Two speaking and listening activities to introduce the theme of crime and punishment in the novel Holes by Louis Sacher. These could be individual lessons to introduce the class to courtroom processes, decision making skills, ethics and morality, and speaking and listening skills in general. The first is a group debate where a list of crimes must be ranked and the class must come to a group decision about which are the worst crimes and which are least offensive, or offences at all. They include having mixed-race relationships, so open a historical (and *sigh* still apparently current) dialogue about racism and equality, useful for citizenship and PSHE. The second is a role playing activity where students set up a courtroom and put a young man on trial for stealing a pair of trainers. There are 9 different roles, including the judge and students can either take one role between two or the non-role-taking students could be the jurors. All PowerPoints come withe clear outcomes, starters, task instructions and plenaries. All you need to do is print one A4 sheet of role cards and/or a list of the crimes for each student (A5 works fine for these). This is a really useful lesson which students find really engaging and interesting, particularly if they are into mystery solving! As an extension activity you could ask them to report on the trial or debate for a newspaper/blog/TV news programme. The non-speaking characters could interview those who took part in the trial and use those quotations in their reports. A court scribe could also be used during the trial to make sure notes can be reviewed.

Several lessons which help students recap on the characters and plot of Spies by Michael Frayn and then some engaging activities to help students think more deeply about the text. There are slides to help with paragraph structure to ensure students are getting the level of detail required for an A grade and to help them self- or peer-assess their essay writing. As well as this there are some quizzes on spying and on memory to link in with another essay topic (available online). Best of luck to all the iGCSE students out there and to those tackling Spies for A level! Well done to all the teachers too! I hope this saves you some time and energy!

This scheme of work was created for my high ability KS3 group, but this would make a great introduction to the Romantics at any age. This scheme of work was taken on by my whole department and to a chain of academies which we led. There are several Romantic poets covered here: Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Blake, Coleridge, Keats, of course, but also fantastic female poets Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Charlotte Turner Smith who wrote passionately against slavery through the narrative voice of an angel. There are 9 packed lessons, all with starters, developments, analysis, outcomes, plenaries, homework....the lot! No preparation needed, no effort; just happy kids who learn a huge amount! Please rate and review this resource pack. I think you'll love it!

At least two lessons of in depth study of London by William Blake. There are tonnes of activities here to guide students of any age through the poem's background, the language, structure and form and write responses based on the meaning and message of the poem. Outcomes and objectives are included throughout with a meaningful plenary to help students see their progress. This is part of my larger SOW on Romantic Poetry, but it is a beautiful poem to study on its own as well. Enjoy!

A complete lesson with a range of activities to engage students with learning about Romantic poetry, introduce Victorian Literature or focus on Blake. There is a substantial amount of context and varied activities from videos, drawing, mind-mapping and, of course, analysis and annotation. This was designed as part of a year 8 scheme of work, but would be suitable for any study of this poem. Starters, objectives, plenaries and differentiated activities are all included.

These lessons cover, in detail, the first three chapters of the novel and include everything for each lesson: objectives, starters, activities, analysis, character sheets, quizzes, plenaries and the text itself, just in case someone forgets a book (which inevitably happens!). This is a wonderful book to study with year 8 or 9 and fills in a lot of the gaps in their knowledge of the USA between the end of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. It is a sweet story, told through the eyes of our plucky heroine, Cassie as she learns about the unfairness and danger of her society. It holds up some important mirrors to today's society and the political and social issues we all still deal with. This goes well with the 1930s historical context lessons I have uploaded to my store. Look out for part 2, coming soon!

Designed to teach Wilfred Owen's Anthem For Doomed Youth and Seigfried Sassoon's Attack, this bundle is full of structured 4 or 5 part lessons with differentiated outcomes and activities, varied to keep every student engaged and challenged, making excellent progress. Whether analysing these poems for CIE iGCSE Songs of Ourselves, Unseen Poetry or WW1 Poetry, they are accessible for KS3 and KS4 and lead to structured and scaffolded essay responses suitable for exam preparation or coursework. It includes a whole lesson contextualising WW1 and analysing the language of recruitment posters persuading soldiers to enlist. This is a great way to have students thinking critically and engaged from the first moment! The following lesson goes on to challenge students to compete to read and answer questions on the two poets through their biographies. This is a really fun strategy to get them reading and can get really competitive! Students have never failed to empathise with these two soldier-poets who wrote about their experiences on the front line and the reflection afterwards has created some very rewarding responses. The next lesson is a full lesson of analysis in the form of a snooker game. Students will be active, working independently and pushing themselves, but won't even notice how much hard work they're doing! All you have to do is sit back and check their answers as they bring them up! This lesson has always gone down so well with the students and I achieved an Outstanding in a lesson observation with it too: I'm really excited to pass it on to you! Finally, I have included an example of a student's war poetry essay for iGCSE (on two different poems) so students can see a modelled example of how to structure their responses and get to act as the teacher and mark an anonymous piece of coursework. Everything you need to study these poets and poems is here in one place. Enjoy!

15 different resources to teach the events, structure, imagery and characterisation in chapters 4, 5 and 6 of Mildred D Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry including a mid-point assessment in the form of an essay on the character of Cassie Logan. The assessment includes a blank essay template with prompts as well as a completed one and an essay built from that template as a model for your students. My students loved Roll of Thunder and enjoyed Cassie as a character. I hope yours do to.

A wide range of women of different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, points in history, professions, etc. All the women are chosen for their inspirational work, even the cartoon characters! You'll find Lisa Simpson, not Betty Boop; Wonder Woman, not Black Widow. My less able students had 5 minutes to add as many names as possible, then 5 minutes to add their achievements, then I gave each group a chance to come up and look at the answer sheet which I'd hidden on the reverse of the board and report back to the group. You could also print the achievements out and allow students to match them to the picture. Marks are out of 100, so easy to demonstrate percentages with students too.