English teacher. Always focused on trying to engage students, especially lower ability. Challenge tasks set for higher ability in most lessons. Resources will always be colourful, visual, engaging and usually include film clips.
English teacher. Always focused on trying to engage students, especially lower ability. Challenge tasks set for higher ability in most lessons. Resources will always be colourful, visual, engaging and usually include film clips.
A full scheme of work, complete with new specification GCSE Assessment Objectives.
The focus is on key extracts, found here: http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-8702-19C-KS3.PDF .
The scheme introduces students to pre-19th Century literature with a variety of activities: group work; descriptive writing; peer and self assessment. The scheme also includes a cover slide for each lesson which contains key words along with 'aspire, challenge and excel'. The scheme has been ran with a top and bottom set Year 9 class and been modified accordingly.
The Medium Term Plan is also included.
All resources, bar the resource described below, are included on the slides; links to the YouTube clips are in the notes below the slides.
Extracts needed for lesson (Slide 22-25) can be found in this book 'Rollercoasters: 19th Century Fiction and Non-Fiction' (ISBN:0198357400).
Workbook for the new specification AQA GCSE Love and Relationships Poetry.
I have collated all the poems with a worksheet after each poem. The worksheet focuses on the SMILE technique for analysing poetry, with a space for: summary; themes of the poem, and poems which would work well in a comparison. Each poem has enough space around it to write an analysis and I have numbered the lines of the poem for ease of analysis.
Absolutely ideal for independent work: both for stretch and challenge, or for a student who has missed a lot, or all of the play. I have used them this year with both mid-year entrants who have not studied the play, as well as a LA KS4 class who have responded incredibly well to them. Each booklet gives a real overview of the play and allows pupils to explore the play at their own pace.
Each booklet contains the full Act, with comprehension questions interspersed within. The questions are a mix of AO1, AO2 and AO3, as well as some opinion questions.
At the back of each booklet there is either a quotation or writer’s methods resource, as well as three exam-style questions to complete.
New Specification AQA GCSE Literature Paper Two Section B Resource.
This resource is aimed as an easy revision resource for all fifteen of the Love and Relationships cluster.
It contains:
- Context and key detail about each poet.
- Structure and form of each poem with analysis on their effect, along with authorial intention.
- Themes of each poem, including an easy colour coding section to match up each poem to others.
- Key quotes for each poem, analysed in detail with subject terminology and effect. For each poem there are at least five, easy to remember quotations, which have been chosen for their interchangeability between each question.
I have made the resource with the intention of it either being printed as A5 flashcards, or printed as display. However, they also may be useful for class discussion.
These are images I have collated from various sources to use as an informative display in the classroom. It could also be used as a revision resource closer to exams when collating revision files.
Each text has a number of key quotes displayed with an image from a film or production.
A great resource for engaging students with difficult literary techniques using Disney films as examples. I have found that these have worked incredibly well, especially with low ability students, in order to help them understand what each technique means and how it is used.
I have used these resources with both Key Stage Three and Four, and have found them particularly helpful with GCSE low ability.
The techniques explained are as follows:
- Theme
- Symbolism
- Dramatic irony
- Archetype
- Foil
- Allusion
- Foreshadowing
- Mood
- Breaking the fourth wall
- Exposition
- Conflict
- Climax
This resource has been produced from an article, with permission from the author.
This resource focuses on Act II of An Inspector Calls, specifically on understanding and comprehension of the text.
The questions focus on: decoding language; how context affects the characters; specific techniques used by Priestley and their effect; how stage directions affect the audience; the opinion of the audience.
The questions also mimic the style of the GCSE Language Paper, particularly Question 2, allowing the students to also hone their analytical skills.
This is an hour-long lesson which has been the most effective lesson I have taught on the importance of listening skills and respect for each other.
Every time I have ran this lesson, either at the beginning as an introduction or during the term, I have seen a marked improvement in listening skills and behaviour. This lesson introduces the importance of listening and understanding others; it does it through hands-on, practical group work. This comes in the form of a series of speaking and listening exercises, each introducing the students to common problems teachers find.
- Exercise One: playing with pens, no eye contact.
- Exercise Two: no reaction.
- Exercise Three: losing attention, short attention spans.
- Exercise Four: talking over each other.
I always encourage the students to vocalise their thoughts and feelings after they have done each exercise; by experiencing what we deal with, albeit small-scale, it makes them much more receptive to being told to be quiet or that their behaviour is not respectful. It is also a lot of fun!
I usually time each exercise, aiming for about 2 minutes on each, but with some the students may run out of things to say very quickly. It is important that they only see their numbered cards (rather than the whole set) as the whole exercise is set on them not knowing what everyone else has.
I have included both the PowerPoint and the cards used - I usually print off the cards and have a set per group of three in an envelope.
The final part of the lesson is to get them to vocalise why your subject is valuable. Getting them to decide why they should study your subject gets them engaged really quickly. In terms of getting them to also tell you what they like doing and what they don't like really gives you a feel for the group as a whole.
Series of PowerPoints focusing on the different aspects of writing:
- Sensory imagery
- Show not tell
- Developing detail
- Zooming in and out (using film clips and images to develop understanding)
- Building a scene - focusing on a firework display. Two PowerPoints which focus on structuring description, giving a clear model answer as well as visual prompts.
