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 A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to assess the situation in Europe on the accession of Elizabeth and decide how this will influence her foreign policy and diplomatic relations with France, the Netherlands and Spain.
Students recap on the foreign policy aims of previous Tudor monarchs and predict how Elizabeth will deal and react to some initial problems, such as the loss of Calais.
Students will also be required to answer some key questions using the information sheets provided: Which country posed the biggest threat to Elizabeth and why? Was Elizabeth reactive or proactive? Did England follow a consistent foreign policy and who controlled it, Elizabeth or her advisers?
Some exam question practice is included which will also the context of Mary, Queen of Scots, with a detailed markscheme to help if required. .
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA GCE 2O A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The Weimar Republic 1918-1928
I have produced this bundle of resources on Weimar Germany 1918-1928 to help A Level students access the course and help them to gain a deeper understanding of Germany’s past through political, social, economic and cultural perspectives.
The enquiry question throughout these lessons will be to question how weak or strong Germany was politically, economically or socially.
Students will learn how the impact of war had a profound effect on the establishment of the Weimar Republic and the significance and consequences of the Peace Settlement at Versailles.
They will also learn about political instability, with extremism from the left and right, the problems of coalition government and the state of the Weimar Republic by 1923 with the invasion of the Ruhr and hyperinflation.
Finally students will assess the issues facing Germany from 1924 and the role of individuals such as Gustav Stresemann and his impact on the Golden Age of Weimar Germany in his domestic and foreign policy.
The resources provided include detailed lesson plans and suggestions, case studies, source documents for analysis, chronological tasks and exam practice questions.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Introduction and pre-war Germany
L2 Political crisis of 1918
L3 The German Revolution
L4 The Weimar Constitution
L5 Treaty of Versailles
L6 Hyperinflation
L7 Invasion of the Ruhr (free resource)
L8 Political instability and extremism
L9 100 Days of Stresemann
L10 Economic miracles
L11 Weimar Women
L12 Weimar Youth
L13 Jewish people in Weimar
L14 Weimar Culture
L15 Weimar Politics, 1924-8
L16 Germany’s international position
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.
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 appreciated.
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the reasons behind Hitler’s invasion of Poland starting the Second World War and to evaluate if his actions were justified.
Within this lesson, students learn about Blitzkrieg, making comparisons with the static and attritional First World War and understanding how the German Army had learnt from their previous mistakes.
Students have to also complete a thinking quilt to test their comprehension and literacy skills as it requires them to explain and justify these initial German successes in 1939 and 1940.
The plenary finally asks the students to predict what is about to happen in the future through conjecture and formulation their opinions using the information 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 retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The aim of this lesson is to challenge the overarching question as to whether the punishments fitted the crimes in the Middle Ages in Norman England.
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 Norman England 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 Holocaust
The aims of this lesson are to explain how Jewish people rose in rebellion or resisted against Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust.
The first part of the lesson examines the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, using a thinking quilt to challenge ideas and ask key questions about the motivation and determination to succeed against overwhelming odds.
The second part of the lesson analyses resistance in the extermination camps in particular events in Sobibor, Treblinka and Auschwitz.
Students are then asked to justify the best and most effective ways to resist from passive to active resistance. Finally a find and fix activity checks understanding and the learning in the lesson.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons in the bundle is to ask who was to blame for the Holocaust?
Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning 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.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
The English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to decide why an audacious plot was hatched against James I by Catholic plotters and why the conspirators themselves might have been framed by the Government.
This lesson is therefore split into two.
The first half examines the men and their roles in the infamous plot to blow up the King on November 5th, 1605. Students are introduced through talking heads to Guy Fawkes and King James.
They also study sources from the time, including Robert Cecil’s account of the plot and analyse the words trying to make inferences between fact and fiction. A model answer is provided to aid their analytical skills.
Furthermore they will evaluate the causes and consequences of the plot, the reasons for its failure and the significance of the conspiracy today.
