This is a highly-effective tool for implementing a vocabulary and comprehension element to school-wide 'literacy across the curriculum' initiatives. Not only does it encourage students and teachers to focus upon fully understanding key words in each of their subjects, but it provides the school with a clear and concise measuring device for gauging students' vocabulary and comprehension improvements. Students first sit the baseline test in each subject - a booklet that tests their complete knowledge of whichever subject-specific terms they need to learn in the next assessment period. Examples of the tasks they are asked to complete are: - Spelling the word; - Defining the word; - Giving an example of the word in a sentence; - Self-evaluating their understanding of the word; - Selecting what type of word it is; - Thinking of synonyms for the word, and more. They are given a score for their performance in the tasks. Upon completion of the teaching unit, students complete the 'End-Point' booklet, completing the same tasks. The two scores (from the baseline and the end-point) are recorded into the tracker document, (10 sheets are provided for different departments) which automatically calculates baseline and end-point percentages, and percentage increase or decrease. It also colour codes red or green dependent upon student performance. This gives the user a clear measure of the effectiveness of the literacy scheme across the school - perfect for performance management, reporting to OFSTED, and school improvement.

Based on the popular game show 'Pointless', this resource is perfect for use as a starter activity, plenary, or revision tool. Editable, so that you can change to any other topic or change the questions/answers. Containing almost 30 slides of sound clips, engaging visuals, and suitably challenging questions, this resource is effective at both promoting engagement and enhancing learning. There are several full rounds of questions to build students' understanding of adjectives, including: 1. Finding synonyms of dull adjectives 2. Defining adjectives 3. Unscrambling anagrams of adjectives 4. Finding the most complex and interesting adjectives. The nature of the game ensures that this resource can challenge students of all levels. NOTE: You can buy this resource alone, or in a bundle of 8 Pointless games, for only £1 more!

This lesson enables students to build their knowledge of the content, language, and structure of Lord Byron’s classic love/relationships poem ‘When We Two Parted.’ In particular, students learn how the poet’s use of vocabulary, rhyme, and repetition influence the mood and tone of the poem. Students learn through a logical and step-by-step learning journey, including: -Understanding key contextual information about the poet and his life; -Defining key terms and vocabulary from the poem; -Reading and interpreting the poem; -Understanding the poem, with a particular emphasis upon the content, language, and structural features; -Writing an extended analysis piece based upon how Byron gets across the themes of sadness and forbidden love in the poem, through the use of language and structure; -Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including hyperlink to a reading of the poem) - Copy of poem; - Key questions worksheet, with model answers; - Analysis template with in-built success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This thought-provoking and stimulating lesson enables students to create travel writing texts containing thoughtful and imaginative content, utilising planning techniques to add increasing depth to their writing. By the end of the lesson, students are able to understand which features should go into a travel writing piece, and use strategies to enable them to write in appropriate depth for the needs of purpose, audience, and form. The lesson follows a clear, logical, bite-size learning journey, which guides students towards differentiated learning objectives. Over the course of this journey, they become able to: - Define what travel writing is, and understand why it is an important and popular genre; - Think beyond the obvious, noticing and describing subliminal and periphery features, in addition to those which they deem as most important and pressing; - Consider how stimulus can be described using each of the different senses; - Use a success criteria to analyse a model travel writing attempt, and to plan their own; - Self/Peer assess travel writing attempts. This resource pack includes: - A visually engaging whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation; - A clear and logical template to record descriptions during the sensory task; -A well-structured success criteria/ planning template to aid students' creative attempts; - A detailed lesson plan, complete with what the teacher and students should aim to achieve at each stage of the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the PowerPoint/ the bottom of worksheets.

This resource booklet contains a wide range of age-appropriate, engaging, and meaningful comprehension activities for use throughout the reading of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol.' Teachers have found them particularly useful in exam revision, comprehension tasks, or guided reading sessions. They are perfect for aiding the progress of students towards meeting the KS4 expectations within the new National Curriculum framework - this makes the tasks suitable for all examining bodies. Students have found these resources extremely engaging, and for teachers there is explicit information within each task regarding which comprehension strands the task is designed to demonstrate. They also relate to key extracts, characters, and themes from the story, ensuring that students gain a deep understanding of the text. Activities within the booklet include: - 'Context: 19th Century Britain' - to aid students with 'Drawing on knowledge of the purpose, audience and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs, to inform evaluation;' - 'Dickens' Description' - to aid students with 'Analysing a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features, and evaluating their effectiveness and impact;' - 'The Ghost of Christmas Past' - to aid students with 'Seeking evidence in the text to support a point of view, including justifying inferences with evidence;' - 'Editing the Text' - to aid students with 'Making an informed personal response, recognising that other responses to a text are possible and evaluating these.' Plus many, many more activities (the booklet is around 30 pages in length!) I've also added it as a PDF in case the formatting differs on your computer. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on a separate document (included).

This lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Owen Sheers' key messages about war in the poem ‘Mametz Wood.’ By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations of the content, language, and structure. Students learn through a logical and step-by-step learning journey, including: -Understanding the context of the poem and the horrific events that took place in the battle; -Understanding key information about Owen Sheers' life; -Reading and interpreting the poem; -Interpreting the poem, with a particular emphasis upon the language and structural features; -Finding and analysing the language features used throughout the poem, and considering how these link to the poet's message; -Writing an extended analysis piece based upon how Sheers gets across his message about war; -Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including hyperlinks to informative and engaging videos) - Copy of poem; - Language devices worksheet - Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Ted Hughes’s message and imagery in the war poem ‘Bayonet Charge.’ By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations of content, language, and structure. Students learn through a logical and step-by-step learning journey, including: -Understanding the context of the poem and defining the key terminology 'bayonet', 'over the top', 'trenches', and 'no-man's land'; -Understanding key information about the poet Ted Hughes; -Reading and interpreting the poem; -Interpreting the poem, with a particular emphasis upon how Hughes creates visual and auditory imagery; -Finding and analysing the language features used throughout the poem, and considering how these link to the poet's message; -Writing an extended analysis piece based upon how Hughes creates imagery in order to capture the soldier's horrifying final moments; -Peer assessing each other's learning attempts. Included is: - Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; - Copy of poem; - Interpretation worksheet (plus an answer sheet for teachers/CAs); - Analysis task template and success criteria for creating well-structured responses; - Comprehensive lesson plan. There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities. All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.

This informative and engaging lesson aims to improve students’ knowledge and understanding of the character of Lennie in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It also aims to improve their analytical skills, so that they can demonstrate sustained and sophisticated interpretations of the character. This pack includes the full lesson presentation, with animations and key information, a worksheet with clear and concise instructions, an example analysis extract, and full teacher guidance. The learning journey is clear and progressive, following a pathway of progressively more difficult tasks, including: - An engaging memory game task to recognise and remember items and ideas that are related to the character of Lennie; - A worksheet that enables students to demonstrate understanding of key quotations about Lennie, and to link Lennie to key themes and ideas. - Close reading of a modelled example analysis paragraph; - Joint creation of an analysis success criteria; - An opportunity to answer an exam style question based upon the character of Lennie; - A chance to peer assess against the success criteria. Students should have read, (or during this lesson read) up to the section in which George and Lennie meet their new boss, in order to fully access the lesson. All images are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the presentation. You can choose to buy this resource alone, or as part of the ‘Of Mice and Men - All Lessons and Scheme’ bundle, which contains seven full lessons, resources, teachers notes, and PowerPoint presentations, plus a Pointless Of Mice and Men game, for just £5!