I provide high quality, tried and tested materials, developed over 17 years of teaching KS3-5. There is material to support G3/4 students as well as material to push for G8 and G9s.
I provide high quality, tried and tested materials, developed over 17 years of teaching KS3-5. There is material to support G3/4 students as well as material to push for G8 and G9s.
Do you want to teach a play that will demystify the language of love and relationships?
This unit of work is fantastic for stretching high ability KS3 students. 18 lessons covering the whole of the play, focusing on playwright’s use of language, how the playwright uses structure, creative writing and the effect of staging. It comes fully resourced with PowerPoints, contextual information to illuminate understanding of the text, chapter extracts and IWB activities. Page numbers refer to the Cambridge School Shakespeare Edition.
Lesson 1: Elizabethan context quizzes
Lesson 2: Shakespearean language
Lesson 3: the theatre
Lesson 4: act out the play
Lesson 5: the soldiers return in A1S1
Lesson 6: the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick in A1S1
Lesson 7: Don John in A1S3
Lesson 8: the masked ball in A2S1
Lesson 9: deception in A2S1
Lesson 10: focus on the villain in A2S2
Lesson 11: focus on Benedick in A2S3
Lesson 12: appearance and reality in A2S3
Lesson 13: review of Acts 1-2
Lesson 14: Beatrice is tricked in A3S1
Lesson 15: Claudio is tricked in A3S2
Lesson 16: the marriage in A4S1
Lesson 17: Beatrice and Benedick in A4S1
Lesson 18: Leanato and Antonio in A5S1
Lesson 19: the ending
Private Peaceful is a fantastic way to teach students about the realties of war, at a time when politicians seek to glorify it.
This unit is ideally for Year 7 or mid ability Year 8. 18 lessons covering the whole of the text, focusing on writer’s use of language, how the writer uses structure, character analysis and creative writing opportunities. The unit of work is fully resourced with ppts, contextual information to illuminate understanding of the text, chapter extracts and more. This is perfect for early exam preparation as well as fostering English Literature skills. Page numbers refer to the Harper Collins Edition.
Lesson 1: Introduction to WW1
Lesson 2: First day at school
Lesson 3: Older brothers
Lesson 4: Creating characters
Lesson 5: Grandma Wolf
Lesson 6: Siblings
Lesson 7: Describing a plane crash
Lesson 8: Parent-child relationships
Lesson 9: Diary Writing
Lesson 10: Life in the army
Lesson 11: Analysing character motivation
Lesson 12: War propaganda
Lesson 13: Use of setting
Lesson 14: Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen
Lesson 15: Describing a gas attack
Lesson 16: Letter writing
Lesson 17: Assessment
Lesson 18: Assessment feedback
This unit contains 20 lessons covering the film ‘Let Him Have It’, focusing on opinion writing, speeches and newspaper articles that discuss capital punishment. It is fully resourced with worksheets, speeches, crime scene sketches and contextual information to illuminate understanding of capital punishment in the 1950s and the Derek Bentley case. This unit of work is an engaging way to prepare for non-fiction writing . It works well in conjunction with the film ‘Let Him Have It’ (1991) .
Lesson 1: Attitudes to capital punishment
Lesson 2: Crime
Lesson 3: A timeline of the warehouse robbery
Lesson 4: Witness evidence
Lesson 5: Prosecution and defence
Lesson 6: Using camera angles
Lesson 7: Creating a storyboard
Lesson 8: Filming your storyboard
Lesson 9: Writing a police report
Lesson 10: The Court Case
Lesson 11: Bentley’s execution
Lesson 12: 1950s culture
Lesson 13: Protest songs
Lesson 14: Persuasive techniques in a letter
Lesson 15: Persuasive techniques in a speech
Lesson 16: Creating a protest poster
Lesson 17: Writing a defence speech for Craig
Lesson 18: Writing a defence speech for Bentley
Lesson 19: Planning your assessment speech
Lesson 20: Writing your speech
A whole scheme of work dedicated to Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Excellent context work for supporting appreciation of Shakespeare using context. It includes an introduction to the Globe, life for men and women, Shakespeare’s family life, Machiavelli and a Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England. Fully resourced with fun facts, quizzes and creative writing opportunities.
