I created this lesson out of a feeling that often, in teaching Romulus and Remus, there is a distinct lack of proper history skills involved. This lesson is my attempt to create a lesson which imparts knowledge of the (genuinely intriguing) story of the twin founders of Rome, but also hints at the historical inaccuracies, the story’s mythical nature and cultural significance to the Romans themselves. This lesson is aimed at students 13-16 (although more able students who are younger can access it) in order to introduce them to: The story of Romulus and Remus (which they would need to know for their OCR Class Civ or Ancient History GCSE (9-1) Ancient Historians (specifically Livy who is mentioned throughout and a required for GCSE Ancient History - yet often difficult to access). Modern Historians (specifically Mary Beard) through her retelling of the story in SPQR which is quoted and attributed appropriately throughout (and sometimes adapted slightly for easier understanding). The Lesson starts with a series of images to see if students can guess what the lesson might be about. Some students might have more knowledge of the ancient world than others but whatever answers they come up with can become talking points. Attention moves to the geography/setting of the story and the story itself is then split up into 3 parts; beginning, middle and end. Each part includes an appropriate work sheet which are contained as slides within the .ppt file (in the right places within the presentation) which can be printed, photocopied and worked through. This can be done together as a class or individually. There is a challenge task (focusing on provenance/other versions) on each worksheet for the more able students. Worksheets involve summarising Mary Beard’s account of the Romulus and Remus story in images and words. There is a strong literacy focus throughout with students encouraged primarily to highlight words they don’t understand and annotate their sheet with definitions. There is also additional guidance in the ‘notes’ section of each slide to help you as you teach. The lesson finishes with students attempting to answer the question that is the lesson title using a quote from Romulus (via Livy) to help them to show how much progress they’ve made. Students are then given the same set of images they were given at the start of the lesson and invited to explain each one to show how much they have learnt.

This lesson was designed with the 9-1 OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation spec in mind. It covers everything pupils need to know about the events portrayed in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and aims to solidify both their knowledge of the events of the poem, and to draw out quality analysis through the inclusion of study questions, handouts (included as hidden slides for printing) and a video. The resource is fully dual coded to reduce excess ‘noise’ - something my students are really keen on as it is clear at every point in the lessons, what the key information is that they should be focusing on. The use of dual coding also aids knowledge retention and allows pupils of all abilities to access this otherwise difficult poem. When I taught this it fit quite neatly into 2 x 1 hour lessons, with the first lesson focusing on knowing the story of Hades’ abduction of Persephone and the roles various other characters play (i.e. Hermes, Hades, Demeter, Helios, Hecate et al.) through to the poem’s resolution. A copy of the poem is included if you wish to use it with pupils, however key quotes with analysis are picked out on a separate handout (included as a hidden slide for printing) to aid the story-telling task in that forms the focus of the rest of the first lesson. The second hour focuses more on analysis of the characters and their relationships with one-another - including the complex relationships and power (im)balance between humans and the gods. Study questions are included along with an exam question at the end in order that you as the teacher can assess the extent of their learning. Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson is aimed at KS3/4 students embarking on a study of Alexander the Great. It was designed with the OCR Ancient History Spec in mind but can also be used as a stand alone lesson as its aim is to introduce students to the debate surrounding Alexander and his ‘greatness’. The lesson begins with a quick-fire drawing game based on the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. Students are then given Mary Beard’s views on Alexander and discuss whether she believes Alexander is ‘great’ etc. It then moves onto a look at a timeline of his life with students encouraged to identify what might have been they most significant events in his life and why. There is then a task where students have to decide whether key events in his life were either positive or negative and draw conclusions about his greatness from this. They are then encouraged to compare their analysis with Mary Beard’s opinion, followed by Philip Freeman’s. The final task involves looking at a map of Alexander’s empire at the time of his death and the routes he took. Students then use this to feed into their gradually evolving opinion on Alexander which they can explain at the end and link to the lesson’s success criteria. This lesson should ideally cover around 2 hours, but could be reduced to 1 if necessary. Reading is included which students do as homework following the lesson with an accompanying short written task.

