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 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.
The lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of this golden age and question if it really was a period of stability and prosperity.
This lesson questions if there really was an Elizabethan Golden Age or was it really a myth?
Was it just some Elizabethan propaganda to promote Elizabeth I and the Tudors?
The students get themselves involved in a mini debate agreeing or refuting the question using Cornell Note taking before presenting their findings to the class.
They will also tackle a GCSE ‘write an account’ question before peer assessing it and deciding what went well and how they need to improve the 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 asserted her authority and control in the second half of her reign.
The aim of this lesson is to give students the context to the role and importance the theatre played in Elizabethan England.
Building upon their knowledge and understanding of Shakespeare, they will learn how the theatre adapted and changed to permanent and purpose built theatres through text analysis, a thinking quilt and video evidence.
The second part of the lesson focuses on the globe theatre, with its seating arrangements and the types of plays the audiences could experience.
There are some excellent video links to the BBC included in this resource.
Students will then apply their skills to a choice of two exam practice questions on ‘importance’ and ‘how convincing’, with help and guidance offered 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.
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.
In this lesson, students learn how much Elizabethan society was changing due to this increase in status, wealth and power.
The foundations of the Great Chain of Being were being shaken as there was a rise in status of the gentry class, making their money through land and trade and being given jobs of responsibility by the Queen such as JPs, MPs and Privy Councillors.
With this new money came the desire to build new houses and a case study of Hardwick Hall is used as an example of how to show off your wealth and power,
Students analyse how these new houses demonstrated that their inhabitants were cultured and fashionable people.
Students are shown the latest ideas from the BBC and have to analyse and colour code text before demonstrating their knowledge in a ‘how important’ GCSE practice question.
After completion they peer assess their answers to check they have included the correct evidence and answered the question properly rather than a given a narrative description which can be a common error.
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 eleven lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of her difficulties in trying to overcome this.
This lesson focuses on the threat posed by Mary, Queen of Scots through her activity and inactivity under the close guard and ‘protection’ of Elizabeth.
Students are taken through Mary’s life from the controversy of her husbands in Scotland to her imprisonment in England by Elizabeth.
Through sources, visual and video evidence, they have conclude how much of a threat Mary posed to Elizabeth using a colour coding activity which includes of all the plots associated with Mary, including the infamous Babington Plot.
A threat’o’meter gets the students to make an overall judgement and justify their conclusions.
They also learn about her execution and answer a GCSE practice question on the significance of her execution on Elizabethan England.
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 focuses on the threat posed by the Puritans and how Elizabeth dealt with this threat, despite prominent members in her Government, such as Walsingham, being Puritans.
Students begin by understanding the nature of Puritanism and how they disagreed with the religious settlement.
They are given information about a number of controversies raised in Elizabeth’s reign and by colour coding decide how much of a threat they posed.
A threat’o’meter give an overall picture which they will have to justify where their judgement lies.
This lesson also focuses on two GCSE questions with a ‘write an account’ and a ‘How convincing is the Source?’ question given for GCSE exam practice.
Students can answer both or choose which one to tackle. The information is included in the lesson to assist in 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.
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745.
I have designed the 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 Mary 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 under Henry VII after the Wars of the Roses, recognising the causes and consequences of Henry’s break with Rome, explaining the similarities and differences in the reigns of the Tudors, analysing the significance of the Black Tudors and Edward VI as well as evaluating sources and interpretations, such as the reputation of Mary 1.
The 12 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 The War of the Roses
L2 An introduction to the Tudors (free lesson)
L3 Henry VII
L4 Henry VIII introduction
L5 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for love?
L6 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for faith?
L7 Did Henry VIII break with Rome for money?
L8 The dissolution of the monasteries
L9 The sinking of the Mary Rose
L10 Edward VI
L11 Bloody Mary
L12 Black Tudors
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.
This bundle follows the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum - the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745 including the Elizabethan religious settlement and conflict with Catholics (including Scotland, Spain and Ireland).
The aims of this bundle are to know and understand how peoples’ lives were shaped by Elizabeth, how she dealt with the threats to her rule and how her legacy lives on today as one of our greatest ever Queens.
