I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the reasons why England went to war with Spain.
A first part of the lesson is focused on Elizabeth’s policies in the Netherlands and how this antagonism finally led to war.
The second part of the lesson analyses the reasons why the Spanish Armada failed. Whilst students appraise Philip’s plans for the invasion, they also have to make connections throughout its voyage as to why it was doomed from the start.
Included is a significance activity to complete, where students rate how important each event is in relation to Philip’s decision to go to war.
There is some exam practice to complete if required and a plenary which tests students’ ability to debate and counter argue. This is accompanied with a detailed markscheme.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world, 1901 to the present day with a focus on the conflicts of the Second World War.
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand significant aspects of World War 2 on a global scale and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by this conflict.
I have created and used these lessons to challenge and engage students, but also to show how much fun learning about this part of history really is.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout such as change and continuity in the types of warfare used, the causes and consequences of the evacuation of Dunkirk and the similarities and differences of Hitler’s invasion of Russia as compared to Napoleon.
They will also learn about the significance of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan,VE Day, collaborators and refugees in World War 2 as well as interpretations as to whether Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris should be considered a war hero or not.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Overview of World War 2 (free lesson)
L2 Invasion of Poland
L3 Evacuation of Dunkirk
L4 The Battle of Britain (free lesson)
L5 The Battle of the Atlantic
L6 Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union
L7 Sir Arthur Bomber Harris
L8 D-Day landings
L9 The attack on Pearl Harbour
L10 Dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Japan
L11 The role of Collaborators
L12 Refugees in World War 2
L13 VE Day
This bundle includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials.
All lessons come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included two free lessons in the bundle to give an idea of what is being offered.
This bundle is the third part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c.1000-present.
I have taught this course for more than 20 years now and have again decided to completely overhaul my lessons to bring them up to date with the latest teaching and learning ideas I have picked up and with a focus on the new 9-1 GCSE.
Furthermore I have dispensed with learning objectives to focus on specific enquiry based questions which address the knowledge and skills required for the GCSE questions.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons are all differentiated and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the brilliance of the surgical skills learnt during wars and conflict to the growth of the pharmaceutical companies such as Wellcome.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the development of ideas about disease and the causes and consequences for health care with the introduction of the NHS.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example in the Factors Question whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the progression of medicine from twentieth century developments in sulphonamides and the discovery of Penicillin.
The lessons are as follows:
L16 The Liberal Reforms
L17 Medicine and War
L18 The Pharmaceutical Companies
L19 Penicillin
L20 The NHS
L21 The Factors Question
Please note that setting an assessment in class after completing this unit is strongly recommended. All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The Weimar Republic 1918-1928
I have produced this bundle of resources on Weimar Germany 1918-1928 to help A Level students access the course and help them to gain a deeper understanding of Germany’s past through political, social, economic and cultural perspectives.
The enquiry question throughout these lessons will be to question how weak or strong Germany was politically, economically or socially.
Students will learn how the impact of war had a profound effect on the establishment of the Weimar Republic and the significance and consequences of the Peace Settlement.
They will also learn about political instability, with extremism from the left and right, the problems of coalition government and the state of the Republic by 1923 with the invasion of the Ruhr and hyperinflation.
Finally students will assess the issues facing Germany from 1924 and the role of individuals such as Stresemann and his impact on the Golden Age of Germany in his domestic and foreign policy.
The resources provided include detailed lesson plans, case studies, source documents for analysis, chronological tasks and exam practice questions with comprehensive mark schemes.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Introduction and pre-war Germany
L2 Political crisis of 1918
L3 The German Revolution
L4 The Weimar Constitution
L5 Treaty of Versailles
L6 Hyperinflation
L7 Invasion of the Ruhr (free resource)
L8 Political instability and extremism
L9 100 Days of Stresemann
L10 Economic miracles
L11 Weimar Women
L12 Weimar Youth
L13 Jewish people in Weimar
L14 Weimar Culture
L15 Weimar Politics, 1924-8
L16 Germany’s international position
The lessons include the two types of exam question used, with examples of how to tackle them, using model answers, helpful hints and tips, structuring and scaffolding as well as markschemes. However, please refer to the AQA website for further assessment materials as they are subject to copyright.
The lessons are also differentiated and fully resourced and allow students to reach the very top marks.
I am currently completing further lessons for the course. The second bundle, The collapse of democracy, 1928-33 can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/the-collapse-of-democracy-1928-1933-13046790
Further resources will appear on TES shortly.