I used this lesson with my students for their OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE unit ‘Myth and Religion’. It covers what they need to know about Heracles apart from his twelve labours (which are covered in this lesson: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12658219 ) The lesson begins with a look at what Olympia was and why it was important to the Greeks. There is a video embedded and pupils are asked to describe what they can see in the reconstruction of Olympia on screen. Heracles’ link to Olympia is then emphasised through a quick recap of his fifth labour, the Augean Stables, and the concept of metopes is introduced and where they are located on the Olympian Zeus temple. Pupils are then presented with a discussion of the three aims of the sculptor in representing each of Heracles’ labours and are invited to make a reasoned judgement as to what they believe the sculptor’s primary aim was and explain why. There is then a brief digression into the ‘other’ story of how the Olympic games were founded (Pelops, Hippodamia and Oinomaos) and pupils are shown where and how these events were depicted on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The final task in this lesson that is designed to fit into an hour is one where pupils conclude which story of the origin of the Olympic Games is more likely to their mind, based on the literary and archaeological evidence. Short exam practice questions are used as a plenary so that you as the teacher can assess what knowledge they’ve retained from the lesson. The whole lesson is dual coded - something my students really enjoy as it facilitates a reduction in cognitive load and allows them to focus on exactly what needs to be focused on, by eliminating excess ‘noise’ from what is being presented. This in turn we have found aids knowledge retention and allows them to link back to prior learning more readily, meaning they are making bigger learning gains from lesson to lesson. A coloured overaly is included on each slide which can be easily deleted if you do not want or need it, but we have found these help our pupils with dyslexia / Irlen’s to engage more easily. Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson focuses on two key aspects of Roman Society: The paterfamilias and the patron-client system. The first half of the powerpoint focuses on the paterfamilias and the second half focuses on the patron-client system. All the information pupils need for GCSE Classical Civilisation: Roman City Life is contained in here, although anyone not studying the GCSE will get all the information they need from this lesson too. The final part of the powerpoint focuses on which of the two things played a greater role in the functioning on Roman society and why. The powerpoint would ideally b delivered over two hours, although could be delivered in a single hour if you cut out some of the written tasks which are included so students can synthesise their learning and demonstrate their levels of understanding. The resource is fully dual coded which we have found helps reduce the cognitive load for our students, allowing them to focus and retain knowledge more easily. There is also a coloured overlay on each slide (which can easily be deleted if you don’t need it) to aid learners with dyslexia / Irlen’s. Video clips are also embedded within the resource to help elucidate the two pertinent roles in Roman Society that the lesson focuses on. Thanks for taking a look :)

I created this lesson for my OCR GCSE 9-1 Classical Civilisation class. It’s dual coded throughout to reduce excess ‘noise’ to ensure students know what to focus on and when, in order to aid high quality knowledge retention. The lesson is meant to complement the counterpart ‘Journeying to the Underworld’ GCSE lesson for the ancient Greeks: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/homeric-hymn-to-demeter-journeying-to-the-underworld-in-ancient-greece-12655537 The lesson starts by introducing Ovid and Roman beliefs about the Underworld. Background is then given to students on who Orpheus is and why he is so famous in classical myth. Students are encouraged to summarise his importance themselves before moving on to a reading task. The exam-specified version of Metamorphoses by Ovid is included as a hidden slide to be printed out for pupils, who will go through it as a class and pick out words they might struggle with to aid literacy-building and to ensure the text is accessible to all. Students are then instructed to read through it again themselves and pick out key parts and summarise each part themselves (can be verbal, written or drawn). before attempting some exam questions so you can gain some clarity on where they are in terms of how much they have retained from the lesson. The lesson finishes with a really good 5 minute video that summarises the story for pupils. A final storyboard task is included should you want to extend the lesson beyond the one hour mark, or to be set as an engaging homework that helps make their learning stick. Each slide has a pale yellow overlay to aid students with dyslexia / Irlen’s but this can be removed easily by deleting it, or its colour can be easily changed to suit your pupils’ needs. Thanks for looking :)