Lesson 1: Context
Lesson 2: Library and online research
Lesson 3:The Globe
Lesson 4: The Plays
Lesson 5: Shakespearean language
Lesson 6: Mid term assessment
Lesson 7: Designing a movie trailer
Lesson 8: Tudor women
Lesson 9: John Shakespeare
Lesson 10: Designing a theatre
Lesson 11: Staging A1S5 of Romeo and Juliet
Lesson 12: Machiavelli
Lesson 13: The Taming of the Shrew
Lesson 14: The Witches in Macbeth
Lesson 15: The Tempest
Lesson 16: Love poems and sonnets
Lesson 17: Origins of English
Lesson 18: Elizabethan beliefs
Lesson 19: Planning your assessment
Lesson 20: Writing your assessment
Bring Titanic to life with this introduction to non-fiction texts at middle school. 16 lessons focusing on evaluating non-fiction texts, opinion writing, evaluating a statement and writing a summary. Fully resourced with ppts, contextual information to illuminate understanding and Interactive White Board activities.
Lesson 1: an introduction to Titanic
Lesson 2: online research
Lesson 3: a timeline of the sinking
Lesson 4: newspaper articles
Lesson 5: a survivor’s account
Lesson 6: radio broadcasts
Lesson 7: creating Titanic characters
Lesson 8: character profiles
Lesson 9: grammar
Lesson 10: writing a speech
Lesson 11: performing a speech
Lesson 12: report writing
Lesson 13: evaluating blame
Lesson 14: the Titanic quiz
Lesson 15: poster lesson
Lesson 16: descriptive writing
This unit is ideal as an introduction to non-fiction texts and multi-media at middle school. It contains 17 lessons focusing on newspaper bias, presenting a radio report, website design, opinion pieces, film reviews and the register of broadsheets and tabloids. It is fully resourced with PowerPoints, newspaper articles, reviews and exemplar answers to stretch the top end. The unit includes:
Lesson 1: News values
Lesson 2: The structure of a newspaper
Lesson 3: Analysing website design
Lesson 4: Online website analysis
Lesson 5: Radio broadcasts
Lesson 6: Snack Attack perspective
Lesson 7: Writing a formal report
Lesson 8: Writing a film review
Lesson 9: Travel writing
Lesson 10: Writing a job application letter
Lesson 11: Writing Horoscopes
Lesson 12: Identifying bias
Lesson 13: Tabloid vs Broadsheet
Lesson 14: Headlines
Lesson 15: Jamie’s Dream School
Lesson 16: Writing a music review
Lesson 17: Writing a speech on technology
This Midsummer Night’s Dream unit is lots of fun and fantastic for stretching high ability KS3 students. It contains 18 lessons, focusing on the playwright’s use of language, how the playwright uses dramatic devices, creative writing and the effect of staging. It comes fully resourced with PowerPoints, contextual information to illuminate understanding of the text, extracts and IWB activities. The page numbers refer to the Cambridge School Shakespeare edition. The unit includes:
Lesson 1: Elizabethan context
Lesson 2: Online research
Lesson 3: The Globe
Lesson 4: The Characters
Lesson 5: The language
Lesson 6: Plot and Characters
Lesson 7: Act out the play
Lesson 8: Set design in A1S1
Lesson 9: Creating characters in A1S2
Lesson 10: Exploring fairies in A2S1
Lesson 11: Oberon and Titania in A2S1
Lesson 12: Persuasive language in A2S1
Lesson 13: Shakespeare’s language
Lesson 14: Writing spells in A2S2
Lesson 15: Insults in A3S2
Lesson 16: Analysing character in A4S1
Lesson 17: Themes review at the end
Lesson 18: Blockbuster revision
This unit is ideal as an introduction to how the writer creates setting at KS3 and will save you hours of preparation time! It has 13 lessons focusing on how a writer creates a setting, characters, mood and atmosphere. This unit extends into creative writing so the students can create their own settings and characters. It is fully resourced with PowerPoints, dramatic activities and quizzes. This is perfect for early GCSE preparation on writing to describe.
