The collection has grown to 11 consistently thoughtful and sometimes perceptive and assured exam responses to A Christmas Carol. I am not going to claim they are grade 9 because the grade boundaries are volatile but all the essays are coherent, well-argued responses with thoughtful and often perceptive exploration of methods, word choices and writer’s wider ideas.
All responses have been formatted to snugly fit onto one page for ease of printing. I have made up my own extracts and questions. They include responses on places in the novel, Cratchits, Scrooge’s transformation, ghosts.
This resource contains 8 exemplar responses on character and theme questions for An Inspector Calls with marks and examiner comments. The model essays range in quality from grade 4 to a full mark grade 9 response. This is an excellent resource to use in departmental moderation or to show students the different quality expected at each grade from 4 to 9.
Thanks for your feedback. I have taken on board your comments and made significant improvements to the resource.
Include model answers to the following questions about Sheila, Mr Birling, Gerald, Eva Smith, Mr Birling, Mrs Birling, responsibility, egotism.
UPDATE 2022: I have converted this popular resource into a 36 page booklet combining essay plans, model essays, plot summary, theme revision cards, quotation revision tasks into one document for ease of printing.
Update 2023: new responses added on the following:
cruelty
anger
chain of events
Revision sheet and revision cards for 6 themes in A Christmas Carol.
Includes key quotations for each theme from each Stave and notes on context.
The 6 themes I have selected are
Isolation
Supernatural
Poverty
Christmas
Family
Charity
Various resources looking at Stave 2 of A Christmas Carol.
Includes an exam question, key quotations to analyse and revision activities.
An activity asking students the examine the evidence in Stave 2 of each past vision and write an analysis explaining which past vision affects Scrooge the most.
This would also work as a speaking and listening group activity.
Vision 1: school
Vision 2: Fan
Vision 3: Fezziwig
Vision 4: Belle’s release
Vision 5: Belle’s family
22 strategies for promoting extended writing across the curriculum.
The PowerPoint looks at various ways of using various modelling, planning and assessment strategies to promote extended writing . They are applicable for all subject areas that involve extended writing. Originally created for whole school staff literacy training in my role as a literacy coordinator.
Also includes a staff survey to measure how literacy and extended writing is promoted across each department in your school.
Knowledge Organiser for Lord of the Flies along with a PowerPoint slide that contains questions explaining how students should use the knowledge organiser to revise each character’s development in the novel.
I have selected crossover quotations that link to both characters and themes.
I have also included some ideas for how to approach A03 context for each character and theme.
The second page has a blank version of the knowledge organiser. I ask students to fill as much of the blank one in as they can and then show them my answers at the end.
15 revision cards for the Power and Conflict cluster.
Each card has 4 sections:
Themes of power and conflict
5 key quotations
Structure
Context/Author’s intentions
This popular resource includes 3 grade 9 Romeo and Juliet responses, 1 grade 8 response and 1 grade 7 model response to 5 AQA style GCSE examination questions on Romeo and Juliet. The exam questions and extracts are included beside the model responses.
I have tried to produce responses at the level reasonably expected of a high-level GCSE-aged student within 45 minutes of examination time.
Sometimes when teachers write exemplar responses, they produce such a high level of analysis that students find them overwhelming. I tried to avoid that.
Includes a grade 9 model response to a question on adults and children.
Includes a grade 8 model response to a question about male hostility and asks students how they could turn it into a grade 9 response through deeper language analysis (A02).
This resource is ideal to use to show students how to write successful answers that meet the criteria for A01, A02 and A03.
I have also included a sixth examination question so that students can have a go at an exam question themselves using my 9 step method.
Structure for responding to AQA Eng Lit Paper 1 Shakespeare/19th Century fiction.
Two versions. One for Section A (Shakespeare) one for Section B (19th century fiction).
8 worksheets and resources focused on exploring themes in Animal Farm. Includes resources focused on:
- Identifying the key themes in the novel
- Identifying ‘super extracts’ which can be used to cover various themes
- Model responses to themes in the novel
- Structuring responses
I use these as final revision lessons for Lord of the Flies.
