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 English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to be able to distinguish between the two sides in the English Civil War.
Students will be researching how they differed from their dress, their mannerisms, what they believed in and their goals.
They will also be analysing some real life examples from people today who discuss which side they would prefer to be on and why.
Students will be using various written sources and video evidence to find out which side they would support.
Ultimately they will have to produce a propaganda leaflet encouraging people to join their campaign as a Royalist or Cavalier using persuasive literacy techniques and song lyrics. Exemplars and scaffolding is included if required.
This is a fun lesson with a number of activities designed to get all students involved actively and to enjoy their learning.
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.
The English Civil War
This lesson aims to analyse the personality of King Charles and questions how and why this might have implications for his reign.
Following in his father’s footsteps, his vanity and obsession with the Divine Right of Kings are major causes of concern for those in Parliament.
Students learn about his fragility in his younger life to eventual arrogance as he became King and will link a number of reasons together as to why this was to lead to Civil War.
Video footage and sourcework are used to gather the evidence and the students will have to think outside the box to understand his motives and actions and link ideas together.
The plenary is a literacy challenge to help evaluate his personality 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 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.
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.
World War II
This lesson aims to evaluate if the evacuation of Dunkirk was a success or failure.
By the end of the lesson, students will have made up their own minds and be able to give their own interpretations of the events of May 1940.
Using video and film footage of the time as well recent accounts from veterans, students will be able to recognise and understand why there is a difference between contemporary and modern versions of the evacuation.
They will also study a range of sources both visual and written and then judge which were most accurate and why, again focusing on contemporary as well as modern day accounts.
In conclusion, they will write up their findings in an extended written 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 retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to question Britain’s policy of appeasement in the 1930’s, but also defend the decision Chamberlain took.
Students have to make up their own minds through a variety of learning tasks which include gathering evidence from video footage of the time, completing a card sort activity, creating causational chains and analysing sources from the time.
Some higher order questions at the end are aimed at getting them to think and challenge the perceptions they have made about appeasement.
This lesson is ideal as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills or teaching the interwar years or WWII at Key stage 4.
It 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 retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
This lesson sets out to explains how Hitler set Germany on the road to war in 5 steps.
Students are challenged to find out how and why was he able to defy the Treaty of Versailles so easily with little or no consequences (shown through a causal spider’s web).
Students analyse video footage and a number of sources, using the COP technique (modelled for student understanding) which has proved invaluable for evaluating sources at GCSE.
A final chronological recap of the events and evaluation of the most and least important of the events that led to war, will give students an in depth understanding of why World War II started.
This lesson is ideal as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills or teaching the interwar years or WWII at Key stage 4.
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 Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the character and motives of Henry VII when he became King.
The lesson focuses on some crucial and important decision making for Henry VII upon his accession to the throne.
He has six decisions to make and students plot these on a grid giving their own judgements before finding out and evaluating how ruthless Henry was in charge.
The lesson hinges upon whether he was a Gangster or not (judged on the criteria at the beginning of the lesson) in an extended and differentiated written answer with a checklist for guidance.
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 Norman Conquest
This is a great game to be used after having studied attacking and defending a Medieval Castle.
Students take on the role of the defenders of a Medieval Castle (in this case loosely based on the siege of Rochester Castle by King John in 1215).
They have failed to pay their taxes and King John and his knights are marching on the Castle.
Their job is to defend the Castle at all costs by making wise choices and thus collecting points as they go.
When they have completed the tasks, they are given a student friendly markscheme which will by the end give them great status as geniuses of siege warfare or not as the case may be!
Students can write out the choices they make or just the numbers and corresponding letters. They can only make one choice per question.
Please note that that it best presented by enlarging on an A3 sheet.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to question whether the Government was right to punish conscientious objectors during World War 1 and how frightening it was for individuals to refuse.
This is a controversial subject and was extremely difficult to understand and address at the time.
Therefore the lesson explains why many people in World 1 refused to fight, despite government propaganda and pressure from society for them to do so as they became targets of abuse.
