This lesson helped my middle ability year 9 class to consider their observation skills in exploring a 5 mark mood and atmosphere style question from the WJEC fiction reading paper. The lesson developed to build pupils' confidence with a text we had previously explored for select and retrieve questions by building the layers of their response through discussion, embedding quotations and 'walking through' the extract. The brief sample response at the end of the PowerPoint provided further reassurance to pupils who felt the task was more difficult than they could manage by highlighting strengths of the response and illustrating how the embedded quotations they had previously selected could be used as a starting point to a more developed response.

A fun and interactive lesson for pupils to explore Flag by John Agard. Pupils focus upon the symbolic nature of flags, develop their analytical skills through independent analysis and consolidate this by teaching fellow pupils. All resources included.

Group of four action packed lessons, which could easily be extended, based around all things Gothic! Including lots of opportunities to explore infamous Gothic texts including; Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Raven and Dracula. This mini-scheme intends to introduce pupils to the literary conventions of Gothic texts, develop their language analysis skills and also challenge their creative writing abilities. All resources included!

Two lessons based around chapter two of Jane Eyre and the infamous 'red room'. Lesson one explores the author's use of language and sees pupils develop their vocabulary, explore connotations of words and compose an analytical response. Lesson two focuses upon developing pupils' creative writing skills by setting a number of challenges for pupils to explore within their writing. Both lessons also make use of peer-assessment to help ease that marking workload! All resources included!

An independent lesson where pupils work in small teams to select and retrieve appropriate information from the pick-pocketing scene from chapter 10 of Oliver Twist. Pupils then use this information to create a newspaper report about the incident. All resources included!

A lesson that focuses on the power of language! The starter activity helps to develop pupils' understanding of the treatment of children to add to their contextual knowledge of the novella (A03). The lesson then develops to explore what makes language powerful by exploring an infamous Charlie Chaplin speech before culminating in a persuasive writing activity that draws heavily upon context (A03). My class particularly loved being able to read their persuasive speeches to the class at an old fashioned lectern! This lesson could be extended over two by completing a speaking and listening feedback session on speeches that are shared with the class.

An SMSC lesson that explores the serious issue of knife crime. Lots of opportunities for whole form discussions and engagement with wo very different case studies of the presentation of knife crime in the media.

A mini-scheme of work perfect to introduce learners to the plot, main themes and characters of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Lots of fun and engaging activities that suit a wide range of learners and abilities while providing plenty of challenge to all. All resources included.

A simple and chunked lesson to introduce lower ability pupils to the Roald Dahl classic The Landlady. Pupils explore key words in a settler word search before demonstrating their existing knowledge and ability to extract information about the author himself. Depending upon ability pupil are challenged to read a brief extract from the text independently but this could of course be changed to paired, group or a whole class reading if more support is required. Following this, pupils engage in a quiz based upon the extract to introduce an element of competition and encourage them to select and retrieve appropriate information before developing their confidence with quotation retrieval. Where possible, extra challenges have been built in to further stretch more able pupils.

A lesson focusing on the EDUQAS/WJEC spec where pupils are expected to discuss an extract from A Christmas Carol before 'exploding' it by linking to other parts of the text. This lesson has worked particularly well with a low ability year 10 group to chunk the various stage of approaching the question - forming points based upon the extract, selecting and retrieving evidence and linking to other parts of the novella. The introduction and a modelled paragraph for a response are also included and are a perfect way to extend the lesson over two or provide some assistance with revision.

A resource booklet for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Includes contextual information, character lists, plot overview, introduction to Shakespeare's language and key words.

A fun and interactive lesson to develop pupils' confidence within poetry. Delivered to year 6 pupils within my Primary Links role and it engaged a wide variety of learners through the use of differentiated worksheets. A fun and engaging game of poetry Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a challenge to gauge pupils' understanding of poetry and encourage their justification skills, reading of a poem and analysis of the poem itself. All resources included.

This session was delivered over a three hour period to prospective year 6 students along with high ability year 7 students. This allowed new pupils to engage with their older peers and get an understanding of life at high school in a fun and interactive way. Pupils are introduced to one another through some simple but effective ice-breaker tasks before exploring a myth or legend from a specific culture allowing excellent links to SMSC to be made. Pupils then work together to delve into language and higher level vocabulary before creating their very own myth or legend. The resources and accompanying workbook are included! This could easily be broken down into 3/4 lessons to be delivered in the classroom and may prove an excellent starting point for pupils who are engaging with a myths and legends scheme.

An action packed creative writing lesson - which could easily be used across two lessons! All you need are some pegs and string to create the washing line and everything else is provided! Pupils are challenged to develop their use of higher level vocabulary, incorporation of language techniques and planning skills. A handy peer-assessment grid also helps to ease teacher marking!

An introduction to the main characters of Oliver Twist, this lesson focuses on pupils' ability to work effectively in groups while also demonstrating their speaking and listening skills. Pupils recap on prior knowledge of the text and characters by completing a short true or false settling activity. They then get into groups and read through their character description before editing this to include some lies. When feeding back to the whole class each group must first read the original version of their character description before reading the edited version. The rest of the class demonstrate their listening skills by holding up the 'You Lie' card whenever they spot a change in the narrative.

An interactive and engaging lesson to introduce pupils to the first chapter of Jane Eyre. An edited version of the text allows pupils to independently explore key issues raised in this section of the text along with literary features employed by Bronte. The lesson opens with an active group challenge entailing pupils to match the correct book cover to the famous opening line. Following this pupils complete a shared reading of the edited text in small groups with each section clearly marked and including a question requiring a detailed response. Two built in mini-pitstops allow the teacher to circulate and target specific pupils/groups while ensuring all pupils are making effective progress. All resources included!

A handy lesson that introduces pupils to the main characters of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Including lots of vital information on a range of characters, pupils are challenged to select and retrieve key information from around the classroom before creating a more detailed Facebook profile for their chosen character. All resources included!

A fun and engaging end of year quiz! There are seven different rounds including one with an English twist. All the correct answers are included in the notes for the teacher's reference.