Norman Conquest The aim of this lesson is to assess how scary the Black Death was in1348. Students are introduced to the idea of why the Black Death was so scary, learning about the symptoms of the Bubonic Plague and Pneumonic Plague and the devastation that lay in its wake from empty villages today to paintings showing devastation and death. They learn key words such as contagion, flagellants, humours and miasmas and how these words link to the learning objective through a thinking quilt. They will also find out how the peasants gained in status as a result of the reduction of the workforce and how this gave them more bargaining power with their landlords over wages. The plenary is a Black Death connecting wall which requires students to link four key phrases and to explain how and why they link together. This lesson is therefore designed to be interactive, fun, challenging and engaging and could be used over two lessons. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end using a rate ‘o’ meter to show the progress of learning. The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.

The British Empire The aim of this lesson is to discover how tough it was to colonise the New World for British settlers and why America fought for its independence from Britain. The lesson begins with the Pilgrim Fathers and students discuss the reasons why they and many families began to settle in the New World. Further analysis requires students to judge how tough it was to set up in America and the impact they made on the local communities they came into contact with. Having made their judgements, students can engage in an extended writing task with key words and a writing frame to use if required. The second part the lesson analyses the reasons why the colonists became so angry with Britain and claiming no taxation without representation. Students are then required to give reasons as to why a war ensued and the significance of George Washington of the Declaration of Independence. A true or false plenary focuses on the legacy of Britain’s Empire in America and its links to today. The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials 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 analyse how Henry ruled the country through his government and to make comparisons to how the country is ruled today. Students are given information on Henry’s government, including his relationship with Parliament and the controversial Council Learned and his use of Justices of the Peace. To check their understanding, students undertake a quiz with 150 points up for grabs to give it a competitive edge! A final odd one out activity uses some retrieval practice from the lesson. 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 and retrieval practice activities.

Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 The aim of this lesson is to analyse the significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the impact upon Europe with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Students begin by recapping key facts about the Wall and how citizens of East Germany could travel to the west through Austria. They will learn how the fall and destruction of the wall came about an given significance ratings to ten consequences, which students can use to complete an extended writing task. There are some excellent video links to watch as well as images to decipher during the lesson. A GCSE question tackling the importance of the fall of the wall can be completed at the end of the lesson with help and a writing frame provided. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning. The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question. The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice. It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45 The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the extent to which the Nazis created a totalitarian state Students learn how the Nazis ‘reformed’ the police system, increased the activities of the SS, SD and Gestapo and controlled the courts and judicial system. They will complete group work, with detailed information provided, ready to present their findings to the class and justify the extent of totalitarianism in Nazi Germany. The plenary will require the students to make newspaper headlines from their learning. The lesson is quite literacy heavy and may have to be delivered over two lessons. There is some exam practice to be completed at the end, with a focused markscheme provided if required. An enquiry question posed at the beginning of the lesson will be revisited throughout to track the progress of learning during the lesson and the subsequent unit of work. The lesson is available in PowerPoint format and can be customised to suit specific needs. It is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.

