I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
The aim of this lesson is to analyse why slaves escaped from their masters and evaluate the significance of Harriet Tubman.
The lesson begins by asking why slaves ran away and how would they prepare for it.
Some source scholarship focuses on an advert placed in 1838 to retrieve a runaway slave. Key questions on inference require students to analyse and read between the lines on why the owner was desperate to recapture the slave.
The second part of the lesson examines the underground railroad and the roles of those who helped the escapees and relocate to the northern states. Harriet Tubman was instrumental in this and students undertake an extended written piece on her significance.
Finally some famous escapes are highlighted and debated by the students as to which were the most daring, interesting, lucky and famous.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The French Revolution
The aim of this lesson is to understand the significance of the Tennis Court Oath
Students are introduced to some key words before they analyse what tipped the French people over the edge. This includes some interactive slides explaining the rise in prices particularly with bread.
The main task is to complete some source scholarship on the Tennis Court Oath, as the events are broken down into sections, with some modelling of how to complete this task if required.
There are some key questions on the Tennis Court Oath to summarise, followed by a significance activity, where the students rate each significance by colour coding a thermometer and then justifying their answers and the choices they have made.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to assess and judge the strength of the economy under Henry VIII.
Students begin by recapping Henry VII and the measures he undertook to deal with a changing economy.
This is then compared to Henry VIII as the students have to test the judgement made by John Guy who said England was ‘economically healthier, more expansive and more optimistic at any time since the Roman occupation’.
Students are also required to give an efficient rating on Henry VIII’s policy on the economy and explain if he could have been more efficient (as with a household energy rating).
The plenary asks students to expand their explanations, which is a brilliant idea taken from @MrFitzHistory
There is some exam practice to complete with a supplied writing frame and markscheme to use if required.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
I have created a set of resources for ‘the causes and events of the civil wars throughout Britain’ which comes under the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745 in the National Curriculum.
These lessons are also useful if you are studying this period at GCSE (such as AQA 9-1 GCSE Power and the People and OCR Explaining the Modern World)
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and debate from the BBC and other sources.
The lessons are fully adaptable in Powerpoint format and can be changed to suit. I have included a couple of free lessons to give an idea of what is being offered.
The lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 Who was James I?
L2 The Gunpowder Plot
L3 Who was Charles I
L4 The Causes of the English Civil War (free resource)
L5 Cavaliers and Roundheads
L6 How did the two sides fight?
L7 The execution of Charles I
L8 Who was Oliver Cromwell
L9 Witches and Witchcraft (free resource)
L10 Charles II and the Restoration
L11 The Glorious Revolution
Additional lessons:
L12 Causes of the Great Fire of London
L13 Consequences of the Great Fire of London
( + Key Word History Display included)
Any reviews would be greatly appreciated.
With the National Curriculum in mind, I have created a set of resources for ‘the challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day’ which focus on the First World War and the Peace Settlement.
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand how frightening World War 1 was from its inception with the alliance system and the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand to the battlefields on the Western Front and how industrialisation changed the fighting into a static war of attrition.
I have created , readapted and used these lessons to challenge and engage students, but also to show how much fun learning about this part of history really is.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout such as the continuity and change in the recruitment of men for Kitchener’s army, the causes of the war and the consequences which followed, the similarities and differences of the weapons used on the battlefields, the significance of women on the Home Front and Empire soldiers in the trenches and interpretations about whether it is fair to call Field Marshall Haig as the ‘Butcher of the Somme.’
Each lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and debate from the BBC and other sources. The lessons are fully adaptable and can be changed to suit.
The 14 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 The long term causes of WWI
L2 The short term causes of WWI
L3 Recruitment in WWI
L4 Why build trenches?
L5 Was life in the trenches all bad?
L6 Is it fair to call Haig ‘the Butcher of the Somme’?
L7 Cowardice in WWI
L8 War in the Air
L9 Weapons of WWI
L10 The role of women in WWI
L11 Conscientious Objectors
L12 The end of WWI and the Armistice
L13 The Treaty of Versailles
L14 Empire Soldiers
Key Word Literacy Display included
All the resources come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The lessons also include differentiated materials and suggested teaching strategies.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to decide if Winston Churchill deserves the title as the ‘Greatest Briton’?
When the BBC conducted a poll entitled ‘Who is the Greatest Briton?’ Winston Churchill came out on top, besting some strong competition.
This lesson therefore challenges this assumption and evaluates the four areas the BBC cites as his fortitude; for being the greatest British Gentleman, for inspiring the nation, for symbolising the spirit and strength of Britain and for his comforting speeches.
The evidence for this task is through radio broadcasts, video footage and source analysis (using a battery rating) from which students will conclude and either concur or not with the poll.
A splat the bubble plenary will test their new assumptions.
This lesson is ideal as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills or teaching the interwar years or WWII at Key stage 4.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The Weimar Republic 1918-1928
I have produced this bundle of resources on Weimar Germany 1918-1928 to help A Level students access the course and help them to gain a deeper understanding of Germany’s past through political, social, economic and cultural perspectives.
The enquiry question throughout these lessons will be to question how weak or strong Germany was politically, economically or socially.