I introduce 6 big ideas and ask students to complete a mind map by linking points, quotes and context to each BIG IDEA. They use my attached top 50 quotation sheet and knowledge organiser sheet to help them do this.
I then model my answers for each BIG IDEA which appear one by one on the mouse click so you can talk through them.
Also contains a detailed PowerPoint and accompanying worksheet for developing detailed grade 9 style explorations of key quotations covering the 5 main characters.
Also contains a lesson or series of lessons covering how to plan a response on 6 main characters using a grid and 4 high grade exemplar responses.
Update: also now includes a detailed lesson on how to write thesis style statements.
3 lessons with PowerPoints and resources to help students revise 3 key quotations for each of the 18 poems in the EDUQAS 9-1 Poetry anthology.
Lesson 1:
Revise 3 quotations from each poem in the Eduqas GCSE Poetry anthology.
Includes the answers on the powerpoint appearing one by one with the mouse click.
Lesson 2:
Check understanding by identifying the key quotations and using images to commit them to long term memory.
There is also an extension activity asking students to pair up the poems and create discriminating comparisons.
Lesson 3:
Revise 3 key words for each poem. Use a code to explore comparisons between poems.
Links to other Eduqas poetry resources:
Revision Cards
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/eduqas-wjec-poetry-revision-cards-gcse-12107545
Lessons on all poems
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/wjec-anthology-bundle-2-lesson-on-each-poem-11896591
Revision resources:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/wjec-eduqas-poetry-anthology-revising-all-poems-11894072
Bundle:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/wjec-eduqas-poetry-anthology-bundle-gcse-9-1-11815065
Differentiated assessment/planning sheets to support students with a response to the following exam style GCSE question:
How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth as an unconventional Elizabethan woman?
A focus on how Lady Macbeth is presented in Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 1 Scene 7.
There is a writing frame and easier planning sheets for lower ability students.
A detailed plan for an exam response to the following AQA style question:
Starting with Juliet’s soliloquy in Act 4 Scene 3, explore how Shakespeare presents the effect of love on Juliet. (34 marks)
I have also included the actual exam question and extract along with an alternative plan.
Focused on A01, A02 and A03.
A list of wider listening pieces for each area of study for Edexcel GCSE Music (15 for all with you tube links except Fusions where there are 10). A focus sheet where students must research the context and listen to key musical elements in the piece of music.
A differentiated success criteria is also attached - can be used for up to 50 pieces of homework across the 2 years.
A Christmas Carol comprehension questions on Stave 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
It is differentiated; there are various forms of questions on each Stave to allow you to tailor it to suit students of different abilities.
It is useful to accompany a first reading of the novel in class or to encourage a second reading of the novel for homework.
Example high level comparison of War Photographer and Exposure.
Save money by purchasing as part of a bundle of grade 9 responses:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/power-and-conflict-grade-9-model-essays-12213236
Or buy my full power and conflict bundle also containing lessons and various revision activities:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/power-and-conflict-bundle-2018-11881499
A comprehensive A3 revision sheet for ‘A Christmas Carol’ with differentiated tasks.
It includes key quotations from each stave and various ways of making links to context for A03.
The differentiated tasks encourage students to
Bronze: Find language features in the quotations
Silver: Match the quotations and context to themes
Gold: Work out the 10 quotations which can be adapted to suit the most themes.
Also includes a planning resource offering 3 levels of differentiation to help guide students on how to structure a full length response on the following 4 themes/topics: children, materialism, ghosts, Christmas.
Tier 1 difficulty (I do): Big idea, topic sentences and quotations are provided. Students add the analysis of the quotations.
Tier 2 difficulty (We do): Students must choose 2 quotations to support each topic sentence and analyse the quotations.
Tier 3 difficulty (You do): Students have to generate the big idea, the topic sentences, 2 quotations a paragraph and the quotation analysis.