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 study a novel that teaches students about both the allure and the dangers of gangs?
This unit of work works well with mid to high ability Year 8 or 9 students, and could serve as a basic introduction to the American Literature canon. It comes resourced with PowerPoints, worksheets, contextual information, IWB activities, character analysis, opportunities for creative writing and ideas for an assessment.
Lesson 1: Gang culture
Lesson 2: How Hinton creates character
Lesson 3: Hinton’s use of stereotypes
Lesson 4: How writers build tension
Lesson 5: The Socs and The Greasers
Lesson 6: Using inference
Lesson 7: Narrative perspective
Lesson 8: Robert Frost “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
Lesson 9: Analysing the character of Ponyboy
Lesson 10: Writing a newspaper article
Lesson 11: Dual narratives
Lesson 12: Use of foreshadowing to build tension
Lesson 13: Building tension in “The Rumble”
Lesson 14: Character foils: Jonny and Dally
Lesson 15: Analysing the character of Ponyboy
Lesson 16: Formal speeches in The Courtroom
Everything you need to teach Coraline at KS3. This 16 lesson unit has been designed as a read through the text, with a focus on evaluating a statement, and includes an assessment on how Gaiman creates tension. It is fully resourced with extracts, quizzes, assessments and worksheets.
Lesson 1: Gothic Horror
Lesson 2: C1 Setting the scene
Lesson 3: C2 Foreshadowing
Lesson 4: C3 Alternative realities
Lesson 5: C4 How Gaiman creates characters
Lesson 6: C5 Evaluating Coraline
Lesson 7: C6 What is bravery?
Lesson 8:C7 Interpreting clues
Lesson 9: C8 The children in the mirror
Lesson 10: C9 How Gaiman creates mystery
Lesson 11: C10 Horror and Mystery
Lesson 12: C11 The Final Battle
Lesson 13: C12-13 Evaluating the Ending
Lesson 14: Planning the assessment
Lesson 15: Writing the assessment
Lesson 16: The Film
These feedback sheets really help students to target areas of weakness without relying on the teacher. Each sheet has been designed for the students to carry out their own corrections once you have given them a target. Each sheet includes an explanation of what the target means, how to achieve it in their own work, a sample paragraph containing a successful example and a list of dos and don’ts.
Reading Targets
A: how to deepen your explanations
B: how to select and use quotes effectively
C: how to skillfully embed historical context
D: how to comment on language techniques
E: how to keep your answer relevant
F: how to improve your knowledge of the text
G: how to write analytical paragraphs
H: how to compare two texts
I: how to write an introduction
J: how to write a conclusion
K: how to plan an essay
L: how to annotate an extract
M: how to explore different interpretations
N: how to analyse form and structure
O: how to comment on poet’s use of meter
P: how to write a conceptualised response
Writing Targets
A: using paragraphs and discourse markers
B: how to correct your punctuation
C: using figurative language
D: varying your sentence types
E: fixing grammar issues
F: appealing to your audience
G: focus on purpose
H: using the 5 senses
I: improving your vocabulary
J: correcting your tenses
K: how to plan your writing
L: how to brainstorm your ideas
M: how to structure your writing effectively
N: how to begin and end your writing
This unit contains everything you need to teach Greta Thunberg Speeches. It works well balanced with with Rime of the Ancient Mariner, so the students can discuss ecological arguments in their Individual Oral. The unit opens with 5 famous speeches so the students can learn and use the required terminology. It is then followed by 7 IB specific lessons, focusing on how to analyse a speech. This unit could also be used for Higher Level Students.
Lesson 1: JFK
Lesson 2: Leonardo DiCaprio’s speech at the UN
Lesson 3: Muhammad Ali
Lesson 4: Malala
Lesson 5: Emma Watson
Lesson 6: Introduction to IB speeches
Lesson 7: The World is Waking Up
Lesson 8: Act Right Now
Lesson 9: A Disarming Case
Lesson 10: Global Issues
Lesson 11: Our Lives Are In Your Hands
Lesson 12: Our House Is On Fire
Featherboy is a fantastic text to teach KS3 students about bullying, and the unseen struggles others may be going through.
