I wrote this myself after spending lunch time duty watching crowds of students enjoying fights. Grim though it was, the poem asks a few questions. Students can then write their own version of a poem/story connected with bullying/fighting/crowd behaviour. Link with the brilliant film on youtube - Pictures now added !

The old problem of the farmer/goat/cabbage and wolf brought to you in technicolor. Students work in teams or pairs to solve the problem and work out the best way to present their solution to the class. Works well as a starter for lots of objectives.

Students imagine they are Romeo/Juliet both before and after their meeting at Capulet's ball. They update their facebook according to their new feelings. Obviously this format would work for any character in any play/story. See also Hamlet and Ophelia on Facebook lesson.

Students work in pairs through this 'board game' activity, answering questions generated by the throw of a die. Use coins for counters. Adapt questions to any text/level. Student led lesson. Get them to note difficult questions. Pair less able with more able. Hours of possibilities

Lesson designed to raise awareness of sameness not difference. Useful for P4C or tutors. Raises lots of questions and gives students opportunity to reflect on how colour affects our lives.

Team building exercise based on an already extant handout. Useful for first lessons or physical, social, health and emotional education. You'll need to adapt dates etc. Links to loads of other stuff as well.

Can be adapted to other year/class groups that do not know each other. Works brilliantly as a ' cocktail party' introduction to the class. I use the library as a venue for this lesson.

This lesson introduces the idea of Narrative Structure.. It takes students through the various stages and asks them to identify structures in their own reading.

Allows students to discuss what ' rules' are about. Takes them through stages which they can then apply to their own experience.

This introduces students to the idea of a novel. I teach Great Expectations to a low ability group and will regularly post lessons on this. The attached worksheet gets them thinking about narrative structure and you can refer to it throughout the SOW.

A set of slides providing creative writing/speaking/drama based stimuli. Can be used over KS3 and 4.

A Ppt illustrating the poem by Duffy. Includes questions, activity and homework.

Lower ability, uses images to elicit response. Choose to ask students WHICH image they would choose from the poem. Lesson involves students selecting positive and negative element from the river's experience. Introduces the idea of personification...h/w to produce a similar poem of your own (can be powerpoint with images)