Students will learn how the impact of war had a profound effect on the establishment of the Weimar Republic and the significance and consequences of the Peace Settlement.
They will also learn about political instability, with extremism from the left and right, the problems of coalition government and the state of the Republic by 1923 with the invasion of the Ruhr and hyperinflation.
Finally students will assess the issues facing Germany from 1924 and the role of individuals such as Stresemann and his impact on the Golden Age of Germany in his domestic and foreign policy.
The resources provided include detailed lesson plans, case studies, source documents for analysis, chronological tasks and exam practice questions with comprehensive mark schemes.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Introduction and pre-war Germany
L2 Political crisis of 1918
L3 The German Revolution
L4 The Weimar Constitution
L5 Treaty of Versailles
L6 Hyperinflation
L7 Invasion of the Ruhr (free resource)
L8 Political instability and extremism
L9 100 Days of Stresemann
L10 Economic miracles
L11 Weimar Women
L12 Weimar Youth
L13 Jewish people in Weimar
L14 Weimar Culture
L15 Weimar Politics, 1924-8
L16 Germany’s international position
The lessons include the two types of exam question used, with examples of how to tackle them, using model answers, helpful hints and tips, structuring and scaffolding as well as markschemes. However, please refer to the AQA website for further assessment materials as they are subject to copyright.
The lessons are also differentiated and fully resourced and allow students to reach the very top marks.
If you have any questions about the lessons, please email me via my TES shop, or any other information about the course. I would also welcome any reviews, which would be gratefully appreciated.
Rise of the Dictators
This lesson aims to challenge preconceptions and assumptions that Hitler was a monster from birth, determined to commit mass murder and genocide.
Growing up with his parents, his schooling, his move to Vienna and his life as a soldier are scrutinised as students have many opportunities to make judgements which are ultimately challenged at the end.
The lesson starts with finding out what the students know about Germany after World War 1 and which statements Hitler could have said or supported during his life.
The lesson includes a lot of visual evidence (such as Hitler’s propaganda posters) and well as video evidence of his life as a young boy.
There is a differentiated research activity in which there is a chance for students to conduct their own independent investigations before reporting their final conclusions to the class.
This lesson would also be ideal for a non specialist or as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills, teaching the interwar years or World War 2 at Key Stage 4.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to assess if Henry broke with Rome for love.
Henry VIII is on the TV show ‘Take me out’ with Paddy McGuiness.
He is looking for love and has some questions for some eligible ladies.
The students of course have to interview the ladies first (as Paddy always does) and then feedback to the class.
Henry, complete with speaking voice, discusses his options and the reasons for his choices. At the same time he explains the consequences of his actions as the students fill in a grid.
This is a fun, engaging lesson, but with the serious and challenging concept of the break with Rome at the fore.
At the end of the lesson, students have to write an extended paragraph using key words to explaining the reasons for Henry becoming the Supreme Head of the Church.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745.
I have designed the lessons to be challenging and engaging as well as fun and enjoyable.
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand how peoples’ lives were shaped by the Tudors from Henry VII to Mary I, how they changed the course of British history and why we are still fascinated by their lives today.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout; for example, the concepts of continuity and change under Henry VII after the Wars of the Roses, recognising the causes and consequences of Henry’s break with Rome, explaining the similarities and differences in the reigns of the Tudors, analysing the significance of the Black Tudors and Edward VI as well as evaluating sources and interpretations, such as the reputation of Mary 1.
The 12 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 The War of the Roses
L2 An introduction to the Tudors (free lesson)
L3 Henry VII
L4 Henry VIII introduction
L5 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for love?
L6 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for faith?
L7 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for money?
L8 The dissolution of the monasteries
L9 The sinking of the Mary Rose
L10 Edward VI
L11 Bloody Mary
L12 Black Tudors
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and debate from the BBC and other sources.
The lessons are fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit. I have included a free lesson to give an idea of what is being offered.
Although this bundle is aimed at Key Stage 3, it is ideal if you are studying the Tudors for GCSE as it covers the main themes, concepts and skills required.
The aim of this lesson is for the students to assess how ‘great’ King Alfred was.
Students are given the context to Alfred’s reign with his attempt to unite the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to fight back against the Vikings and their area known as Danelaw.
There are quite a few key words used in this lesson, so students have to complete a heads and tails task.
They are also required to complete a missing word activity as well as analysing his statue at Winchester.
The main task will be judge and rate out of ten which of the sixteen statements make Alfred ‘great’ or not. An extended writing activity will allow them to make judgements and justify their decisions.
There is also chance to complete a verbal boxing debate using some of the key ideas of his rule from the lesson.
The plenary will check understanding with a truth or lie activity.
This lesson is also excellent as an introduction to studying the Anglo-Saxons and Normans for GCSE.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
The aim of the lesson is to question if Japan was justified in attacking Pearl Harbour without a declaration of war against the United States.
This question is revisited later in the lesson to see if the students have changed their minds.
As this is a new theatre of war and not in Europe, the lesson sets out clearly where the war was fought in the Pacific, the location of Pearl Harbour and its significance to the USA.
