A sound understanding of social and historical context is essential for a Grade 4 and above in the current English Literature specifications. It is imperative that students learn the intended message of the playwright or author of the text and the influences upon them at the time of writing. Being able to explain these features in relation to the text will place students within the higher bands of the GCSE mark scheme. This lesson directs children to consider the influences upon J B Priestley and the messages he intends to convey to his audience in An Inspector Calls. It can be taught at any point of the unit and is ideally repeated after reading the novel, as students will be able to link the images more readily to events and quotes in the play. The Powerpoint of statements are conclusions that the students will be coming to at the end of the lesson and can be displayed as starters in later lessons, asking students to brainstorm quotes and events which support the given point. The Powerpoint of images can also be used in a similar way, or as a display where students add quotes as they read the play. 1. Arrange the tables in the classroom as six workstations (six groups of tables). Print out the resources and place each set on a different table with the relevant heading. You might want to add a laptop that is set up to one of the websites on the links provided. 2. Arrange students in six groups of four or five and give each student an overview sheet. Point out that if they have not yet read the play they will not be able to fill in the quotes and events thought bubble, but can add to this later. 3. Allow students 5-6 minutes per workstation with the aim of completing the overview sheet. 4. At the end, ask each table to feedback about the subject covered at the table they are seated at. 5. Ask each student to write a message that Priestley was trying to convey on a Post-It and stick onto the wall. This will form the 'Student Comments' for later use.

GCSE Language style paper for the fight scene of Of Mice and Men. This assessment is designed for all abilities, though it also supports KS3 or lower ability students to understand how to answer the new GCSE style questions. It could also be used a support document or walk-through, with students answering the questions without a guide in their books. Threshold levels are included on the first page.

With the ever-increasing need for personalised learning, the scheme of work that is written by the Head of Department and shared across the department in a dying breed. Instead, teachers must plan their own medium-term and short-term plans to meet the needs of the students in their classes, which, considering extensive national changes over the past year or so, can be a daunting task for teachers of all levels of experience. This medium-term tracking grid supports teachers in their planning by: •listing all the Assessment Objectives for Language and Literature on the first page to prompt coverage and also to provide a list for teachers to cut and paste from. •beginning the planning with the completion of a progression matrix, effectively highlighting areas of under-performance and opportunities for support and challenge •Space for bullet point ideas of each week’s lessons, with a corresponding column for assessment objectives covered •Space for teachers to identify milestone or assessment tasks. The planning grid also works well when combined with the tracking grids for reading and writing, allowing teachers to assess students’ abilities against each assessment objective or skill and plan accordingly.

This unit asks students to exercise their Literacy skills and plan a festival. They are required to write a letter to apply for the job, write a report, design logos and band profiles, design posters and respond to a complaint. This is an engaging collection of resources that would be ideal for Summer 2 or in a situation where students benefit from working on a 'real' task.

This lesson asks students to create their own spinner to use in future creative writing lessons. The spinner would be best printed on card.

This PowerPoint contains 87 key quotes from Macbeth for display around the classroom or school, for sorting into order or simply for displaying and discussing. There are far more quotes than you need, allowing you to choose the quotes that are important for your class.

This fully differentiated lesson, with support and challenge sheets, teaches students how to identify and employ onomatopoeia.

This fully differentiated lesson teaches students how to identify, explore the effect of and employ plosives.

A Powerpoint that clearly explains the three tenses, with examples and activities, including a worksheet with answers.

This fully differentiated lesson teaches students to identify, explore the effect of and employ sibilance.

Game instructions: Use counters as Tiddlywinks. When you land on a space, you must say explain: Which poem it is from, a meaning or idea that is inferred by the quote, a device used in the quote and its effect. For a bonus point, compare it to another quote on the game board (poetry) or explain the context (Macbeth). Bronze – 1 point Silver – 2 points Gold – 3 points If you pass, the person on your left or your opponent may attempt your turn an d claim the points. Anyone in the team may attempt the bonus comparison point after the turn has been played. This resource needs to be printed on A3 paper.

This writing mat, which should be printed on A3 couble sided and laminated for future use, has all the methods listed in DAFOREST around the edge of the page with examples. These devices are coloured coded (bronze for easy, silver for more difficult and gold for higher ability.) Use them as a guide to encourage students to include persuasive devices in their own writing, or use to support the annotation of texts by other writers. There is a space in the middle of the mat for students to place paper or they could practice writing phrases on the mats with whiteboard pens if the sheets are laminated. A handy planning grid is also provided, along with a writing to persuade lesson, ready made for you to trial your new resources.

