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.
This bundle is the complete 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 by Hitler of the Nazis into an electable 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 lessons whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the limited opposition in Nazi Germany and the conversion into a totalitarian state.
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 Super Stresemann
L10 The Golden Age of Stresemann
L11 The Wall Street Crash
L12 The rise of the Nazis and the transformation of the Nazi Party
L13 How did Hitler become Chancellor? (free resource)
L14 How did Hitler consolidate his power?
L15 The Night of the Long Knives
L16 The Nazi Police State
L17 The Nazis and the economy
L18The Hitler Youth
L19 The role of women in Nazi Germany
L20 The Nazis and the Churches
L21 Hitler’s hate list
L22 The Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht
L23 The Final Solution
L24 Opposition in Nazi Germany
L25 The German Home Front 1939-45 (free resource)
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing each 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.
Please note that due to Bundle restrictions of 20 lessons, the free resources (L1, L3, L6, L13, L25) need to be downloaded seperately.
The Holocaust
The aims of this lesson are to explain who was put on trial at Nuremberg, the crimes they were charged with and their category of criminality ranging from major offenders to followers.
Students begin by learning about Denazification and how this was implemented immediately after the war, before Cold War tensions took over. They also learn why Nuremberg was chosen as the place for the trials.
The main task requires them to analyse up to 8 individuals and how they ‘conducted’ themselves during World War II. Students then have to decide which of the four war crimes they committed and which category of prisoner they would come under.
They also have to judge whether their sentences would be death by shooting, hanging or a prison sentence. The verdicts are given later in the Powerpoint so students can check and compare their answers.
There is an accompanying video task which looks at Nuremberg 75 years on, with some brilliant footage of holocaust survivors and the son of Hans Frank, the Butcher of Poland.
The central enquiry of this and the other lessons in the bundle is to ask who was to blame for the holocaust?
Students map out their ideas each lesson (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 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.
Cold War
The aim of this lesson is to understand the causes behind the building of the Berlin Wall and the consequences for Berliners.
Students analyse the differences between life on the East and West sides of Berlin to understand why thousands of Germans continued to cross the border to make a better life in West Berlin.
The second part of the lesson focuses on the building of the wall, using statistics, graffiti art and the personal account of Conrad Shuman in a thinking quilt to develop further understanding and evaluate its significance in the context of the Cold War.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age.
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.
Britain: Health and the People, C.1000AD to present
With revision constantly in full swing, I have started to make these revision workbooks which my Year 11 students love (as an alternative to death by Powerpoint).
We pick certain sections each lesson to revise and come up with model answers and discuss the best way to tackle each question in the best way, considering exam time constraints.
I print out the sheets in A5, which the students stick in their books and use to colour code
Students answer the questions next to or underneath the sheets.
They can also be used for homework or interleaving.
The resource comes in Word format if there is a need to change or adapt.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present
The aim of this lesson is to determine how much of an impact the Renaissance had on Medicine.
Students study and analyse Vesalius, Pare and Harvey with their individual specialisms and contributions at the time of the Renaissance.
They then have to decide who has made the most important contribution to medicine and justify their decisions thinking about short, medium and long term significance.
Opposition to all three is evaluated as students decide who was being criticised and why.
There is a brilliant video link to bbc teach as well as learning activities to check understanding.
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 II
The aim of this lesson is to understand how the British Government prepared for war and if they were successful in doing so.
The lesson begins by analysing a source and making inferences about the precautions to be taken in times of war.
Furthermore students will also have to decide the Government’s priorities by making judgements as to whether they are low or high, from ideas such as rationing to aid raids or war work to conscription.
They will then complete some research focusing on four areas: warning people of air attacks, the Homeguard, the use of gas masks and the blackout.
Students will plot what the government did or didn’t do on a grid and then after analysing and processing the evidence, justify their conclusions using a colour coding evaluation table as well as completing an extended written task.
The plenary requires students to answer differentiated questions to check their understanding.
It 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.
The British Empire
This lesson aims to question whether Britain was in India for the right reasons.
The subject matter is the East India Company and a study of how it slowly took over the country of India taking with it a precious diamond and making a fortune out of its trade. There are some great video links used here from the BBC and Dan Snow which help bring reasoning and clarity.
Students are asked if we should return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to India, the jewel in the British crown, after analysing some important evidence.
Students are also given key words to help them with their arguments as to whether the diamond should be returned to India or not.
The final activity focuses on the legacy of the East India Company and who benefitted from their rule before the company’s eventual collapse.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question of who benefitted from the Empire 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 GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present
The aim of this lesson is to assess the contributions made by Pasteur and Koch to the improvements in medicine in the late 19th Century.
By the late 1800’s, the focus had moved away from antiseptic to aseptic surgery.