This unit is ideally for Year 7 or a lower ability Year 8, and will save you hours of preparation time! It contains 20 lessons covering the whole of the text, focusing on Robert’s journey from zero to hero. It is fully resourced with PowerPoints, bullying articles, newspaper templates and opportunities for drama role play. It also has an assessment essay on Robert’s changes with essay frames and quote quests. This is perfect for early English Literature preparation as well as building English writing skills. Each lesson focuses on a different aspect and chapter of the text.
Lesson 1: Use of the fairy tale genre in Featherboy
Lesson 2: Characterisation
Lesson 3: Finding your own narrative voice
Lesson 4: Singer’s use of Robert’s imagination
Lesson 5: Use of sound
Lesson 6: How to build tension
Lesson 7: Drama and the hot seat challenge
Lesson 8: Community debates
Lesson 9: Precepts and life wisdoms
Lesson 10: Writing a dramatic monologue
Lesson 11: Bullying
Lesson 12: Symbolism of The Firebird
Lesson 13: Writing a film script
Lesson 14: Using the passive voice in reports
Lesson 15: Writing a letter
Lesson 16: Writing a newspaper article
Lesson 17: Analysing Robert
Lesson 18: Singer’s narrative style and voice
Lesson 19: The Trial of Jonathan Niker
Lesson 20: Assessment
If you are teaching Frankenstein, this unit contains everything you need to allow students to connect a 19th century Romantic novel with the great issues of today, such as the environment, artificial intelligence and what makes us human.
This unit has everything you need to teach Frankenstein at KS3. It contains 25 lessons that take you through the text using differentiated extracts. It is fully resourced with context readings, theme discussions, extract analysis, persuasive writing opportunities, online research on The Romantics, critical articles and opportunities to practice extract into essay writing. Please note this unit does not look at the whole text, it analyses key extracts from the novel.
Lesson 1: an introduction to plot and context
Lesson 2: Walton’s letters
Lesson 3: C1 Victor and Elizabeth
Lesson 4: C4 University Life
Lesson 5: C5 The Creature
Lesson 6: C6 Elizabeth’s letter
Lesson 7: C7 Child killers
Lesson 8: The Trial of Justine
Lesson 9: C8 The Gothic and The Romantic
Lesson 10: Romantic Research
Lesson 11: C10 The Ice Field
Lesson 12: C11 The Creature’s Tale
Lesson 13: C15 The Importance of Appearances
Lesson 14: C16 Revenge
Lesson 15: C17 The Bride of Frankenstein
Lesson 16: C19 The Orkney Islands
Lesson 17: C20 The Dangers of Science
Lesson 18: Who is the real monster?
Lesson 19: C23 Elizabeth
Lesson 20: C24 The End
Lesson 21: Extract analysis on ‘Regret’
Lesson 22: Walton’s Letters
Lesson 23: The Trial of Victor Frankenstein
Lesson 24: End of unit quiz
This unit of work is designed as a pathway through the text Wild Boy at KS3. The unit contains 21 lessons and looks at areas such as plot structure, character relationships, aspects of a detective novel, the author’s use of pathetic fallacy and more. It is fully resourced with an extract assessment, descriptive language worksheets, plot quizzes, contextual information and assessment writing frames. Page numbers refer to the Walker Books edition.
