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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is decide how much of a threat the Lovell and Stafford rebellions were.
Students are given the information about the two rebellions and then have to categorise them into causes, consequences and events.
There is an odd one out activity included to check understanding where students have to justify the correct and incorrect answers.
The plenary requires the challenge and thinking of but, because and so.
Students have to opportunity to plan and write an essay on how much of a threat to Henry the rebellions were. A planning sheet, markscheme and help is given if required.
There is an enquiry question posed and revisited 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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question preconceived ideas of Henry being a strong and successful King.
Students will need to analyse video and source evidence as well as complete some multiple choice questions to decide how much of a strong and successful king he really was.
They will also study the Tudor family tree and explain why he might have had a more secure and legitimate claim to the English throne than his father did.
There is a missing word activity for the plenary as students work out the correct answers to what they have learned 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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to assess the impact of humanism and the arts on Henry VIII.
At first glance and with a title in some literature of Henry as ‘the Renaissance Prince’, it would be easy to assume he fully embraced humanism and all the new ideas from Italy, However, an in depth analysis from this lesson will bring this view into question.
Students begin with a reminder and recap of the Renaissance and the humanist influencers of Erasmus, Colet and More. There are some excellent podcast and video links to further enhance student understanding of their ideas and beliefs.
Students are then required to justify the view that Henry fully embraced humanist ideas with a focus on education, paintings, tapestries and music. This can be then tackled in some exam question practice, with help given and a markscheme supplied.
The plenary requires the completion of some multiple choice questions to check learning 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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate how much society changed in Tudor England under Henry VIII.
Students begin the lesson by recalling how society was structured under Henry VII.
They are then required to predict how much society will change, before rating how much change there actually was (using a rate ‘o’ meter gauge).
They will then be able to evaluate how much change or continuity Tudor society underwent and why and for which social groups.
The plenary asks what is the question from the answers given, using information from the lesson
There is some exam practice to complete with a writing frame, some prompts and a markscheme to use if required.
There is an enquiry question posed during 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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question whether Edward was fit to rule from the start.
Students are given some context into previous child Kings of England and their problems as well as some analysis of his Chronicle, which show him to be somewhat cold and callous.
Some excellent video links make reference to Edward’s early years and growing up. Students are also challenged to predict what Edward might have done if he had ruled on his own.
There is some guided reading to complete with a focus on Edward’s attitude to kingship, his personality and character and main influences.
The plenary tests their knowledge in a real or rubbish activity and which also aims to dispel some popular myths about Edward.
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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question if Mary I was fit to rule as a queen and as a woman.
Students are given the context to Mary’s succession as Queen Regnant and are challenged in some differentiated questions to predict what will happen in her short reign.
Using evidence from her background, some guided reading and source extracts, students have to evaluate how and why the historiography of Mary has changed over time.
They are also introduced to her key people and advisors and decide who would have said what in talking heads plenary.
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 these set of resources for ‘Britain as the first industrial nation and its impact on society’ which comes under the ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain 1745-1901 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)
Pupils will learn the significance and impact of the changes in Britain as a result of the new inventions and be able to understand the causes and consequences of these.
They will learn key historical terms such as migration, entrepreneur, industrialised and patent as well as being able to see the change and continuity of transport.
They will be given sources to analyse such as the evidence of child labour in the coal mines as well as the lives of Victorian women and make historical inferences from them.
Furthermore they will be able to write structured accounts and narratives of the changes as a result of Factory Reforms as well as answering GCSE style questions using structured thinking quilts.
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations and ideas used by current history teachers.
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.
I strongly recommend using GCSE style questions from the exam board and markschemes to assess the pupils at the end of this unit, which are always available on line.
The 12 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 An introduction to the Industrial Revolution in Britain
L2 Why were people on the move?
L3 What were the industrial towns like?
L4 Transport in the Industrial Revolution
L5 Richard Arkwright – a case study (free resource)
L6 Factories and working conditions
L7 Coal mining
L8 Reform of working conditions
L9 Victorian crime and punishment
L10 Victorian prisons
L11 The Metropolitan Police Force
L12 Jack the Ripper
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745.
I have designed these 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 Elizabeth 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 with the Wars of the Roses and the accession of Henry VII to the throne, key historical terms such as dissolution, Catholic and Protestant and vagrancy, recognising the causes and consequences of Henry’s break with Rome, analysing the significance of the Black Tudors, Edward VI and Elizabeth I as well as evaluating sources and interpretations such as the reputation of Mary 1.
