KS3 year 8 low ability (can be adapted or used for any KS3 or KS4 class with differentiated questions). The worksheet allows ways into the poem e.g. list all of the verbs within the poem (doing words), challenge to find personification throughout the poem. Using collaborative work and individual work with think, pair, share activity boxes to chunk their way into the poem. Discussing structure and reflecting the way Shelley references pairs within the poem. Challenge to link to religion - coming from a short Shelley context discussion before the lesson. This worked very well with my low ability Y8's. Both publisher and pdf files for ease of use.

This lesson goes over the features of informal letters (KS3) in preparation for the transactional writing part of the GCSE language exam. Stick-in sheet for pupils to make some notes on in their books included. The lesson also focuses on ambitious vocabulary and has a literacy homophone starter (where/were/we're). It goes over tone and style of informal letters, then 'spot the errors' in a small informal letter which is far too formal. Easily differentiated by editing the example. Main task is to write an informal letter to a friend: this includes a brief for the pupils to follow. Success and challenge criteria included. Peer assessment for AfL and plenary included at the end.

Two full lessons on review writing for Y9 taken from GCSE specification. Homophone starter 'Your/You're' Lesson 1 Objective: To identify the different features of film reviews. Outcome: To plan a film review using the required features. Lesson 2 Objective: To investigate the different features of film reviews. Outcome: To apply our knowledge and write a film review, using the required features. First whole lesson, complete with a small section of film reviews to analyse takes pupils through different features of reviews, and the purposes of them (inform, describe, persuade and advise). A starter activity is to go through different kinds of reviews (book/film/restaurant) and who is the possible audience. Then the pupils (in pairs) go through a short review and try and spot the features. Then they can mind-map these features in their books or together on the board at the front of the classroom. Then the pupils watch an embedded clip (trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean) and then can plan to create a review. Extension tasks are added for the most able pupils. In the second lesson, pupils (on their whiteboards/in books) go through a recap (what is a review, purpose, audience), rewrite a paragraph of a film review using ambitious punctuation, read a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like) to look for AFORREST persuasive features, then read a bad example of a film review. Class then write an WWW/EBI for the reviews. Go over the structure of a review, then write their film review for an independent 15 task. I have also included success criteria checklists to print off for your classes.

Objective: To identify the features of a broadsheet comment article. Outcome: To apply our understanding to write a short comment piece, using the required features. Literacy objective: Effect/Affect This lesson starts with a discussion to whether the opinions of the journalist should ever influence their writing - issues of bias. Then this leads onto comment articles (opinion writing). It then discusses the features of opinion writing and what it must include e.g. the news peg and a leading statement which shocks the audience. Main body of the text - writers opinion, quotes and main issues. Conclusion - summary and driving-home the most powerful point. Main task is to read though a comment piece to identify the features. Then pupils are given four briefs with provocative statements on with issues, quotes, statistics etc. Task: Your job as a journalist is to write a comment (opinion) article about one statement. There are news facts, quotes and statistics included in your brief to help you, and the structure to follow. Plenary to calculate the headline count for different headlines, then create their own.

A-Level revision of William Blake's 'London', the PowerPoint gives some detail to Blake's background, and then dives into detail regarding form and structure, lexis, syntax and context. It also gives the themes and imagery in the poem for the students to use in their revision. The slides are stanza by stanza, and some stanzas are split in two as there's a lot of information included. (Full notes on the PowerPoint slides, you can edit this, use bullet points instead and talk the pupils through the poem, or leave it as it is. Clear explanations of terminology added.)

Full lesson on Narrative Structure for KS3. Includes PowerPoint going through the four stages of narrative structure (exposition, complication, climax and resolution - uses a short story about Homer Simpson to illustrate this). Crip sheet is attached to stick in children's books for a clear guide, without the need to make too many notes in class (differentiated resource - not needed for top sets etc). The pupils are then asked to plan a story, or re-plan their end of term assessment story, and start to write it out in full. List of success criteria added on the story page. There is also a 'hot seat question' section included in the PowerPoint, and a challenge task. A range of stories for task 1 sourced, for children to identify the different narrative structures within the stories, and to complete the work sheet. Learning Objective: To identify the structure of a story, and use this to improve the stories we have written this term. Learning Outcome: To use the story we have been given to identify its narrative structure. To work in pairs to arrange a story into the correct order. To start to write a story using the techniques we have learnt so far.