This session explains what is required of students in the final section of AQA Literature Paper 2. It incorporates an activity advised at the AQA Hub Meeting, where students work in groups to produce a poster based on a poem displayed on the wall - however, only one student is allowed to visit the poem at a time. The student should then bring back key words, images, methods, etc., to add to the poster. The posters are then presented to the class, or if in a bigger group, to another group of students. This effectively conveys the message that all responses are appropriate and that everyone can access a poem in some way. This could be run in a Hall with multiple students, in a classroom or as small group intervention. Th second part of the lesson covers the comparison question, making sure that students understand to only write about methods. It includes a writing frame and modelled examples using the AQA endorsed structure of ‘both, both, however’. This lesson could easily be repeated again and again with different poems.

This lesson is the most efficient way I’ve ever found to teach students how to answer the structure question. It teaches students exactly how to explain the effects of structure, useful subject terminology and what the examiner is looking for. It is delivered through experiential learning, where the class write a class text following my prompts and then analyse this piece of work for structural choices. It is a very easy but effective way to deliver the key messages. You will need a big sheet of paper to display the class story, another whiteboard or you could use another Powerpoint or word slide and flip between the two (not the best option, but could be done). It naturally leads on to students writing their own stories that have conscious structural choices, which they can then analyse. I have also included two texts that could be analysed are free extracts of stories on lovereading.com Please leave me some feedback to let me know how you got on with it. Lindsey

Inspire your students by having them compete against each other in teams for house points or prizes. This Powerpoint requires students to work in teams and work together to answer each question. They should have one whiteboard and pen per team - the team captain should present their answer when asked. This is easily enough for a one hour lesson, but most probably enough for two hours.

Fed up of trying to get your head around the AQA mark scheme? Are you finding it impossible to convey the many features of a perfect response to your students? These marking grids will help you to understand the mark scheme and see it the different aspects of each question clearly, as well as enabling you to mark quickly and effectively. Oftsed saw these grids in action in my school and loved them as they show clear pathways to progression The teachers in my department love them as they are quick and easy to use Students appreciate them as they can identify the root of underattainment. Can be used to offer whole class or individual feedback. All you have need is a highlighter - simply highlight along the boxes to indicate the skills achieved and the levels attained. Marking GCSE repsonses will never be difficult again!

I have used this resource to develop my own understanding of the mark scheme (even though I have been an examiner for over ten years), support my colleagues in understanding the mark scheme, and also to diagnose weaknesses within classes, enabling targeted intervention, differentiation within the classroom and targeted support. Once completed, it gives the teacher a full and clear understanding of what needs to be done to succeed in the exam. Essentially, it is an audit of skills within a class, looking at either a whole mock paper, or full practice questions in books. Assess the work for each of elements for each question, writing the student initial in each box. This is a little clunky to begin with, but gets much easier after the first few pieces and is very valuable in both focusing your understanding of what is required for each question and knowing where students need attention. The statements have been taken from the mark scheme and also developed from the on-screen software used by examiners. Your end result will clearly show where the average class strengths and weaknesses lie, which students need more help and in which areas and how you should direct your teachers. This would result in outstanding differentiation. I have completed a sample of three students (whereas usually it would be for a whole class), which shows that this very small group struggle with methods on Q4. Whole cohorts could be analysed via cutting and pasting several sheets onto one, allowing HODs to oversee weaknesses across the department. These audits could also be used as a basis for conversations in progress meetings and as a monitoring tool.

A range of lessons that cover simple, compound and complex sentences and lists in order to help under-attaining students grasp sentence control. The unit takes students through the different types of sentences, explaining how they are constructed and securing knowledge through a range of application tasks. Suitable for 7 - 16 years, but especially useful for students working below their levels due to poor sentence control. I used these with Years 7-9 to good effect. The lessons are suitable for whole class or small group work with a TA (laptop or screen must be available to view the slides.)

This collection includes: five full Paper 2s in both PDF and Word format, allowing you to tailor questions or format to your taste (including two additional papers that are listed as free on this page - ‘Teaching’ and ‘Refuse Collectors’) a front sheet for use with the papers, featuring the relevant boundaries from summer 2017 and 2018 (allowing students to see how close they were to the next band). an easy examiner mark sheet for each question, based on my experience of the drag and drop screen when marking as an examiner. Simply use a highlighter to indicate where skills have been met and staple or glue to students’ papers. These are useful feedback sheets for day-to-day exam practice. If you have found these resources useful, please leave feedback.