Lesson 1: describing workhouse in Oliver Twist
Lesson 2: analysing the workhouse
Lesson 3-5: Monkey’s Paw by WW Jacobs
Lesson 6: act out Monkey’s Paw and write your own story
Lesson 7: describing Dracula’s castle
Lesson 8: describing Frankenstein’s laboratory
Lesson 9: writing a London ghost tour
Lesson 10: the legend of Jack the Ripper
Lesson 11: analysing and evaluating the suspects
Lesson 12: Dracula assessment
Lesson 13: assessment feedback
Make public speaking fun and interactive! Help your students conquer their fear of standing up by getting them to explore subjects they love, and are desperate to tell the world about!
This unit of work would suit Grade 7 or Grade 8. There are 10 lessons covering a variety of speeches and rhetorical devices, as well as a final activity for students to write their own inspirational speech. It is fully resourced with ppts, contextual information to illuminate understanding, extracts and activities to promote positive body language. This is perfect for early Speaking and Listening preparation.
Lesson 1: persuasive devices
Lesson 2: debating
Lesson 3: Emma Watson’s speech at the UN
Lesson 4: George Bush’s defense of America after 9/11
Lesson 5: using body language and voice
Lesson 6: your future ambitions
Lesson 7: how to spend money on your school
Lesson 8: analyzing persuasive speeches in movies
Lesson 9: planning a speech
Lesson 10: writing and performing a speech to go to Mars
Do you find it difficult to engage teenagers, especially boys, with creative writing and story telling?
This unit includes everything you need to teach Fantasy Writing at KS3 . It includes 10 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson powerpoints, exemplar paragraphs, IWB resources and extracts. This unit works well with boy heavy groups who are interested in fantasy worlds and science fiction such as Lord of the Rings and A Game of Thrones.
Lesson 1: Verb-Noun collocations in Lord of the Rings
Lesson 2: How fantasy writers create characters
Lesson 3: Describing a market in Game of Thrones
Lesson 4: Structuring a story in an enchanted forest
Lesson 5: How George RR Martin uses language
Lesson 6: How George RR Martin uses structure
Lesson 7: Designing a presentation
Lesson 8: Describing an alien planet in Star Wars
Lesson 9: How to describe a castle
Lesson 10: The Weird Sisters in Macbeth
This unit has everything you need to teach ‘The Woman in Black’ at KS3. It is a fantastic gothic horror novel, and the children are genuinely enthralled by this novel as the secrets are revealed, complimented by the movie with Daniel Radcliffe as an end of unit treat!
This unit of work includes 18 lessons and comes with lesson powerpoints, contextual information, exemplar paragraphs, activities to exploit drama, extracts from the text and opportunities for creative writing. Page numbers refer to the 1998 Vintage edition.
Lesson 1: The gothic genre
Lesson 2: Creating a gothic atmosphere
Lesson 3: How Susan Hill uses pathetic fallacy
Lesson 4: Tracking Arthur’s progress north
Lesson 5: Creating mystery and expectation
Lesson 6: Character reactions
Lesson 7: Leaving clues
Lesson 8: Creative Writing
Lesson 9: Writing a formal letter
Lesson 10: Hiding secrets
Lesson 11: How Susan Hill creates tension
Lesson 12: Using rhetorical devices
Lesson 13: Using clues to form predictions
Lesson 14: The letters
Lesson 15: The Ending
Lesson 16: Prepare your assessment
Lesson 17: Write your assessment
Lesson 18: Feedback and improvement
There is an opportunity to assess the students’ progress at the end of the novel in an essay on how Susan Hill creates a sense of mystery.
This unit is ideal as an introduction to non-fiction texts at KS3. It has 18 lessons focusing on evaluating non-fiction texts, opinion writing, describing travel destinations, writing a letter of complaint and more. It comes fully resourced with PowerPoints, travel guide extracts, example answers and newspaper articles.
