I love creating resources and spend far too much time doing it. Currently teaching mostly A-level English Literature, but there are a range of free and paid resources for all ages. I believe in challenging students with a range of ambitious material, but also believe that this needs to be underpinned by explicit direction on HOW students can develop their ideas in written form. Write better... think better... think better...write better... and so on.
I love creating resources and spend far too much time doing it. Currently teaching mostly A-level English Literature, but there are a range of free and paid resources for all ages. I believe in challenging students with a range of ambitious material, but also believe that this needs to be underpinned by explicit direction on HOW students can develop their ideas in written form. Write better... think better... think better...write better... and so on.
I really recommend teaching this wonderful text - currently on OCR AS English Literature spec, I taught it for a comparative coursework task instead (comparing with The God of Small Things). Students loved it... yes lots of swearing but all in context, and you will see I made the swearing into a learning activity about language prestige!
Includes scheme of work, lesson PowerPoints and resources. More importantly, all my teacher notes are also included with the slides.
Also, really recommend purchasing David Ian Rabey's critical guide to Jez Butterworth, published 2015.
A plethora of resources for teaching Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber... powerpoints, resources and tasks.
Taught for OCR A-level English Literature as part of Gothic comparative and contextual study (to be taught alongside Frankenstein) but would work equally well as stand-alone for other components or as a coursework text.
You also have here some extract question activities on presentation of 'the other' in Gothic literature and some teaching material and activities on Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', focusing particularly on narrative form and perspective.
NB Puss in boots not there - we just read and discussed as it doesn't fit as part of our unit so we covered it unofficially) and the final three worksheets are designed by students - I got them to prep their own in the style of mine.... they did pretty well but if you are not going to adopt the same approach, I would check them before using as may need some editing. We then used them as teaching resources in a sequence of university seminar style sessions.
VALUE FOR MONEY alert... powerpoint, handouts, questions, key extracts and some teacher notes... all labelled and ready to just pick up and teach.
A full scheme of work also included - I am teaching for OCR (extract then an interpretation question), but this covers off all A-level AOs... critics, analysis and some context.
A whole range of useful resources to support student writing - mostly A-level but some could work for more able at GCSE:
- WHALE analysis; my own approach for getting students to analyse texts in detail by thinking like a whale. Includes modelled example using 'A Streetcar..' and blank template.
- Analysis framework for any play; in table format so can be laminated/ cut up and allocated to students/groups, depending on AO but could also be used as is.
- Discourse markers - simple list of connecting words - I challenge students to use them whilst writing shorter pieces in class.
-Comparative writing frame to help students compare two texts; blank templates and modelled example using The Bell Jar and A Streetcar Named Desire
- Information sheets on the approach required for different kinds of A-level writing e.g. critical analysis, interpretive, using secondary critical material
- Two writing mats which are totally based on an example of a writer's palette in David Didau's wonderful book, 'The Secret of Literacy- making the implicit, explicit' - a must for all teachers, in my opinion. One focuses on deep language analysis, the other on interpretive writing. I laminate at A3 size and keep copies in classroom at all times - can be used for slow writing activity or to support students during timed writing.
- Powerpoint with general activities on classic mistakes students make whilst writing. Use as a starter OR for some directed practice/ mastery after they have written an essay.
Designed for OCR English Literature A-level where it is taught as a comparative Gothic text I am comparing with The Bloody Chamber. Easily editable scheme of work proforma also attached.
PowerPoint also include lesson by lesson approach, which includes some exam questions as well as passage based questions on extracts from other Gothic texts. Some additional teacher notes included but I also direct you to my FREE revision guide on this text.
Edition used: 1831, Penguin Classics 1992 edition with intro by Maurice Hindle
A scheme of work for Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, including powerpoints, handouts and some activities. Mostly structured around questions, key quotations and mastery of analysis skills.
The document labelled SOW provides overview...
Edition used was the standard Faber and Faber and all page references refer to that one.
