Boredom is the enemy of education. These resources aim to give students an engaging, fun way into topics that are relevant to their lives, including awkward ones like sex education, and informing about issues that are shaping the world and their future. My hope is that they help be an effective tool to the teacher to wake up a hunger for knowledge in students, and that everyone in the classroom would have a more enjoyable and enriching experience because of their use.
Boredom is the enemy of education. These resources aim to give students an engaging, fun way into topics that are relevant to their lives, including awkward ones like sex education, and informing about issues that are shaping the world and their future. My hope is that they help be an effective tool to the teacher to wake up a hunger for knowledge in students, and that everyone in the classroom would have a more enjoyable and enriching experience because of their use.
Including youtube links, independent learning activities, discussion activities and plenty of information, this lesson is about exploring the 'snoopers' charter' culture of the NSA and GCHQ, Edward Snowden's role as a whistleblower, and if we should allow our governments to spy on us. Particularly good for citizenship, sociology, RS and Politics this lesson is engaging and interesting to students.
Did you know facebook's new privacy policy allows them to use your microphone and camera? AI notes down everything we say via their app...1984? Or safety procedure?
Differentiated activities by outcome and task design, there's plenty here to stretch and challenge as well as scaffold.
This lesson also includes a debate and information which can be used like a treasure hunt activity. 26 slides of high quality teaching material.
Learning questions are:
Why is privacy important?
What is a whistleblower and what were Wikileaks?
Is the internet a force for increased freedom, or increased surveillance?
Which is more valuable, freedom or safety?
A lesson to explore the psychological, social and environmental causes of crime. It includes youtube clips, 'a recipe for a criminal', and other creative activites that become increasingly challenging. A well differentiated lesson that is fun to deliver.
Lessons include:
What are the possible causes of crime?
How do environmental, social and psychological factors influence crime?
What do you think are the main causes of crime and why?
Suitable for year 6 and up, this is a single lesson, complete with clips and independent activities, to explain to your students what the refugee crisis is, how it happened, and if we should help. These can either be teacher led activities or student led, using a carousel system or marketplace. It therefore lends itself well to differentiation, and can be adapted to be an assembly too.
2 video clips included in this pack.
This is a resource to help tackle un-nuanced views that Christians are homophobic. It looks at some examples of welcoming Churches, and has a broad variety of resources for you to choose from including: debates, youtube videos, written evaluations and a choice of plenaries too. It's therefore well differentiated.
There are two lessons here: one focusses more on the westboro baptist church, whereas the other is more general. There is some repeated material in the two lessons, but plenty for you to pull two or even three lessons out of.
WARNING: The drama-documentary has some scenes of self harm at the end of it so could be a potential trigger for some students and should be skipped for younger year groups.
A powerpoint, worsearch, timeline, video and youtube video about how Nazi Germany gradually slid into more and more extreme versions of anti-semitism. It chronicles the dates of some of the 2000 laws passed against Jews in the years following Hitler's election in 1933, and attempts to answer the question HOW did normal people allow, and participate, in the Holocaust. It attempts to answer this to help students understand how vigilance in any society, and the trends within it, are something any healthy citizen should take part in.
The Key Learning Question is:
How did the Holocaust happen?
Activities are differentiated, and extension activities are included. Resources suited for yr.6 (10yo) and up.
This powerpoint and worksheets provide a range of differentiated activities as well as video clips that explore how propaganda and indoctrination was used in the Holocaust to Brainwash people. It includes embedded videos, youtube links, examples of propaganda posters, team work and independent work activities as well as discussion topics.
Fine for use from yr. 6 (10 yo up)
The learning questions are as follows:
How did people let the holocaust happen? (Level 4-5)
Explain why is it important to think for yourself. (Level 5-6)
Can you evaluate the effectiveness of Nazi propaganda? (Level 6-7)
There are also a myriad of extension tasks, including examples of modern day propaganda around Islamophobia and Immigration.
A lesson for careers students to understand workers' rights, what unions are, and the history of workers fighting for their rights. It includes youtube clips, role plays and independent activities for students to understand their rights in the changing world of work. It will also help them understand what a decent work place looks like, and how to find one.
Learning questions:
What is a Union?
What are Worker’s Rights?