Lesson 1: The Prologue
Lesson 2: The Circus: setting the scene
Lesson 3: Fairground characters
Lesson 4: Clarissa Everett
Lesson 5: The author’s use of animal imagery
Lesson 6: Creating mystery
Lesson 7: Character foils: Clarissa and Wild Boy
Lesson 8: Escape through the sewers
Lesson 9: Designing a WANTED poster
Lesson 10: Use of pathetic fallacy
Lesson 11: Analysing the murder scene
Lesson 12: Discovering the hidden room
Lesson 13: A Victorian Workhouse
Lesson 14: The Church
Lesson 15: How the writer builds tension
Lesson 16: The Machine
Lesson 17: Circular Structure
Lesson 18: The Suspects
Lesson 19: The Finale
Lesson 20: Planning your assessment
Lesson 21: Writing your assessment
This Unit of Work has been designed as a way through the novel ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. It contains 19 lessons and is designed to exploit areas like descriptive writing, writing a summary, analyzing characters, constructing the plot, the format of a letter, how writers build tension and designing a film storyboard. It also contains two assessment opportunities on Stanley Yelnats and the significance of the title. The page numbers refer to the Bloomsbury edition.
Lesson 1: An introduction to Holes
Lesson 2: Chapters 1-3: Camp Green Lake
Lesson 3: Chapters 4-6: Impressions of Stanley Yelnats
Lesson 4: Chapters 7-9: Use of flashback in literature
Lesson 5: Creating a factfile
Lesson 6: Survival guide poster and plot quiz
Lesson 7: Chapters 10-12: Writing a letter home
Lesson 8: Chapters 13-15: The Warden
Lesson 9: Chapters 16-18: Kate Barlow’s lipstick
Lesson 10: Chapters 19-21: Building tension
Lesson 11: Chapters 22-24: Using flashbacks
Lesson 12: Chapters 25-28: Kissin’ Kate Barlow
Lesson 13: Chapters 29-30: Using pathetic fallacy
Lesson 14: Chapters 31-33: Zero’s escape
Lesson 15: Chapters 34-36: Comparing Stanley and Zero
Lesson 16: Chapters 37-39: Climbing Big Thumb
Lesson 17: Chapters 40-43: Formulating an escape plan
Lesson 18: Chapters 44- 47: Buried treasure
Lesson 19: Chapters 48-50: The End
This scheme of work is designed as a pathway through the play and an introduction to drama at KS3. It includes 16 lessons that are easy to follow and focus on aspects like staging, character development, creative writing, autism research and more. Page numbers refer to the Metheun Drama edition.
Lesson 1: Autism research
Lesson 2: Creating Chris’ voice
Lesson 3: Metaphorical and literal
Lesson 4: Siobhan as the narrator
Lesson 5: The detective genre
Lesson 6: Perceptions of Chris’ mother
Lesson 7: Perceptions of Chris’ father
Lesson 8: Stephen’s use of staging
Lesson 9: Research on why children run away from home
Lesson 10: Eidetic memories
Lesson 11: Staging Chris’ journey to London
Lesson 12: Judy and Roger
Lesson 13: Creating coping strategies
Lesson 14: The crime genre
Lesson 15: Assessment on Siobhan
This scheme of work is designed as a pathway through the play and an introduction to drama at KS3. It includes 12 lessons that are easy to follow and focus on aspects like staging, character development, creative writing, the history of the holocaust and more.