Students will learn and understand key historical skills. These include historical concepts such as continuity and change with a focus on the Elizabethan Poor Law, the causes and consequences of the Elizabethan Settlement, similarities and differences in her portraits and the significance of the defeat of the Armada as well as exploration and the theatre.
The 11 lessons are broken down into the following:
L1 The young Elizabeth
L2 The Elizabethan Settlement (free resource)
L3 Elizabeth and her favourites (free resource)
L4 Elizabeth and the problem of marriage
L5 Elizabeth and her portraits
L6 How did Elizabeth deal with Mary, Queen of Scots?
L7 Famous explorers (Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh)
L8 The Spanish Armada
L9 Elizabeth, poverty and the Poor Law
L10 Elizabethan Theatre and the Globe
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 couple of free lessons 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 Elizabeth I for GCSE as it covers the main themes, concepts and skills required for the new specifications.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is for the students to help Elizabeth with some tough choices on marriage.
Who should she choose to marry if at all? Why was there so much pressure upon her to marry in the first place?
Students prioritise the reasons for marriage on a grid before they analyse the potential suitors in Europe, complete with their availability and faults (on paper of course).
They then have to decide who is the best of a bad lot and justify their decisions. Some excellent video evidence is included.
The plenary focuses on a dinner date; students decide who Elizabeth would like to sit near to the most and who would be placed at the far end of the table.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
The aims of this lesson are for students to recognise how theatres changed under Elizabeth.
They will analyse their early days as travelling performers with a poor reputation playing in pubs and fields to purpose built theatres such as the Globe, paid for by wealthy Patrons such as the Earl of Leicester.
Students know through their links to their English lessons quite a lot already about Shakespeare and this lesson taps into their knowledge and builds upon it with a thinking quilt to examine how theatres developed.
Furthermore there is a focus on Shakespeare’s plays and inspiration as well as an analysis of the Globe theatre.
There is some excellent video footage to complement the learning tasks.
The lesson finishes with an odd one out task which will revisit the aims of the lesson and how Tudor theatres and plays still have an impact on society today.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to discover why the Elizabethan Poor Law was introduced and to assess its impact on Elizabethan society and beyond.
Students first of all have to analyse the causes of poverty and prioritise which has been the main reason for its increase whether that be the actions of local landowners and Henry VIII in his break with Rome or the debasement of the coinage.
They are also required to write to the local landowner, using suggested key argument words, to express their sympathy for the poor which was in sort supply in the Elizabethan era.
As well as source analysis, students learn the so called tricks of the trade for begging and how Tudor propaganda shaped these negative views of the poor.
Students subsequently have to assess the details of the new Elizabethan Poor Law, the reasons for a change in attitude towards the poor and assess its significance and impact upon society as a whole.
The final task is to talk like an historian and answer the questions in a quiz picking up points for the harder questions.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to decide which Tudor explorer deserves the most recognition in a seafaring ‘Hall of Fame’.
Students are led through the journeys and discoveries of sailors in Elizabethan England from the Cabot brothers to Gerardus Mercator and his brilliant Atlas. (This was to give the navigator a map, where a line of constant bearing would cross all meridians at the same angle)
The sailors achievements and the problems they encountered are given through learning activities such as a play your cards right, video evidence, a true or false quiz and a plotting exercise of Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe on a blank world map.
The main task is to analyse and evaluate the achievements of Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh with differentiated resource materials.
Students are given specific criteria to judge this before ultimately deciding who had the greatest impact and should be given the most recognition for Elizabethan exploration.
The lesson concludes with a literacy key word game.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
This is the second in a series of lessons I have created on the Tudors, which is an introduction.
The key skill of chronology is introduced from the start as students decide which Tudor came first to which came last.
Key questions floating past the screen as well as the wall of mystery give clues and answers to some interesting and gruesome facts on the Tudor family.
Students have the chance to create their own timelines, factual displays, key question and answer quizzes or an A-Z of Tudor facts.
The lesson finishes which two plenaries to choose from which both test their new found knowledge.