The lesson starts with an embedded TEDed video recounting the 12 Labours of Hercules so the students are reminded of why he was so famous in the ancient world. This is followed by discussion on why Hercules ‘ended up’ as part of Roman religion (Hercules’ journey through Italy and Aeneas’ subsequent discovery of the cult after escaping from Troy is given as the backdrop for this). Students are then introduced to the reasons why the Temple of Hercules Victor is located where it is in Rome, and passages from Virgil and Livy are included (as hidden slides for printing to be handed out) where students are encouraged to pick out various aspects of the Cult of Hercules and describe its key features for themselves. The lesson ends by looking at how the Cult of Hercules established itself over time in Ancient Rome and students discuss what Rome’s obsession with Hercules says about themselves and their own identity. This lesson was designed for my students who are studying the OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation Myth and Religion Unit. All the knowledge pupils need for their exam is contained within the lesson, which itself is fully dual-coded which we have found really helps to reduce cognitive load, allowing students to focus on what they need to, aiding knowledge retention. There is also a coloured overlay on each slide to help students with Dyslexia / Irlen’s (which can easily be deleted if you don’t need it). Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson was designed for my students who are studying OCR’s GCSE Classical Civilisation Myth and Religion Unit. It’s fully dual coded, which my students are big fans of as we’ve found it reduces cognitive load and aids knowledge retention - it eliminates excess ‘noise’ on the screen / board so that pupils know what they need to focus on. The lesson starts by going into the background of why Hercules is called Hercules and not Heracles by the Romans, followed by the reason why Hercules was important to the Romans, how he found himself in Italy during his 12 Labours etc. A handout is then provided with passages from Virgil’s Aeneid on it from which pupils create an 8 part story board to cement their knowledge of the chronology of the story. The handout and storyboard template are both included as hidden slides for easy printing. A series of questions designed to stretch students’ thinking are then posed - these can be answered verbally as a class, or can be answered individually by students and peer-assessed. Finally, pupils are encouraged to link the Hercules and Cacus legend with the Romans’ own identity and how they viewed themselves. There is a coloured overlay on each slide for pupils struggling with Dyslexia/ Irlen’s - but this can easily be deleted if it isn’t needed. Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson was designed my students studying OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation Myth and Religion. It’s fully dual coded to reduce cognitive load, enhance engagement and aid knowledge retention - we’ve found our students really like this style and they find it helps them access the content more readily. The lesson starts with a video reminding them why Hercules is famous, before launching into the story of Hercules and his fight with Achelous over princess Deianira of Aitolia. Primary source work is included throughout as students are presented with passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and are prompted with challenging questions associated with them. They can answer these verbally or in their books depending on the type of class you have and students you teach. The lesson will fit quite neatly into 1 hour and it finishes with a video where students are encouraged to listen to the original text from Ovid being read aloud, and use this to add more detail to their answers, followed finally by some peer assessment. There are coloured overlays on all the slides to help any students with Irlen’s / Dyslexia but these can easily be deleted if you don’t need them. Thanks so much for taking a look :-)

This lesson goes into detail about each of Heracles’ 12 Labours; what happened during them and after each one. The lesson is dual coded where possible to ensure students can easily access the key information they need in what can be an otherwise information heavy lesson. This lesson resource guides pupils to learn about Heracles’ Twelve Labours in first an independent way,and then in a collaborative way to mixup T&L strategies to ensure engagement throughout from all students. Handouts with info on each Labour is included with quotes from primary sources (but not too much - to ensure accessibility) and a commentary for each one too. I have also included the information on each Labour on separate slides in case you’d rather go through them one by one as a class on the whiteboard. Pupils use this information to fill in an A3 sheet (included as a hidden slide to be printed off) and then have their learning cemented by the inclusion of a variety of video clips that summarise the Labours in 4 different parts. Throughout there are study questions and stretch and challenge activities to ensure the most able students are catered for. The summative assessment task at the end is an exam question, but there is also a newspaper task activity with a template included (again as a hidden slide for printing) which worked well with my students as a homework task. I did this lesson with my students in 2 x 1 hour lessons and the feedback I got from it was really good - they certainly retained the knowledge they needed for their Classical Civilisation GCSE exam. There is also a transparent cover on each slide to help pupils with dyslexia/Irlen’s which can be easily deleted or the colour can be changed to suit your pupils. Thanks for taking a look :)

This lesson provides an overview of the key themes of the Roman Republican period. I designed it as an introduction for my GCSE Ancient History class to their chronological study of the Republican period. The lesson uses Livy as a primary source and Mary Beard as a secondary source to outline the main themes that crop up in a study of the Republic. The lesson uses both authors as a ‘way in’ to the era. The lesson seeks to draw out an understanding of: The conflict between the patricians and plebeians How the Romans saw the Republic favourably in comparison to the Regal (kings) period What the main political offices were in Republican Rome The extent to which we can trust what ancient writers tell us about the early and later Republic. Progress checks are included throughout to promote literacy - matching key words to abstract/non abstract images to exhibit understanding. A video link is also included in the plenary which outlines the main political offices of the time and how elections were conducted. This is very much an overview lesson for the time period which can stand alone or be used as an introduction to the Roman republic. I felt it was necessary to ‘set the scene’ for my students before doing so and this lesson does this really well.