How can I protect myself from being mistreated in the workplace?
What does a decent workplace look like?
There are good links to PHSE and citizenship, and many of the activities naturally lend themselves to differentiation (both for SEND students and more able students).
When I ask my students: ‘What is money?’, they hardly ever know. Most adults don’t either. This lesson looks at what money is, how the banking crisis happened, what the difference between good debt and bad debt is, and the current global inequality in wealth. It includes individual and group work activities, as well as whole class discussions, to try and stimulate students understanding and critical engagement with the world as it is. A lesson that could work as an introduction for economics, PHSE, SEAL, SMSC and Careers lessons for children aged 11+. Extensions, start and plenary are included to aid differentiation and the learning journey. Learning questions also increase in difficulty as the lesson progresses.
Learning questions include:
What is money?
What’s the difference between good debt and bad debt?
What is crypto-currency?
Extension: Is financial inequality out of control, and if so how can it be resolved?
Instructions on how to use the resource are in the notes of the powerpoint, which also includes a number of youtube videos, and included here is also a short word document which has some of the debate about where money originated from and what preceded it. This document is made from a summary of Graeber’s recent work and watching the ‘crash course’ video on money. Adam Smith’s idea that barter preceded minted coinage seems, in recent academia, to be incorrect. Rather, minted metal coinage seems to have been part of a ‘military-mining-slavery complex’ where wars created slaves to mine metal to pay soldiers.
A lesson which explores Christian Attitudes to War. Learning Questions include:
What are Christian Opinions to War?
Why do Christians disagree with each other?
EXT: How do you think social background affects peoples opinions?
This powerpoint looks includes extension activities, independent learning activities and joint discussion. It covers citizenship, PHSE, SEAL, SMSC and Religious Studies syllabi (I love that plural) and I have found it to be a fairly engaging lesson for many students. It also includes a link to a youtube video animation to the parable of the lost son, and links this to the topic of war and peace for students to consider how religious teachings may be applied to modern day dilemmas. Not dilemmi. Sadly.
A lesson to help students explore the Just War Theory and evaluate if they agree with it or not. The lesson includes a group task for students to explore 'JAILSAP' - an anagram for the 7 reasons for war. It includes independent learning, extension tasks, and even a chance for students to make a rap that encompasses the theory. There is also an example rap, composed by yours truly, for general educational and engagement purposes.
Key learning questions explored are:
What is the just war theory?
Do I agree with it?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the theory?
Reviews gratefully received
A lesson to explore the UN and what it does. This lesson aims to give students an understanding of the organisation and the means to question if it is a reasonable use of resources, or a waste of them. Class debates included, as usual, with extension activities, youtube videos, and some varied activities to bolster engagement. A SEND worksheet also attached here.
Learning Questions
What is the United Nations?
What are its aims?
Do you think it’s a good organisation?
Note: Where do you stand activities are like opinion lines but split into four corners. More information has been embedded in the PPT rather than from youtube videos, which have also been updated and variations offered in the notes of the PPT.
Feedback warmly welcomed, and always looking to improve.
This ppt is part of a campaign our school ran about plastic litter and pollution. It includes a script (obviously an outline) inspiring spoken word links to prince EA’s video, and activities for form teachers to show students to try and encourage recycling and rethinking the impact of waste.
Included here are a couple of variations on the assembly too, in case you need it. Also included an intro slideshow as the students enter.
A 1 hour lesson including a 30 minute documentary, debate, opinion line, extension activity and reflection exercise to measure students improvement in their understanding.
Lesson objectives include:
What is life like in North Korea?
Why is the world talking about it so much?
Should we or the USA attack North Korea?
There is a discussion included about nuclear war: try to draw out students understanding of the long term effects of nuclear weapons.
Good luck, and if I may try to remind students that most things that happen in the world are good, that's why the news (which is always negative) is 'news': the good things people do are the norm. Try not to let them leave the room pessimistic. For instance, there are 12.7 MILLION volunteers in Britain every year. That's almost 20% of the population. Awesome.
A set of 9 lessons about some of the most awkward stuff a teacher can try to teach. There are presentations, worksheets, online links and assessments all included here and plenty to personalize, adapt and tweek.
