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.
The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to give the context of the religious changes that have happened in England since the reign of Henry VIII.
Students begin by focusing on the different religions present in England under Elizabeth, such as Lutheranism, Catholicism, Puritanism and Presbyterianism.
They are given a religious road map to complete before analysing the political situation in Europe in 1558 and the threats posed by the Catholic states of France and Spain.
Finally they assess Elizabeth’s personal beliefs and the state of the English Church at the beginning of hr reign, before predicting how Elizabeth will tackle religion upon her accession.
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 assess the situation in Europe on the accession of Elizabeth and decide how this will influence her foreign policy.
Students recap on the foreign policy aims of previous Tudor monarchs and predict how Elizabeth will deal and react to some initial problems, such as the loss of Calais.
Students will also be required to answer some key questions using the information sheets provided: Which country posed the biggest threat to Elizabeth and why? Was Elizabeth reactive or proactive? Did England follow a consistent foreign policy and who controlled it, Elizabeth or her advisers?
Some exam question practice is included which will also the context of Mary, Queen of Scots.
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.
The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the importance of marriage for Elizabeth.
Students begin the lesson by recapping the importance of marriage for previous Tudor monarchs and the reasons for their choice of partner.
They then decide who is Elizabeth’s best suitor and what benefits they might bring politically to England
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. .
There are some key questions posed to the students as well as judging the relevance of some historians points of view, such as Doran, Haig and Jordan. Some source scholarship can be completed with a themed linked plenary.
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 assess the threat posed by Mary, Queen of Scots throughout her life to Elizabeth.
The lesson begins with some context of Mary’s life before students’ decide her threat to Elizabeth before she flees to England from Scotland.
In the second part of the lesson, students learn about the different plots against Elizabeth involving Mary and how Elizabeth and her Privy Council dealt with each in turn.
There is also a diamond nine prioritising exercise as to the main reasons why Elizabeth was so reluctant to execute Mary after the Babington plot.
Some literacy and extract exam practice is also included with help given and a markscheme supplied
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 assess how successful Elizabeth’s policy of plantation in Ireland really was.
Students begin by plotting areas on a map of Ireland and are required to explain previous Tudor policy in Ireland with some prompts when needed.
After being given the context to Ireland in 1558, they then analyse Elizabeth’s policy in Ireland and rate how effective each was, bearing in mind rebellions such as Shane and Hugh O’Neill.
There is some exam extract analysis practice to complete if required, complete with markscheme.
The plenary focuses on some interactive flashcards which recall the learning in the lesson.
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 evaluate the reasons for the increasing problems Elizabethan society underwent towards the end of the 16th Century.
Students also have to evaluate the impact of these changes upon society as a whole, from a rising population, gentry class and continuing inflation.
They will also question if there was a crisis in the aristocracy, a case put forward by renowned historians such as Hugh Trevor Roper, as he argues their decline of importance coincides with a rise in influence of the gentry class.
Finally students will examine and decide if there were any differences in the patterns of trade in the Elizabethan era compared to previous Tudor times. Was England still dominated by agriculture and the cloth trade to Antwerp or were any changes happening to expand markets?
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 key word literacy display has been designed to be used on classroom walls (or on display boards outside) when introducing a new History topic to the students.
It is an easy resource to print and will hopefully save an incredible amount of time and effort when incorporating literacy into a new or existing scheme of work. The slides can also be laminated and used as mobiles hanging from the ceiling or used as part of an informative display.
The slides cover the following words and their definitions:
Cat and Mouse Act, conciliation, constitution, discrimination, Emmeline Pankhurst, equality, Emily Davison, enfranchise, Epsom Derby, Force feeding, franchise, hunger strikes, Married Women’s Property Act, Matrimonial Causes Act, legislation, militant, Nancy Astor, patriarchal society, petition, propaganda, subordinate, suffrage, suffragette, suffragist, W.S.P.U., World War 1.
