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 the lesson is to analyse the power struggles between Edward II and his barons.
Students begin by discovering the problems of Edward II, which they will rate in order of seriousness (and will find they were mostly brought on by himself!).
They then complete an extended writing task with key literacy words given to help them.
Students will learn about the central character of the story, a leading nobleman named Roger Mortimer and complete a missing word activity to find out why and how he escaped his imprisonment in the Tower of London.
They then have to rate how much power the King had, in the struggles with this leading nobleman and his own wife, Isabella.
Some hinge questions and a literacy task complete the lesson.
They continue to plot the power struggle between the king, the church, the barons and the people on a graph. In a sequence of lessons they answer the question – who ruled in medieval England?
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Printable worksheets
Differentiated tasks
Suggested teaching strategies
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
The Tudors
This lesson aims to find out the real reason for the sinking of Henry’s flagship, the Mary Rose.
The lesson starts with Henry crying (literally) and students have to decode a message to find out why.
Students are then given four options as to why it sank, from which they give their initial opinions.
Further analysis of video footage and written evidence will allow them to form their own judgements to be able to complete an extended writing task.
This lesson uses Henry as a talking head, discussing how it was impossible to sink it in the first place, due to his genius and finally responding to the students’ evidence in a witty plenary.
This lesson is engaging and fun and gives a different perspective of looking at Tudor seafaring and what was aboard the ships of the time.
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
The aim of this lesson is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Nazi economy.
I have always found this topic very dry; therefore I have tried to make it more accessible, more challenging as well as more relevant.
Students are taken on a journey of success, from video footage of the time to Goebbels propaganda, a fall in unemployment as well as the ‘Strength Through Joy’ scheme.
However further analysis, especially with aims of the Four Year Plan, shows the enormous cracks appearing in Nazi economic policy. A further look at the Home Front also proves how desperate Germans had become.
Students will complete their own chart and scrutinise the evidence to come up with their own conclusions before deciding if the Nazis truly brought economic success.
The GCSE question at the end focuses on which groups were more affected with Nazi economic policies and a self and peer assessment task is included to help the students mark their answers.
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 Industrial Revolution
This lesson aims to evaluate the problems within Industrial towns and the impact they had on the growing population during the Industrial Revolution.
The lesson starts by analysing the source from Punch in 1852, 'A Court For King Cholera’, which is later annotated to help aid discussion.
Various images, video evidence and headlines allow students to build up a picture, which they then have to explain to a friend in a letter - using scaffolding and a writing frame if required.
Students also evaluate how and why the living conditions became like this and question if this was the case across the country as they are given further evidence from the wealthy in Victorian England, comparing the dwellings of the rich and poor.
Students will therefore be able by the end of the lesson be able to give an effective and balanced answer to this lesson.
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.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to question how frightening it was to fight on the Western Front.
This lesson centres around the case of Private Harry Farr who was shot for ‘misbehaving before the enemy in such a manner as to show cowardice.’
Students re-enact his court martial using the witness statements before his sentencing and ultimately decide if his sentence was justified…
The start of the lesson requires them to define a coward and more importantly question what shellshock is, which the Government at the time refused to recognise.
Students will analyse why so many soldiers refused to fight and preferred to desert instead fully aware of the consequences of their actions.
The students will use visual and source evidence and apply higher order thinking skills at the end of the lesson in an extended piece of writing.
The plenary questions students’ beliefs on cowardice and challenges their original assumptions at the beginning of 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.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present
The aim of this lesson is to assess the significance of John Hunter in his lifetime and beyond and decide if and why he deserves a place in a Medical Hall of Fame.
An analysis of his life, his surgical brilliance and his specimen collection (complete with a brilliant video link to Professor Robert Winston’s short documentary on his life) gives the students the tools necessary to be able to tackle and write a longer analytical essay question with substantiated judgements.
Students ultimately have to judge how far he deserves a place in the Medical Hall of Fame, with help and sentence starters given if required.