GCSE Unseen Poetry comparison A3 scaffolded sheet, both original publisher file and PDF file for ease of printing. Poems: The Tiger in the Zoo and The Jaguar. I don't own these poems. Sheets scaffold the pupils to bullet pointing the meaning, mood of the poem. Then discussing the language/spotting devices, identifying structure and seeing if there is a deeper meaning, and the effect the poems have on the reader. Lovely resource and well scaffolded for the ability of my classes. Easily differentiated up or down, this worked with low set year 9 as well as GCSE.

Two full lessons with model responses within a table of comparison for two attitudes to nursing extracts, one modern, one historic, and model paragraph with sentence starters for comparison between Duchess of Cambridge and Queen Victoria's wedding. Latter lesson includes A3 extract sheet which 'chunks' down tasks to scaffold a response for their exam style response question at the end of the lesson. Confidence checks included within the lesson. Second lesson was an observation lesson, rated 'Good/Outstanding'. Lesson 1: Objective: To compare and contrast information from two texts. Outcomes: To respond to a comparison-style exam question. Literacy objective: When a word ends in ‘e’, you must always remove it when adding ‘-ing’. Recap of component 1 reading exam (30%) question 5/6. Starter: Compare/contrast using conjunction bank. Elephant/mouse, apple/orange. Helpful tips for AO3. Then looking at the exam question - comparison attitudes to nursing and how writers get their argument across. Modern article has model responses (differentiation - pupils can find their own examples to compare). Within this lesson, pupils read through the historic text (Florence Nightingale) to find success criteria, highlight and annotate, and then 'chop up' their ideas and write them into the comparison table. Recap of the question, then pupils write their response. Sentence starters for support and 10 minute timer added. Connective bank included to support writing. Self assessment. Post-it plenary to give one comparison they gave in their response. Lesson 2: Objective: To compare and contrast information from two texts. Outcomes: To respond to a comparison-style exam question. Recap of component 2 reading. Confidence check 1-10. Emojis to support their rating. Starter: spot the difference between the two images with connective bank. Secondary starter: Two clips, one of DoC's wedding and fictional portrayal of QV's wedding. Write on post it ambitious adjectives and comparisons. Read through the two A3 extracts about arrival of royal wedding. 'Chunking' tasks to scaffold their responses. Success criteria for pupils to look through and find. Model example on the sheet. Challenge task: find the mood and how it compares. Then response: comment on, what is said (ideas), how it is said (terminology). Question support with sentence starters and a model answer, and a paragraph response structure. Connective bank. Self assessment and final confidence check. This was my observation lesson, rating Good/Outstanding.

A mixed bag of lessons exploring The Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge's childhood, his relationship with Fezziwig, the relationship between Scrooge and Marley and language used within Stave 1/2. This was for a top set GSCE class. The range of activities worked extremely well. There is also a graded outstanding lesson included. A range of challenge and support is also included. I adapted these lessons for my lower sets, so differentiated worksheets are also included.

Learning Objective: To learn how to develop characters and character voice in your writing. Learning Outcome: To plan and write an imaginative character description, including a specific tone in their character voice. Year 7 lesson on character profiles and character voice, exploring character voice using Harry Potter characters, and moving on to create their own character using Facebook profiles (to explore character profiles) and a Facebook status (for character voice). Worksheets included: blank Facebook status work sheet (two per page) and Facebook profile worksheet. Whole lesson and two work sheets included.

Lesson on analysing unseen poetry using SMILE technique, focusing on the 'L' - language. A3 worksheet to help pupils analyse the language of the poem Autumn by Alan Bold (I don't own this poem). Objective: To investigate poetic devices in unseen poetry and explore the effects on the reader. Outcomes: To respond to a question about the language used within an unseen poem. Literacy objective: An apostrophe must be used to show who or what owns the object or idea (possession). Literacy objective starter task, and (this can be included if used with my previous GCSE Eduqas WJEC Intro to Poetry lesson) any extra time to complete the poetic device hunt. This slide can be removed, however. Starter: What could 'SMILE' be? Structure, meaning, images, language, effect on reader. Handout to support and stick in books to refer back to. Then pupils to read blind through the poem and think what is the poem about, share with partner and write their response around the poem. Repeated for the mood of the poem. Pupils to then match-up poetic devices within the poem (some are underlined for differentiation support). Then pupils must find more content points. Repeating think, partner, share to gather what might the effect be on the reader and if there is deeper meaning in any of the lines. Model response to an analysis of two lines of the poem with a model paragraph. Pupils are to then follow by example and pick any two lines and write about the language to answer the question 'How is nature presented in Autumn?' for independent 10/15 time. Plenary (post-its or in books): What have we learnt today/What would you like to improve on.

