A PowerPoint designed to last a few lessons. It explores two key themes in Macbeth: Power and Ambition. After defining these terms it looks at specific examples from the play. It includes prompting questions to get the students thinking. It also introduces a continuum of power and how this is illustrated within the play: The seduction of power - The lust for power - The obsession with power - The seizure of power - The abuse of power - The corruption by power - The insatiability of power - The destruction resulting from the obsession and abuse of power. It also includes key quotes from the play which demonstrate this. Finally, this PowerPoint includes exam advice including how to plan for the test and structure the essay.

About the PPT: This lesson was designed to teach students about dialogue and how it can be used to reveal the personality of the characters. It begins with a definition of dialogue and an explanation of reported and direct speech. Some examples of each are provided and students need to identify which is which. There is an excerpt from the anthology ‘Growing up Asian’ which students can read as an example of how characterisation is driven through dialogue. There was also information about placing dialogue tags at the beginning, middle and end of a quote for variety. There is an activity sheet for variants to the word said. After checking the answers, there is information about how to punctuate dialogue correctly. Following this the story for today ‘Big World’ was introduced. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. The lesson ends with a 5 question multi-choice quiz about punctuating dialogue correctly. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

A lesson aimed to help shape student's understanding the lived experiences of soldiers in Vietnam. It focuses on two key texts: I was only 19 and Homecoming. The PPT includes a video of the song I was only 19 which students will listen to. They will then view key lyrics and talk about the representation of the Vietnam war in this text (including the literary devices used). After this is some information to help students empathise with what this would have been like especially for the conscripts. Some brief info is provided about 'fragging' and how the treatment the Veterans received upon their homecoming severely damaged countless veterans. It briefly looks at lyrics from Khe Sanh which discuss the experiences of a returned soldier. The remainder of the PowerPoint explores the poem Homecoming (which I ran as a separate lesson). 2) a handout with questions about Homecoming. We will then turn our focus to the major poem for this war in our booklet (Homecoming). We will talk about the difference between these representations.

About the PPT: The PPT begins with a checking for understanding question to see what students recall about narrative structures. This is followed by information about different types of plot structures – chronological, flashback and in media res. There is an explanation of Freytag’s pyramid which should be familiar from previous years. This is followed by an explanation of gap and silence. Students are then introduced to the second story for the unit – Henry Lawson’s ‘The Loaded Dog.’ After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Students then consider what gaps or silences they could draw on in a short story. The cool down activity is a list of words for students to look up and define in their glossary. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

About the PPT: the lesson began with a checking for understanding brainstorm – students had to think of types of characters who commonly appear in stories. After sharing their responses, I have a list for students to copy. There is information about the types of things authors need to plan and consider before they begin writing. I have a slide defining characterisation which gives examples of direct and indirect characterisation. Following this the text for today’s lesson ‘Soil’ is introduced. I provide some information about the author Ellen Van Neerven who was awarded the 2015 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize for the collection ‘Heat and Light’. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. This is followed by some information provided by one of the Bundjalung teachers from our school about some of the sensitive issues raised in this story. Students then consider what gaps or silences they could draw on in a short story. I located images from children’s picture books and the internet which students could draw on to develop their setting. Following this, students were given a writing prompt which they had to plan for (which they would write about in the literacy lesson). The slides from the literacy lesson are also included. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

About the PPT: The lesson begins with information about what setting is and how writers reveal setting. There are 3 brief excerpts of text with really different settings which students can read to see how the authors establish the setting whilst introducing the protagonist. There are some tips about developing indoor and outdoor settings. Then there are a series of clips from Australian television shows which we view and students take notes about things which appear in the setting. This is followed by information about imagery and using the five senses within your writing. Following this, I suggested other language features which could be used to establish setting including similes and metaphors. I also discussed the concept of extended metaphors. I also provided examples of settings which can be used symbolically. Then I introduced the story for today ‘Black Saturday’ and some context about the 2009 bushfires. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Afterwards there was a short YouTube clip for students to view. In the following lesson we watched an episode of the ABC TV series ‘Fires’ about the 2019/2020 bushfires. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