Students will learn how Pasteur made his monumental breakthrough in 1861 with his Germ Theory, aided through the factors of chance, government and scientific experimentation.
However as he was only a chemist it was the German doctor Robert Koch who applied Pasteur’s theory to human disease to convince doubters that microscopic germs could kill something as advanced as a human.
Students will rate their progress in these discoveries and make substantiated judgements on their effectiveness and performance in the development of vaccines.
There are also links to Bastion and Tyndall and their similar rivalry in Britain.
The lesson includes GCSE practice questions on factors and significance with source analysis and video links throughout.
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 revision bundle for AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People c.1000 to present is to help and thoroughly prepare students for the GCSE exam in the summer.
It contains the following:
A complete Revision Guide with 18 GCSE practice questions, model answers and tips on how to access the exam questions.
Flashcards to help improve recall, retrieval and retention skills. Each of the individuals from the course are summarised and explain the significance of each to achieve the higher marks in the GCSE exam.
A Summary Revision Guide which summarises all the course on two sides of A4. This is easy to print and great for the student who wants a quick refresh on the course content when revising.
A Health and the People work booklet revising the 4 main question types in the exam.
All the resources are in Word format so can be easily changed or adapted to suit.
AQA GCSE A Level 1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
I have produced this bundle of resources on Elizabeth to help A level history students access the course and make the transition from GCSE to A Level smoothly.
Elizabeth’s 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. During it a secure Church of England was established. The image of Elizabeth’s reign is one of triumph and success. However, it faced many difficulties with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France through Scotland. The nation also suffered from high prices and severe economic depression, especially in the countryside, during the 1590s.
The enquiry question throughout this bundle of resources will be to question what sort of a Queen Elizabeth was throughout her reign and how and why she changed or adapted over time .
Students will learn how Elizabeth dealt with religion in the Religious Settlement of 1559. They will assess her character and aims and how Elizabeth’s Government worked on a local as well as National level.
They will judge the significance of her foreign policy in relation to Catholic threats at home and abroad as well as her attempts to tackle poverty with increasing inflation and poor harvests.
Finally they will evaluate how much the arts, education, exploration and colonisation can be attributed to a Golden Age.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Introduction
L2 Problems
L3 Consolidation of power
L4 Government of Elizabeth
L5 Elizabeth and marriage
L6 Background to the Religious Settlement
L7 Elizabethan Religious Settlement
L8 Catholic threats and rebellion
L9 Mary, Queen of Scots
L10 The Puritan threat (free resource)
L11 Foreign Policy introduction
L12 War with Spain
L13 Elizabeth and Ireland
L14 Economy and Society
L15 Trade and exploration
L16 Elizabeth Golden Age
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.
This is the final bundle of four I have created for the Tudors A Level history course.
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 received.
American Civil RIghts
The aim of this lesson is to show a different approach to achieving Civil Rights pursued by Malcolm X.
The start of the lesson asks why Malcolm Little changed his name and makes a link to the film by Spike Lee.
It follows his early life chronologically and some higher order thinking questions are posed.
The lesson then looks at his later life and beliefs and analyses some of his views and most famous quotations in a fun and engaging way.
Students have to finally decide the most important aspects of his legacy and prioritise them, as well as deciding the fundamental differences of his beliefs and approach compared to Martin Luther King.
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 Norman Conquest
The aim of this lesson is to challenge the overarching question as to whether the punishments fitted the crimes in the Middle Ages.
There is a key focus on literacy throughout the lesson, as students are introduced to a number of key words which they have to fit into a missing word activity and well as using some differentiated story source scholarship to define certain key words using inference and analytical skills.
This resource uses visuals to explain the punishments used in the Middle Ages as well as the causes of crime.
There is also some excellent BBC video footage to accompany the lesson.
Students will be required to complete an extended piece of writing, using the key words they have learnt from the lesson as well as having to justify and explain the key concepts of crime and punishment in an odd one out activity.
This lesson is designed to be interactive, fun, challenging and engaging.
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 French Revolution
The aim of this lesson is to investigate if Napoleon was a hero or villain.
Students are introduced to Napoleon and make some initial judgements with reference to his upbringing and his early life.
The main task is to analyse some giebn evidence which is focused on his career, personal life, his reforms in France and how he became Emperor of France.
They are required to complete their analysis with some extended writing, complete with key words and a writing frame if required.
The plenary questions whether we should regard him as a legend with links to people in the modern era.
The lesson comes with 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.
It is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to question how much Britain valued its Empire soldiers in World War 1.
This subject is very topical at present as historians such as David Olusoga are putting cultural diversity at the forefront of our British history curriculum.
