objectives writing challenges timed activities opportunities for discussion reflection building on their own interests minimal prep I created this to go with the KS3 Fantasy Writing Scheme of Work I also have for sale on here. It would be less 3 in there. I set brain storming homework before, but the results were wildly varied, often plagiarised,and 99% pointless. Teaching students to be creative sounds impossible but this is a really rewarding process for students to be able to draw on their own varied loves and build up stories based on their specific interests. When I did my Masters in Creative Writing at Warwick, we would do short writing tasks to explore our ideas, writing around the central story to create a sense of depth and scope to the world. This lesson builds students ideas from individual words up to a 1000-word piece using timed segments and opportunities for reflection and discussion, all focused around a Fantasy/Sci-Fi theme. Some of these ideas are from that course, others are from the FANTASTSIC resource “Ready, Set, Novel” published by Chronicle Books and building on the strategies developed over National Novel Writing Month. However all writing, descriptions, and further breaking down is mine. Objectives: Creating original and imaginative ideas. Reflecting those ideas effectively through descriptive writing. There is a plenary slide, but because of the idiosyncratic nature of school objectives, I have not added them to each slide, but it gives “excellent, great, good and let’s talk” standards which the students must use to assess their own imaginative ad creative writing. I would ask students to write them on Post-its so if they need to talk, they can throw these later (of course, once they’re over the horror of asking for help, they won’t bother removing it).

I’m tutoring a 8 year old with ADHD, and ASD who loves motorcycles and Valentino Rossi.I needed to assess his reading skills so chose Rossi’s autobiography from 2006, “What if I Hadn’t Tried?”. It is simply written, translated from Italian, and skirts over inappropriate behaviour with phrases like “long term and short term girlfriends” or “we got into some trouble” and has a review from a Parker-Bowles in the Sun, so I think the whole book will be appropriate for his reading age of 7 1/2 years, and I plan to make several further lessons on it for him if you enjoy this one. Pictures of the cover, back, and Rossi’s signature create some interest and structure of books can be discussed. There are 10 main questions over the course of the first page and a half describing the Australian GP win, followed by some lightning speed skimming and scanning questions. The first couple of questions are Maths based to cover some numeracy skills and see if students can process what they’re being asked to do. The questions touch on structure (in media res opening), metaphors, similes, information retrieval, and effects on the reader of the exciting description. Key Word = trajectory and there is a definition and diagram for this. The last challenge asks students to draw the race track from the description given. I designed this to have answers written in books, but it could easily be adapted. Reading assessment. Reading worksheet.

It’s remarkable how relevant this book is right now. This bundle of lessons includes the final lessons on chapters 9 - 12 and the final assessment. I have included 24 files: every resource you will need and a complete PowerPoint for each lesson including starters, objectives, guided reading with questions on the chapters, development activities and detailed plenaries. There are two additional and non-essential lessons which I have included and my class completed. They reported finding that the unseen poetry lesson was a nice break from doing the book, helped them understand the context, and they were happy to hear a new range of poetic voices. The assessment lesson was necessary because it was our first unit back after the holidays and year 9 needed a refresher. You could easily adapt the assessment lessons (14, 18 and 19) to other questions and have some ready made revision lessons. Download and teach. No preparation required. Minimal or optional printing. A range of possible activities often offered for differentiation. Enjoy!

Hi! By popular demand! This bundle of resources covers chapters 7 and 8 of Mildred D. Taylor’s semi-biographihcal novel ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’.in detail. The thorough whole-lesson PowerPoints cover imagery frequently used, offer up advice, paragraph structures, write-along line-by-line exemplars and extended reading such as the first chapter of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I have included everything you need for these three lessons (it may run longer if getting through the reading takes too long.) I have provided more than enough starters and plenaries for you to pick and choose or create a whole new lesson. Enjoy!