The English Civil War The aim of this lesson is to decide why an audacious plot was hatched against James 1 and why might the plotters themselves be framed by the Government itself. This lesson is therefore split into two. The first half examines the men and their roles in the infamous plot to blow up the King in 1605. Students are introduced through talking heads to Guy Fawkes and King James. They also study sources from the time, including Robert Cecil’s account of the plot and analyse the words trying to make inferences between fact and fiction. A model answer is provided to aid their analytical skills. Furthermore they will evaluate the causes and consequences of the plot and its significance today. The second part of the lesson will require the interpretation of a number of sources to decide if the plotters were actually framed by Cecil and the government who allegedly knew about the plot all along and actively encouraged it. Students have to decide for themselves before reaching a judgement using key words to aid them. This is excellent groundwork for source analysis they will later tackle at GCSE. The plenary is to talk like an historian answering key questions using information from the lesson. 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 resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The English Civil War This lesson aims to question the character and personality of Oliver Cromwell. Students will decide if he set out to kill the King from the start and make himself a despot or did circumstances dictate that this was his only option? Moreover, with his puritanical ideas, did he make England and the Commonwealth a better place for it, or was it exclusive only to the minority? This will ultimately be down to students’ own judgement as they plot his actions on a grid and justify their own conclusions. Analysis of video evidence also helps to track his ideas and personality and gives the students ideas for writing his obituary and question why his burial place in Westminster Abbey bears the inscription 1658-1661. 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 resource includes suggested teaching strategies and 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 decide which Tudor explorer deserves the most recognition in a seafaring ‘Hall of Fame’. Students are led through the journeys and discoveries of sailors in Elizabethan England from the Cabot brothers to Gerardus Mercator and his brilliant Atlas. (This was to give the navigator a map, where a line of constant bearing would cross all meridians at the same angle) The sailors achievements and the problems they encountered are given through learning activities such as a play your cards right, video evidence, a true or false quiz and a plotting exercise of Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe on a blank world map. The main task is to analyse and evaluate the achievements of Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh with differentiated resource materials. Students are given specific criteria to judge this before ultimately deciding who had the greatest impact and should be given the most recognition for Elizabethan exploration. The lesson concludes with a literacy key word game. 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 A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603 The aim of this lesson is to evaluate to what extend Elizabeth presided over a Golden Age. Students are introduced to the concept of an Elizabethan Golden Age. They focus on achievements in the arts, popular culture, improved communication and education, patronage and increasing wealth to decide to what extent a Golden Age existed, or whether it was a myth created by a very astute monarch who used propaganda extremely cleverly to put across a cult of Gloriana. A detailed markscheme accompanies some exam practice towards the end of the lesson. There are video links and images to accompany the lesson, culminating in some exam proactice at the end. 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.

Who was Genghis Khan and how did he rule the largest land area in history? Students learn about his early life and background and how he became such a powerful ruler. They are required to judge two things about him; how good a leader was he and was he was unifier who brought peace and stability or did he bring chaos and destruction to his Empire? They are required to debate and complete an extended piece of writing with argument words and a scaffolding structure to help them decide. The plenary consolidates their learning about Genghis Khan with key words used in the lesson, from which examples must be given for each. 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

The Tudors The aim of this lesson is to decide whether Mary deserved her nickname ‘Bloody Mary’. Students analyse the nursery rhyme and have to work out the hidden meanings, with two possible versions given to them. Using video evidence, students build up a picture of Mary before they have to then make their judgements, using differentiated sources of information as to whether she was bloody or not. For further challenge, they also have to debate and decide if it is weak or strong evidence. 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 Tudors The aim of this lesson is to understand why Henry VIII is always judged to be larger than life. It focuses on four portraits of Henry VIII from the early years until his death. Students will aim to write a descriptive piece about Henry by using each other to write it. When they finish, they will have a masterful descriptive paragraph which has been co-constructed by a number of them (with help from a word list). This activity is great for differentiation and team work. The lesson also attempts to banish the perception that Henry was always a large person who ate a lot. This is shown through video evidence and a thinking quilt. The plenary gets the students to summarise Henry’s match statistics and what he ‘should’ be remembered for. 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 lesson examines the different punishments that the slaves endured on the plantations. Different sources are analysed showing the positive and negative aspects of plantation life as students have to extract fact from fiction. Students then look at the different forms of resistance from passive to active resistance and decide the best and most effective form of resistance and justify their reasons. There is also a chance of being more interactive as students are selected to take on some forms resistance which the class have to find out and decide. 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.

American Civil Rights What were the Jim Crow Laws in America? Who was Jim Crow? Why did this fictional character significantly impact on American society, especially in the south in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? What happened if you did not adhere to these laws? These questions and more will be answered in this lesson. Students analyse how black people in America were treated and why discrimination was inherent in some parts of American society and backed up by statute. They also have to recognise how these laws affected education, family life, social time and employment and prioritise the severest of these laws in their judgement. The lesson ends with some challenging questions using de bono’s 6 thinking hats. 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.

GCSE Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship This lesson focuses on the difficult topics of proportional representation and the new Weimar constitution. The lesson centres around how the Weimar Government was formed out of the chaos of the end of World War 1 and how the politicians decided to meet in the quieter town of Weimar. Setting up a new constitution was the first step toward democracy but as the students find out through second order concept skills there were many similarities as well as differences to that of the Kaiser’s government. Included in the lesson are a number of diagrams and information sheets for group work, an AFL sheet and links to the main GCSE question asked on the first slide. The students are introduced to the GCSE question on political and economic problems that the Weimar Government faced but this question spans a number of lessons before they can attempt it. 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.