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Ancient History GCSE in mind. As Rome’s second Etruscan king, Servius Tullius introduced a number of reforms into Rome which this lesson looks at in detail using Livy as a primary source throughout. This is done because students need to be used to seeing, reading and understanding primary sources as they will be required to do so in their exam. The lesson starts with a discussion of the names of some of the Roman kings and how that influences the way Livy writes about them/interprets their legacy. It then proceeds onto Servius’ background and Livy’s scepticism of the legend regarding this story. Servius’ reforms are then looked at in brief and students are asked to rank them in order of their impact which they will revist later after looking at each reform in detail and recording it on a worksheet that is included. There are a number of handouts included within the .ppt file as slides which are located in the place within the lesson they need to be used and can be easily printed out from here and given to students. It is also clearly signposted within the lesson slides when each handout needs to be used and how. This presentation will likely take 2-3 hours worth of lesson time as there is substantial content. The lesson ends with a comparison of Servius to his predecessor and first Etruscan king Tarquinius Priscus. This is anothe rimportant skill they will need to develop for their exam.

This lesson is designed with the OCR Ancient History GCSE course in mind. It takes students through the succession of Tarquinius Priscus (The first Etruscan king of Rome) through to his military achievementsvia the use of Livy as a primary source. There are a number of worksheets which are included in the .ppt file at various points which should be printed of and given to students. All instructions are clear at each point as to what students must be doing and taks are easily and clearly ‘chunked’. The aim of the worksheets (often with a passage from Livy on them) is to summarise what is being said by the ancient author at each point and then use this information to make answering exam questions (at the bottom of each sheet) more accessible. Included in this lesson are Priscus’ social, political, religious and military initiatives which students are given, and then have to analyse and evaluate in order to determine which were his most significant. At the higher end of the thinking scale is the idea that Priscus is considered a great military commander, but not necessarily a great king. Students should be invited to reflect on this at the end of the lesson.

This lesson is designed to introduce the ideas of Athenian democracy to students who already have some understanding of the Ancient world and Athens itself. The lesson starts in an SMSC-type way with students encouraged to think about what kind of society they would like to live in, if they had no knowledge of who they were going to be before they were born. The ideas of democracy and equality can be drawn out here. Students are then invited to discuss what democracy is and what it means in our day and age so that they can later compare it to Athenian democracy as a point of reference. A numeracy task allows students to work out what fraction of Athens’ population was actually eligible to take part in politics - a discussion of whether this counts as real democracy or not can then ensue. A link to an educational video is included so students can add to their notes and then some historical details are included on a handout on a slide within the .ppt file. This can be printed off and given to students who are set some tasks based on it. There is then a choice of two plenaries where students can summarise their learning in a creative or written way.

The lesson starts with a task aimed at getting students to recall what they already know about Theseus through the study of his labours. Next the lesson focuses on the three versions of the Ariadne myth with a set of questions designed to look at the myth from their own perspective, but also through the eyes of an ancient Athenian. After this students are introduced to Theseus’ significance as king of Athens and then are presented with an extract from Plutarch’s Life of Theseus and asked 5 questions (can be printed as a handout) designed to get students thinking more deeply about primary sources in Classical Civilisation. Finally they need to consider why Plutarch decided to parallel Theseus to Romulus, even though their roles in terms of founding their respective cities are different. Students then read through the relevant parts of Euripides’ Heracles (included) and are asked 3 questions to answer for each part. Students can be assigned a different character and the relevant part of the play for students is split into six- From when Heracles learns he has murdered his wife and children, to the end of the play. This allows the play to be accessible and a chance for the teacher to address any misunderstandings or misconceptions. Obviously there is a focus on Theseus despite the name of the play, since it is Theseus who proves the greater man at the end of the play. 1 and 2 mark questions then follow based on their learning in the unit so far and finally there is an 8 mark comparative exam question. Students can recall their prior knowledge of Heracles’ association with Olympia from earlier in the course, and compare it to Theseus’ association with Athens. There is an extension task added on which involves students imagining they are at Theseus’ public funeral and writing an appropriate eulogy for him. This is designed for students to summarise their knowledge of Theseus’ life and demonstrate their ability to highlight the most significant moments.

