This is a one-lesson powerpoint on John Agard’s poem ‘Checkin out me History’ in the AQA ‘Power and Conflict’ anthology. It is aimed at guiding a class through annotations on language and structure. It provides the background to some of the historical figures mentioned in the poem and the mythical figures too. At the end of the lesson, a class should have a fully annotated poem. They are also encouraged to think about the implications of Agard’s words.

Aimed at helping reluctant GCSE level students to produce imaginative / creative writing, this is a task based on the scene in Macbeth when Banquo is murdered. There is a link to a Youtube video of forest sounds to help students imagine the sensory information they would be getting if they were in the Scottish woods.

This is a powerpoint aimed at guiding a class doing the Edexcel ‘Time and Place’ anthology through the annotation of U A Fanthorpe’s poem ‘First Flight.’ The prompts on the powerpoint are geared towards identifying language and structural techniques and work on the assumption that at least some students in the class have not flown before.

This is a one-lesson powerpoint to get students to annotate their copy of ‘Postcard from a Travel Snob’ - a poem in the Edexcel ‘Time and Place’ anthology by Sophie Hannah. The final task is for them to write and plan an essay where they compare it with another poem in the anthology.

This is a one-lesson resource based on comprehension of a 19th century fiction text - in this case, an extract from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles. This is for language paper 1, GCSE English, Edexcel. AQA teachers may also find it useful for English Language. Students will practise their ability to answer retrieval questions, ‘evaluate’ questions and to analyse language and structure. This does not contain an imaginative / creative writing question, just the comprehension questions.

A powerpoint targeted to GCSE level, aimed at guiding a class in one lesson through annotations of Blake’s ‘London.’ This poem is on both the Edexcel and AQA syllabi at GCSE. Some context is added on the Romantic poetic movement.

A powerpoint intended to guide GCSE students doing the AQA ‘conflict and power’ anthology through annotation of Beatrice Garland’s poem ‘Kamikaze.’ There is a strong emphasis on cultural and World War Two historical context in this PPT, which can be deleted as the teacher sees fit. It works from the assumption that not every student in each class will be studying history at GCSE, and of those who will, not all of them may be looking at WW2, so they may not understand why the pilot flies his mission and why he is under such social pressure. It also contains primary source material.

This is a powerpoint aimed at taking GCSE students doing the AQA Power and Conflict anthology through annotation of the poems ‘Tissue’ (by Imtiaz Dharkher) and ‘The Emigree’ (by Carol Rumens.) Each slide has some connotations of the words suggested by these poems’ stanzas. They are both presented together due to their themes of identity and displacement.

This is a full lesson powerpoint geared towards getting GCSE students to understand the poem ‘I Started Early - Took my Dog’ on the Edexcel syllabus, by Emily Dickinson. It offers context about Dickinson’s life and relates this to the poem’s content. This should prompt the students to annotate their copies of the poem and then allow them to use their knowledge of it in writing.

A scan of a copy of ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ by William Wordsworth, in the Edexcel poetry anthology ‘Time and Place.’ The annotations were done by me, not a student. This could be used as an example of how to annotate or as a basis for lesson planning if you are in a hurry.

An extract from Emily Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ in which Linton Heathcliff first meets his cousin Cathy Linton. To prepare students for Edexcel Language Paper 1, in which they will be reading a nineteenth century (19th century / Victorian / C19th) text, there are retrieval and analytical questions at the end of this which should lead them to an essay.

A worksheet based on an extract from Jamila Gavin’s ‘Wheel of Surya,’ aimed at getting low KS4 attainers and KS3 classes used to the format of Edexcel Language Paper 1. It is a whole lesson resource but you may want to create a powerpoint alongside it. There are retrieval questions and essay questions to complete.

A lesson (could be two lessons, depending on the amount of time spent annotating the extract and the agegroup) based around Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ and focusing on the workhouse / gruel scene. Students are given a glossary of difficult words, brief context about workhouses and the Poor Laws, visual stimuli and encouragement to think about what the inadequate food in a workhouse would do to a person. They are then encouraged to annotate the extract and use it for their own creative writing in which they utilise Dickens’ techniques. Would suit KS3 or KS4 - at KS4 level this could easily be adapted to suit Edexcel Language Paper 1 practise or AQA work on an unseen 19th C text.

This is a one-lesson resource exploring Davidson’s ‘In Romney Marsh’ for the poetry section of Edexcel’s GCSE English Literature exam. It gives background and context to the poem, helps unpick some of the imagery and encourages the building of links between this and other poems in the anthology.