The resource comes in Powerpoint formats if there is a wish to adapt and change. I have also included suggested teaching strategies and differentiated resources to deliver the lesson.
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 Tudors
This lesson aims to explore how Elizabeth approached the difficult subject of religion.
Students are given the context of the religious situation left to Elizabeth by her predecessors, which will then give them answers as to why she took a calm and pragmatic approach to it.
Furthermore they have to decide through a colour coding exercise which were the smallest and major problems she faced with religion before deciphering her religious settlement using a text mapping activity.
Key questions can be used to understand the decisions she took.
A sequencing activity reinforces the learning of the lesson and its significance
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to assess how ready Elizabeth was to become Queen
What was the young Elizabeth like and how did her background and upbringing prepare her to be a Queen?
Moreover how did the foundations of her life enable her as a woman to be strong in a man’s world?
This lesson attempts to examine her attributes growing up but also shows how luck and ruthlessness also played a later part in her life.
Students build up a picture of her early life through pictures, sources and video evidence before explaining her character and noting the problems she faced and how she overcame them from a young age.
Activities include a a chronology exercise, a true or false quiz, video and source analysis as well as using a tree to connect her early problems (branches) and character traits (leaves).
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 sets out to question whether the reason that Henry broke from Rome all along was due to money.
His expensive tastes, his wives, his need to build up his navy and coastal defences and to show Europe his prowess all took a toll on his bank balance.
The monasteries with their wealth proved all too easy pickings for his Chancellor Thomas Cromwell in his ‘Valour Ecclesiasticus’.
The lesson therefore allows the students to build up a picture of his need for money.
Through some investigative work, they will shockingly find many ‘abuses’ and ‘vices’ in the monasteries, giving Henry the excuse to close them down and take their money for himself.
They also have to complete their own report on the reasons why Henry broke from Rome with these new findings and some deliberately falsified accounts.
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.
This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England 1568-1603.
Having taught this unit for a number of years, I have tweaked the order of lessons I now teach at the beginning.
As well as teaching her court, government and parliament, I have included Elizabeth’s favourites and an introduction to the religious settlement (which are offered as free lessons), as I felt students were getting confused without these aspects of the course being referred to early on.
The theme throughout this bundle of lessons is to examine how Elizabeth tried to assert her authority and control in the first half of her reign.
The lessons contain different tasks to challenge the students and are differentiated. Furthermore each lesson focuses on how to answer a GCSE practice question from the exam, notably in this unit a source, write an account and significance question.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: An introduction to Elizabeth
L2 Elizabethan Court and Government
L3 Which problems did Elizabeth face in her first ten years?
L4 Elizabeth and marriage
L5 Who were Elizabeth’s key people? (free resource)
L6 The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (free resource)
L7 Threats from the Norfolk and Ridolfi Plots
L8 The Essex Rebellion
L9 Catholic threats at home and abroad
L10 The Puritan threat
L11 The threat of Mary, Queen of Scots
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resources includes 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.
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 aim of this lesson is to determine why the Essex rebellion was different to the previous threats Elizabeth faced in her reign.
Students learn about Essex’s life and the reasons for him turning on Elizabeth in his failed attempt to ‘protect’ her from Robert Cecil.
Using differentiated materials and video evidence, they can either create a factfile on Essex or colour code information on his life focusing on different themes of importance.
They then plan and write a significance GCSE question, using the suggested skills and tricks of answering a significance question as opposed to writing a narrative account of his life.
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.
The Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to challenge the assumption that Henry broke with Rome on account of his faith.
This lesson explores this argument using a 2p coin, which brings the lesson some relevance with today.
Students complete reading a script, or can opt for actors’ voices.
They then have to complete a card sort activity, prioritising Henry’s reasons for his decision to become the Supreme Head of the Church.
In their final task, they are required to write a letter to the Pope explaining in no uncertain terms their reasons for the break with Rome. There is an excellent writing frame to complete this task if required.
They also have to justify their choices on a timeline, whether it was love or faith alone which had the final say in his religious decisions.
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.
