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.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson is a study of the impact war had on peoples’ lives in Germany between 1914-1918.
Students have to evaluate the main changes in Germany during the war and if they were positive or negative changes
For example, the Kaiser being forced to share his power could be seen as a positive thing to many, but there was also a terrible shortage of food as the allied naval blockade really began to bite.
Worksheets are supplied to use for evidence, as the students box up their findings ready to tackle a timed question for GCSE question practice.
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 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 study of the fascinating Weimar culture that Germany experienced in the 1920s and evaluate how it changed Germany society with its links to modern society today.
Art, film, architecture, music and cabaret, theatre and fashion radically changed in Germany and led to the Golden Age which Stresemann had laid the delicate foundations for.
Students analyse these changes through artwork, sources and music of the time as well as a thinking quilt which focuses on key words and terms used in the lesson.
B
y the end, they have to judge how these changes have impacted upon Germany society and explain why these changes have left a lasting legacy on culture and society today.
The final part of the lesson is to answer a GCSE practice question on how Weimar culture impacted upon lives in Germany in the 1920s.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson introduces students to Stresemann and his policies.
The starter is interactive as each student has a character card and will introduce themselves to each other to find out their worries and concerns with Germany between 1918-1923.
At the end of the lesson the students will judge if Stresemann has made their lives better or not and justify their reasons.
Was he a brilliant statesman who solved Germany’s problems or did he just paper over the cracks?
There are a variety of learning tasks for the students to complete which include a quiz where the students pick up points for the correct answers, source analysis, colour coding activities on Stresemann’s economic and political policies as well as a GCSE exam practice question, with help given if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to judge whether the Munich Beer Hall Putsch was a success or a disaster for the Nazis
The start of the lesson focuses on what Hitler wanted and students have to decide why he instigated a Putsch in the first place in Bavaria.
With reference to text, source analysis and video clips, students then have to prioritise the short term consequences for Hitler and his followers and the main reasons why it failed.
The final part of the lesson focuses on what we now see as his success. Students again have to give reasons why he came out of this episode unscathed and to some extent even bolstered his reputation in the long term.
In the plenary, students have to relay what they have learnt in a summarising pyramid.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945:Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on two key questions - how were the Ruhr crisis and hyperinflation so closely linked together and how did they create both economic and political problems for the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1923?
The lesson is split into two parts; the first focusing on why the French decided to invade the Ruhr region of Germany and secondly the consequences for them and for Germany when they did.
Students have to answer key questions on the invasion and analyse sources which infer French brutality.
A literacy task to follow challenges students’ understanding of the key words used.
The second part of the lesson explains the causes and consequences of hyperinflation with a focus on the winners and well as the losers.
Some GCSE question practice at the end gives a student friendly markscheme to peer and self assess.
There is a plethora of video footage and primary sources to analyse throughout the lesson as well as simplified and chronological explanations.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on why the new Government was so unpopular and why there were so many political uprisings against it.
Students have to question whether these putsches were merely political in nature or whether there were economic forces at play as well.
Students also have to analyse the Spartacist rising and the Kapp Putsch and understand their causes and why they ultimately failed.
There are some excellent links to video footage as well as a colour coding literacy thinking quilt.
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 analyse the terms of the Treay of Versailles and its impact upon Weimar Germany.
From the start, students have to understand how difficult it was for the Allies (the Big Three) to decide how to treat Germany at the end of the war.
Moreover when they did eventually agree, how did it affect Germany and what were it terms?
The emphasis is also on how students can remember the terms of the treaty, especially with the land lost, complete with difficult spellings such as Schleswig-Holstein and Alsace-Lorraine.
Learning tasks include making notes from video evidence, creating a chatterbox, analysing sources, completing quizzes and filling in a ‘find someone who can’ worksheet (a brilliant idea from Aaron Wilkes).
The second part of the lesson focuses on GCSE exam practice using cartoon sources related to the Treaty as well as how to answer the first three source questions on the exam, with help on how to answer each.
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.
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.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on Weltpolitik and the dangers for the Kaiser faced with increasing industrialisation in the country and his pursuit of creating an Empire abroad so that ‘Germany could have its place in the sun’.
