How does Shakespeare present attitudes to gender in ‘Macbeth’? Students so often write about gender dynamics in ‘Macbeth’ with clumsy generalisations that examiners can’t abide. This lesson aims to encourage specific and mature contextualised understanding of gender in the 1600s and within the play itself. This 30-slide PowerPoint explores how Shakespeare exploits and subverts attitudes to gender throughout the play, encouraging students to comment with precision and perception on masculinity and femininity. Ideal for KS4 students in particular but easily adaptable for other ages. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 27-slide lesson explores Ted Hughes’ poem, ‘Hawk Roosting’. The lesson begins with a comprehensive introduction to hawks, noting their mythological associations, biological behaviour, and linguistic connotations. Students then learn about Ted Hughes’ unsentimental depiction of nature in his poetry. The poem is explored in detail, considering how Hughes characterises the titular hawk through his language, imagery, and first-person narrative. The violent and natural imagery of the poem is unpicked. To consolidate students’ knowledge, there is an analytical writing task and a creative writing task. A high-quality model paragraph is included to help students with the analytical/essay writing task, and there is an opportunity for self-assessment. This lesson is ideal for KS3 or GCSE students. PowerPoint saved as a PDF.

This 32-slide lesson explores Vernon Scannell’s poem ‘Nettles’. The lesson provides detailed study of the poem and includes: biographical information on Scannell, analysis of the poem’s use of language and linguistic/poetic techniques (including extended metaphor), analysis of the poem’s structure, form & rhyme, as well as questions, discussion points, and tasks for students to complete. The final task at the end of the lesson is a piece of creative writing in which students write their own poem. This lesson could be used for KS3 or GCSE pupils. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 22-slide lesson analyses Stevenson’s use of the Gothic genre in ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. The lesson prompts students to consider Stevenson’s deliberate use of setting, mood and atmosphere to exploit Gothic tropes. Key featues of the genre such as suspense, violence, doubling, and damsels in distress are deconstructed. Extracts from the novella are included for close analysis. The lesson features discussion points and questions for students, and ends with an extended task (which could be set as a homework activity). This lesson serves as an ideal supplement to those studying the text at GCSE (especially with AQA), but could be used for KS3 too. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 22-slide lesson explores Simon Armitage’s poem, ‘I Am Very Bothered’. The lesson encourages students to analyse Armitage’s poem as a subversion of typical love poetry, thinking about its ironic use of the sonnet form and the speaker’s distorted sense of romantic imagery. The poem’s language, structure, and form is considered. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included for students. An extended essay question (including an exemplar introduction and analytical paragraph) is featured at the end of the lesson. A copy of the poem is also included. This lesson is ideal for Key Stage 3 or GCSE analysis. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 24-slide lesson explores Boey Kim Cheng’s poem, ‘The Planners’. The lesson introduces the life and work of Boey Kim Cheng before interrogating the philosophical relationship between construction and destruction. We consider the purpose of history and discuss the concept of cultural amnesia. Students are taught about the growth of Singapore since its independence from the British Empire. Students then read the poem and delve into its language and imagery. Analysis of extended metaphor leads to exploration of form, structure, and rhyme. We think about the tone and key themes of the poem, and Boey Kim Cheng’s message in view of ever-expanding urban environments and global industrialisation. Students are given ambitious vocabulary to help them to produce sophisticated and precise analysis of the poem. Questions and discussion points are included throughout for students. An exam-style question is also featured at the end of the lesson. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This is a thorough and comprehensive introduction to Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, outlining the key context necessary to understanding the novel. This 25-slide lesson details the novel’s key historical context, exploring the Deep South of the 1930s and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, as well as Lee’s own life and the novel’s key themes and legacy. Questions, tasks and discussion points are featured throughout. An extended (potential homework) task is included at the end of the lesson. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 24-slide lesson is the perfect analytical summary of Boxer’s character function in Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’. Students are encouraged to consider Boxer’s purpose within the novella and how he links contextually to the allegory of corrupted Communism. Emphasis is placed on his stupendous strength, tragic naivety, and exploitation. There are discussion points and questions posed for students to answer either individually or collaboratively. At the end of the PowerPoint is an extended essay question for students to answer (either in class or as a homework activity). This lesson (which could easily be split into multiple lessons) is ideal for GCSE students but could also be used to challenge high-attaining KS3 pupils. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

Explore how Dickens uses Fezziwig in ‘A Christmas Carol’ to convey his message of charity, togetherness and humanity in the 19th century. This PowerPoint considers Dickens’ characterisation of Scrooge’s former employer, how he functions as the symbolic antithesis of Scrooge, and why the Spirit takes Scrooge back to the convivial Christmas party of his youth. Includes extract from the novella in which Fezziwig is introduced for students to highlight and annotate.