I hope your class have had a great year. You’ve worked so hard and you deserve to use this for…all your classes at least once? So I’ve made it broad enough to apply to ages 11 - 19 with no amendment. 5 rounds of questions: 1. Film and TV 2. Children’s Literature 3. News headlines 4. The Royal Wedding 5. Music Intros. The films and TV programmes , news headlines and royal wedding are from 2018 while the children’s books referred to are mostly classics with a few recent best sellers, The music intros are linked to YouTube. All songs selected are from this year and suitable for all ages while still (hopefully!) being cool. I’m sure the kids will give you their opinions! The newspaper headlines round asks students to write their own true headlines to go with the pictures provided. This can also vary in assessment depending on the ability of your class. It’s difficult to give definitive answers to some of these (no PowerPoint should have to burden all of Donald Trump’s newsworthy stories), so links have been provided to Google searches for news on the person in question. Enjoy and have a wonderful summer! : )

A complete set of resources for teaching Nicholson’ poem “Rising Five”. This is on the Songs of Ourselves iGCSE poetry exam for CIE and explores themes of childhood and time. There is a descriptive writing PPT included which will allow students to explore how they create imagery in description before going on to look at Nicholson’ use of descriptive techniques and imagery in his poem. There is also a separate PPT with key vocabulary to explore in a physical and engaging way which I thought would be useful for weaker readers or EAL students. I have included everything in the main presentation that you would need to teach this poem for the first time, for revision, or to even ask students to pre-teach from. The lesson objectives (on each slide) and end of lesson exam-style essay question ask students to explore how the language, structure and form present the theme of time. The starter activities, biographical information and the guided questions (with answers provided on the next slide) help students meet that outcome. There is support provided for students’ essay answers in the form of sentence starters, simplified assessment objectives and mark schemes, sentence starters, paragraph structures, and a peer/self-marking slide. An interesting lesson to explore students’ memories of childhood and experience of aging. Enjoy!

A complete set of resources for teaching Morris’ poem “Little Boy Crying”. This is on the Songs of Ourselves iGCSE poetry exam for CIE, but is a great poem to explore this controversial topic. I have read online that it is based on a childhood memory of Morris being hit by his father and then returning to this as an adult disciplining his son. This seems totally likely, but I haven’t found confirmation from a trustworthy source. There is a descriptive writing PPT included which will allow students to explore how they create imagery in description before going on to look at Morris’ use of descriptive techniques and imagery in his poem. There is also a separate PPT with key vocabulary to explore in a physical and engaging way which I thought would be useful for weaker readers or EAL students. I have included everything in the main presentation that you would need to teach this poem for the first time,for revision, or to even ask students to pre-teach from. The lesson objectives (on each slide) and end of lesson exam-style essay question ask students to explore how the language, structure and form present the themes of discipline and parent-child relationships. (For a higher ability class, you could split these two.) and the starter activities, biographical information and the guided questions (with answers provided on the next slide) help students meet that outcome. There is support provided for students’ essay answers in the form of sentence starters,simplified assessment objectives and mark schemes, sentence starters, paragraph structures, and a peer/self-marking slide. A really interesting lesson to explore students relationships with their parents. Enjoy!

Hi! This is a complete set of resources to teach Muliebrity by Sujata Bhatt. This poem is on the iGCSE curriculum as part of the SOngs of Ourselves anthology. I’ve included everything I would want to put on each slide including dates, titles, LOs, and detailed analysis of language and structure for each part. There are biographical details and context slides as well as the BBC news article to introduce some of the concepts to students and there are plenty of games/activities to learn new vocabulary either in the poem or useful to describe the poem. The final lesson assessment has an exam style question about the girl in Muliebrity which is broken down, planning is provided, as are sentence starters, paragraph success criteria, a mark scheme, self- or peer-assessment slides and a reflective plenary as well. There should be more than enough for a lesson here so you can come back to some of the activities for revision. Enjoy!

A complete lesson with resources to support students answering an iGCSE style essay question (although it would be easily adapted to another curriculum). The focus is on the techniques used to present the farmhand’s thoughts and feelings. There are pre-differentiated worksheets to support different abilities. There is also a line by line analysis essay, which is not the CIE’s preferred method. You could use this pretty solid 7 or 8 essay and change the structure to thematic and create a grade 9 essay. There are questions to guide the students first through fourth readings covering vocabulary, imagery, structure and meaning. I have also provided a biographical page and made clear links between Baxter’s life and the setting and character created in Farmhand. There are a choice of starters and plenaries or these could become a secondary lesson with time for students to write their full essays. Please feel free to message me with comments or requests. Lizzee

