A lesson and resources to revise the key imagery and context of the poem ‘Storm on the Island’ by Seamus Heaney, in preparation for AQA Lit Paper 2, Section B - Power and Conflict anthology. Ppt is designed for LA and post-study of the poem.

War Photographer Storyboard HWK task. Copy of poem. pupils need to summarise each stanza and then draw an image that represents it.

Structured tasks on showing not telling method of creative writing. Variety of tasks, leading towards final task of writing from a visual prompt.

A powerpoint introducing the Christmas Truce of WW1, exploring how the soldiers would have been feeling. This culminates in pupils writing a letter home, as a soldier, explaining what has happened and how they feel about it. Used in conjunction with studying WW1 poetry.

An array of tasks on a variety of literacy /SPaG.

This KS3 lesson looks at they key differences between plays and other text types, including exploring format and layout differences, in addition to the terminology needed when analysing a play i.e. audience, dialogue, stage directions etc.

A lesson introducing pathos exploring how we are lead to feel sympathy for Mrs Johnstone at the start of Blood Brothers.

A complete lesson giving a comprehensive contextual background in preparation for studying the play Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. This would work for KS3 or KS4 first time study of the play or revision. Ares covered: Willy Russell Liverpool City Liverpool Culture Marilyn Monroe The Play Housing

A lesson exploring the characterisation of Mrs Lyons, in comparison to Mrs Johnstone at the start of the play.

A lesson on the prologue in Blood Brothers, including the role of a prologue (generally), the specific role of this prologue (with reference to the play’s cyclical structure) and what we learn. Suitable for first time study of the play.

An introductory lesson to explore the theme of Nature vs Nurture in Blood Brothers. Suitable for first time study of the play.

A 5 lesson walkthrough of AQA Language Paper 2, section A on the topic of ‘Hunting’ (the Q paper itself is not my resource, and can be found for free, but the lessons are my own). Can be used for first time teaching of the paper as the lessons indicate how pupils should approach the paper, highlighting how each question builds onto the next, and ‘photos’ of teacher’s copy to model how to annotate their own extracts and prepare to answer. All questions come with model answers for pupils to mark against skill descriptors, with lessons culminating in pupils given the opportunity to ‘magpie’ ideas and improve their own responses. If you like these resources, please do leave a review, so other teachers can find my resources too - much appreciated :)

A task to get pupils to explore the time period that the play was written and set, to clearly understand where the play ‘fits’ in relation to key historial, social and technological moments. Pupils should be given the ‘blank’ timeline, with only the years on, and have to work in pairs to write where they think each ‘event’ occurred. The answers have also been provided for self/peer assessment and to aid further discussion.

Article writing task on the topic of Boxing. Perfect for AQA Language Paper 2, Q5 practice. This ppt includes lots of ideas and information for pupils to read and make notes on before formulating a viewpoint for themselves and presenting in the form of a broadsheet newspaper. This ppt does NOT overly go over article features. This lesson is best suited as a lesson to apply and demonstrate what they have learned about article features. Alternately, this could be used as baseline assessment, prior to teaching article features.

A homework activity to build pupil’s vocabulary when discussing characters and themes in An Inspector Calls. Task asks pupils to look up definitions for key vocab and then apply and find the links to characters in the play. This can then feed into lessons.

A set of 3 (potentially 4) lessons you could easily set as cover (as I have done so!) if a teacher is likely to be absent for a few days. Lesson 1: Implying information based on the image of a door. Lesson 2: Describing approaching the door (rising action / building tension) Lesson 3: The other side of the door (climax) Lesson 4 (optional): Neat write up of their 3 part description of the door ‘for display’ The lessons indicate that the writing should IMPLY, not state (i.e. my take on ‘show, don’t tell’), whereby certain rules are included such as 'you cannot use the word ‘door’. Lessons include examples / models; scaffolding and success criteria; peer assessment tasks.

A lesson that takes a closer, critical look at how Gerald’s account of his meeting of Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton is presented to the audience. The lesson includes relevant extracts taken from the play, set on one page for easy annotation. Students are guided to analyse multiple interpretations of Gerald’s dialogue - how Gerald is trying to present himself (positive), but then close lang analysis to examine the more cynical, negative aspects of what he is saying. For example: the excessive use of the pronoun ‘I’ to indicate he did what was best for himself, and his feelings, as opposed to Eva’s/Daisy’s; the use of imperatives such as ‘made’ and ‘insisted’. Have used this lesson a few times now for both first time teaching of the text and as revision and have found pupils really receptive to the lesson. JB Priestley - An Inspector Calls

A series of lessons looking at a practice Language Paper 2 on the topic of hunting. I cannot take credit for the paper itself, but the accompanying lessons, ppts and model answers are my own.

A powerpoint which encompasses revision of key events of the whole play, mapping a timeline with key quotes, which all lend themselves to the theme of power, which leads on to a practice exam question which students began in lesson and completed for homework. Originally used as a 2 hour revision lesson prior to their mock exam (where they sat the June 2023 Macbeth Q).