Powerpoint offering definitions of tragedy, tragic flaw, tragic hero to aid discussion of the play and its title character. This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Place the photographs around the room before the start of the lesson. Tell students that placed around the room are some of the most iconic photographs ever captured. Ask students to walk around the room, view the pictures, read the information and decide which one the most powerful impact. Why? Ask: How important are photographs in newspapers? Do you think it would be possible to run a front page which did not have a photograph with it? Why/why not? Ask: Are there times when using photographs is not justified? Ask students to look at the list and decide what they think. - Pictures taken of celebrities without their permission - Brutal pictures of people hurt or killed in war or violence (The Falling Man 9/11 and Death in Africa caused controversy) - Page 3 semi-naked shots Students to write a short response in their books, giving reasons for their answers. This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

This is an extended piece of homework that students can complete at home over a two-week period. In lessons students have been reading Macbeth by William Shakespeare. They have looked at how different directors have interpreted the witches and how they look, move and behave. They are going to create a portfolio of three pieces of work which shows how they would interpret the witches imagining that they are going to stage a production of Macbeth. This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Using the PowerPoint, explain to students the three main types of newspaper writing – news stories, features and opinion pieces. Students should make notes in their books as you explain to them. Quick test (slide 6): Ask students to decide whether the headlines are for news, features or opinion pieces. They should explain what clues helped them, e.g. the use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ Issue the three Articles to pairs. Students are to decide which one is the news story, the feature article and the opinion piece. Students are to read the articles closely. Under the headings of ‘news stories’ ‘features’ and ‘opinion pieces’ in their book, students are to identify word level features in the different types of writing. Display slide 7 on the PowerPoint to assist students. But encourage students to be open-minded about what the find. Differentiation: some features will need explaining. For lower ability groups, delete tricky features as appropriate. After activity, ask students to explain what language features they're likely to find in a features article/news story/opinion piece? This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Students are to correct a sentence which has used several incorrect homophones. They are then asked to create their own sentences using incorrect homophones for their partner to correct.

This PPT looks at three different responses to: In Of Mice and Men explore the ways the writer presents relationships between characters. LENNIE AND CURLEY’S WIFE Focusing specifically on AO3: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose Develop and sustain interpretation of writers’ ideas and perspectives Explain and evaluate how writers use linguistic, grammatical, structural and presentational features to achieve effects and engage and influence the reader. There is a grade D/E response, a grade C response and a B/A response. Students are able to see how they can improve and develop their analysis to achieve higher grades. There's also a comprehensive and detailed essay plan to aid students' planning of a response to the exam question above.

A starter which explains the three different sentence types with examples, making reference to main clauses, subordinate clauses and embedded clauses. Ideal to use as an introduction to a piece of creative/descriptive writing where you'd expect students to use varied sentences.

This is a comprehensive literacy starter activity covering several homophones. This resource contains an informative PPT followed by three engaging and challenging activities. This activity should last about 20-25 minutes.

When I first met my new classes I went through a 'classroom code' so they were familiar with my expectations. This is the PowerPoint I used. You may edit it as you wish to suit your own purposes.

Students are shown a collection of objects on the screen. They have two minutes to try and remember them all without writing them down. After the two minutes they must write down as much as they can remember. They are then able to see their age equivalent test score. For example, if they remember 10 objects, then they have the memory of an 8-year-old.

An informative PPT explaining how to use speech marks correctly.

In Act 2, Scene 1 Macbeth is deciding whether to kill Duncan or not. Read Macbeth’s soliloquy to students from ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me?’ Ask students to listen carefully as you read aloud to them – try to be quite dramatic and theatrical! Instruct students to jot down any words or phrases that they think are especially important. With a copy of Macbeth’s Soliloquy, give pairs three highlighters to share. They must identify how Macbeth is feeling at the prospect of murdering King Duncan, exploring three possible choices: 1) Macbeth is intent on the murder. 2) Macbeth is undecided. 3) Macbeth is horrified by the prospect of murder. They’re to use 3 different colours to represent each of the three choices. They should try to highlight each line in a colour. Issue the Macbeth Chart to students. They’re to create a line graph which illustrates Macbeth’s decision making. This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

Put students in pairs and give each pair a piece of A3 paper. Ensure that each person in the pair has a different coloured pen. Explain that students are going to have a silent debate. One person will write down reasons why Macbeth should kill King Duncan; the other person will write down reasons why Macbeth shouldn’t kill King Duncan. Allow students 10 mins to do this exercise. Students write down reasons one at a time; students should try to respond to what’s been written previously. Use the resource above as an example. This resource is taken from my KS3 Macbeth SOW which you can buy from my shop.