The plenary is in the form of a literacy challenge, using key words from the lesson.
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 aim of this lesson is for students to analyse and evaluate the winning tactics used in by William in the Battle of Hastings
Students commence by analysing the Bayeux Tapestry, sources of the battle and information on the leadership qualities of the two combatants.
They then complete a differentiated task using a storyboard to map out the events of the battle before completing a summarising pyramid on William’s skills.
There is also a chance to recreate the battle with suggestions of role play before the plenary requires some recall and retention skills.
An optional homework suggestion is also provided.
The resource is therefore 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 analyse and evaluate the reasons why anti-Semitism prevailed in Europe and in particular Britain during the Middle Ages.
Students study the causes and consequences of this hatred and jealousy and have to decide and justify why so little was done to defend the Jewish community leading to their expulsion in Norwich.
A case study of Mosse Mokke and his wife Abigale, Jewish tax collectors in Medieval Norwich shows how anti-Semitism was rife in Britain in the Middle Ages and how they were portrayed by the local community.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons in the bundle is to ask who was to blame for the holocaust?
Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how difficult it is to blame a single individual or event for this catastrophe.
There is some excellent video footage to accompany the lesson and printable worksheets which are differentiated.
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.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
This lesson aims to assess the importance of Billy the Kid in the continued problems of law and order in the West.
Students learn about his story from a young age to him acquiring his notorious reputation and have to emoji rate each part of it to judge how bad he really was.
They have to give reasons for each of their judgements before they give an overall assessment of his life. There is an excellent link to a documentary to reinforce the learning.
There is some follow up exam question practice using the ‘importance’ question worth 8 marks, with help given if needed.
The plenary uses key letters of the alphabet to link to the learning of the lesson.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some recall retrieval practice is also included linking their prior knowledge of law and order in the towns
It comes in Powerpoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
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.
This resource (in booklet form) sets out the Edexcel GCSE 9-1 Modern Depth Study, Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1939 in two sides of A4.
This is ideal for the student who wants a quick recap before the exam as it includes all the main details in bullet form.
It is also great for quickly printing and giving out for revision lessons, especially when the students claim they cannot remember anything they have been taught!
This resource can be also used for homework and interleaving or for quickly recapping topics.
This resource can also be easily emailed to parents to help students with their revision studies at home or put on the school’s digital platform.
I have included both PDF and Word formats if there is a need to change or adapt.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to challenge the view that Mary’s foreign policy was a disaster.
Students are given the context to Europe at Mary’s accession to the throne and how she was brought into the Habsburg-Valois conflict as a result of her marriage to Philip II of Spain.
There are some differentiated questions to answer using some extended comprehension, as well a discussion on the pros and cons of her foreign policy.
This is a case study of the capture of Calais from a recent BBC magazine article which sets up an extract practice question to answer, complete with a detailed markscheme to help if required.
The plenary challenges what students have learnt in the lesson and some assumptions made by historians.
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 rate the power of the Church under Henry VII.
To understand the power of the Church, students have to learn how it pervaded throughout peoples’ lives. They also have to comprehend the structure of the Church, from the Pope in Rome, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops and their dioceses as well as the ordinary priests, monks and nuns.
Students will also undertake a research task in groups within the lesson to discover the influence of the Church in politics as well as the underlying corruption at its heart.
Some exam question practice focuses on this corruption and a grid assessing whether the Church was in need of reform will go some way to help students answer the question. Some scaffolding, help and tips as well as a generic markscheme come as standard
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.
This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons apply the skills necessary to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the Kaiser and the problems he faced as well as the implementation of the Treaty of Versailles and the challenges faced by the Weimar Government.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the new Weimar Constitution and the causes and consequences of Stresemann’s policies.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example the Treaty of Versailles and the Munich Beer Hall Putsch lessons whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on political and economic problems of the Weimar Republic as well as questioning whether the later 1920’s really were a Golden Age.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Kaiser Wilhelm II (free resource)
L2 The Kaiser’s Government and Weltpolitik
L3 The impact of World War 1 on Germany (free resource)
L4 The Weimar Constitution and Political Parties
L5 The Treaty of Versailles
L6 Political Uprisings – the Spartacists and the Kapp Putsch (free resource)
L7 The Ruhr Crisis and Hyperinflation
L8 The Munich Beer Hall Putsch
L9 Gustav Stresemann
L10 The Golden Age of Stresemann
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing this unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
The resources all include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
This bundle is the second part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c.1000-present.