The slides come in PowerPoint format so they are easy to change and adapt.
The Suffragettes
The lesson focuses on the main differences between the Suffragists and Suffragettes, but also looks at their similarities.
Students are asked as to why women wanted the vote and how they were going to achieve it?
Further into the lesson, students have to analyse the various methods used by both groups and have to question, prioritise and justify their effectiveness.
Included is a thinking quilt which tests pupils’ understanding and links the key ideas, dates, people and definitions together.
A differentiated plenary questions and checks their understanding of the lesson.
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.
The British Empire
The aim of the lesson is to assess the importance of apartheid in South Africa both politically and economically.
The lesson begins by giving the context of South Africa being part of the British Empire and it move toward independence and the introduction of apartheid.
Students have a quiz to complete as well as source scholarship on its introduction in 1948.
They also evaluate the restrictions it imposed on the non white population of South Africa, where they are required to give their opinions on it as well as the significance at the time, overtime and nowadays.
The lesson also focuses on the impact of the ANC and Nelson Mandela’s contribution to a modern South Africa and the part he played in ending apartheid.
There are some excellent video links to his life and work as well as the Soweto uprising of 1976.
The lesson concludes with a diamond nine activity to prioritise the main reasons why apartheid came to an end.
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 lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
Britain: Health and the People c.1000-present
These key individual flashcards aim to get the students thinking of key people and their significance in medicine.
I always find students have revised thoroughly for exams, but do not push their grades into the higher brackets as they focus on content rather than the individual’s impact and importance, particularly over time.
There are 36 individuals listed, Students can use them in class (I use them as starters and plenaries) or to take home and use for their own personal revision programme.
I also display them in the classroom (enlarged) and use when teaching this unit of study.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This key word literacy display has been designed to be used on classroom walls (or on display boards outside) when introducing a new History topic to the students.
It is an easy resource to print and will hopefully save an incredible amount of time and effort when incorporating literacy into a new or existing scheme of work.
The slides can also be laminated and used as mobiles hanging from the ceiling or used as part of an informative display.
The slides cover the following words and their definitions:
The slides cover the following words and their definitions: Anglo-Saxons, allegiance, authority, cause, chainmail, change, Christianity, conqueror, consequence, continuity, defence, economic, features, feigned retreat, Fyrd, hierarchy, Housecarl, invasion, knights, landscape, medieval, Normans, oath, pagan, political, rebellion, religion, siege, society, victorious.
The slides come in PowerPoint format so they are easy to change and adapt.
The British Empire
This lesson explores the rise and fall of Robert Clive of India. Should he be regarded as a hero or a villain of the worst kind?
The first part of the lesson establishes his heroic reputation through video and source analysis.
Students then sift through a variety of source information and plot a graph coming to their own conclusions and judgements.
They also analyse the Battle of Plassey as an additional task and decide whether their judgement has been correct all the time.
The plenary requires them to create a plaque for Clive of India to sum up his reputation according to the evidence.
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
The Holocaust
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the reasons why Josef Mengele escaped justice.
I have been inspired to write this lesson after reading an article by Gerald Posner who spent three decades trying to track him down.
The story makes fascinating reading; but was Mengele a brilliant mastermind at escape and evasion tactics or was it pure incompetence on the part of the West German authorities and a lack of will from the Western governments to track and find him?
Students are given the context to Josef Mengele, his background and a very brief description of the war crimes he committed at Auschwitz, without going into specific details.
They complete a missing word activity, before analysing the fake passport he used to flee to South America.
The main task is to judge how believable his escape story really is, with some red herrings thrown in for good measure to get the students really thinking.
Some key differentiated questions, an extended writing piece, with some ‘believable’ words as well as a thinking quilt will give the students an accurate account of his double life.
There is also an excellent link to video footage of a documentary by Gerald Posner himself.
The resource comes in PDF and PowerPoint formats if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
Norman Conquest
The aim of this lesson is to understand how successful William was controlling England through his survey.