This 20-slide lesson uses Ernest Hemingway’s classic short story, ‘Cat in the Rain’, to teach students about the ‘Iceberg Theory’ and analytical inference. Using Hemingway’s story as the model, students are encouraged to think about how the story functions on a symbolic level in spite of its apparent simplicity and minimalism. Marking the difference between comprehension/fact and inference, students use the story to think about ‘reading between the lines’ in this text and in so many others. Using the cat as a symbol, Hemingway’s story is deliciously ambiguous, and students are prompted to think not only about how writers hide details beneath the surface (like an iceberg), but also how they too can create powerful meanings and effects in their own creative writing. This lesson works well for KS3 and GCSE students. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included for students. A copy of Hemingway’s story is also included in this resource. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 23-slide lesson is the perfect analytical summary of Old Major’s character function in Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’. Students are encouraged to consider Old Major’s purpose within the novella and how he links contextually to the allegory of corrupted Communism. Emphasis is placed on his rhetorical skill, foreshadowing, and structural significance. There are many questions posed for students to answer either individually or collaboratively. At the end of the lesson is an extended essay question for students to answer (either in class or as a homework activity). This lesson (which could easily be split into multiple lessons) is ideal for high-attaining GCSE students but could also be used to challenge KS3 pupils. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 22-slide lesson explores Sujata Bhatt’s poem, ‘Muliebrity’. The lesson begins by considering western cultural conditioning regarding images of dung and excrement, before delving into Hindu beliefs regarding cows and how this should affect our reading of the poem. Sujata Bhatt’s life and work is introduced, and statements from Bhatt relating to her own childhood are explored in light of the poem. Close attention is paid to the poem’s language, particularly the use of extended metaphor and olfactory imagery. The poem’s form, structure, and rhyme are explored, and key vocabulary is presented to allow students to write about the poem with precision and sophistication. The poem’s key themes are discussed, and its tone and message are debated in light of multiple readings. Questions and discussion points are featured throughout the lesson. At the end of the lesson is an exam-style question. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 23-slide lesson provides an introduction to John Boyne’s ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’. The lesson introduces students to the novel’s key ideas of friendship and childhood, as well as the historical context of World War II and anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included for students throughout, and the lesson ends with a creative writing task that could be used in class or as a homework activity. This lesson is designed for KS3 pupils. Given the novel’s subject matter, some historical context deals with mature content. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 27-slide lesson explores Simon Armitage’s poem, ‘Hitcher’. The lesson analyses each stanza in comprehensive detail, considering Armitage’s use of language, structure, form, and poetic technique. The speaker’s increasing frustration and anger is examined closely as the poem builds to its infamous climax. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included for students. One task involves creative writing, while an essay question is featured at the end of the lesson. This lesson is ideal for upper-KS3 or GCSE students. A copy of the poem is also included in this resource. PowerPoint and Word Doc saved as PDFs.

This 32-slide lesson on Wilfred Owen’s harrowing portrait of the First World War, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, contains a detailed and comprehensive exploration of the poem. The lesson includes context on the war, propaganda, and Owen himself, as well as analysis and questions on each stanza of the poem, including structure and form. Questions and tasks are included, with a final essay question for students (and two exemplar paragraphs) at the end. A copy of the poem is included too. This lesson is ideal for KS3 (particularly HA) and GCSE students, but could be easily adapted. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This is a thorough and comprehensive 30-slide lesson on Robert Browning’s poem ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, which is studied as part of AQA’s GCSE Literature anthology on ‘Love & Relationships’. This lesson unpicks key themes of obsession, possessiveness, delusion, control and violence with close analysis of language, form and structure. Students are also encouraged to consider Browning’s use of the dramatic monologue form and how the poem’s gender dynamics might act as a mode of satirising masculinity. Also included are many small questions, tasks and discussion points for students, as well as a ‘mock’ essay question in which students must compare ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ to another poem, just like in the real AQA exam. The lesson is aimed at GCSE students but could be adapted for KS3. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 23-slide lesson explores Philip Larkin’s poem, ‘The Mower’. The lesson considers how the hedgehog in the poem - as well as the speaker’s reaction to what he has done to it - functions symbolically and metaphorically. Close attention is paid to Larkin’s language, structure, form, and rhythm, while the poem’s message is deconstructed in light of the elegy’s suspiciously neat conclusion. Larkin’s poetic and literary influences are also explored with regard to the poem’s genre and imagery. Questions, discussion points, and tasks are included. An essay question is also featured for students. This resource includes a copy of the poem. The lesson is ideal for analysing this poem as an ‘unseen’ text at GCSE, but could also work with KS3 or A level groups. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 26-slide lesson explores the major themes of violence and crime in Stevenson’s novella, ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. The lesson documents key examples of violence and crime in the story, analysing Stevenson’s language, symbolism, setting, and intentions, and making links to the Gothic genre as well as the Victorian fascination with criminality and criminology. Questions and discussion points are included throughout, and the lesson ends with a mock exam question on the theme of violence and crime. This lesson is ideal for those studying the text at GCSE (particularly those with AQA), but could also be used for KS3. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 20-slide lesson explores how props and stagecraft are used in Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Important theatrical context is discussed in order to analyse how Wilde’s play relates to ideas of farce, melodrama, and Naturalism in the late 19th century. Students are encouraged to reflect upon the various props used in the play and their symbolic significance. Costumes, entrances, exits, asides, off-stage characters, and dramatic irony are also considered. PowerPoint saved as PDF.

This 35-slide lesson explores the character of King Duncan in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. Analysing the role of Duncan alongside the Divine Right of Kings and Great Chain of Being, as well as James I’s personal ideas of Kingship, this lesson deconstructs how Shakespeare uses Duncan to represent an idealised and legitimate image of the monarchy in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot. Students are encouraged to consider Duncan’s characterisation as Macbeth’s foil, how Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to heighten the tragedy of Duncan’s death, and how Duncan links to the play’s key themes. High-grade vocabulary is featured too. Questions, discussion points and tasks are included for students, and the lesson ends with an essay question based on an extract from the play. This lesson is ideal for those studying ‘Macbeth’ for GCSE. PowerPoint saved as PDF.