) to help them to show how much progress they’ve made. Students are then given the same set of images they were given at the start of the lesson and invited to explain each one to show how much they have learnt.

This lesson has been designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE in mind. The lesson begins by asking students what they can infer about the Great Panathenaia from a set of images. A table is then included which can be printed off and completed by students as they are presented with the relevant information about each aspect of the festival itself. Students are then encouraged to rank the importance of each day of the 8 day festival in order to make the learning stick and to promote higher order thinking. The next part of the lesson focuses on a range of study questions that are designed to get students to explain what they have learnt. An 8 mark GCSE style question is included as the final study question. The plenary involves designing your own temple metopes/relief sculpture and this is a sheet that is again best to be printed out, completed and then explained by their students to see how far they have met the success criteria/learning aims. Plenty of visual sources are included and each part of the festival is explained in a way that is accessible to all. Students should leave with a comprehensive understanding of not just what the Great Panathenaia was, but also why it was so significant in religious and community terms for the Athenians themselves.

This presentation and the worksheets included in the .ppt file are designed to span a number of lessons. The lesson starts with a discussion of Dionysus’ traits and depictions in art. A comprehension worksheet that can be printed in A5 size is then designed to get students familiar with some key terms they will need to know. A brief look at Pausanias’ account of the origin of the festival gives students the opportunity to interact with a primary source and then the attention of the lesson turns towards the sanctuary of Dionysus in Athens - with a brief comparison with other sanctuaries on the specification (The Acropolis dedicated to Athena in Athens and the Altis dedicated to Zeus at Olympia) Labelled diagrams of the sanctuary are included which can be printed off for students with the accompanying questions designed to help students enquire as to how Dionysus’ sanctuary differs from the others and where the focus really lies. Given that the sanctuary is at the heart of the festival, this is an important starting point. Students are also encouraged through discussion to realise the theatre’s significance as a religious building, not just a building designed for entertainment. I have then broken down the festival into ten main aspects. A worksheet for students to take notes on is then printable (recommended A3 size) and information on the ten aspects are included on separate slides which can be shown on the board and discussed, or printed and used as an information hunt/ carousel activity. The information includes all key words, what happened and when, and why, in addition to who took part in each activity. Study questions are also included along with two 8 mark comparison GCSE style questions (and a help box for each indicating how students should structure their answer). Through answering these effectively students can demonstrate their learning over the lessons you have taken with them on the City Dionysia. A homework activity is also included along with links to various helpful videos online.

This lesson contains numerous handouts with a literacy focus but also seeking at analysing whenever possible, the accuracy and reliability of the primary sources we have available to us, when discussing Cleopatra’s personality traits; namely her courage, humour and how she was perceived by her own subjects. The .ppt file contacins all handouts as slides ready to print and clear instructions as to what to do with each handout. Plutarch’s Life of Antony and Horace’s Odes are used to give us an insight into what she was like and the characteristics she needed to exhibit in order to be a successful queen of Egypt. Both of these primary sources are prescribed sources for the new 9-1 OCR Ancient History GCSE. There is also plenty of discussion included surrounding the accuracy and reliability of both sources and students are challenged at every turn to consider this and back their explanation up with evidence from the text. The lesson ends with a discussion on how she was perceived by her own subjects and students use the information they have gathered over the course of roughly 2 hours worth of work to create a letter from Cleopatra’s point of view to Antony, discussing proposals to raise taxes on grain. Through outlining her worries and advice she needs from Antony, students can demonstrate the nuances of how she was viewed by different parts of Egypt and the effect of her actions on the wider world i.e. Rome.

This lesson is aimed at KS3/4 students embarking on a study of Alexander the Great. It was designed with the OCR Ancient History Spec in mind but can also be used as a stand alone lesson as its aim is to introduce students to the debate surrounding Alexander and his ‘greatness’. The lesson begins with a quick-fire drawing game based on the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. Students are then given Mary Beard’s views on Alexander and discuss whether she believes Alexander is ‘great’ etc. It then moves onto a look at a timeline of his life with students encouraged to identify what might have been they most significant events in his life and why. There is then a task where students have to decide whether key events in his life were either positive or negative and draw conclusions about his greatness from this. They are then encouraged to compare their analysis with Mary Beard’s opinion, followed by Philip Freeman’s. The final task involves looking at a map of Alexander’s empire at the time of his death and the routes he took. Students then use this to feed into their gradually evolving opinion on Alexander which they can explain at the end and link to the lesson’s success criteria. This lesson should ideally cover around 2 hours, but could be reduced to 1 if necessary. Reading is included which students do as homework following the lesson with an accompanying short written task.

This resource can be used at any point during any sort of study of Alexander the Great. In our school we have designed it to sit at the beginning of our OCR Ancient History 9-1 GCSE unit on Alexander. One of the biggest issues with studying Alexander (and something crucial to the 20 mark essay question on the GCSE paper!) is our sources for his life and conquests. This resource tackles the four main problems with our sources. It also encourages students to come to a judgement in the form of an exam question at the end of the lesson as to how much we can ever really know about Alexander. There are ample notes in the ‘notes’ section on the Powerpoint to support teachers in delivering the lesson accurately and the aim has always been to create an easy-to follow, high quality resource that can be used ‘off the shelf’ and can easily slot in to any scheme of work as a stand-alone lesson.