I have run the PowerPoints in the following order and found a massive improvement from all students:
- Sensory Imagery
- Zooming in
- Firework Display
- Firework Model Answer
I would also consider spending one lesson redrafting and rewriting the firework display description.
A mixed unit of work focused on improving literacy of lower ability Year 7. The scheme focuses on how to analyse texts and identify key terms (e.g. verbs) as well as how to structure an answer in a step-by-step format. This is also mixed with writing tasks and a focus on how to develop description.
The unit itself is very visual; my aim was to try and engage the students through art and group work so they became more engaged with writing and reading. In practice, the students did improve and all produced some interesting descriptions; some even managed an effective analysis of texts.
Easy introduction to the Victorian Era and Dickens and his life (AO3 GCSE) - for use with Key Stage 3 or lower ability Key Stage 4.
Group work and memory games are used to introduce the large amount of change and invention which occurred during the Victorian Era with a focus on the lives of the poor and how this may have affected Dickens' writing. Resource also introduces students to other Dickensian characters and novels using visual imagery. I also use a clip from the recent 'Christmas Carol' Disney film, but cannot find that on YouTube to insert into the PowerPoint.
Also includes abridged extracts from original text with space for analysis. Lesson concludes with writing in the style of Dickens and creating a character; could be stretched over two lessons to avoid rushing, or set for homework.
Full scheme of work focusing on the GCSE skills of comparison and contrast of poetry (Paper 2) (AO1, AO2). There is also an introduction to Context and how this affects the writers (AO3). The scheme itself also includes elements of descriptive writing (AO4) and a Speaking and Listening Assessment at the end of the scheme.
The scheme focuses on the poems of Wordsworth and Blake, with a particular focus on creating and structuring a poetry analysis which includes comparison and contrast. This scheme of work has been run with higher ability Year 8, I have left my annotations on the slides so you can follow/see what was achieved with them, but I think it can also be used higher up the school.
The poems/texts studied are:
- Extracts from Dorothy Wordsworth's diary
- I wandered lonely as a cloud (Wordsworth)
- The Ballad of Lucy Gray (Wordsworth)
- Composed Upon Westminster Bridge (Wordsworth)
- Little Boy Lost (Blake)
- Little Boy Found (Blake)
- London (Blake)
PowerPoint, to be spread over a couple of lessons (group dependent), introducing and analysing 'Porphyria's Lover'.
The idea behind the lesson is to encourage creative thinking and group work. Each group is introduced to the poem in a different manner: visually, through words, using auditory imagery, word clouds, mini-quotes.
This lesson has worked really well with a variety of years and abilities as all the students are engaged through their guess-work at the beginning of the lesson.
This resource tracks the power levels of the following characters throughout the play:
- Lady Macbeth
- Macbeth
- King Duncan
- Malcolm
- Banquo
- Macduff
Each line on the graph follows a specific character and has a quote which explains their rise and fall in power. Particularly useful with the new specification English Literature GCSE due to the focus on the play as a whole. Designed to be printed in A3, this resource provides all the necessary quotes to be able to tackle the play as a whole.
This resource contains step by step teaching of the following transactional writing forms, as well as an overview of the entire exam:
Article
Speech
Letter
Leaflet
Each separate writing form comes with a resource to analyse and work with, as well as a self/peer assessment table for each writing piece. The resources include 19th, 20th and 21st Century resources, in keeping with Section A, which can also be used for the reading section. The run of lessons will be about eight to ten, dependent on the ability of the class.
I have also included the condensed version, which gives a full overview of Section B, along with a resource which can be printed in a booklet format for those with Year 11s who are close to the exam and want to do some extra revision work!
A standalone reading and comprehension booklet, using the AQA Telling Tales Anthology (short stories) with other key extracts, to be used with Key Stage 4.
Texts used are:
When The Wasps Drowned
Chemistry
Odour of Chrysanthemums
Polish Teacher’s Tie
Korea
A Family Supper
Invisible Mass of the Back Row
The Darkness Out There
The Outsiders
The Sniper
The aim of the booklet is to allow students to independently work and revise: each text has comprehension and exam-style questions which accompany them. Within the booklet there are also independent writing tasks which could be set as either classwork or homework.
The current layout is set to print as an A5 booklet, rather than A4, to save paper and reduce costs.
This resource is a series of 8 lessons (two of which will take two lessons to complete, dependent on class) using pre-19th Century extracts to develop descriptive and persuasive writing skills. Also included are film clips and visual stimulus, as well as a SPaG focus and progress grid for every lesson.
The two pre-19th Century resources used are:
- Robinson Crusoe (Defoe) - The Shipwreck
- David Livingstone's diary entry from his discovery of Victoria Falls
The resource also includes an end of resource Speaking and Listening assessment, designed for the students to use both persuasive and descriptive language, and also make them aware of body language and non-verbal cues.
All resources are either on the PowerPoint (peer assessment tables etc.) or attached as a file on here.
Ready made resources to create a display which the students can either extend their answers and ideas or give them the structure to focus in on the work they have already completed.