The 20 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 The War of the Roses
L2 Henry VII
L3 An introduction to Henry VIII
L4 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for love?
L5 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for faith?
L6 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for money?
L7 The dissolution of the monasteries
L8 The sinking of the Mary Rose
L9 Edward VI
L10 Bloody Mary
L11 Black Tudors
L12 The young Elizabeth
L13 The Elizabethan Settlement (free resource)
L14 Elizabeth and the problem of marriage
L15 Elizabeth and her portraits
L16 How did Elizabeth deal with Mary, Queen of Scots?
L17 Famous explorers (Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh)
L18 The Spanish Armada
L19 Elizabeth, poverty and the Poor Law
L20 Elizabethan Theatre and the Globe
Due to TES restrictions on Bundles, the introduction to the Tudors, which is a free lesson, must be downloaded separately.
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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question how effective the burning of heretics was in Mary’s reign to restore Catholicism.
The lesson begins with some exam extract practice and then focuses on Cardinal Pole’s positive approach at first to gathering ‘the lost sheep’ back into the Catholic fold.
Students learn the process of how a person was condemned to death in Marian England by burning at the stake and why the first executions encouraged large crowds to gather.
Using some more ‘burning’ evidence, students have to evaluate how effective they were in Marian England, and be able to give both sides of the argument, including revisionist views from Dr Anna Whitelock.
Students will finally have to analyse and decide where Protestantism and Catholicism was embedded around the country if at all and the significance of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
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.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
The aim of this lesson is to anaylse how Hitler united with Austria in 1938.
Students will learn how Hitler fulfilled one of his aims of uniting Germans, the Volksdeutsche, by invading Austria.
This time, Hitler has learned from his mistakes from the Dollfuss affair, but is now in a position of strength.
Students have to decide how ruthless he is in his demands from the Austrian Prime Minister, Schuschnigg.
Students complete a true or false quiz, before analysing video footage and undertaking a card sort activity to determine the causes of consequences of the invasion.
This will enable the students to tackle the ‘write an account’ question.
There is a retrieval grid to complete for the plenary.
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, some retrieval practice, 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 aim of this lesson is to question whether the ‘new woman’ in the Weimar Republic was no more than a myth.
The beginning of the lesson focuses on social welfare and who was entitled to what at the end of the war. However, students learn how many people felt cheated by the system and assess why so many different groups felt aggrieved.
In the second part of the lesson, students ascertain who was classed as the new woman in Weimar Germany. They also evaluate whether the new freedoms afforded to women were in fact inconsequential in areas such as politics, employment and sexual freedom.
Case studies for four women are scrutinised before students complete some exam practice, with help given if required.
The plenary requires students to compete some fragmented sentences.
There is a 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.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1945
This 28 page revision guide is tailored to the above AQA specification for GCSE 9-1. It is broken down into 3 main sections: Peace Keeping, the League of Nations and the Road to war.
This revision guide includes practice exam questions and gives examples on how to answer each. This revision guide will enable all learners to achieve the higher grades with clear guidance on how to achieve them. The questions target the four main questions in the exam from source analysis, chronology, cause and consequence, significance and evaluation.
The information is also broken down into an easy to use format to aid the students. The Guide can be used for revision, interleaving, home learning as well as class teaching. For home learning, each student taking GCSE History in my school has a copy assigned to them on the google drive and it is used frequently when using google classroom assignments, such as homework and revision for assessments.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and can be edited and changed to suit, It comes in both Word and PDF format.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated. Please email me for a free copy of any of my resources worth £3.00 if you do.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to question whether the Nazi economic miracle between 1933-9 was merely a propaganda myth.
The exam practice question is introduced from the start and revisited throughout to check judgement and understanding.
Students are introduced to the economic policies of Hjalmar Schacht and how he managed to stimulate the economy through for example building homes and autobahns, mefo bills and tax concessions.
Students soon discover how Hitler’s meddling and appointment of Hermann Goering to the Four Year Plan, spelt disaster for the economy. Through a variety of tasks including a true or false quiz, a positive or negative challenge and plotting on a graph, they soon build up a picture of what the reality was for the economy despite the contrary messages from propaganda.