A simple straight-forward starter for capital letters. Students learn where to use capital letters before correcting sentences where capital letters have not been used.

How to use resources: Ask students: What do you already know about the structure of newspaper stories? You may need to establish the term ‘structure’ – I find asking them how a Big Mac burger is structured helps (two bread buns, burger, relish etc.) Display PowerPoint. Discuss with students. Issue Article students. Read through and discuss the structure. Go to slide 2 on PowerPoint. Students are to answer the questions in their books. Issue the Card Sort to pairs of students. Display slide 3 on PowerPoint to assist students. Ask students to write a short paragraph in their books explaining how they approached the task. What did they find easy or difficult? What language clues helped them to unscramble the text? Remind students that they were presented with a pyramid diagram at the start of the lesson to illustrate a news story structure. Ask students to draw a new diagram in their books which will help them remember the structure of a news story. Compare with a partner. This resource is taken from my KS3 English Newspaper/Journalism SOW which you can buy from my shop.

This is a list of 'symptoms' of Asperger's syndrome. Display these around the classroom before students enter. As a starter activity, ask students to tour the room, find the 'symptoms' and jot them down in their books. This opens up a discussion about Asperger's Syndrome. Video also attached which offers a very intriguing insight into autism and Asperger's Syndrome. This resource is taken from my KS3 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time SOW which you can buy from my shop.

This resource offers a fun way of researching context. Before the lesson print of the questions and put them into colour-coded piles. You'll need as many questions are you have groups of students. For example, if you have 6 groups, you must of 6 print-outs of the questions. You'll need 6 x yellow questions, 6 x green questions, 6 x blue questions etc. Put students in teams of 3-4 students. Students must have immediate access to a laptop or computer to be able to find the answers to the questions. You need to put the piles of questions on your desk. Issue Q1 to all groups and 1 answer sheet to all groups. Groups must find the answer to Q1, write it down on their answer sheet and then bring their answer sheet to you. If the answer is correct, you issue them with Q2, and so on until groups have found all the answers to all the questions. It is basically a race to the finish, but the answers must be of quality because you have to 'okay' them before they're issued with the next question. Students enjoy the competitive element of this task. You may wish to give the winning group a small prize as an added incentive. Discuss the contextual research once the task is over and discuss its links with the play.

Listen to Iron Maiden’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (8 minutes). This is an edited version of the original track as the original track has a lot of instrumentals! Issue lyrics. Students are to follow in order to gauge an understanding of the story. Issue the pictures on A4 paper to individual students. On a sticky note, they’re to describe what’s in the picture. They’re to then try and work out in what order the pictures go. They can refer to the lyrics to help them. It’s all speculation at the moment; try to work it out. This should help them to understand the narrative structure. Afterwards, students are to discuss what they think happens in the story from beginning to end. They should write their plot summary as a list on a piece of A3 paper as a pair and/or group. This should give them an understanding of the narrative structure.

This PPT looks at new words and where they come from, which includes looking at blended words (jeans + leggings = jeggings), clipped words and new, organic words. They begin to understand how new words are added to the dictionary. If possible, allow students access to computers and let them explore the Oxford Dictionaries website which has lots of information about new words added to the dictionary.

This resource offers students an 8-step guide to approaching poetry, divided into: 1. Title 2. Shape 3. Personal response 4. Voice 5. Vocabulary 6. Imagery 7. Structure 8. Interpretation There are prompt questions under each 'step' to help students. This resource can be applied to any poem to encourage students' independent analysis of poetry.