This is a lesson that can be used as a stand alone lesson or built into a unit on Dystopian Fiction that covers the skills required to access the (9-1) strengthened GCSE Non Fiction Reading Paper. The lesson works slowly through each question type offering tips and guidance on how to access secure grades at GCSE level. Two non fiction articles are included.

This Literacy Programme is 1 of 3 for use with year 8s across an entire term and forms part of a newly written programme that builds on the strengthened demands of the KS2 literacy skills and the Year 7 Programme also available on TES. This resource includes a PDF version of the programme plus an Adobe version that is editable so that the name of your school/behaviour policy can be incorporated into the documents. The powerpoint presentation is used to test the weekly skills gained by your students and allows you to track progress and build in additional intervention for areas of shortfall post completion. The subsequent booklets for use in this Programme and year 9 will be posted imminently.

This resource based on an extract from 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde is ideal for use with the Edexcel (9-1) English Language Specification. Due to the shortage of past papers to use in the classroom I have constructed this paper for use by teachers using this specification. The resources includes the extract, questions, mark scheme and indicative content. If you like this resource please do leave a review as am happy to construct more.

This lesson takes you through a theory based lesson using music to learn quotations from texts. This lesson has proved to be a highly enjoyable, alternative and effective approach to last minute quotation learning, even for students who struggle to retain information. Using this method of learning quotations, students are able to write more sustained responses and in turn access higher grades. If you find this useful please do leave a review. More Brain Training lessons to follow.

This lesson starts with an engaging visual activity that engages students with the concept of tone in art before then asking them to apply this thinking to some literary extracts. The lesson continues to draw on the DIRT strategy to improve and assess work and establish success criteria for using the right tone when writing an article. This is an excellent revision lesson to refine techniques for writing Transactional Writing pieces for the GCSE exams.

An in depth study of Act 2 of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. This is designed for GCSE teaching and includes a range of activities including: explanation and exploration of iambic pentameter, links to the theme of distrust, drama activities, quotation finds, matching activities, debate and written tasks. This is 4-6 hours of teaching and includes everything students need to know for their exams in an accessible and fun format.

With a distinct shortage of past papers for the new GCSE 9-1 specifications I have created this additional practice paper for use with the OCR spec. Texts used are Hilary Mantels 'Bring up the Bodies and Michael Frayns 'Spies'.

This lesson includes a range of tasks to engage students, including information on context and interpretations of the poem. The lesson includes extension activities, grading criteria and DIRT tasks. This is a really effective lesson to use when studying poetry at KS3 level to gently introduce students to the strengthened demands of the GCSE (9-1) syllabus.

This resource includes a systematic example of how to analyse language in an extract with supported tasks and exemplar responses. It also includes comprehension questions, character analysis and prompts to consider the themes of fear, entrapment and being hunted alongside overarching structural observations of this text. Book 1 resources already available as a bundle, Book 2 will be released shortly...if interested follow me...

This resource covers Book 2, Chapters 3-6 of the narrative and includes a range of inclusive and challenge activities to ensure students are engaged and stretched. This lesson includes reference to theories relating to the text to enable students to access the grades 8 and 9 together with more accessible and relatable activities for lower ability.

This resource is designed to take GCSE students through a detailed analysis of William Wordsworth’s poem in line with the new GCSE (9-1) specifications. It covers context, form, language and structure. This lesson incorporates a number of differentiated activities, in particular stretch and challenge, for the very top end using the Venus and Adonis Myth to secure a grade 8/9.

This powerpoint includes detailed contextual information linked to the text. Close analysis of language, form and structure through both ‘given slides’ and task driven learning. This resource also includes a non fiction reading extract for additional background on the use of the word ‘Raven’ so comprises elements of the skills required in the English Language exam. This lesson would work well as an introduction to the poem and a revision lesson. Challenge tasks are threaded throughout. The lesson ends with a ‘comparison quiz’ and revision challenge task.