Included in the lesson are a number of sources and charts, links to videos and information for the students to analyse and evaluate to decide the strength of Germany under the Kaiser and its weakenesses/
Some GCSE exam question practice is included with help given to answer them if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Suffragettes
Why were so many people in the Nineteenth Century prepared to die for universal suffrage?
How had the Industrial Revolution created so many divisions and changes in society where towns such as Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham had no MP’s and thus went unrepresented in Parliament?
Could Parliament see the injustice of denying the vote to working class men and industrialists who were making Britain the workshop of the world?
Thus the story starts with why having a vote is so important today and who had the vote in the Nineteenth Century.
Students are given a slip at the beginning of the lesson only to realise many of them don’t have a vote much to their annoyance.
The final part of the lesson is to analyse the events of the Peterloo Massacre (named after the battle of Waterloo) and why the magistrates of Manchester were so scared at giving people the vote.
However the battlelines were drawn and so setting the seeds for the Suffragette movement at the turn of the century.
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 Suffragettes
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate how far women in Britain have gained equal rights.
From the Representation of the People’s Act in 1918, to the 1928 Act giving all women the right to vote at 21, has this meant women are now on an equal footing to men?
Unfortunately as the given adverts (both on tv and posters) suggest, there is still a long way to go.
Laws have been introduced since the war to give women more freedoms and rights; students have to decide if these changes have affected their home life, their personal life or their work life or do they interlink all together?
However, whilst some brilliant BBC footage show the changes women have undergone, students analyse recent figures which show the gender pay gap and the differences between part and full time work to prove the gap is still clearly significant and falls short of equality.
Their final task is to therefore answer the main aim of the lesson and decide how far women have gained equal rights in Britain, with a focus on the extent of change.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Suffragettes
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the Cat and Mouse Act of 1913 and the actions of the Liberal Government against the Suffragettes in their quest for the vote
But as the students will have to work out, this act was used for propaganda purposes by both sides to put each other in an unfavourable light. It was after all the Suffragettes who coined the phrase the Cat and Mouse Act and made sure everyone knew the callous actions of the Liberal Government!
As well as completing a prioritising exercise and a literacy challenge, an excellent video allows students to question how it worked and why the Government used it (petrified they might have Suffragette ‘martyrs’ dying in prison).
At the same time, they had no doubts about criminalising the Suffragettes with mug shots from prison as the Suffragettes refused to accept their actions as ‘criminal’ and instead ‘political’ (thus refusing to have their photographs taken as shown on the opening slide).
Students have to analyse the various propaganda sources from each side and decide the messages, who they were targeted against and how effective they were in their aims.
These opinions have to then be tweeted according to various people in society and how they might have be influenced by seeing them.
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 aims to introduce the main contenders to the vacant throne of England in 1066 with the deat hof Edward the Confessor. Students have to understand why a chair (a throne) would cause a war and read a script to understand who the main contenders were and the reasons they put forward for having a claim to the English throne.
Diffetentiated bloom’s questions aim to deepen their understanding and get them to analyse who has the best claim and why (thus extracting fact from fiction). A brilliant video link to English heritage and extra work sheets will give them all the knowledge required to create a newspaper report or table to ultimately evaluate these claims of the contenders
The resource comes in PDF and Powerpoint formats 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 accompanying script for the lesson can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/medieval-britain-script-for-the-normans-who-had-the-best-claim-to-the-english-throne-in-1066-11456418
If you like this resource, please visit my shop where I have created further resources on Medieval Britain which can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/PilgrimHistory
The Industrial Revolution
This lesson aims to examine the revolution in transport which affected Britain between 1750-1900.
Students first look at the problems of transport in Britain. They examine the roads (if you could call them that) and look at how they were changed and improved in conjunction with the railways and canals.
There are sources to analyse and a differentiated group work task as well as video footage giving further clarity.
Ultimately students have to evaluate the biggest impact these changes made in Britain, whether it be increased wealth and international trade to the standardisation of time or being connected throughout the British Empire.
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.
This lesson links to my previous one on the causes of the Great Fire of London.
In this lesson, students have to decide how lucky London was to have the fire in the first place.
They are introduced to conflicting arguments before they are given a plethora of evidence from which they will be able decide and make judgements on how to break the news to the current Mayor of London.
They are subsequently given argument words to help them construct a persuasive letter.
For extra challenge students have to decide if London was lucky or not in the short and long term and break down the evidence into political, social, economic or religious reasons.