About the PPT: this lesson was designed to remind students of some language features they are already familiar with which they could utilise in their short story and some brief writing activities. Those I defined and provided examples of were adjectives, emotive language, internal thought, negative description, personification, onomatopoeia, metaphors and similes. Following this the story for today ‘My Father’s Hands’ was introduced. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Afterwards, students read through the story on their own and annotate the language features that stood out to them. The following slides include some examples of 5 senses, figurative language, emotive words and adjectives from the text. Students were also asked to consider why the author opted for direct speech more than reported speech in this story. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class. About the PPT: the first PPT in the final unit of 12 Essential English. It begins with some details about the IA4 assessment and a breakdown of what lessons are to be taught in the term. The Unit Learning Intentions and Success criteria are displayed. This is followed by a recap of what the term ‘representations’ means. Students need to brainstorm some ‘ways of being Australian’ this is used to introduce students to Australian social groups and some that they may not think of {marginalised/silenced perspectives}. I then introduced the first short story – Tim Winton’s Neighbours. There is a retrieval chart students will be completing for each story they will read. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. We then discuss what the key themes of the story are. Following this, I introduce students to the ideas of gaps and silences. We view two trailers for films which are an example of this type of tale (Cruella and Rosaline). Afterwards we learn about 3 types of narrators and discuss which type was used in the original story, and what other viewpoints they could use. The cool down for the lesson were 3 terms to add to their glossary. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart

Resources designed with QCIA (special needs) students in mind. These students were encouraged to choose The Loaded Dog. The resource includes a QCIA task sheet, and a specific planning booklet with images from the picture book based off of Lawson’s story. The student this was designed for was at a grade 3-4 level. Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit. About the PPT: A lesson designed to help prepare students to analyse and evaluate the films they view in class. The lesson begins with an explanation of visual features. There are mini activities where students have to describe things they see in still images or clips e.g. the costumes in the Incredibles film and Spider-Man (2002). Students then learn about non verbal communication including body language and facial expression – they are then shown 4 pictures to describe. They then view a clip from Spider-Man which they will discuss after viewing. This is followed by an introduction to soundtrack (music and sound effects). They watch the trailer for Aquaman and list the sound effects they heard and the types of musical instruments which were featured. They then view a scene from Spider-Man (2002) and do the same. Then students learn about 6 main shot sizes. They then have the opportunity to identify these using stills from Wonder Woman 1 and 2. The next technique is camera angles (eye level, high angle and low angle). This is followed by a checking for understanding activity. Students are then taught about camera movement (panning, tilting, tracking and zooming). They then view clips which exemplify some of these techniques. Next up are editing techniques (montage, transition, simultaneous time, slow motion). These are exemplified via short clips (hyperlinks included in case embedded video does not work). If time, there is also information about traditional language features including characterisation, figurative language and emotive language.

A PowerPoint which lists each of the characters in the play alongside key points about them (with images from the Baz Luhrmann movie). Activities to check for student understanding (including filling in a character tree.) This is followed by an explanation of key themes in the play (fate, love, hate, authority, time/timing). It concludes with an exploration of The Prologue which opens the play (Act 1). An updated version of this PowerPoint which removed the key themes which has been replaced with information about the life and times of Shakespeare. (It also includes classroom rules as it was used at the beginning of a new term). Part of a set of resources created for a year 10 English class in Australia (ACARA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons (with extra activities as a back up if the class is advanced).

A resource designed for use with Year 12 Essential English students (Australian curriculum). Students are preparing to sit a response to stimulus exam with one seen source and one unseen source (1 x written and 1 x visual). The document includes a list of language features and text structures commonly found in visual stimulus texts (along with definitions and examples). How I used this in my teaching: I printed a class set of the LF on one colour and the TS on another colour and had them laminated. I hand them out in each lesson when students are analysing texts. I also printed one set in A3 and put them up as posters in the classroom.

A task sheet for a year 10 English assessment (Australian curriculum). Also provided is the planning and writing steps in a scaffolding document. The scaffolding is invaluable as it helps students to plan to address the key criteria prior to writing the task. In particular they evaluate how text structures and language features can be used to influence audience response.

A writing booklet which I made to scaffolding the writing portion of the assessment. Tip: I keep these in the classroom so that I have evidence of student work for if they are absent on the due date. I also share this booklet to students electronically on the class One Note for if they would prefer to type into it. A PowerPoint to take students through the first writing session – developing their thesis statement and writing body paragraph 1.

Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for Humanities students in other states and countries with an interest in colonialism and Australia’s Frontier Wars (1788-1930s). This PowerPoint teaches a communication skill that students need to know and be able to do for their exam (synthesising). It features a video explaining the concept and a visual chart for how to synthesise. This is followed by some key questions you may ask when interrogating sources, tips for how to introduce (cite) the authors of sources in their paragraphs and tips for talking about two authors simultaneously. Screen shots are used to show how synthesising is assessed in the new Modern History GTMJ. This is deconstructed and key ideas including ‘historical argument’ are explained. This is followed by slides which feature an example historical argument as well as tips for writing topic, supporting and linking sentences. Afterwards we review the synthesizing question from the practice exam looking at the information that was pulled from the 3 sources and how the author used this to write their response. This is followed by exploring sources about the Kalkadoon people of North West Queensland. Students will wrie a paragraph synthesising evidence from Sources A, B, C & D to form a historical argument about whether the Kalkadoons were justified in waging war against the pastoralists. To be successful students must be able to do the following at the end of this lesson: Define synthesise and explain how this differs from summarising and analysing List some questions you may ask when interrogating sources. Write a paragraph synthesising things they have learned from a range of sources about The Kalkadoons. I pride myself on the quality of the materials I produce, I don’t charge high prices because I don’t agree with paying £10 for a wordsearch. If you need to check before you buy, have a look at some of the free resources in my shop for a sample of the quality and depth.