The lesson begins with students making inferences about Cleopatra based on a single representation of her from Hollywood. This helps us to pick apart the generic view of Cleopatra as a seductress/ tragic queen as the lesson progresses. There is a wealth of different secondary history within this lesson. It uses excerpts from Roller, Morgan and Weigall to introduce what she was like as a person (as far as we can know). The second part of the lesson focuses on the limitations of the ‘primary’ sources from the ancient world we have available to us. There is a comprehension task included with a literacy focus and some challenge questions for HA learners. The final part of the lesson then moves onto what Cleopatra’s world looked like geographically and some of the potential pitfalls that would befall her thanks to her father’s ‘up and down’ relationship with Rome, the growing superpower of the time vs Egypt, which was on the decline. The end of the lesson very much sets the teacher up to teach lessons on the events of her life and ensures that students have a sound understanding of what she was probably like vs how she has traditionally been portrayed (both in the ancient world and in the ‘modern’ media).

The lesson starts with a creative drawing competition starter activity familiarising students with what Alexandria would have looked like. Students are then presented with a timeline of events from Cleopatra’s life and asked to outline the 5 most significant events and explain their reasoning. This allows students with little prior knowledge of Cleopatra understand the significance of her life in a short activity. The focus of the lesson then moves onto lands she managed to secure from mark Antony and students are encouraged to come up with a memorable acronym to help them remember which lands she gained. Students are then introduced to the Donations of Alexandria and have to analyse its significance in relation to the first lands she managed to secure from Antony. Students are then given an extract from Plutarch’s ‘Life of Mark Antony’ and given two 5 mark OCR Ancient History GCSE questions to think about. Sentence starters are included to help them structure their work. After they have had a go they can look at the two model answers provided and use these to improve their own. Students finally are asked in the plenary to consider how she managed to be successful in expanding Egypt’s influence when her predecessors had failed in this regard.

This lesson is designed as a stand alone lesson for students of any age 13+ who studies Herodotus. It acts as a great introduction, covering who he was, what he was writing and why he was writing it. The lesson begins with a series of images asking students to try and work out what the lesson will be about. In order to demonstrate progress the same images are used at the end in a plenary where students are encouraged to show how each image links to their learning. The lesson proper begins with a discussion of what ‘accuracy’ means based on students coming up with their own synonyms. Students are then introduced to who Herodotus was through a handout (included as a slide within the .ppt file) which has a literacy focus and some challenge questions attached. A short passage from Herodotus’ History is then included with students being encouraged to draw inferences from the passage (with prompt questions down the side to promote discussion). Students then address issues such as ‘how could Herodotus possibly know this happened’? etc. There is another handout (included as a slide) explaining the degree to which Herodotus is accurate and students plot Herodotus’ accuracy on a target (based on their own opinion, formulated throughout the lesson). A link to the TEDed video discussing Herodotus is also included with encouragement for students to add to their notes and then finally (before the plenary) there is a task where students have to agree or disagree with a ‘verdict’ given by a Historian on Herodotus’ accuracy/reliability.

This resource can be used at any point during any sort of study of Alexander the Great. In our school we have designed it to sit at the beginning of our OCR Ancient History 9-1 GCSE unit on Alexander. One of the biggest issues with studying Alexander (and something crucial to the 20 mark essay question on the GCSE paper!) is our sources for his life and conquests. This resource tackles the four main problems with our sources. It also encourages students to come to a judgement in the form of an exam question at the end of the lesson as to how much we can ever really know about Alexander. There are ample notes in the ‘notes’ section on the Powerpoint to support teachers in delivering the lesson accurately and the aim has always been to create an easy-to follow, high quality resource that can be used ‘off the shelf’ and can easily slot in to any scheme of work as a stand-alone lesson.

This lesson seeks to explain, despite the existence of the Romulus and Remus Foundation Myth, that Aeneas remains an important figure for Romans in terms of the founding of their city. (It does also at the end explain how Romans got from Aeneas to Romulus story-wise!) There are 3 short storyboard tasks, already filled with text (included as slides ready to print within the PowerPoint) which students need only draw quick images for. These are presented at 3 different points in the lesson in order to quickly get across the main parts of Aeneas’ story after his escape from Troy. I have really only tried to include events which directly pertain to or foreshadow the founding of Rome - it was impossible to include everything! In between these, scholarship is used in an accessible way (including one comprehension with a glossary for difficult to understand terms) to draw out the importance of Aeneas to the Romans, but also what his actions tell us about how the Romans saw themselves and their new emperor Augustus (Virgil was writing at the time of the new Imperial Age). This lesson is designed to be engaging and academic in its approach, with appropriate support and challenge throughout to support all learners, but also to ‘teach to the top’ wherever possible.