The starting point of the lesson is to analyse the story of Private Johnson Beharry, focusing on his background and the reasons why he was awarded a Victoria Cross, through source or video evidence.
Students will then link his story to World War 1, where they will learn how more V.C.’s were awarded to Empire soldiers than anyone else and discover which parts of the Empire contributed to the war effort and why.
There are case studies in the lesson focused on troops from the Punjab and the West Indies.
The main task students face is to judge how valued Empire soldiers were at the time and if not, how and why they were viewed differently. Ultimately they will need to clarify why this varied widely according to country and race.
They will also be required to write an extended answer using their own opinions, with argument words and scaffolding given if required.
There is a plethora of video evidence to accompany this lesson, with brilliant clips from the BBC and other sources.
Students will finally consolidate their learning by creating sentences from
‘fragments’ and a retrieval task.
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.
Cold War
The aim of this lesson is to explain how Germany was divided post 1945, as agreed at the Potsdam Conference and analyse the subsequent Berlin blockade and airlift which followed.
Students learn the intentions of both the USA and USSR and how this played out in the Cold War theatre of Europe.
This is a great opportunity for students to be creative as they plot the preceding events on an airport landing strip, using symbols and signs found in every international airport.
They will track the obstacles thrown up by Stalin and the immediate problems this caused in Berlin as he attempted to prevent any further western moves in Germany and with his aim of starving the West Berliners into submission.
Therefore this is intended to be a fun, challenging and engaging lesson to suit all abilities.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age.
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 GCSE 9-1 Medicine Through Time, c1250-present
These key individual flashcards aim to get the students thinking of key people and their significance in medicine.
I always find students have revised thoroughly for exams, but do not push their grades into the higher brackets as they focus on content rather than the individual’s impact and importance, particularly over time.
These flashcards are great when addressing the 12 mark ‘explain why’ question, particularly when arguing over rapid change.
There are 33 individuals listed, including those for the Historic Environment; The British sector of the Western Front.
Students can use them in class (I use them as starters and plenaries) or to take home and use for their own personal revision programme.
I also display them in the classroom (enlarged) and use when teaching this unit of study.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
The aim of the lesson is to question whether the America was justified in dropping two atomic bombs of Japan in 1945.
Students will give their initial thoughts and reasons why before evidence is presented before them.
Various modern interpretations suggest that Japan was about to unconditionally surrender and therefore the use of the atomic bomb was unnecessary.
Therefore students are given the context of the war in the Pacific with four scary facts - the Japanese refusal to surrender in battle, the treatment of prisoners of war, the role of Kamikaze pilots and the end of the war in Europe in April 1945.
There are some fabulous video links and visual images to analyse.
The final task requires students to categorise information into reasons why America decided to use its lethal weapons, including a show of power to Stalin and the Soviet Union.
The plenary uses a true or false quiz to check recall and understanding.
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.
The Tudors
This lesson aims to question the importance of Edward VI and his priorities when he became King.
Recent research has claimed Edward was not a sickly boy at all and therefore this is not the emphasis of the lesson.
Instead students have to think about the importance of religion and the changes he made, even to the extent of altering the succession.
The lesson starts with a play your cards right game, the cards turning and the dates revealed as students are tested on their chronological understanding.
In true world cup fashion, they have to narrow down his fixtures culminating in a final and winning priority.
This lesson challenges students using numbers, a true or false quiz, source work as well as video evidence to give the students a thorough knowledge of his six year reign.
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
This lesson poses the question ‘How much of a threat did Mary, Queen of Scots pose to Elizabeth I?’
Students are taken through Mary’s life from becoming Queen of Scotland to the controversy of her husbands and her eventual house arrest in England.
Through sources, visual and video evidence, students have conclude how much of a threat Mary posed to Elizabeth, after pleading their case through the eyes of Mary herself.
There is some help to write an extended answer using key words which help mention cause and effect, to sequence events and to emphasise judgements.
There is also analysis of the Babington Plot and a deciphering exercise to work out on how Mary was implicated.
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.
Elizabethan England 1568-1603
This Revision Guide is aimed to help students prepare fully for their GCSE exam in this unit of study
Within this 45 page Revision Guide, there are 18 GCSE exam questions and guidance of how to answer them throughout.
At the start of the Guide, there are tips on how the students can access the four main questions and advice on how to put this into practice with model answers given from the exam board.
There are also eight new pages in the Guide dedicated to the 2024 Environmental Study, Americas and Drake's Circumnaviation with a focus on knowledge and understanding and second order concepts.
Six possible exam questions have been included which AQA could ask focusing on the main themes from the AQA guidance given.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed, easy to follow and allows the students to access the higher grades in the examination.
It comes in PDF and Word format and can be adapted and changed to suit.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated.