Lesson 1: elements of a fable and context
Lesson 2: narrative voice
Lesson 3: descriptive techniques
Lesson 4: vague language and inference
Lesson 5: reading between the lines
Lesson 6: character analysis of Pavel
Lesson 7: comparing Bruno and Shmuel
Lesson 8: writing analytical paragraphs
Lesson 9: Comparing Lieutenant Kotler with Nazi Germany ideology
Lesson 10: Discussing the message of the novel
Lesson 11: Designing a book cover
Lesson 12: Analysing Jackson’s use of staging
Are you teaching Myths, Legends, Fables and Fairy Tales? This unit will help you teach folktales and traditional tales, and it will save you hours of preparation! This unit of work includes 10 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson PowerPoints, contextual information, exemplar answers, quizzes and the classical stories. The unit includes:
Lesson 1: The Norse World
Lesson 2: Analysing settings
Lesson 3: Asgard
Lesson 4: Thor, Loki and Odin
Lesson 5: Comparing Thors
Lesson 6: Loki’s children
Lesson 7: Hel
Lesson 8: Thor and The Frost Giants
Lesson 9: Ragnarok
This unit contains everything you need to revise unseen poetry for your A level exam. This unit of work includes 8 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson powerpoints, contextual information and exemplar material. It covers poetry eras such as: Metaphysicals, Cavaliers, Renaissance, Tudor and more modern poems. This unit of work has been designed for the AQA A-level course, but is adaptable to fit other exam board specifications. The scheme of work includes:
Lesson 1: Metaphysical revision of Donne, Marvell, Herbert and Crashaw
Lesson 2: Comparing Cavalier and Metaphysical attitudes to love
Lesson 3: How to approach an unseen poem
Lesson 4: Romantic love in Victorian and modern poetry
Lesson 5: Motherhood in modern poetry and WW2
Lesson 6: Romantic love in 3 modern poems
Lesson 7: Loss in Tudor and Renaissance poetry
Lesson 8: Analysing poems for the influence of context using Kahoot
This scheme of work is 10 lessons designed to test your students’ ability to plan and write creatively using a picture as a springboard for their imagination. It is most effective when used a few weeks before their exam. The focus is:
Lesson 1: structuring paragraphs in a WW1 trench scene
Lesson 2: using varied sentence structures in a train scene
Lesson 3: noun-verb collocation in a forest scene
Lesson 4: the effect of adjectives in an alien planet scene
Lesson 5: paragraph focus in a scene from Private Peaceful
Lesson 6: descriptive techniques in a castle scene
Lesson 7: using tense changes in a stormy sea scene
Lesson 8: individual word choice in a transport image
Lesson 9: creating backstories from AI images
Lesson 10: using a learning mat for a mountain scene
If your students find Shakespeare dull and inaccessible, this is the unit for you. The lessons are focused on staging a shipwreck, costume, props, bringing the play to life and contextually understanding Elizabethan views of slavery.
This unit includes everything you need to teach The Tempest at KS3. It includes 20 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson powerpoints, contextual information, exemplar material, IWB interactive resources, quizzes, activities to exploit drama and extract analysis. Page numbers refer to the Cambridge Shakespeare edition. There is a final unit assessment on the relationship between Miranda and Prospero.
Lesson 1: Elizabethan context
Lesson 2: Accessing Shakespeare’s language
Lesson 3: The plot
Lesson 4: The characters
Lesson 5: A1S1 shipwreck
Lesson 6: Analyzing the relationship between Prospero and Miranda
Lesson 7: Ariel and magic
Lesson 8: Caliban and slavery
Lesson 9: How Prospero and Miranda’s relationship changes
Lesson 10: Alonso and betrayal
Lesson 11: Gonzalo and loyalty
Lesson 12: Miranda and Ferdinand
Lesson 13: Designing a Tempest poster
Lesson 14: Nature and nurture
Lesson 15: Prospero’s plan
Lesson 16: How the characters change
Lesson 17: The epilogue
Lesson 18: Assessment planning
Lesson 19: Writing your assessment
Lesson 20: Feedback and improve
Everything you need to teach this fantastic novel! Ideally for Years 7-9, this unit has 20 lessons covering the whole of the text, focusing on writer’s use of language, evaluating a character statement and creative writing. It comes fully resourced with PowerPoints, contextual information on Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, chapter extracts and IWB activities. This is perfect for developing early English Literature essay skills. Page numbers are based on the 2004 Vintage edition. The lesson themes focus on:
Lesson 1: Autism research
Lesson 2: How to produce Chris’s style
Lesson 3: Understanding emotions
Lesson 4: Character profiles
Lesson 5: Habits and rituals
Lesson 6: The Monty Hall Problem
Lesson 7: Splitting up
Lesson 8: Chris’ mother
Lesson 9: The letters
Lesson 10: Running away research
Lesson 11: Chris runs away
Lesson 12: Eidetic memories
Lesson 13: Interpreting dreams
Lesson 14: Analysing Chris’ mother
Lesson 15: Designing a front cover
Lesson 16: Writing an extra chapter
Lesson 17: Character profiles
Lesson 18: Book reviews
Lesson 19: Describing a train journey
Lesson 20: Questions to the author
There is also an opportunity for assessment on Chris’s dad with feedback and a marking sheet.
