Full lesson plan and activity, leading to an essay

A detailed revision powerpoint, outlining the AQA modern texts exam (although this could be removed/ changed to fit your board) and lots of slides on context, complete with questions encouraging students to make links to the novel.\n\nFinal slide suggests they get into groups and come up with essay plans to past exam questions.

Powerpoint providing background to Milton's Paradise Lost. Used to compare Marlow and Milton. Must have studied Marlow previously.

Find a quotation activity for chapters 4-6 on the main aspects of the chapters.

Chart to fill in on courage - includes quotes from Martin Luther King jr to start thinking, an overview of courage in the novel and a chart to fill in.

An introduction to Renaissance drama for A Level English Literature - my students are studying 'Hamlet' and 'The Duchess of Malfi'. A plastic skull would also be a useful, if not essential, teaching tool ! For the brave/stupid amongst you, get them to throw it to each other as they ask their 'big questions'. Also included a Renaissance drama knowledge planner. Credit also to 'Will' by Christopher Rush and 'Shakespeare's Restless World' by Dr Neil McGregor.

Goes well with 1984 - book is interesting and scary now; so students find loads to think about.

Using the excellent material provided by AQA and the TES, i put together powerpoints/ activities for the poems in the 'Relationships&' anthologies. They include activities, information, audio, video links. \n\nYou can pick them up and go. The only one missing is &';To His Coy Mistress' as we approached that in a different way and also, i think some of the audio might be mixed up (don&'t know how or why?!) so do check before you go into lessons.

Best to read the uploaded instructions doc but essentially, an easily adaptable resource providing an introduction to poetry. It will also set them up for the poetry anthology to be completed at the end of the scheme of work.

Lesson plan and resource uses John Agard's poem, &'Reporting from the Frontline of the Great Dictionary Disaster&';, to teach students about etymology in a fun and engaging way. It also ties in with poems from other cultures. Could be used as a stand-alone 'fun&' lesson, or to tie in with teaching about the origins of the English language. If you have a lively class, you can get a great performance at the end... it also produces some great display work if you get students to type their work up. Enjoy :)

Scenes from Macbeth on a printable handout annotated with questions to make guided reading/ note taking a little easier, particularly at early stages of play. Focus mostly on presentation of character.

Copies of the poems, 'pike' by Ted Hughes and 'trout' by Seamus Heaney and a few charts/venns that allow them to compare these two. The powerpoint has pics of a pike - can be used a starter. Once we studied these, they wrote an essay, then a poem describing an animal of their own.

I am doing Wilfred Owen with my English lit group and this is something I am going to use with them as an introduction to the topic in order to get them thinking about war. It contains two sets of extracts, war themed. The class will be split into two groups and each has to present what they have found out from the extracts ALONE. Almost as if they were an alien from another planet, what would these extracts tell them about the relation between humans and war- idea is to get them to start thinking critically about texts. Could also use extracts for lots of other purposes…

Taught as part of lit heritage controlled assessment for AQA as comparison with Macbeth (full details in powerpoint- just remove if not relevant!). Students had read the text independently. We began by discussing whether good and evil can be linear then read the article about the Zimbardo experiment to challenge further. Powerpoint provides intro to novel then the critics activity gets them to start thinking about interpretations. Really stretching but fruitful activity. Obviously this is very focused on my CA task but would work generally if teaching LOF as exam text.

A lesson plan and a few resources for a pre-exam revision lesson which also teaches essay skills. Helps students think about what's worth including in an essay and build analysis skills.\n\nYou can cut up the essay in an envelope sheet so it's more kinaesthetic but you could just use as is.

PowerPoint contains some contextual overview and objectives. Explains a pre-reading activity and includes discussion of ways of reading. Extracts for students to apply their knowledge to. Can be done if they've read the novel but would work equally we

Range of stuff- probably more useful for the teacher in the first instance- on The Taming of the Shrew. Taught as comparative text with The Importance of Being Earnest with a focus on gender.

I love, love Ted Hughes and finally, I got to teach 'Birthday Letters' as a coursework text this year. . . very little in the way of teaching resources exists so I've created some. Here's an introductory powerpoint on Hughes and a very comprehensive guide to 'Birthday Letters' - absolutely indebted to Erica Wagner's brilliant book on BL, 'Ariel's Gift...' as well as other miscellaneous activities.I've got to say, I've never taught something that the students have truly LOVED so much. Give it a go...

A lesson plan and resources for a persuasive writing revision lesson - year 10 or 11. Includes fun starter activity and could be developed as to include writing a longer piece. Lots of fun and can be adapted to suit different abilities. The support sheet includes writing prompts. Taught this several times, also with a year 9 high ability. works a treat.

I used this with Year 7 but could be used/adapted with year 8 or 9 too dependent on ability. \nStudents consider what writing 'from life&' is, then do a short reading activity on the extract from &';Cider with Rosie'. Then they use this an inspiration for their own creative writing - a short talking activity included to prompt discussion and ideas, plus some writing in class and reflection. \n\nWorks well - could be a stand alone or padded out to form a couple of lessons.