Focus on introduction to poetry, with a poetry device hunt around the classroom or a carousel activity for pupils to revise poetic terminology. Poetic device sheets could also be used as a classroom display once printed. Support sheets included for differentiation. Objective: To identify different poetic devices and explore their effects. Outcomes: To present these devices in table. Literacy objective: An apostrophe must be used to show who or what owns the object or idea (possession). Lesson is an introduction to poetry, unit focus on unseen poetry. I have used this with year 9 in preparation for their GCSE poetry exams. Lesson runs through literacy objective with tasks and a challenge task on apostrophes. It then goes through the exam board specification and what the examiner is looking for, and the different assessment objectives (AO1/AO2) for unseen poetry. Starter: As many poetic devices as the pupils can think of. Challenge task to include a definition and an example. 5 minute timer included. Introduction: What is poetry? Spot the devices within poetry. Using examples from modern songs - Pocahontas/Justin Bieber. Main task: Poetry device hunt. Pupils to fill in A3 sheet (included publisher file and PDF) two minutes for each device. I used my phone as a timer. This kept pace high. Pupils to write definition and effect in their own words. This can take longer depending on the ability of the class/time for each lesson. Assessment: Whiteboard questioning to gauge progress with plenary for pupils to write on a post-it or in their book. These resources took me over 8 hours to prepare! Can be used again and again for GCSE/KS3 classes.

Objective: To analyse how Shakespeare uses imagery to convey Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. Outcomes: To explain how Shakespeare uses language to create visual effects for the reader. Literacy objective: When a word ends in ‘e’, you must always remove it when adding ‘-ing’. Lesson starts with a literacy starter, using the -ing variation of a word. Hate and Love - bringing in the themes of the play. Starter: Label the images on the board from 1-6 with images you most associate with love at the top, least associated at the bottom. Extension to stretch and challenge. Pupils then watch Romeo's Soliloquy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3MiaSG1SMQ (BBC version) and record on their post it any words Romeo uses to describe Juliet. AO3 context challenge. Then go through Romeo's soliloquy and key words: Soliloquy and Imagery. Can anyone add to the post it as I read through - how does he describe Juliet - what does he compare her to? Then group work to analyse the imagery and language used by Shakespeare - soliloquy split into large A3 sheets for the pupils to annotate. Can use coloured pens to check progress of each pupil. AO3 context challenge. Completely annotated soliloquy for the pupils to add to their notes with class discussion to go through step-by-step. Then two model responses and pupils pick three differences - modelling. AO reminders before their response for the day. Response - How does Shakespeare use imagery to convey Romeo's love for Juliet? Success criteria AO1 and AO2 - with AO3 context challenge. Sentence starters for support. Self-assessment for the pupils to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. Plenary to pick an appropriate emoji to illustrate - pick top three.

This lesson explores the different reactions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the murder of Duncan (Act 2, Scene 2). It gives a quick re-cap of the implications of regicide in Shakespearean England, then re-caps the attitude of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (key words for stimulus - differentiation). Then you'll read through Act 2, Scene 2 with your class (can't upload the copies I used for copyright reasons, my school uses Macbeth: GCP English for GCSE), [Act 2, Scene 2 is on pages 23-25]. The pupils then used the copies of Act 2, Scene 2 and highlighted the reactions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth with different colours. The pupils then split these into similar reactions and different reactions (added points on PowerPoint for stimulus - differentiation), with an extension question at the bottom. Pupils can then pick one of their points and compare or contrast these (model paragraph included on PowerPoint).

Poetic device posters for around the classroom or to use within poetry classes for KS3/KS4.

Group work sheets in original publisher and PDF files. Used to analyse and explode quotes within Romeo's Soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5.

Starter activity to use with KS3/KS4 to practise the AFORREST technique. Publisher and pdf files for ease of use.

Objective: To analyse the language and structure of A Wife in London. Outcomes: To engage with the poem and write a letter to a friend describing the events from the perspective of the wife from A Wife in London. Full lesson after studying 'A Wife in London', to practise using literary techniques and to write a letter either after the wife has received the message her husband has died in the Boer War, or after she has received his posthumous letter.

Two medium term plans for three aspects of transactional writing - newspapers, reports and reviews. Resources are all in my shop for the accompanying lessons.