Lesson 1: Introduction to travel writing
Lesson 2: The Road to Manali by Melissa Bell
Lesson 3: The Red Dust
Lesson 4: Describing Antarctica
Lesson 5: Writing a speech to reduce tourism
Lesson 6: Pole to Pole by Michael Palin
Lesson 7: Narrative tenses in The Beach
Lesson 8-9: Designing a travel advert
Lesson 10: Designing the ultimate trip
Lesson 11: Describing holidays
Lesson 12: Holiday web quest
Lesson 13: Holiday narrative writing
Lesson 14-15: Holidays from hell
Lesson 16: Designing a promotional video
Lesson 17: Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
Lesson 18: Travel TV Shows
This unit of work is focused on short stories with original endings. The students analyze these stories, then have an opportunity to analyse an original ending in their final assessment. The unit of work contains 14 lessons and is mainly focused on how a story is structured and uses foreshadowing to lead the reader towards the ending.
Lesson 1-3: The Landlady by Roald Dahl
Lesson 4: The Raven by Edgar Alan Poe
Lesson 5: Analysing structure in The Raven
Lesson 6: An introduction to Sherlock Holmes
Lesson 7-9: The Case of the Engineer’s Thumb by Arthur Conan Doyle
Lesson 10: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Lesson 11-13: The Cone by HG Wells
Lesson 14: Structure in The Cone
There is also an opportunity for a KS3 SATS style exam to analyse structure in
‘Pick Your Poison’.
Are you looking for an original way to hook visual learners into creative writing?
This unit of work contains everything you need to teach Descriptive Writing at KS3 and is fantastic early preparation for English language descriptive writing. It includes 13 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson PowerPoints, exemplar answers, IWB interactive resources, intriguing pictures, activities to exploit drama and poems. It uses classic art as inspiration, such as Bird in an Air Pump, Thomas Chatterton and The Lady of Shalott.
Lesson 1: Bird in an Air Pump by Joseph Wright
Lesson 2: Chatterton by Henry Wallis
Lesson 3-4: The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse
Lesson 5: Voice in Not My Best Side by UA Fanthorpe
Lesson 6: Original Writing
Lesson 7: How to create original characters
Lesson 8: Describing alien planets in Star Wars
Lesson 9: Describing The Iron Islands in Game of Thrones
Lesson 10: Narrative Viewpoint in Assassin’s Creed
Lesson 11: Planning your assessment on ‘The Scream’
Lesson 12: Writing your assessment
Lesson 13: Assessment feedback
This scheme of work contains everything you need to teach Narrative Writing at KS3. This unit of work is great preparation for AQA Paper 1 for English language. It includes 13 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson ppts, exemplar paragraphs, IWB interactive resources, activities to exploit drama, media activities and fun ways to engage the students using horror writing.
Lesson 1: How to create tension in your writing
Lesson 2: Using camera angles
Lesson 3: Filming your Sandman
Lesson 4: Designing a storyboard
Lesson 5: Narrating over the Sandman
Lesson 6: Planning and structure
Lesson 7: Editing, extending and improving
Lesson 8: Focus on grammar
Lesson 9: Focus on sentence structure
Lesson 10: Planning your story
Lesson 11: Writing your story
Lesson 12: Less is more - being concise
Lesson 13: Designing a Sandman poster
Everything you need to revise Unseen Poetry at KS4. This unit of work is focused on AQA Paper 2 for English Literature. It includes 12 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson PowerPoints, exemplar answers, IWB interactive resources using SMART Notebook, quizzes, activities to exploit drama and examiner advice. This unit is best if you have already taught the skills for Unseen Poetry and are revising just before the exam.
Lesson 1: Analysing a Child’s Sleep by Carol Ann Duffy
Lesson 2: Comparing A Child’s Sleep with The Night Feed by Evan Bolan
Lesson 3: Analysing Rejection by Jenny Sullivan
Lesson 4: Comparing Rejection with Years Ago by Elizabeth Jennings
Lesson 5: Analysing Tramp by Rupert Loydell
Lesson 6: Comparing Tramp with Decomposition by Zulfikar Ghose
Lesson 7: Analysing I See You Dancing, Father
Lesson 8: Comparing I See You Dancing with Coat
Lesson 9: Analysing Woman Work by Maya Angelou
Lesson 10: Comparing Woman Work with County Sligo by Gillian Clarke
Lesson 11: Analysing Yew Tree Guest House by Phoebe Hesketh
Lesson 12: Comparing Yew Tree with Goodwill Store by Ted Kooser
Do you need your students to have an overview of English Literature canon? From Beowulf to The Bard?