If you have any questions about the lessons, please email me via my TES shop, or any other information about the course. I would also welcome any reviews, which would be gratefully appreciated.
The Suffragettes
The aim of this lesson is to assess the impact of World War 1 on the Suffragette movement.
The lesson analyses the changing perceptions as women took on the jobs the men left behind to fight on the Western Front in France.
Students prioritise the most important roles women took as well as discovering through source analysis what they did.
There are some excellent case studies of four women and what they did during the war, which provide a great insight into many of the roles women undertook and the resistance and prejudice they faced.
The final part of the lesson looks at the main reasons why women gained the vote and judge if the impact of the war was the main and fundamental reason for this.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This is a fun, entertaining as well as a challenging lesson, designed to question and evaluate the causes of the Great Fire of London in the summer of 1666.
The hook is Samuel Pepys; why did he bury his cheese and why did he bury it alongside items that were surely more valuable?
The lesson comes complete with differentiated resources as students have to plot the causes and consequences of the fire on a visual display using logs,flames and smoke.
Notes have been put on each slide on how to deliver the activities and answers to some of the questions posed as well as suggested teaching strategies.
This lesson is active, exciting and engaging and would also suit a non specialist. It is aimed at key stage 3, but can be delivered to key stage 2 pupils also.
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lessons are fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The overarching aim of this and the subsequent bundle of lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth tried to assert and establish her authority in the early years of her reign.
The lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of her difficulties in trying to overcome this.
This lesson aims to evaluate the threats posed by the Northern rebellion and the Ridolfi plot to Elizabeth. Students analyse these threats and dangers to Elizabeth both through video footage and written text before coming to their own conclusions based on the criteria set out for them.
They complete an essay question on what they have learnt, using the structure provided and key argument words.
Ultimately they will recognise the seriousness and therefore significance of the threats to Elizabeth in her early years.
The lesson includes learning activities such as structuring an answer, analysing and evaluating the plots, the use of video evidence and using tier 2 and 3 vocabulary and argument words in an answer.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c.1000 to present
This lesson focuses on the power of the church over medieval society and medicine and why it became so involved in helping the sick.
Students explore the different types of care on offer from the Christian Church in the Middle Ages and learn why care not cure was the priority.
They are required to analyse sources, reconstruct sentences and complete a key word summary question sheet to challenge their understanding.
They are finally asked to fill in an efficiency rating of the Church and then predict its potential (as with a house energy efficiency rating).
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in Powerpoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
Edexcel 9-1 Medicine in Britain, Thematic study and historic environment
This lesson aims to explain to the students the tricks and skills of answering the source questions set in this part of the exam.
They will learn how to comment on the utility and purpose of sources, by questioning their provenance as well as using their own knowledge.
They will analyse a variety of sources and be able to question their relevance and well as their limitations.
Students will also write about the details of a source and follow these up with questions of their own.
I have provided exemplar answers in this lesson and examples of the skills to use when completing GCSE exam questions.
Activities also include recall and retrieval, analysis and evaluation of different types of sources as well as GCSE exam question practice.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in Powerpoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
The Norman Conquest
The aims of this lesson are to understand what the crusades were about, the significance of Jerusalem and the Holy Land and why medieval Europe answered the call of the Pope to fight there.
There is some context given to the Holy Land at the start of the lesson, with some analysis of the Holy sites in Jerusalem and their significance as well as a map showing the journey of the crusaders.
Students are given a character card at the start of the lesson and discover the reasons why they abd others embarked on a ‘religious’ crusade.
They will plot what happens to their character throughout the lesson and learn the final consequences of their chosen actions.
There are a number of differentiated learning tasks to complete, including analysis of sources and text as well as video footage, questions and plenaries to complete.
This is an engaging, challenging and interactive lesson which requires students to think independently and justify their choices as well as considering the morality, the significance and impact of all five crusades of Medieval Europe.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end using a rate ‘o’ meter to show the progress of learning.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The lesson aims to explore the cause and effect of the building of the Berlin Wall during the Cold War.
Students will first learn about why people such as Conrad Schuman were desperate to go to the West and how the Wall was built to prevent him and others crossing to the West of Berlin.
There is some source analysis and a thinking quilt designed to challenge students on the social, political and economic impact of the Wall.
A narrative abacus using images will set up the students to tackle a GCSE practice question on a narrative account, with prompts and help given if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice.
It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Rise of Dictators
The aim of this lesson is for students to judge how much love there was for Mao Zedong in China.
There is also some retrieval practice which can also be used to tie with the other Dictatorships of Hitler and Stalin.
