In this 44-slide PowerPoint presentation, the lesson commences with a “What’s Behind the Squares? - Starter Activity” introducing the class to the black power symbol given by Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the 200 meters final of the Mexico 1968 Olympics. Graduated lesson aims are provided, delineating objectives for all, most, and some students. Background information about the Black Panthers is presented to allow for teacher exposition. The main task entails a 24-piece hexagonal card sort where students categorize perceptions of the Panthers into positive and negative, making connections before assembling them into an essay map to guide extended written work on the Key Question. The lesson revisits its aims, concluding with students listening to Curtis Mayfield’s music about the Panthers before attempting a class vote based on the Key Question, weighing perspectives such as those of J. Edgar Hoover and Angela Davis. As interpretations may vary, this setup fosters robust debate. It is underscored that lessons about Civil Rights are crucially taught head-on but sensitively, with the hope that this resource facilitates such discussions in the classroom. The lesson is pitched at high achieving high school students and is written in UK English.

This lesson focuses on the historical skill of interpretation, and students are invited to consider two different opinions on Malcolm X: those of conservative analyst William F. Buckley (who calls him a “public menace”) and movie director Spike Lee (who calls him a “freedom fighter”). The lesson has graduated aims (all will/most will/some will), and students are quickly introduced to the Starter Activity. This activity involves two sources showing different opinions on Malcolm X: one is a mural in New York which shows him as a martyr, and the other is a letter written to the FBI complaining about him. They complete a Venn diagram on these two sources to begin conversations about why there should be such duality of opinions on this Civil Rights leader. Then, there is some background information on his early life to enable teacher exposition. The main task is then introduced, and the class divides 18 cards into positives and negatives to help them form an opinion. This then leads to written and verbal explanations before the class concludes with a voting plenary to answer the main question. All topics on Civil Rights must be taught sensitively and head-on, and I hope this resource helps you bring this important leader and his legacy to life in your classroom.

This 26-slide PowerPoint begins with a starter activity in which students listen to the folk song ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and fill in the blanks in a ‘Have I Got News For You’ style activity. They then discuss the meaning of the song. The lesson title and graduated aims (‘all will/most will/some will’) are then introduced. There are some background information slides about transportation to penal colonies for teacher exposition. This then leads to the main activity in which students pair up heads and tails cards in a card sort (the answers are provided so students can self or peer assess) before plotting them onto an emotional rollercoaster to determine the worst aspects of being convicted and sent to Botany Bay. The lesson aims are referred back to, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which students are asked to use the knowledge and understanding they have acquired to create a dialogue between the characters in a famous painting by Ford Madox Brown (‘The Last of England’). This lesson was created with a desirable difficulty level for high-achieving Key Stage 4 students in high school settings and is written in UK English.

This lesson is titled “What impact did women have on the Civil Rights movement?” This lesson begins with a What’s Behind the Squares Starter Activity which reveals a work of art entitled ‘The liberation of Aunt Jemima.’ It is an assemblage piece created by Betye Saar, a female artist, and features Black Power symbols. It introduces the class to the importance of the role women played in the Civil Rights movement. The PPT then explains the title of the lesson and aims and objectives are graduated into all will/most will/some will. There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. These include examples of women in terms of leadership, activism, media and communication, protest songs, grassroots work, legal cases, as well as inspiration for the future. Following this the class are told they will begin their main task which is to research one important woman and create a speech explaining their importance and impact to the class. They must include and analyse at least one source relating to them, and examples are provided. They are told to try to include 5 x people/places, 4 x dates/events, 3 x statistics, 2 x quotations, and 1 x opinion. The class peer assess using the template provided. The lesson concludes with a plenary in which they are invited to place a post-it note on a pentagon on the board – the more central they place their notes denotes how important they feel each groups’ person was. I hope your students get as much out of this important topic as mine always do. It has been designed for older high school students with good research skills but can be adapted to meet the needs of younger learners.