The second part of the lesson will require the interpretation of a number of sources to decide if the plotters were actually framed by Cecil and the government who allegedly knew about the plot all along and actively encouraged it.
Students have to decide for themselves before reaching a judgement using key words to aid them. This is excellent groundwork for source analysis they will later tackle at GCSE.
The plenary is to talk like an historian answering key questions using information 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.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
The aim of this lesson is to explore the consequences of the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 as public perceptions of the Plains Indians changed from weak savages to a real threat.
Students are introduced to General Custer before analysing some text on the causes of the Battle (Custer’s Last Stand) and his subsequent defeat. For further challenge, they are then given some fragments of sentences which they have to fill out and complete.
They are also required use key words to evaluate the consequences of the battle and recognise a new direction of policy for the US Government when dealing with the Plains Indians.
The plenary is to create a brewing pot of ingredients which led to Custer’s Last Stand and defeat.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some retrieval practice is also included to recall the significance of treaties.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
AQA GCSE Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This lesson focuses on the change in policy towards the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis.
Students have to put events into chronological order and understand why the beginning of World War II changed everything.
Students also learn about the Wannsee Conference and the experimental attempts by the Nazis to murder the Jews in Europe from shooting to mobile gas vans before deciding upon the use of Zyklon B crystals.
Using numbers and figures they also discover the sheer scale of the atrocities involved in this genocide and what happened in the concentration camps.
There are some excellent links to video evidence to accompany the lesson, which are suitable to show.
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 GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the impact the Great Depression had upon Weimar Germany.
Students are given the context to the Wall Street Crash and then have to decide if Germany’s problems throughout were the sole consequence of the Wall Street Crash.
They are given further details of the effects of the Great Depression and slump in Weimar Germany, from which they answer some differentiated questions.
Various scenarios are also put forward, from the social, political and economic effects, to who suffered more - the young, the old or unemployed as well as the rise of extremism. These can be debated and discussed in groups or individually.
The plenary further challenges which particular groups suffered in the Great Depression and why.
Some source exam practice can be completed, with help and structure given to answer the question if needed.
There is a enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is assess the threat the pretender Perkin Warbeck posed to Henry VII.
Students are required to plot the causes, events and consequences of his rebellion(s) as well as discovering others such as those from De la pole, the Cornish and Yorkshire rebellions.
They are also required to evaluate the biggest threat of all the rebellions to Henry VII, including Lamber Simnel, Lovell and Stafford Tudor rebellions studied previously.
There is a key word literacy plenary to complete before students undertake some exam question extract practice, complete with scaffolding, planning ideas, the key information required as well as a generic markscheme.
There is an enquiry question posed and revisited to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
I have produced this bundle of resources on Henry VIII to help A level history students access the course and make some of the ideas, themes and concepts of the Tudors more accessible.
Henry VIII was a larger than life character who has left a long lasting legacy on our history
Therefore the enquiry question throughout this bundle of resources will be to question how strong and successful Henry was during his reign.
Students will learn how effectively Henry ruled England and how government evolved and the use of Parliament changed during his reign.
They will assess his character and personality and question and evaluate his decision making.
They will judge the significance of individuals in his reign such as Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell as well as economic development.
Students will look at his aims in foreign policy and question how successful he was in his pursuit of military glory under Wolsey and beyond or whether he just played third fiddle in Europe.
Finally they will learn about the political, social, economic and religious upheaval caused by his divorce and the break with Rome.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 Introduction
L2 Aims of Henry VIII
L3 Henry VIII and Government
L4 Catherine of Aragon
L5 Rise of Wolsey
L6 Interpretations of Wolsey
L7 Downfall of Wolsey
L8 King’s Great Matter
L9 Break with Rome
L10 Henry VIII & Humanism
L11 Rise of Cromwell
L12 Pilgrimage of Grace
L13 Dissolution of the Monasteries
L14 How Protestant was England by 1547?