Luckily now there is a wealth of video and audio evidence in this lesson (linked to the BBC in particular) which deconstructs and challenges the old arguments of cowardice and shame as well as understanding individuals’ rights to uphold their beliefs and consciences.
Students are given two case studies to analyse before engaging in a mini debate on the right or wrongs to conscientiously object to war.
The plenary challenges them to decide if the given statements from the lesson are true or false.
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.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to understand the importance of the Poppy on Armistice Day. The lesson is split into two parts.
The first part of the lesson analyses the causes of the war ending in 1918.
Using a causal spiders web (an idea taken from Emily Thomas), students link the ideas together by drawing lines and then justify their reasons to create a spider’s web.
The second part of the lesson analyses the significance of the use of the Poppy with students giving their own reasons for this on the poppy leaves (a template is included).
They then have to prioritise the most important reasons why the Government introduced Poppy Day with a diamond nine activity.
Students also have the chance to evaluate John McCrae’s in Flanders poem
with some ‘clever question stems’.
This lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study 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.
World War I
This lesson is split into two parts:
The aim of the first part of this lesson is to focus on the roles women played in World War 1 and how significant a contribution they made to the war effort.
Students have to prioritise which jobs also contributed the most to the war effort.
The second part looks at the Woolwich Arsenal weapons factory as a case study, using documentary and audio evidence from the time as students consider how frightening it was to work in an arms factory.
Furthermore, students decide how significant women were in the short, medium and long term. They have a chance to justify their ideas with a differentiated extended writing task, with help given if required.
A plenary Bingo tests and challenges students’ understanding at the end.
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.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate just how efficient and effective the new weapons of the Twentieth Century were.
Students have two objectives; to rate the effectiveness and killing power of the weapons used during the war and to explain how well equipped the soldiers were in the trenches, particularly the British Tommy.
The lesson begins with discussing the type of weapons used and for students to recognise the continuity and change of many of these pre, post and during World War 1.
The historian Dan Snow is quoted as saying the British soldier went into World War I ‘as the best prepared soldier on the planet.’
The lesson subsequently unfolds to explain and evaluate the new weapons used and the advantages (or not) they gave each side.
The plenary requires students to link the effectiveness of the weapons to images and to explain how and why this is the case.
This lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study 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.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to assess the reasons why air power became an increasingly important part of warfare in the First World War.
As each side became more aware of the potential of reconnaissance, observation and bombing raids, they quickly built and developed their planes.
However the sudden need to shoot down these aircraft quickly gave rise to dog fights and flying aces. Therefore the enquiry question of how frightening was the First World War’ is quite apt here.
Students have decide how the planes were used using photographic evidence and then categorise information under the following headings: reconnaissance, fighting, bombing cities or attacking trenches.
Much of the excellent video footage uses links to the documentaries posted by Dan Snow on the BBC.
The first half of the lesson concludes by questioning the early effectiveness of air power.
The second part of the lesson analyses the fighting prowess of a flying ace from Kent, Jimmy McCudden.
Having scrutinised his life and achievements, students have to judge how frightening his daring exploits were before deciding if he deserves more recognition for his gallantry other than an inscription on a gravestone and on a war memorial. They can also create their create their own war memorial or obituary of his life.
This lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study 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.
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.
World War 1
The aim of this lesson is to question how frightening trench life really was.
This lesson begins with a familiar look at trench life. An analysis of sources, audio clips and prose using higher order thinking skills as well independent learning will bring students to the conclusion that trench life was extremely tough for soldiers.
A chance to write a letter home, before realising the problems of censorship, will suggest to students that soldiers had to struggle in the mud and squalor surrounding them.
However historians such as Dan Snow question how long soldiers spent in the trenches and discovered that in fact 45% of their time was spent behind the lines and in relative safety.
Therefore the overriding aim of the lesson of evaluating how frightening trench life was now becomes more apparent.