This lesson seeks to explain, despite the existence of the Romulus and Remus Foundation Myth, that Aeneas remains an important figure for Romans in terms of the founding of their city. (It does also at the end explain how Romans got from Aeneas to Romulus story-wise!) There are 3 short storyboard tasks, already filled with text (included as slides ready to print within the PowerPoint) which students need only draw quick images for. These are presented at 3 different points in the lesson in order to quickly get across the main parts of Aeneas’ story after his escape from Troy. I have really only tried to include events which directly pertain to or foreshadow the founding of Rome - it was impossible to include everything! In between these, scholarship is used in an accessible way (including one comprehension with a glossary for difficult to understand terms) to draw out the importance of Aeneas to the Romans, but also what his actions tell us about how the Romans saw themselves and their new emperor Augustus (Virgil was writing at the time of the new Imperial Age). This lesson is designed to be engaging and academic in its approach, with appropriate support and challenge throughout to support all learners, but also to ‘teach to the top’ wherever possible.

This lesson is part of a scheme of lessons I created to try and fill a gap in the OCR Ancient History GCSE available resources. I felt like this is quite a complex era in Roman history and the resources that exist are complicated too - leading to cognitive overload for many of my students. This lesson is completely dual coded and my students loved it because it is clear and succinct. it starts with a couple of video clips recapping Superbus’ reasons for being exiled and it then tells the following three ‘stories’ that Livy outlines in his History of Rome: The Battle of Silvia Arsia - where Rome’s exiled king Tarquinius Superbus teams up with members of the Latin League to try and regain Rome. Lars Porsena’s siege of Rome - where Superbus persuades a powerful neighbouring king to try and get him back into power in Rome. The Battle of Lake Regilius - Superbus’ last hurrah and ultimate failure to regain the Roman throne. Throughout there are pertinent questions posed to students on screen that they can answer verbally or in written form and are great for AfL - there is also a 10 mark exam question at the end (with sentence starters) on the battle of Lake Regilius (with an accompanying passage from Livy to refer to) so students can apply their learning and hone their exam skills. Thanks for taking a look!

These painstakingly created Graphic Organisers are ideal for Ancient History 9-1 GCSE. Quality resources for the GCSE seem scarce and this is me trying to rectify that a bit. These provide all the required information in an easily accessible and memorable way for the Period study of Persia - just over a quarter of the whole GCSE. My students really appreciate these. The organisers give enough ‘knowledge’ or ‘information’ for students to get a good grade at GCSE - a 4/5/6 depending on how much information they can retain. We print these out A5 size and stick them in the middle of our books and as I am teaching students will annotate these sheets according to how much extra information they need to get above a 4/5/6. The visuals are a huge help and icons and schemas are repeated as and when appropriate across the organisers which makes pupils feel secure and build a mental image of all the content - something I had found challenging to help them create before using these. The GOs really help tell the ‘story’ of the Achaemenid (Persian) Kings: Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius and Xerxes. Topics included: Cyrus’ birth and early life Cyrus’ conquest of Astyages and the Medes / Media Cyrus’ conquest of Croesus and the Lydians / Lydia Cyrus’ conquest of Nabonidus and the Babylonians / Babylon The importance of the Nabonidus Chronicle, Cyrus Cylinder and Herodotus as sources The foundation of Cyrus’ city at Pasargadae Cyrus’ death at the hands of Queen Tomyris and the Massegatae Early Cambyses and Succession Background to Cambyses’ invasion of Egypt Cambyses conquest of Egypt Cambyses positives as ruler of Egypt Cambyses’ negatives and 'madness as ruler of Egypt Cambyses’ military failures after conquering Egypt (Carthage, Ammonia, Ethiopia) Smerdis’ the usurper and death of Cambyses Accession of Darius Behistun (Bisitun) Inscription Darius’ reorganisation of the Persian Empire The foundation of Darius’ city at Persepolis Darius’ initial expansion attempts from 517 BCE The backstory and causes of the Ionian Revolt The events of the Ionian Revolt 499 BCE The aftermath and consequences of the Ionian Revolt Darius’ final invasion of Greece and death Accession of Xerxes to the Persian throne Xerxes’ preparations for his invasion of Greece Xerxes’ invasion of Greece The Battle of Thermopylae The sack of Athens Battle of Salamis Battle of Eurymedon End of Persian forays westward

This lesson tells what can be a relatively confusing story in a clear, step by step way. It’s dual coded to reduce cognitive load and take students through all the key details from who Ascanius was and why Romulus and Remus were outcast to the differing accounts of Remus’ death. Short video clips are also included at appropriate places within the powerpoint (hence the large file size) which help to break up the ‘teacher talk’ and add colour to the story. The final tasks involve storyboard creation and student explanation. My classes were big fans of the simplicity of the presentation and the clarity of the story - it really helped them retain all the information. There are a few quick quizzes included which are great for AFL.

This lesson is part of a scheme of lessons I created to try and fill a gap in the OCR Ancient History GCSE available resources. I felt like this is quite a complex era in Roman history and the resources that exist are complicated too - leading to cognitive overload for many of my students. This lesson is completely dual coded and my students loved it because it is clear and succinct and reduces cognitive load. It tells the story of the how the Plebeians and the Patricians argument with each other at the beginning of Rome’s new Republican era was attempted to be solved - and how this attempt at being solved was hijacked by a few Patricians unwilling to cede any power to the Plebeians. On each slide are pertinent questions posed to students that they can answer verbally or in writing and are great for AfL - summative and formative depending on how you want to use them. There’s a 6 mark exam question to finish off the lesson for those teaching the OCR Ancient History GCSE. Even if you aren’t teaching the OCR AH GCSE, I’d argue this is probably the clearest and easiest to understand overview of the challenges and details of the First and Second Decemvirates (and the 12 Tables that were the product of both) that exists at the moment - it’s why I made the lesson because there was hardly anything accessible out there for me and my students… There is also a summary video clip at the start to tell the story so far and a video clip included at the end so students can recap their learning. Thanks for taking a look!