L15 Foreign Policy under Wolsey
L16 Henry VIII Foreign Policy 1529-1547
L17 Henry VIII and Society
L18 Henry VIII and the Economy
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 second of four bundles 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 appreciated.
This bundle is the complete series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 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 Industrial Revolution
The aim of this lesson to assess why and how Britain adopted a police force in the Nineteenth Century.
Students will be posed a number of questions throughout the lesson including:
Why was there a need for a police force in England and Wales?
Why did the Government set up the Metropolitan Police Force which later spread throughout the country?
How did the population react to such a force and was there support or opposition to it?
How were the police initially equipped o take on their roles and what qualifications did you need to join the police. *
Students will analyse these questions through visual images, written prose, a true or false quiz, video evidence, source analysis and a question thinking quilt.
They will also evaluate the effectiveness of the police force throughout and by using causational equations at the end of the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
The aim of this lesson is to prepare students for the GCSE question, ‘How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920’s?’
Students have to research the various actions of the League took and analyse how successful it was in avoiding war and/or settling international disputes.
I have included differentiated materials and examples of scaffolding to help students of all abilities answer this question.
There is an option to give feedback individually or as a class, before undertaking the question under timed conditions.There is also a teacher markscheme supplied.
The plenary asks students to prepare three questions for a League of Nations official celebrity visit.
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, some retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The aim of this lesson is to understand how the British Government prepared for the Second World War.
The lesson leads students through a wealth of primary sources from path𝑒 news, government films and information leaflets.
It analyses how the government used propaganda to rally and convince the nation to stand firm against Hitler and how they could endure and eventually win the war.
How effective and convincing their messages were is up to the students to unpick and judge for themselves.
Primary evidence, which not surprisingly gives a positive outlook on events such as the evacuation of Dunkirk, Churchill’s radio broadcasts and the bombing of cities, is used; but how effective is their message and will the nation adhere to their warnings about spying and what not to say?
Students are questioned throughout the slides and complete some independent research on the types of propaganda posters published.
A summarising pyramid at the end builds upon the evidence and judgements they have made.
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 aim of this lesson is to explore how and why the D-Day landings were a success during the Second World War.
Students are given the details about the Atlantic Wall and learn how Hitler’s attempts to design and build it ultimately led to its flaws and weakness in repelling the Allied forces in June 1944.
Furthermore, students have to decide which landing site would be more advantageous to the Allies, the port of Calais or the beaches of Normandy.
They also analyse the various ingenious inventions of the Allies from the Mulberry Harbours to the underwater PLUTO pipeline.
There are some excellent visual sources to accompany the lesson and well as video footage from the BBC.
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 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.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to examine the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and assess the German reaction to it.
Students begin by completing a missing word task to gauge the German ‘acceptance’ of the Armistice.
They learn about Wilson’s 14 points and in groups put themselves into the shoes of the Big Three to decide how to punish Germany, with prompts given for help.
Students also examine and analyse the terms of the Treaty and decide where German pride, economic and military power were challenged. They then have to determine how justified German complaints were against the Treaty and whether they were being too unrealistic.
This is followed up by some exam question practice, complete with a detailed markscheme.
The plenary asks them to think of answers for because, but and so questions to challenge thinking.
There is a enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
The aim of the lesson is to understand how WIlliam the Conqueror asserted his control over the population using the feudal system.
Students get to know how the feudal system works by interacting with each other in an interactive Norman style ‘party’.
They each have a card to read which tells them their status and their oath to William. However they will have to decide and justify if they are happy with their status or not.
This lesson is designed to be fun, with students required to interact with each other and show their status by using the tables and chairs in the room.
The lesson uses video footage and music to engage and connect the learning.
Further learning tasks include creating a feudal system diagram using differentiated prompts, as well as explaining how it worked and analysing how pleasant it was to be a peasant under this system.
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.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
This lesson focuses on the threat posed by the Puritans and how Elizabeth dealt with this challenge, 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 (Puritan) 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.