This lesson can be delivered over two as there is quite a lot of information given so that students will be able to make their own assumptions and judgements.
The lesson begins with questioning what the students already or might know about China throughout its history.
Students will learn about the background of communism in China and Mao’s rise to power, which they will answer key questions on.
They will ultimately be required to evaluate Mao’s term in office and decide how much love there was for him amongst the Chinese population with his policies on industry, land reform, women, education and youth for example.
There is also an extended writing task to complete for students to show off their new found knowledge.
They are some key words and phrases to analyse such as the Long March, collectives, purge, anarchy, the ‘New Leap Forward’ as well as the ‘Cultural Revolution’.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is assess the change and continuity in government between Henry VIII and his father before him.
Students will analyse the workings of government in both Henry’s reigns and decide how much control their had, using a ‘control o’meter’.
Students are also introduced to his ministers for the first time in a model answer from which they can complete some exam practice and allocate marks accordingly referring to a markscheme.
This will also enable them to see how differently Henry VIII ruled the country in comparison to his father.
The plenary using some animated flashcards which the students have to link to Henry and his ministers.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to understand how and why Wolsey rose to become Henry VIII’s chief minister.
Students are at first given a quick summary of Wolsey’s rise and subsequent fall from power with some differentiated questions to answer.
A more detailed and in depth study with some focused reading will require them to assess Wolsey’s character and strengths on his rise to prominence and then give an analytical written account using key evidence.
The plenary focuses on some key spellings, knowledge and statistics learned in the lesson.
There is some question practice to complete if required, together with a writing frame focusing on the factors helping Wolsey in cementing his position as Henry’s right hand man.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question whether Edward was fit to rule from the start.
Students are given some context into previous child Kings of England and their problems as well as some analysis of his Chronicle, which show him to be somewhat cold and callous.
Some excellent video links make reference to Edward’s early years and growing up. Students are also challenged to predict what Edward might have done if he had ruled on his own.
There is some guided reading to complete with a focus on Edward’s attitude to kingship, his personality and character and main influences.
The plenary tests their knowledge in a real or rubbish activity and which also aims to dispel some popular myths about Edward.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question how far Mary was fit to run her government.
The first task students have to complete is to predict what Mary with do to overcome some of her immediate problems.
They will also determine whether having numerous councillors during her reign automatically meant an inefficient and faction-ridden government.
Students will learn how Mary both cooperated and well as clashed with her Parliament and then evaluate how efficient her government actually was.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
This lesson aims to question the purpose of the League of Nations and why it was set up in the first place.
Students have a series of questions to think about and make inferred judgements on, before the answers are revealed.
As they analyse a number of sources, video footage and statements, they build up a picture of the purpose as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the League of Nations.
This gives them a great foundation to build upon, as they scrutinise the League’s structure and responses to world crises in subsequent lessons.
Ultimately as they analyse the aims of the League of Nations, they will be able to evaluate if those aims were ever met throughout the course.
The plenary requires them to sum up what they have learnt with a focus upon the strengths of the League of Nations.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, some retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
The aim of this lesson is to anaylse how Hitler united with Austria in 1938.
Students will learn how Hitler fulfilled one of his aims of uniting Germans, the Volksdeutsche, by invading Austria.
This time, Hitler has learned from his mistakes from the Dollfuss affair, but is now in a position of strength.
Students have to decide how ruthless he is in his demands from the Austrian Prime Minister, Schuschnigg.
Students complete a true or false quiz, before analysing video footage and undertaking a card sort activity to determine the causes of consequences of the invasion.
This will enable the students to tackle the ‘write an account’ question.
There is a retrieval grid to complete for the plenary.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, some retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the problems Elizabeth faced in 1558 and evaluate if the decisions she took were right at the time.
Students begin with some source analysis and decipher some contemporary opinions of Elizabeth.
They also judge the biggest problems facing her reign at home and abroad, before linking the views people may have had at the time, from a prosperous farmer to a Marian exile or a town councillor.
The final task is to predict which decisions Elizabeth made for finance, the succession, trade and the economy and choosing her Privy Councillors.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson looks at how Hitler transformed himself and the Nazi Party to be able to secure enough votes to become Chancellor by 1933.
Many GCSE questions centre around why people voted for the Nazis before 1933. This lesson shows how he was able to do this focusing on four main areas: his beliefs, organisation, leadership skills and voters.
How he dressed, spoke, acted and performed in public were crucial in his propaganda assault on the German people.
Students write this up and evaluate the success of this transformation using worksheets, video footage and visual aids.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