Finally the use of historical hexagons will challenge thinking and challenge students to link ideas together.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study 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.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to question how successful Lord Kitchener’s recruitment drive was in 1914 and how ‘frightening’ it might be to sign up.
The lesson shows students how the themes of heroism, patriotism, shame and anti-German feeling led to thousands of young men volunteering to join the army.
Students are led through video footage, an extract from Private Peaceful and Government posters to analyse how these four key themes were utilised.
They also learn about the success in the recruitment of Pals Battalions from the Caribbean and India, to the Footballers Battalion of Walter Tull, as well from towns across the country.
They will also learn about the horror and frightening consequences of this policy especially with what happened to the Accrington Pals in 1916.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout the lesson and this unit of study 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.
World War I
This lesson aims to analyse how the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark for World War 1 to start.
Students will question how frightening the assassination was and the speed of European countries to mobilise for war.
As video evidence is used to explain the events that led to the shooting in Sarajevo, an analogy is made to a bar brawl as students try to ascertain the causes of it and link these to the events which unfolded after 28th June, 1914.
Students also have to complete a chronological exercise of the events as well as deciding the personalities of the main countries involved.
The plenary is a catchphrase check (complete with music) on key words used in 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 retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War I
The aim of the lesson is to understand why alliances and rivalries at the beginning of the Twentieth Century led to the outbreak of war.
This lesson sets out the long term causes of the First World War based on four underlying principles: Nationalism, Imperialism, Alliances and Militarism.
The lesson asks the students who and why were countries arguing with each other based on their geographical as well as their historic national rivalries.
Students then have to decide who could sit next to each other at a dinner party after they have justified their reasons for distrust and paranoia.
The alliances are plotted and colour coded on maps, culminating in a task prioritising and linking the reasons as to why the world was ready for war in 1914.
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.
With the National Curriculum in mind, I have created a set of resources which focus on ’the development of the British Empire' with depth studies on India and Australia.
Furthermore I have been inspired to review and adapt these teaching resources due to recent debates about the impact of the British Empire on the indigenous peoples it conquered and the legacy of Empire and how it influences us still today.
I would like to thank Sathnam Sanghera for his brilliant book ‘Empireland’ and his enlightened debate on the British Empire and how and why it should be taught in schools.
This bundle includes historical concepts such empire and colonisation, continuity and change with a focus on the East India Company, the causes and consequences of British rule in India, similarities and differences within the British Empire, the analysis of sources and different interpretations of colonisation such as Australia and finally the significance of people such as Robert Clive, Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Kitchener and their legacy today.
The 13 lessons are broken down into the following:
1) An introduction to Empire
2) The American War of Independence
3) The British East India Company
4) Robert Clive
5) Focus Study – India
6) Gandhi and Indian independence
7) Focus Study - Transportation to Australia
8) The colonisation of Australia
9) The Scramble for Africa
10) The Zulu Wars
11) The Boer War
12) Apartheid and Nelson Mandela
Bonus lesson:
13) Empire soldiers in World War 1
Each lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies, retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lessons are fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be adapted and changed to suit.
The British Empire
This lesson aims to find out whether we should be proud or ashamed of gaining an Empire and how the indigenous peoples we conquered ‘benefitted’ under British rule.
This lesson will best be delivered over 2 lessons . The opening slides give some context to the debate and define what an Empire is and which countries Britain owned by 1900.
Through video and source analysis, the students have to explain their choice of being proud or ashamed or both and as the lesson progresses justify whether they are sticking to their decisions.
Analysis focuses on Victorian propaganda, the recent views of British Prime Ministers as well as how museums refuse to engage about how they have obtained their imperial artefacts.
The second part of the lesson examines a number of countries acquired by Britain and focuses on the ‘benefits of Empire’. Students then make their final decisions at the end before drawing conclusions on the legacy of the British Empire.
A homework task is to design an Empire plate (photographic examples given) to celebrate Empire day from 1902.
The lesson comes with suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials 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.