Arundhati Roy's 'The God of Small Things' is a wonderful A-Level novel - I taught as comparative coursework with Jez Butterworth's 'Jerusalem' (scheme of work to follow shortly) but this would work just as well as stand-alone for any aspect of the A-Level spec/course. It includes:
- A full scheme of work
- PowerPoints and activities lesson by lesson to take you through whole novel
- Teacher notes, including really useful critical references
I highly recommend purchasing the following for your reference/ school library:
Routledge Guides to Literature: The God of Small Things, edited by Alex Tickell
Continuum Contemporaries Series: The God of Small Things, edited by Julie Mullaney.
All page references refer to Flamingo edition, 1997.
Some revision activities, quizzes, exemplar essay to help revise Hamlet...
Designed for OCR A-level English Literature but transferable, especially the big revision quiz and the mini quizzes (some designed using Socrative)
So, I have no life... and created a digested read of 'Of Mice and Men'.
- Give students whole document: they highlight themes in different colours
- Copy and paste for your own resource
- Cut up and group - thematically or ref. to Steinbeck's style.
Please post suggestions for using it!
Simple powerpoint with questions and thinking points for act 3 of The Crucible.
Good for first reading in class and discussion - could be used as a starting point for a more extended piece of writing or a debate/discussion for speaking and listening.
A two-page timeline of Gothic literature, covering typical texts and context. Useful overview for teacher and student and gives them a sense of Gothic literature as a whole.
A full scheme of work for Tennessee Williams' 'A Streetcar Named Desire'... Packed full of activities, critical material, challenging activities and a few essay titles.
I taught this for OCR comparative coursework alongside 'A Bell Jar' but, this will fit to any A-level spec. Scheme of work also attached so you can get an idea of whole picture and edit as required...
Page references refer to Penguin Modern Classics edition.
An activity designed to help students prepare to answer the essay question, 'How far and in what ways do you agree with the view that Shelley presents knowledge as dangerous and destructive?'
More importantly, the focus here is on getting them to use critical interpretations to help them develop their answers. Worksheets could be used for individuals, groups or pairs... leading to some writing of paragraphs, then the whole essay itself.
Powerpoint a full lesson and includes exemplars and modelled approach to using critics - my springboard approach! Excuse my woeful gym metaphor but students seem to find it useful.
Lesson aim: Develop a methodology for tackling questions on the novel as a whole.
Focusing on appearance v reality in Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, these potential sequence of lessons aims to help students tackling a bigger thematic idea as well as helping them approach bigger essay questions. Designed for AQA GCSE English Literature but would work well for any ...
Also includes a layered writing mat, starter activity and worksheet to help plan an essay on the conflict between appearance and reality.
A range of worksheets/activities for some of the texts in the EdExcel English iGCSE anthology for the exam. Texts include Chinese Cinderalla, Climate Change, Explorers or Boys Messing About, and A Passage to Africa. There are also two film articles to discuss compare for unseen non fiction. Fairly straightforward but hopefully useful stuff.
Lesson (fully explained in PowerPoint) on Anglo Saxon poetry more generally (linked into Beowulf); with a focus on kennings. Homework activity uses modern kennings poem as a model and lets them have a go at writing their own.Lots of fun! Aligned with Common Core Standards: RL.6.4, RL.6.5, RL.8.4, W.6.4, W.6.5, W.7.5, RL.8.5
A number of resources created for 'The Ruby in the Smoke'. Includes an essay plan for writing about character, synonym and antonym starter with words taken from the book, a list of items to research for homework linked to b/ground of book and shor
As with the others the powerpoint is pretty self-explanatory, but the aim of this lesson is to help students understand how meaning is made and be able to write succesfully about it in exams. Overarching objective is to explore techniques used to analyse the way in which writers create particular effects. The extract used is a James Lee Burke one, so quite exciting :) in an englishy way!
I created a vocabulary glossary for the entire novel, containing words that may be unfamiliar to students. They have to find the definitions themselves - a good weekly homework task I think and could be used for spelling tests too... which students enjoy