Students will learn how he needed to find out as much as he could about the Anglo-Saxon population.
They are encouraged at the start to answer a series of questions (a survey) of what they own; this is exactly what William did, but minus the enthusiasm shown in the class to list all their belongings!
Through a study of horrible history video footage and source analysis, students realise just how intrusive this new book was and they have to justify, whether in written form or orally, why people in medieval society began to resent it.
For homework they have a chance to find out about their own area and what it offered in 1086 with an exemplar given.
This is a fun, interactive and challenging lesson in which all the students can take part and make their own conclusions.
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 comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
This key word literacy display has been designed to be used on classroom walls (or on display boards outside) when introducing a new History topic to the students.
It is an easy resource to print and will hopefully save an incredible amount of time and effort when incorporating literacy into a new or existing scheme of work.
The slides can also be laminated and used as mobiles hanging from the ceiling or used as part of an informative display.
The slides cover the following words and their definitions:
A Church, charter, commemorate, compare, crusade, Domesday Book, Doom painting, evidence, feudalism, function, government, Harrying of the North, historical source, infer, interpretation, laws, martyr, medieval, Motte and Bailey Castle, parish, parliament, penitence, pilgrimage, reign, siege, significant, sin, surrender, The Church, tithe.
The slides come in PowerPoint format so they are easy to change and adapt.
The aim of this lesson is to assess the impact and legacy of the Roman Empire upon Britain.
Students begin by deciphering some key words and then analyse a map of Roman Britain.
They are given some context to the Roman in Britain as well as the reasons why they left.
The main task is to research what the Romans left behind in Britain when they left, from bathhouses, to villas, language, roads and towns.
There are some excellent video links as well as some extended writing to complete if required.
The plenary will check understanding with a multiple choice quiz.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is twofold: to introduce the A Level course and its requirements and then to assess the strengths of Germany before 1914.
The course requirements are outlined to the students and how it will be assessed through the two examination components of source analysis and essay writing.
The second part of the lesson analyses the three Reich’s in Germany and how it was governed from 1871.
A colour coding activity on Germany unification, questions on the impact of World War I on Germany and its political structure under the Kaiser will allow students to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Germany in 1914.
There is a 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 GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to understand the political vacuum left in Germany after the abdication of the Kaiser and the political consequences for Germany.
Students begin with a definition task using some key words and phrases linked to the Treaty.
They are then introduced to the political machinations of Ludendorff and the implications of the Peace Note.
A chronological and multiple choice task as well as a ‘Am I a robot?’ exercise allow students to grasp the consequences of the abdication of the Kaiser and analyse the political parties vying for ascendancy in the Republic.
Some exam question practice completes the lesson using sources, with a model answer given if required.
There is a 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.
Who was Genghis Khan and how did he rule the largest land area in history?
Students learn about his early life and background and how he became such a powerful ruler.
They are required to judge two things about him; how good a leader was he and was he was unifier who brought peace and stability or did he bring chaos and destruction to his Empire?
They are required to debate and complete an extended piece of writing with argument words and a scaffolding structure to help them decide.
The plenary consolidates their learning about Genghis Khan with key words used in the lesson, from which examples must be given for each.
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Links to video footage
Printable worksheets
Differentiated tasks
Suggested teaching strategies
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to assess the problems Stresemann faced as Chancellor.
Students are given the context to the state of Germany by the end of 1923 and the background to Stresemann’s arrival to lead the Grand Coalition.
They are given four pressing problems facing Stresemann and have to prioritise what he should tackle first. A series of question will also challenge their thinking on his decisions, with answers given when required.
Students will also learn the roles of Hjalmar Schact and Charles Dawes and their significance in stabilising Germany.
Finally some exam practice focuses them on how Germany recovered and how the loans from America were put to good use.
The plenary is an old favourite of head, heart, bin and bag.
There is a 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.