Two medium term plans for a short transactional writing section of the KS3/4 curriculum.

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.

KS3 lesson developing noun and verb use, including an extract to complete. Precise noun: A noun (naming word) which is more descriptive and aids in telling the reader more about the story. E.g. ‘Mercedes Benz’ instead of car. Ambitious verb: A verb (doing word) which gives more description so the reader can picture images in their mind. E.g. ‘Slithered’ instead of walked (to describe someone who was sneaking around). Learning Objective: To learn how to develop nouns and verbs to create descriptive sentences. Learning Outcome: All will rewrite sentences using ambitious vocabulary and tasks in the PowerPoint Most will complete the Skellig work sheet Some will complete the extension work and create their own sentences using knowledge they have learnt so far (reward – Vivo points/IRIS rewards etc) To differentiate the work, I have included a variety of resources including a match-up task on the board. Fill-in the blanks work sheet and a challenge task for the HA in the class to complete, with added rewards (Vivo points) to encourage the children to take on this challenge task.

Two lessons for literary device revision. Includes two differentiated lessons with different activities. For low ability, a literary device bingo with 9 bingo tiles and a card sort. Higher ability, 12 bingo tiles and no card sort game. Extract is differentiated, high ability will find the devices themselves, and low ability will annotate the devices which are already underlined in different colours (they can work out the key).

This lesson goes over the target audience profiles in KS5 Media (CTECH level 3). Including demographics (physical) and psychographics (mental) audience profiles. I printed off magazine covers and film posters to engage the pupils at the start and to gauge what pupils already know about target audience. Then going over target audience categories. Progress - then going back to the notes made in the starter - this could be purple penned. Then it goes through two adverts (Tesco and Volkswagen) for pupils to decide which audience they are targeted at. Then pupils are given two products to research in groups and they will present to the class which audience profiles the products have and how they attract these. Homework: to find the 'user types' of psychographics.

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.

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 AO2 lesson for the Eduqas WJEC exam board. Scaffolded lesson which builds up to an exam-style question 'How does the writer create tension in the extract?' A3 sheet has a support scaffolding task for finding devices e.g. metaphor, for pupils to write and example and the effect is has on the reader. Full PowerPoint, A3 extract sheet with a support scaffolding task and literary device bingo. A3 sheet comes with Microsoft Publisher file and PDF version. Lesson starts with literary device bingo, all bingo cards are different. Then YouTube video is embedded for ease of use, horror film clip which builds tension. Pupils create a mind map describing how the director builds tension, then read the extract and add to the mind map the techniques the writer has used to build tension e.g. powerful verbs, ambitious punctuation, cliffhanger etc. Then pupils go through the extract on the A3 sheet with the scaffolded literary device activity - find an example, write the effect on the reader. Pupils are to answer an exam question. Success criteria, connective bank and emotion word bank also included. Peer assessment with success criteria for WWW/EBI. Plenary to finish. This lesson worked well with lower ability year 10 group, but was challenging and would work well with any set.

Romeo and Juliet KS3/GCSE carousel activity for pupils. This resource doesn't include the full lesson. Available altogether in my shop in another resource. Includes all 8 posters describing the roles in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, and A3 sheet for pupils to write reasons and give a rating out of 10. Both PDF and original publisher files included for ease of use.

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.

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

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.

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.)

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).

Legal issues (defamation, slander and copyright) revision for Y12 Media CTEC. Ethical issues to support these notes, with reference to the specification, discussing Nestle company distributing free formula milk to third-world countries for eventual profit and the following boycott. I don't own any of the images within the revision notes.

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

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.

Full walk-through with images to help for instruction. Example magazine pages in the original inDesign file. Video and image clips included (I only own the video). Great way to get your A-Level class using this media type. I am a former magazine journalist - used this with my classes for Distinction level evaluations.