This unit of work is dedicated to the progress of language from Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare and The Romantics to modern day speakers like Muhammad Ali and Malala Jusef . This unit works well with mid to high ability KS3 students, and could serve as a basic introduction to language change. It is fully resourced with extracts, gap fills, cartoon strips, timeline sorts, games and drag and drop activities.
Lesson 1: Timeline of English Literature
Lesson 2: The origins of English
Lesson 3: English pronunciation
Lesson 4: The Romantics
Lesson 5-7: Beowulf
Lesson 8: The Magna Carta
Lesson 9: The Wife of Bath by Chaucer
Lesson 10: Write your own Canterbury Tale
Lesson 11: Shakespearean Language
Lesson 12: The Witches in Macbeth
Lesson 13: The Great Fire of London
Lesson 14: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Lesson 15: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Lesson 16: JFK speeches
Lesson 17: Muhammad Ali speeches
Lesson 18: I am Malala
Lesson 19: Emma Watson’s speech on feminism
This unit contains everything you need to teach War Poetry at KS3. It gives a balanced view of patriotic poems that glorify war (Brooke and Pope) with more realistic poems from the front line (Sassoon and Owen). This unit of work is focused on preparing students for a final poetry assessment, whilst fostering a love of poetry. It includes 17 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson PowerPoints, contextual information, exemplar material, IWB interactive resources, quizzes, activities to exploit drama, original redrafts and opportunities for online research.
Lesson 1: Context reading
Lesson 2: Poet online research
Lesson 3: Rhythm and rhyme in poetry
Lesson 4: Poetic techniques
Lesson 5: Techniques review
Lesson 6: Write your own war poem
Lesson 7: Anthem for Doomed Youth
Lesson 8: The Charge of the Light Brigade
Lesson 9: Base Details
Lesson 10: A Remembrance Tale
Lesson 11: Dulce et Decorum Est
Lesson 12: The Hero
Lesson 13: Who’s for the game?
Lesson 14: The Soldier
Lesson 15: Explosure
Lesson 16: Assessment Preparation
Lesson 17: Write your assessment
Encourage students to stand up for their rights, using their language skills to influence the world.
This unit is ideally for KS3 students. It has been designed to teach the skills to write a formal letter of complaint by opposing the development of a theme park in the local area. There are 17 lessons which examine the layout of a letter as well as formal phrases to use. It is fully resourced with PowerPoints, brochures, theme park maps, persuasive adverts and debate cards.
Lesson 1: Language to advertise
Lesson 2: Holiday brochures
Lesson 3: Advertising theme parks
Lesson 4: Descriptive Writing
Lesson 5: Online holiday webquest
Lesson 6: Holidays gone wrong!
Lesson 7: Writing a letter of complaint
Lesson 8: Writing an application letter
Lesson 9: Evaluating a theme park leaflet
Lesson 10: Evaluating a website
Lesson 11: Designing a theme park
Lesson 12: Theme park debate
Lesson 13: Theme park poetry
Lesson 14: Theme park letter of complaint
Lesson 15: Theme park TV advert
Lesson 16: Plan your assessment
Lesson 17: Write your assessment
This unit is designed to give Year 9 students an introduction to Charles Dickens and other Victorian Writers at KS3. It includes extracts from Dombey and Son, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and more. This is perfect for introducing KS3 students to the skills they will need for their GCSE course and the context for Victorian Literature. The 14 lessons are fully resourced with extracts, contextual information, quizzes, gap fills and exemplar answers.
Lesson 1: The plot of Dombey and Son
Lesson 2: Analysing an extract
Lesson 3: Formative assessment
Lesson 4: Language to describe Victorian London
Lesson 5: The Dining Hall in Oliver Twist
Lesson 6: Victorian Women
Lesson 7: Lowood in Jane Eyre
Lesson 8: Miss Temple from Jane Eyre
Lesson 9: Mr Creakle from David Copperfield
Lesson 10: Describing characters
Lesson 11: Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights
Lesson 12: Comparing childhoods in Wuthering Heights and David Copperfield
Lesson 13: Comparing teachers in Jane Eyre and David Copperfield
Lesson 14: Assessment