A resource taken from an Australian 10 English Unit entitled 'Contemporary literature.' In this unit students compare and contrast the social, moral and ethical themes in a range of contemporary literature texts, including films and the close study of a novel. Students evaluate how text structures, language and visual features can be used to influence audience response. This PowerPoint provides a dot point summary of these chapters and is followed by chapter questions which could have been set for homework or could be used within the lesson to check for student understanding. I have added one YouTube clip showing a relevant scene but you could add more if your learners prefer the broadcast strategy.

Unit plan designed for a 10-week term of 12 Essential English. It includes a subject description, a description of the unit, a list of unit objectives (from the syllabus), my planned teaching and learning cycle, the unit learning intentions and success criteria, assessment task details and a list of recommended resources. A Scope and Sequence suggesting topics to be covered throughout the term is also included (as taught by me in 2023). The learning resources (PPTs, worksheets etc.) for the unit are also available in My Store.

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. The lesson begins with a settling activity where students copy terms into their glossary (inform, describe, explain and persuade). This is followed by a Viewing Activity: How shopping Apps dominate fast fashion and appeal to young people. Students are given some tips for how to reduce their expenditure on new clothes (ideas came from a podcast I listened to.) There was a brainstorming activity (to see what students retained from previous lesson about fast fashion). Students had to draw a table in their books to complete as they watched a report made by the ABC program ‘Foreign Correspondent.’ They had to make a list of environmental impacts and social impacts (impacts on the people). Following this, students learned about 3 types of appeal that they can use in a persuasive speech. We then discussed why teenagers should care about the environment (linking this to values, attitudes and beliefs). Finally, we reviewed the P.E.R.S.U.A.D.E Acronym (which lists 8 different persuasive techniques which students can use in their assessment and in the writing activities in class this term). Then students had to write a TEEEL paragraph about ‘Fast Fashion’ which was both informative and persuasive (to consolidate their knowledge).

Resources designed for the senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in The Scramble for Africa. Context: My school runs this program in Alternative Sequence (yr 11 and 12s in together) due to the small size of the school. This lesson was delivered as a 2 hour block during the term 4 exam block to introduce the unit for the following year and to allow year 10s and 11s who would be studying the subject together to meet each other. This resource includes: 1 x PowerPoint 1 x worksheet A collection of political cartoons from 2022 for students to analyse in a group work task The PPT structures the lesson which is more skills based than the previous lesson. it begins by defining ‘sources’ and explaining the difference between primary and secondary sources. This is followed by some things students should keep in mind when evaluating sources. 2 rounds of trivia 20 Q’s per round (as a bonding activity). Round 1 2022 Events. Round 2 – Modern History. There are some revision questions about terms like ideologies, paternalism, hegemonic. Then the lesson turns to the major skill for the day: how to analyse and evaluate visual sources. A list of common visual sources is provided along with why each of those types can be useful to historians. There is a viewing activity so that students can Learn about how photographers can influence their viewers by how they frame the subjects in their photographs. There are some photos from the Scramble for Africa that students can discuss. From here, we turned our attention to political cartoons. Students learned about common techniques used in political cartoons. They were taught the PICTURE acronym to help them unpack visual sources. I included images of common symbols used in the sources we will encounter e.g. Uncle Sam, Marianne, Britannia, the Statue of Liberty, Bear (Russia), Bald Eagle (USA), Lion (England), chains (oppression) etc. information was also provided about other techniques which they use including analogy, caricature, exaggeration, irony, juxtaposition, idioms. Students then view a 3 minute video about the power of political cartoons (and answer 4 questions). They have a go at unpacking some political cartoons from the Age of Imperialism. To conclude the lesson each group is given 2 contemporary political cartoons. They create posters where they annotate the features – techniques, people, events – before sharing their results with the group.

Prior to students learning about moral issues in The Hunger Games, they must first learn what morals are and have a chance to identify them in other texts. This PowerPoint teaches students what terms including moral, morality and immoral mean. Students are also introduced to the news genre and its purpose. They learn about how regular news stories are structured and their common language before reading a news story with a moral issue in it. After reading the article there are a series of comprehension questions which could be answered individually or as a class depending on the abilities of your learners. These questions increase in difficulty and were written using verbs from Bloom's taxonomy. Resource 2: A copy of the newspaper article students explored in this lesson (taken from an Australian newspaper in 2017).