10 of my favourite go-to activities for that difficult class who’ve earned 5 - 10 minutes of Golden Time, or in the time after exam practice or revision where everyone needs a brain break, or when they come back from assembly early… you know how it goes! These have a summer-term flair to them because there are only so many quizzes one class can do. You will find one PowerPoint with all the activities in one place. No printing to be done. Answers could be given on scraps of paper, whiteboards or go through all 10 challenges in teams to compete for a prize - it’s up to you and your class’s needs. Anagram round Book quiz with answers on the following slide. Quiz on your school (you will have to provide the answers!) Paper aeroplane challenge (it was going to be origami - but what type of origami do kids love more? I’ve added a link to the wastepaper basket challenge which uses this game as a metaphor for social privilege. Nice PSHE link.) Under the microscope. Students try to work out what the 8 every day items under the microscope are. Name the TV theme tune. A link is provided to another good quiz available on YouTube for Pixar songs. Celebrity Faceswaps. Students works out which celebrities have had their faces swapped. Flags of the world quiz with answers. #Unexpected. Part of a gif plays and is then blocked. Students have to predict what unexpected thing will happen next. You may have to click to make the blocking box fly in. Rhyme Time Puzzle. Students are given clues for a rhyming answer. Examples and answers given. On a serious note, these games and activities do wonders to bond a group and build positive communication skills. They test logical and lateral thinking as well as a range of knowledge and skills. They are quick and easy to implement and will save you a panic in so many situations! Have a great last few weeks of term!

3 lessons worth of revision activities which are fun, engaging, practical and helpful. Students revise key quotations, organising them into different piles for different essay topics, there is a “pub quiz” with three rounds and a QQT (quiz, quiz, trade) activity. These make excellent additions to my complete SOW on Achebe’s novel plus they can easily be adapted for different texts. Enjoy!

This is the last guided reading lesson for the novel No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe. There are guided reading questions, a plot summary, questions regarding the cyclical structure of the novel and a silent debate on who is to blame for the crimes committed as the final activity. Plenary and learning objectives, dates, etc are all included as usual. There is also a starter which asks students to design a new book cover, but this could become a homework task. Look out for the revision resources to support students’ reflection on the novel.

This lesson begins with a team quotation quiz to recap on chapters 9 - 17. (1 - 8 were on lesson 14). Answers are included, of course. The lesson has a focus on analysing language in quotations. After the guided reading of chapter 18 with questions which guide students towards the end of lesson assessment. The assessment is on the presentation of death and bereavement in No Longer at Ease. As always, there are mark schemes and peer assessment opportunities in the plenary. There is also a sentence analysis activity for students to work on in groups, pairs or individually. Enjoy!

This is the 20th lesson in the scheme of work, focusing on a guided reading of chapter 17. The starter is a paired activity on colonialisation and the effects of it. The questions following guide students towards an end of lesson assessment on rising tension across the novel. There is a mark scheme and a whole-class self-assessment plenary.

This lesson asks students to reflect on their knowledge of the book so far through a quick game of Blockbusters in the starter, then by returning to their chapter charts (a printable version is included here) to reflect on the points in the novel where they felt sympathy for Obi and some other parts where they lost sympathy. Students will need some understanding of abortion laws in Nigeria, so I’ve included a link to wikipedia. Obviously this is a sensitive subject and you may want to spend more time on the feelings behind this decision and the students’ sympathies . Students are asked to recall the parts of a literature paragraph to prepare themselves for the end of lesson assessment. The guided reading for chapter 16 comes next with the usual questions. Before students start writing their paragraphs, they can read the example paragraph based on chapter 16 and give it a PIT stop. There is a mark scheme and colour-coding self-reflection plenary at the end. Enjoy!

This lesson focuses on Achebe’s purpose and viewpoints. There are recommended worksheets of different abilities linked to the second slide. There are the usual guided reading questions on chapter 15 and then a speed dating round before a court-style speaking and listening activity for pupils to prepare for. No printing required unless you decide to print some starter worksheets. Enjoy!

This complete lesson on chapter 14 of No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe focuses on closely analysing quotations from the text. There is a modeled example of close language analysis.I have also included links to the TED talk and an accompanying pdf transcript by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on The Danger of a Single Story of Africa. Her talk closely mirrors some of Achebe’s themes and an interesting “conversation” between the tauthors wo could be imagined and/or hotseated if you have time.

A complete lesson on chapter 13 of Achebe’s No Longer at Ease with focus on language analysis and a passage question on duality in Obi represented through his mother and father. I have included the language devices match starter on a worksheet (2 per A4 page) so you can easily print it and get the lesson off to a focused start. Enjoy!