I have taught this course for more than 20 years now and have again decided to completely overhaul my lessons to bring them up to date with the latest teaching and learning ideas I have picked up and with a focus on the new 9-1 GCSE.
Furthermore I have dispensed with learning objectives to focus on specific enquiry based questions which address the knowledge and skills required for the GCSE questions.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons are all differentiated and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the brilliance of the surgical skills of John Hunter to the discovery of the vaccination for smallpox by Edward Jenner.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the development of ideas about disease and the causes and consequences for surgery with the discovery and anaesthetics and antiseptics.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example Public Health in the 19th Century whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the progression or regression of medicine from the Renaissance pioneers such as Vesalius, Pare and Harvey to the discovery and isolation of germs by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch.
The lessons are as follows:
L8 Renaissance Medicine
L9 Medicine in the 17th and 18th Century (free resource)
L10 John Hunter
L11 Edward Jenner and smallpox
L12 Surgery in the 19th Century
L13 Florence Nightingale and hospitals
L14 Pasteur, Koch and Tyndall
L15 Public Health in the 19th Century
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing this unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
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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.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
This series of eight lessons introduce the second part of the AQA Conflict and Tension course 1918-39 and focus on The League of Nations.
Lessons come complete with suggested teaching strategies and differentiated learning tasks.
I have included many of the typical GCSE questions in these lessons from source analysis, write an account to the longer 16+4 mark questions.
The lessons are broken down into the following:
L1: Introduction to the League of Nations
L2: The structure of the League of Nations
L3: The Commissions
L4: How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920’s?
L5: The decline of International Cooperation (free resource)
L6: The Manchurian Crisis
L7: The Abyssinian Crisis
L8: Was the League destined to fail?
Lessons also include some retrieval practice activities come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
This bundle is the second part in a series of lessons I have created for Edexcel GCSE 9-1: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991.
The lessons are all differentiated, fully resourced, amendable on Powerpoint and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the building of the Berlin Wall and its eventual collapse to the end of the Cold War.
They will also explain and analyse (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in tensions between East and West such as détente and Reagan’s Second Cold War and the causes and consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Prague Spring, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Gorbachev’s new ideas.
The lessons are as follows:
L12 Berlin Ultimatum
L13 Building the Berlin Wall
L14 Cuba and the Bay of Pigs
L15 Cuban Missile Crisis
L16 Prague Spring
L17 Détente and SALT 1
L18 Helsinki Accords and SALT 2
L19 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
L20 Reagan and the Second Cold War
L21 Gorbachev’s new ideas
L22 Fall of the Berlin Wall
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question of how close was the world to a nuclear war using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited throughout 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 form mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resources include retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE exam practice questions.
They all come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This bundle is the second part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons apply the skills necessary to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the Wall Street Crash and the transformation of the Nazi Party into an electable and indelible force.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the economic problems facing Germany and the causes and consequences of Hitler becoming Chancellor.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example The Night of the Long Knives lesson whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the limited opposition in Nazi Germany as it moved from a democratic into a totalitarian state.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 The Wall Street Crash
L2 The rise of the Nazis and the transformation of the Nazi Party
L3 Hitler becomes Chancellor (free resource)
L4 Reichstag Fire and Enabling Act
L5 The Night of the Long Knives
L6 The Nazi Police State
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing this unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
Each resource gives suggested teaching strategies and are differentiated . They come in PDF and Powerpoint formats and can be amended and changed to suit.
The resources all include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come 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.
