A Harry Potter themed creative writing lesson focusing upon creating an effective description of setting. Pupils begin by exploring several descriptions of famous locations on Diagon Alley which they use to gather examples of how the five senses are used. Following this, pupils are challenged to create their own description of their chosen location on Diagon Alley before completing a peer-assessment which helps to reduce teacher marking! All resources are included and provide examples of shops, higher level vocabulary and examples of language devices in action to offer additional assistance and guidance.

A fiction writing lesson that helps pupils identify ways to include the senses in their writing to make it as vivid as possible. Links to the film trailer, a short extract, senses grid and glossary are also included to help with differentiation. My class particularly enjoyed being able to engage with the topic of war in a variety of different ways and some rich whole class discussion prior to the main activity of continuing the narrative proved extremely powerful!

A mini scheme of work focussing on some creative writing and EDUQAS fiction reading style questions of gothic texts. These lessons helped my low ability year 9 class access the texts and make informed inferences about them.

A lesson that explores the select and retrieve skills essential for WJEC Fiction Reading paper. The lesson was delivered successfully to a middle ability year 9 class who enjoyed the exploration of a different culture, consideration of African proverbs and development of key exam skills needed to gain confidence before tackling the more challenging questions later in the paper.

A lesson that provoked a lot of thought in my middle ability pupils as to the struggle for power and significance of the symbol of the sacrificed pig's head in chapter 8 of the text. A focus is placed upon higher level vocabulary (as Eduqas award 5 marks for that skill on this question!) along with a thorough exploration through discussion of the metaphorical nature of the pig's head. My pupils particularly enjoyed annotating the image of the pig's head with information from our whole class discussion before using a different colour to add quotations and analysis of language. All resources are include at the end of the PowerPoint.

A fun filled lesson that introduces pupils to the main themes and characters of the novel. Challenges include selecting and retrieving background information from around the classroom, exploring a selection of the novel's most famous book covers and sequencing the story using images prior to reading a brief summary.

A lesson that explores the complexities of Ralph and Piggy's friendship. Pupils are engaged in a wide variety of activities which help them to explore an extract and what it reveals about these key characters independently before completing an initial piece of analysis on Piggy and Ralph. Pupils later complete a PEEZL paragraph plan which is then swapped with another member of the class thus testing their planning skills.

A lesson focusing on the EDUQAS/WJEC spec where pupils are expected to discuss an extract from A Christmas Carol before 'exploding' it by linking to other parts of the text. This lesson has worked particularly well with a low ability year 10 group to chunk the various stage of approaching the question - forming points based upon the extract, selecting and retrieving evidence and linking to other parts of the novella. The introduction and a modelled paragraph for a response are also included and are a perfect way to extend the lesson over two or provide some assistance with revision.

An interactive and engaging lesson to introduce pupils to the first chapter of Jane Eyre. An edited version of the text allows pupils to independently explore key issues raised in this section of the text along with literary features employed by Bronte. The lesson opens with an active group challenge entailing pupils to match the correct book cover to the famous opening line. Following this pupils complete a shared reading of the edited text in small groups with each section clearly marked and including a question requiring a detailed response. Two built in mini-pitstops allow the teacher to circulate and target specific pupils/groups while ensuring all pupils are making effective progress. All resources included!

Perfect for revision of key characters and some of their most important quotations along with pertinent symbols and their significance.

This lesson helped my middle ability year 9 class to consider their observation skills in exploring a 5 mark mood and atmosphere style question from the WJEC fiction reading paper. The lesson developed to build pupils' confidence with a text we had previously explored for select and retrieve questions by building the layers of their response through discussion, embedding quotations and 'walking through' the extract. The brief sample response at the end of the PowerPoint provided further reassurance to pupils who felt the task was more difficult than they could manage by highlighting strengths of the response and illustrating how the embedded quotations they had previously selected could be used as a starting point to a more developed response.

This lesson worked really well with my high ability year 7 group and gained some excellent feedback following an observation. The lesson explores the real life tragedy that struck Jean-Dominique Bauby and uses this to challenge pupils to consider their communication skills. The lesson is carefully chunked with short amounts of time allocated to each activity to extend the challenge further. It also provided some great opportunities for SMSC links to be made in class too.

A fun and interactive lesson for pupils to explore Flag by John Agard. Pupils focus upon the symbolic nature of flags, develop their analytical skills through independent analysis and consolidate this by teaching fellow pupils. All resources included.

A fun and interactive lesson for pupils to explore Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning. Focusing on the Eduqas specification requirements the lesson explores context, language and structure before culminating in students creating their own PEEZL paragraph. All resources included.

A fun and interactive lesson that promotes independency by encouraging pupils to work in small groups to explore the poem, Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes. All resources included.

An introductory lesson enabling pupils to explore dystopian literature through a range of activities that appeal to a range of different learners.

A powerful lesson that simultaneously helped me to develop my middle ability year 10 class' knowledge of the plot whilst also allowing them the opportunity to engage with exam skills as they were preparing for assessments. A cloze procedure task is included to speed up the group's knowledge of the text but could also act as a handy recap tool before the real hard work began! Lots of support materials are included along with an example introduction, example analytical paragraph and selection of Piggy related quotations. These are all of quite a sophisticated manner in order to promote challenge within this middle ability set but could very easily be adapted for differing class groups. All resources are included at the end of the PowerPoint.

A fun and engaging end of year quiz! There are seven different rounds including one with an English twist. All the correct answers are included in the notes for the teacher's reference.

This quiz was used in the final days of term before we broke up for the summer and proved really popular with students. It can be easily adapted to make it more up to date or could be a fun form time activity in the mornings.