This lesson is titled “How similar and how different was the treatment of Conscientious Objectors in the First and Second World Wars?” The lesson begins with an Odd One Out Starter Activity which invites students to pick out Elvis Presley (the only one of the three who picked up arms to fight for his country). This then introduces the lesson’s Key Question/title and aims are given along with graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The class are then allocated roles within teams and begin a Gallery Walk which they use to fill in their grids to show similarities and differences. After this they complete a piece of written work to answer the Key Question. Lesson objectives are revisited, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity where they are invited to come up to the board and to add a similarity or difference to one of the two categories (trash cans) given. Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is titled “Why did the Mughal Empire collapse?” The lesson begins with a Blankety Blank style Starter Activity in which students are invited to fill in the missing word. This then leads to the Key Question and the introduction of aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are slides of background information to enable teacher exposition. Students are then placed in groups of six and given a one slide fact file on either regional fragmentation, external invasions, European powers, internal problems, weak succession, or economic decline. Their jigsaw activity is to research their topic using the cards as well as internet/library to then return to their group as an expert and convince them of the importance of their single factor. After this they are asked to work together to complete a piece of writing to answer the Key Question. The lesson objectives are revisited, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which students vote on the most convincing reason. This lesson has been designed for high school students. I hope yours get as much from it as much as mine do. Please be aware this lesson is pitched to students who have reasonable research skills. Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is titled “What really happened to the Roman Army’s Ninth Legion?” The lesson begins with an Odd One Out Starter Activity in which the class are invited to consider some truths and one mistruth about the Ninth Legion that mysteriously disappeared. The Key Question is then introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition as well as a slide which features a pizza (because it has three points) which has three corners labelled with the key theories (that it was defeated in battle and wiped out, that it was reassigned, or that it assimilated with local people). The class are then given a 15 piece card sort and divide the information into these three categories. A color-coded version is also supplied in case any one needs a little extra help. The class then get broken into teams of four and are tasked with producing a TV chat show discussion explaining the main theories and they act these out. An example is given using real historians so students can see a model of what their work might look like. The lesson objectives are revisited and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which they are invited to come to the board and add information to the three sided object they saw earlier (under the correct theory). They then answer the Key Question by reviewing the evidence/knowledge acquired. I hope your students get as much out of this History Mystery as mine always do. Wishing you a terrific day.

This thirty-nine-page pack is the incredibly detailed and complete set of notes I have written for my students. It is basically an entire course on the I.B. Paper 1 Move to Global War in one pack! Notes are broken down into the following sections: How can we explain Japanese expansion in the move to Global War? How did Japan move to Global War? How did Italy fit into inter-war European geopolitics? Why was the international response to the Abyssinian Crisis so weak? How and why did German foreign policy develop? I am confident you will love this resource because there is nothing on the Internet which I have found which offers the same level of breadth and detail on this topic. Your students will find the notes supremely useful and they will help them achieve examination success.

This 36-page pack is the incredibly detailed and complete set of notes I have written for my students. It is basically an entire course on Stalin’s Russia in one pack! Suitable for 16+ including GCSE, AP, A Level, and IB students. Notes are broken down into the following sections: How did Stalin come to power by 1928? How successful were Stalin’s economic policies? How did Stalin control the Soviet Union through purges? How did Stalin control the Soviet Union through the cult of personality? *What was the impact of the Second World War on the Soviet Union? I am confident you will love this resource because there is nothing on the Internet which I have found which offers the same level of breadth and detail on this topic. Your students will find the notes supremely useful and they will help them achieve examination success.

I teach this lesson as part of my unit on 1920s USA and it always proves tremendously successful. Students are allocated one of seven detailed character cards - these include Sacco’s Defence Lawyer Fred Moore and the biased Judge Webster Thayer amongst others. From here students familiarise themselves with their character and work through 15 pieces of evidence ranging from ballistics documents to the hat that Sacco was reported to have worn (it did not fit). Once they have considered the evidence students then use the trial reenactment template provided to act out one of the most famous trials of the Twentieth Century. I get my class to shout out “Sono innocente!” upon news of the verdict and it is always a powerful lesson. I hope you enjoy this series of activities as much as my students do.

I designed this lesson to encourage my students to be reflective Historians capable of textured debate. Students divide 39 pieces of evidence (textual and photographic) into columns which suggest the leader of Charlie Company during the My Lai massacre in Vietnam was a war criminal or a scapegoat. The cards are colour-coordinated to allow for differentiation and provide the perfect scaffold for a debate or piece of exended written analysis. This is a hard-hitting lesson which always provokes outstanding levels of historical reasoning and debate but please be aware many of the images and text are graphic in content and should be taught to students with the emotional tools to deal with sensitive issues. Students will learn about the death of Ron Weber, the ‘and babies?’ photograph, Captain Medina’s role, and the ‘black blouse girl’ and much more. My hope in sharing this resource is that more students will learn about and learn from the heartbreaking tragedy which took place in My Lai.