Including:
Self Esteem (4 Lessons)
Pornography and Puberty
Condoms
Sexting
Homosexuality and Christianity
Break ups
6-10 Lessons on World Poverty, including its causes, religious attitudes (Christian and Muslim) and case studies. 16 files, PPTs, documents, worksheets and activities, including a prezi link, music videos and youtube links.
1) Introduction to wealth and poverty
2) Religious Attitudes
3) Compassion Justice and Stewardship
4) World Trade
5) Liberation Theology and Oscar Romero
6) Consolidation
Feedback warmly received, as always! :)
A resource which is intended to run over 4 lessons: independent study with some introduction and video clips which can be uploaded to your server, and students can access them in their own time using headphones. Great for independent study, differentiation, SMSC, PHSE, Religious Studies and Citizenship, as well as General Studies, this resource stimulates outrage, insight and curiosity. It also includes historical and cultural insights, like the Ecuadorian Government signing in the rights of nature into law.
This is an ambitious project to cover the entire UK citizenship government framework in 26 lessons of increasing difficulty over 5 age groups (11-16). It uses a range of teaching strategies, including individual and team work, developing public speaking skills and active citizenship engagement in the year 8 section of the course. It focuses on students having a keen idea of their own background whilst also being able to ‘sonder’ (appreciate the realness of others) and truly empathise, as well as having a historical understanding of why we are where we are in the world.
This lesson starts with the students own identity, before moving on to consider the South African concept of Ubuntu: I am because we are. This lesson Can be bought as part of a package.
These schemes use key questions instead of learning objectives which are then used as mini plenaries throughout.
Videos and worksheets included as powerpoint slides for ease of access and printing where necessary.
Key questions
What is identity?
What is culture?
Is there an ‘us’ and a ‘them’?
Challenge:
Evaluate the idea of Ubuntu.
Feedback always welcome.
This is an ambitious project to cover the entire UK citizenship government framework in 26 lessons of increasing difficulty over 5 age groups (11-16). It uses a range of teaching strategies, including individual and team work, developing public speaking skills and active citizenship engagement in the year 8 section of the course. It focuses on students having a keen idea of their own background whilst also being able to ‘sonder’ (appreciate the realness of others) and truly empathise, as well as having a historical understanding of why we are where we are in the world.
This lesson focusses on what it means to be an active citizen, using examples of active citizens from all over the world including videos and resources that can be printed straight from the PPT.
These schemes use key questions instead of learning objectives which are then used as mini plenaries throughout.
Videos and worksheets included as powerpoint slides for ease of access and printing where necessary.
Key Questions
How can we contribute positively to our environment?
What are some examples of active citizenship?
What can I learn from these examples?
This is an ambitious project to cover the entire UK citizenship government framework in 26 lessons of increasing difficulty over 5 age groups (11-16). It uses a range of teaching strategies, including individual and team work, developing public speaking skills and active citizenship engagement in the year 8 section of the course. It focuses on students having a keen idea of their own background whilst also being able to ‘sonder’ (appreciate the realness of others) and truly empathise, as well as having a historical understanding of why we are where we are in the world.
This lesson focusses on what democracy means, what parliament is and the importance of voting.
These schemes use key questions instead of learning objectives which are then used as mini plenaries throughout.
Videos and worksheets included as powerpoint slides for ease of access and printing where necessary.
Key Questions
What is Parliament?
What does Parliament do?
How important is voting?
This lesson attempts to answer these four learning questions:
What is ‘climate chaos’?
What is extinction rebellion and it’s aims?
What is non violent direct action (NVDA)?
Is it an effective way to create social change?
What do you think about it?
After briefly exploring the impact of 1-6 degrees climate change, this lesson looks at the actions of the extinction rebellion movement as a modern example of NVDA. Briefly looking at the history of Greta Thunberg’s school strikes, which are ongoing, it shows XR’s aims and methods through a Guardian documentary. The four videos which can be used for this are included in the resource. Drawing on a brief history of NVDA (civil rights, sufragettes, indian independence and more recently black lives matter and the occupy movement) it then encourages students to evaluate the effectiveness of this mode of political engagement.
Extension task available of a group task exploring the ways the planet and climate change affects our air, earth, water, resources, food AND climate.
Feedback really welcome as this is made in a short amount of time.
Thanks!