This is a fun, entertaining as well as a challenging lesson and would also suit a non specialist.
The lesson is aimed at key stage 3, but can be delivered at key stage 2 also.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
This lesson aims to examine the reasons why King John quarrelled with his barons and ultimately was forced to sign the Magna Carta.
But on which terms was King John forced to accept?
Firstly students have to work out what the terms of the Magna Carta were.
Secondly students have to evaluate the significance of the Magna Carta in the short, medium and long term for King John, for future Kings of England as well as for us today.
They will use sources and video footage as well as retrieval grids and a true or false quiz to help them in their research,
They will also continue to plot the power struggle between the king, the church, the barons and the people in a sequence of lessons.
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Links to video footage
Printable worksheets
Differentiated tasks
Suggested teaching strategies
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day with a focus on the Second World War and the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill.
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand how people’s lives in Britain were affected by World War 2 under the guidance of Winston Churchill.
I have created, readapted and used these lessons to challenge and engage students, but also to show how much fun learning about this part of history really is.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills throughout such as continuity and change in the role and use of propaganda in World War II, the causes and consequences of the policy of appeasement, breaking the Enigma Code or the evacuation of children, the similarities and differences of life on the Home Front, the significance of Winston Churchill and interpretations about whether there really was a Blitz spirit.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Adolf Hitler
L2 Causes of World War II
L3 Appeasement
L4 Winston Churchill
L5 The Home Front - preparations
L6 The Home Front - propaganda
L7 The Home Front - rationing
L8 The Home Front - women (free lesson)
L9 Evacuation of children
L10 The Blitz
L11 The Enigma Code
L12 Prisoners of war (free lesson)
L13 Occupation of the Channel Islands
This bundle includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials.
All lessons come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included two free lessons in the bundle to give an idea of what is being offered.
I would also strongly recommend you assess students on this unit of study based on GCSE style questions from your chosen exam board.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The overarching aim of this and the subsequent lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth asserted her authority and control in the second half of her reign.
The key to this lesson is to recap not only the causes of the Spanish Armada and the build up to its eventually defeat, but also to analyse the battle itself and reasons for English success and Spanish failure.
Furthermore, what were the consequences for Elizabeth and her successors?
How did Britain regain the initiative and establish Elizabeth as a Protestant force to be reckoned with in Europe and at home?
How did the defeat change her status as a world power for the next generation of explorers and seafarers as Britain became the dominant naval power in the world by the 19th Century?
Students make up and pour a toxic cocktail of causes before piecing together the reasons why the Armada failed and ran out of energy, by giving it an energy rating in a prioritisation exercise.
They also have to amend a number of statements and correct them, explaining the reasons why they are incorrect as well as studying an interactive map as the events unfolded.
Finally students can complete a ‘How important’ GCSE practice question worth 8 marks to consolidate their learning with hints and tips of how to answer this.
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 nine lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth asserted her authority and control in the second half of her reign.
How did we establish ourselves as a world power in the 19th Century? Who were Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Walter Raleigh and who deserves a place in the seafaring hall of fame?
These questions and more are answered in this lesson as students analyse how new navigational techniques and the brilliance of these men established unbridled wealth and power for Elizabeth at a time of great danger with her excommunication from the Catholic Church.
Students learn through source and video footage and a play your cards right activity how new trading companies sprung up such as the Muscovy, the East India and Levant companies opening up English markets to good such as spices, tea, porcelain and silk.
A choice of two GCSE questions for exam practice are given at the end of the lesson where students can peer assess and understand how to answer the ‘importance’ question for 8 marks.
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 asserted her authority and control in the second half of her reign.
What was it like to be poor in Elizabethan England and how did the Elizabethans deal with poverty?
Moreover how did attitudes change and why was there a rise in the building of Almshouses by the end of the Sixteenth Century?
These are the key questions focused upon in this lesson as students learn about the causes and consequences of being poor.
Two GCSE practice questions are undertaken by students as they acquire skills in answering an interpretation and write an account question using the information in the lesson.
Furthermore they can peer assess their work and note where and how they can improve.
They will also by the end of the lesson recognise the significance of the new Elizabethan Poor Law and how the impact of poverty varied across the country which is needed to be able to obtain the more complex reasoning answers demanded in the AQA GCSE markschemes.
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.