Students are required to discover what Japan wanted and the reasons behind their surprise attack with a choice of options available to piece the jigsaw together.
An excellent activity of Pearl Harbour in numbers, which is an idea from KNNTeach, enables students to clearly recognise the initial damage done to Pearl Harbour by the Japanese attack.
There are video links to film footage as well as a plenary activity from which the students have to make up questions to the answers given on post it notes.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format is there is a wish to change and adapt.
This lesson aims to find out if the negative reputation of King John being nasty is a fair one.
To do this, students begin by evaluating a number of historical interpretations from statues, Disney cartoons, portraits, a Horrible Histories interpretation as well using a number of sources of King John.
These are then analysed and quested using a grid sheet to decide their final judgement if King John really was a ‘meanie’.
The plenary uses a summarising pyramid to test and challenge their knowledge and understanding.
Students will continue to plot the power struggle between the king, the church, the barons and the people in a sequence of lessons.
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Links to video footage
Printable worksheets
Differentiated tasks
Suggested teaching strategies
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson analyses the reasons why Hitler executed the leaders of the SA.
After a recap of the previous lesson, students start unpicking the events leading to the Night of the Long Knives.
Students are put into Hitler’s shoes; who should he choose to lead him forward in his new Third Reich - the Brownshirts or the Army?
The conclusions are never totally clear in favour of one or the other, making sure the students are challenged and have to think things through and justify their choices.
The events are also explained through a text mapping grid which the students also have to decipher as well as video evidence.
There is also a choice of two plenaries from Connect 4 to a talk like an historian quiz and some GCSE exam question practice to complete if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Middle Passage and its horrendous journey for the slaves is shown in this lesson through video, audio and source based evidence.
Students analyse how the slaves were treated and the conditions they endured.
They then have to catalogue these conditions in a grid before trying to persuade a film director, who is making a film on slavery, that he is being misled about the journey. The advise the director is being given is from a slave ship owner, Captain Thomas Tobin.
Some differentiated key questions check their understanding through the lesson.
Students finally have to prioritise the worst conditions the slaves faced and justify their choices in an extension activity.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Suffragettes
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate how far women in Britain have gained equal rights.
From the Representation of the People’s Act in 1918, to the 1928 Act giving all women the right to vote at 21, has this meant women are now on an equal footing to men?
Unfortunately as the given adverts (both on tv and posters) suggest, there is still a long way to go.
Laws have been introduced since the war to give women more freedoms and rights; students have to decide if these changes have affected their home life, their personal life or their work life or do they interlink all together?
However, whilst some brilliant BBC footage show the changes women have undergone, students analyse recent figures which show the gender pay gap and the differences between part and full time work to prove the gap is still clearly significant and falls short of equality.
Their final task is to therefore answer the main aim of the lesson and decide how far women have gained equal rights in Britain, with a focus on the extent of change.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson aims to evaluate how successful Hitler was in consolidating his power after becoming Chancellor.
As Hitler contrived to win more votes, a succession of events throughout 1933 and 1934 helped him achieve this.
Students therefore have to rate how much power in their opinion he gained from each event (such as the use of Article 48 and the Enabling Act), colour coding the power indicators after each.
Then they plot these events on a living graph, thus mapping out this process, also having to decide the legality or illegality of these events.
Alternatively they are given a timeline in which they analyse each event and decide the positives and negatives of each of them and whether these contributed to an increase or decrease in his power.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c.1000 to present
This lesson aims to assess how much the medical knowledge doctors and surgeons had.
Surgery was of course limited without effective painkillers and bleeding whilst shock and infection were common.
Students learn the various treatments on offer from wise women, quacks and barber surgeons and in turn rate each treatment and its effectiveness, justifying and concluding why this is.
The lesson also includes a thinking quilt and a GCSE practice question where students critique an answer and suggest ways to improve it, using specific skills when answering a ‘usefulness’ 8 mark question.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
The Norman Conquest
This lesson aims to question the qualities of William the Conqueror as the new leader of England.
Students will learn and discover that to many of the English, he was a foreigner and a usurper, who spoke French and only favoured his friends.
Therefore this lesson focuses on his policies towards those who opposed his rule and the ‘harrying of the north.’
Students have to analyse the threat level posed by many of these rebels (by colour coding thermometers next to each rebellion) as well as evaluating how much control he was able to exert over them, by making judgements using a control ‘o’ meter.
There are accompanying worksheets and video links to reinforce the learning.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
The Holocaust
The aim of this lesson is to understand why we should remember the holocaust and why we commemorate it every year.
Some misconceptions are given at the start, such as what the holocaust actual means and the differences between concentration and extermination camps.
Throughout the lesson the students build up their ideas and add them around a lightbulb to focus on the central aims of the lesson.
Students are also given numbers and have to decide the significance of each from 6 million to 2 minutes and 2 seconds or 90cm by 90cm for example.
The final part of the lesson refers to the powerful and moving story of Erica, thrown off the train by her parents before she reached Auschwitz and therefore knowing very little about herself.
The plenary focuses on some odd ones out exercises and recent genocides to emphasise the importance of remembering the holocaust.
There is some excellent video footage to accompany the lesson.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