Britain: Health and the People c1000 to present This 29 page Revision Guide sets out the four main types of questions to be asked from the start and gives ideas and easy ways of how to answer them. The course starts with the Greek ideas of the four humours and Galen’s contribution before tackling medieval medicine through to the present day. Each topic is set out in a clear and easy format for students to learn, remember and help them in their revision programme. The Revision Guide gives 18 typical exam questions asked on each topic (from significance, to how useful, similarities and the factors) and how to put this into practice with model answers. Furthermore it shows how the highest marks can be achieved, which can be different from other Revision Guides which focus more on content than skills for this course. This Revision Guide can be used for revision, interleaving, within the classroom as well for homework purposes. This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and can be adapted and changed to suit using PDF and Word formats. Any reviews would be gratefully received. Please feel free to follow me on X (twitter) @pilgrim17.

Britain: Health and the People c1000 to present The aims of this lesson is threefold; for students to recognise the introduction of sulphonamides and how the first magic bullets were discovered, analyse the growth of the pharmaceutical industry and evaluate the difficulties of eradicating the new superbugs which are resistant to antibiotics and alternative medicines. The first task for students is to analyse the work of Ehrlich and Domagk in their quest to cure diseases such as syphilis, malaria and blood poisoning. Students then have to judge how significant their work was and justify this in a grid (from not a all, partially, moderately, substantially and significantly) The second task evaluates the work of the Pharmaceuticals such as Wellcome, KlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, the positive work they do into researching new medicines but also looking at the negatives as well, such as the drug Thalidomide. The final part of the lesson requires students to analyse how and why there are diseases resistant to antibiotics using current research available from the NHS as well as reasons why people are turning in increasing numbers to alternative treatments and medicines such as acupuncture and homeopathy. 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 Holocaust This lesson directly tackles the overriding enquiry question throughout this sequence of lessons, namely who was to blame for the holocaust? They will continue to map out their ideas (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how difficult it is to blame a single individual or event for this catastrophe. The lesson focuses on Police Battalion 101 who were ‘instructed’ by their Commander, Major Trapp to execute Jews in Poland and send many others to the extermination camps. Two historians have conducted extensive research in this area and either concluded they were willing executioners or just ordinary men, victims of an extraordinary situation. It is up to the students to make up their own minds by tracking one of the battalion’s first ‘actions’ against 1800 Polish Jews living in the village of Jozefow. There are accompanying worksheets and grids to colour code as well as excellent links to video footage and differentiated tasks to help students of all abilities. Other figures to blame in the lesson debate include Adolf Eichmann, the organiser of the transportation of the Jews as well as the German public, train drivers, Camp Commandants or foreign governments who failed to respond. Students have to prioritise their responsibility list in the plenary. The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.

Edexcel 9-1 Medicine in Britain, Thematic study and historic environment This lesson aims to explain to the students the tricks and skills of answering the source questions set in this part of the exam. They will learn how to comment on the utility and purpose of sources, by questioning their provenance as well as using their own knowledge. They will analyse a variety of sources and be able to question their relevance and well as their limitations. Students will also write about the details of a source and follow these up with questions of their own. I have provided exemplar answers in this lesson and examples of the skills to use when completing GCSE exam questions. Activities also include recall and retrieval, analysis and evaluation of different types of sources as well as GCSE exam question practice. The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. It comes in Powerpoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.

World War II The aim of this lesson is to understand how the Allies won the Battle of the Atlantic, a phrase coined by Winston Churchill during the war. Churchill himself felt this was one of the most serious threats facing the Allies and therefore during the lesson, students have to evaluate and explain how serious the threat was, before analysing the different ways the Allies subsequently reduced the threat of the U boats. Students learn why the Atlantic was so vital to Britain and how the U boat wolf packs impacted on supplies and rationing in Britain. There is various video footage to use from the BBC, as well as the boasts of Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses. A find and fix activity for the plenary checks student understanding of the lesson and allow them to discuss what they have learnt. 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 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.