During this lesson students work their way through a fantastically precise and detailed set of background notes before completing a 33 piece evidence sort. Students are asked to arrange the evidence firstly into industrial and agricultural, and then into successes and failures. This is a brilliant lesson which suits many learners’ needs and in particular which appeals to high-end learners. I hope your students get as much from this set of activities as mine do. If you watch the short video clip attached you can see some of my students putting this knowledge to good use.

This is one of my absolute favourite lessons. Students read through the background knowledge/notes before working their ways through a 21 piece evidence sort to answer the question ‘Who killed Kirov?’ Students then place the card sort information into piles which suggest Stalin was guilty of the murder and evidence that suggests he was not, before arriving at an opinion abotu why the 1st December Law and the subsequent purges and period of Yezhovschina occured. My students truly love this lesson and I really hope yours do too!

One of the main reasons for exam success is the detailed and focused set of revision menus I give to my students to help them prepare for exam success. Of all of my resources these revision menus are my must-haves! I hope they can be of much use to your students as they are to mine. If you enjoyed this resource please leaf through my collection of other revision menus and resources. This pack focuses on the Cold War, includes space for student notes, and includes revision content for the following topics: Why did the USA-USSR alliance breakdown? How had USSR gained control of Eastern Europe? How did the USA react to Soviet expansionism? What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade? Who was more to blame for starting the Cold War: the USA or the USSR? America and events in Korea America and events in Cuba American involvement in Vietnam Why was there opposition to Soviet control in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and how did the USSR react to this opposition? How similar were events in Hungary and in Czechoslovakia ? Why was the Berlin Wall built in ? What was the significance of Solidarity in Poland for the decline of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe? How far was Gorbachev personally responsible for the collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe?

Last year I achieved 94% A*-A in my IGCSE exam results. The year before it was 88%, making the History Department consistently high achieving and one which students want to sign up for. One of the main reasons for this is the detailed and focused set of revision menus I give to my students to help them prepare for exam success. Now you can have them too. Of all of my resources these revision menus are my must-haves! I hope they can be of much use to your students as they are to mine. If you enjoyed this resource please leaf through my collection of other revision menus and resources. This pack focuses on Twentieth Century China, includes space for student notes, and includes revision content for the following topics: China 1911-34 The triumph of Mao and the CCP, 1934-49 Change under Mao, 1949-63 The impact of the Cultural Revolution China, 1969-89

My students love using these as a revision tool and also as an in class activity. Each of the twenty three hand-shaped cards has a key topic about the Cold War on it and each finger has a name/date/quote/statistic/fact on. Students learn precise supporting material which really boosts examination success. These aides can be reversed so students can test each other by reading the answers first and guessing the topic also. Once cut out and laminated they make a very handy and mobile revision aide and knowledge on them is extremely precise and exact.

This is a great full lesson. Students begin with a starter activity which teaches them the basic steps to the Charleston before progressing through a very detailed and comprehensive set of notes covering the changes in the period in music, women, sports, architecture, religion, leisure and cinema. Students are then allocated a character card (flapper, housewife, young black American, Italian immigrant, gangster, businessman, Klansman, farmer) and complete a scaffolded worksheet explaining how there character would feel about the changes. They are then paired together to hold a discussion with another character in a meaningful way in order to reveal the different attitudes in the period. My students love this topic and I really hope yours do as well.

My students love this activity. 160+ questions based on the following categories: USA & her allies Soviet leaders The People Wars Words & Phrases Statistics It takes a little while to cut out the cards and the board and works best once laminated but your students will love this revision activity. The questions are designed to boost subject knowledge and focus on precise historical detail which in turn helps student examination performance. I hope your classes enjoy this activity as much as my IGCSE and IB classes always do! You can watch a game in action with this URL here - https://youtu.be/i8TtkQZs3cU

These two sided front sheets look great when attached to student work. Moreover, they save teacher time and increase the level of precise feedback received by students. They have been designed specifically for the IB History course. I hope your students find them as useful as mine do.

I am very proud of the precision and amount of detail in this lesson and its designed to be engaging and to ensure students make measurable progress. The class begin by exploring an odd one out exercise for the starter activity and this draws their attention to early Chinese views of westerners. This then leads into an extremely detailed set of notes (which I created when teaching in China) before students attempt a 30 piece hexagonal card sort which is colour-coded into factors. The class then make links and explain the Key Question before finishing with a fun ‘Just-a-Minute’ plenary in order to test their understanding and knowledge gained. I hope you enjoy this lesson as much as my students do.