The plenary requires them to describe, explain, list,correct or erase the learning from the lesson.
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 British Empire
This lesson has been designed to look at specific countries which were part of the British Empire.
Claimed by Captain James Cook in 1768, students study how and why the British used Australia as a penal colony.
Using a real life example of a young boy sent there for petty crimes, students analyse his and others stories from the start of the voyage through to life in the colony.
They track and ultimately decide the worst aspects for the convicts.
There is lots of video footage to consolidate understanding and the plenary evaluates the conditions and lives led by the convicts
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
This lesson is split into two parts; the first part explains the triangular trade and the various goods and transactions that occurred in the slave trade.
Students are required to find this out through documentary and video evidence before plotting it on a table. A mini plenary checks their understanding and uses a ‘what if’ question to challenge their thinking.
The second part analyses the story of Olaudah Equiano and how his life was before and after he was captured.
However the students are challenged to question his version of events and how there is conflicting evidence in his account.
The final part of this lesson analyses how the slaves were captured by whom, prioritising which were the most common forms of capture and using sources of evidence to extract further information.
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 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The overarching aim of this and the subsequent bundle of lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth tried to assert and establish her authority in the early years of her reign.
The lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of her difficulties in trying to overcome this.
This lesson aims to evaluate the threats posed by the Northern rebellion and the Ridolfi plot to Elizabeth. Students analyse these threats and dangers to Elizabeth both through video footage and written text before coming to their own conclusions based on the criteria set out for them.
They complete an essay question on what they have learnt, using the structure provided and key argument words.
Ultimately they will recognise the seriousness and therefore significance of the threats to Elizabeth in her early years.
The lesson includes learning activities such as structuring an answer, analysing and evaluating the plots, the use of video evidence and using tier 2 and 3 vocabulary and argument words in an answer.
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 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The overarching aim of this and the subsequent bundle of lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth tried to assert and establish her authority in the early years of her reign.
The lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of her difficulties in trying to overcome this.
The decision to be a Protestant country not surprisingly caused Elizabeth many problems from Catholics at home and abroad. The lesson therefore is in two parts.
The first section deals with the Catholic threats at home, mostly from rebellions surrounding Mary Queen of Scots. Students plot the rebellions on a graph deciding how significant they were before being posed some challenging questions.
The second part of the lesson focuses on the threats posed by Allen and Campion and the Jesuits.
After analysing the evidence they decide on the most important ingredients for their threat to Elizabeth (also focusing on short and long term problems) and place them on shelves (prioritising the most important) ready to go into a cauldron.
The final part of the lesson involves deciding how Elizabeth reacted to these threats and planning and completing a GCSE ‘write an account’ question.
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 American West 1835-1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
This lesson aims to examine the role of the two leaders of the Mormons; Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and the story of the Mormon migration West to Salt Lake City.
Students learn the teachings of the Mormons and how isolationist the movement became in the face of so much hostility and persecution.
Students have a choice of tasks using key questions or a story board to plot the life of Young and then annotate some text to analyse the leadership qualities of Brigham Young.
They also complete a prioritisation activity as well as a planning thinking quilt of Brigham Young to ascertain his successful migration west.
There is some GCSE exam question practice on the ‘importance’ question, with help if required and a noughts and crosses quiz at the end to reinforce the learning of the lesson.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice is also included.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format is there is a wish to adapt or change.
The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the threat the Puritans posed to Elizabeth…
The lesson begins with a definition and how the Puritans were becoming a problem for Elizabeth.
Four areas of Puritanism are analysed (from Parliament, local reform movements, the Church from within and separatism) from which the students are able to tackle an exam question, with help and prompts given if required, including a detailed markscheme.
The plenary requires the students to discuss and rate how much the threat of Puritanism declined under Elizabeth and the possible reasons for this.
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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to assess the threat posed by Mary, Queen of Scots throughout her life to Elizabeth.
The lesson begins with some context of Mary’s life before students’ decide her threat to Elizabeth before she flees to England from Scotland.
In the second part of the lesson, students learn about the different plots against Elizabeth involving Mary and how Elizabeth and her Privy Council dealt with each in turn.
There is also a diamond nine prioritising exercise as to the main reasons why Elizabeth was so reluctant to execute Mary after the Babington plot.
Some literacy and extract exam practice is also included with help given and a markscheme supplied
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.