Ideally for Year 8 or low ability Year 9, this unit of work contains 25 lessons covering the whole of the text. It focuses on writer’s use of language, how the writer uses structure, evaluating a statement and creative writing. It comes fully resourced with contextual information, Auschwitz survivor stories, chapter extracts, freeze frame cards and IWB activities. This is perfect to embed the skills needed for GCSE Literature Paper 1 preparation at KS3.
Lesson 1: Context
Lesson 2: Boyne’s narrative style
Lesson 3: Exploring sibling relationships
Lesson 4: Descriptive writing
Lesson 5: The importance of Bruno’s father
Lesson 6: Good and evil
Lesson 7: Pavel as a symbol of Jewish struggles
Lesson 8: Uniforms
Lesson 9: Exploring
Lesson 10: Friendships
Lesson 11: Bruno and Shmuel
Lesson 12: Shmuel’s background
Lesson 13: Using inference
Lesson 14: Writing a TV script
Lesson 15: Lieutenant Kotler
Lesson 16: Radicalization and the Hitler Youth
Lesson 17: Bruno’s mother
Lesson 18: Bruno’s world
Lesson 19: Writing the ending
Lesson 20: Poetic justice
Lesson 21: The end
Lesson 22: Interview with John Boyne
Lesson 23: Planning your assessment
Lesson 24: Writing your assessment
Lesson 25: Feedback and improve
Everything you need to teach Science Fiction at KS3. This unit of work includes 14 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson powerpoints, quizzes, stories and a descriptive assessment . It is geared towards boys, with extracts from Ray Bradbury, Mars missions and The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is useful as an early introduction to the skills needed for English Language GCSE Paper 1.
Lesson 1: Introduction to Science Fiction
Lesson 2: The rise of Artificial Intelligence
Lesson 3-4: A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury
Lesson 5: Colonising Mars
Lesson 6: Write a Mars Speech
Lesson 7: All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Lesson 8: Designing a Science Fiction Trailer
Lesson 9: The Time Machine by HG Wells
Lesson 10: Virus and future pandemics
Lesson 11: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Lesson 12: The Veldt by Ray Bradbury
Lesson 13: Writing a Doctor Who script for TV
Lesson 14: Describing an alien planet from Star Wars
This unit contains everything you need to teach dystopian Fiction at KS3 in an engaging and dynamic way. It includes 9 lessons and is fully resourced with lesson PowerPoints, extracts, short stories, quizzes and assessment opportunities. This unit works well with a boy heavy group interested in texts like Brave New World, Hunger Games and War of the Worlds. There is an assessment opportunity at the end of the unit for the students to analyse an extract from Children of Men. This is supported with essay frames and exemplar answers.
Lesson 1: Dystopias in Literature
Lesson 2: Comparing dystopian worlds
Lesson 3: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Lesson 4: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Colins
Lesson 5: The Red Weed from War of the Worlds
Lesson 6: 1984 by George Orwell
Lesson 7: Assessment: Children of Men by PD James
Lesson 8:Writing your assessment
Lesson 9: Assessment feedback
Lesson 10: Dystopia quiz
A unit of work dedicated to poetry that explores the natural world. It includes 19 lessons with activities to help students comment on the effect of language techniques, comparison and contextual research opportunities on the British poets. It is fully resourced with fun facts, quizzes, support notes, essay frames and creative writing opportunities. The lessons cover a range of subjects such as poetic techniques, rhythm and rhyme in conjunction with with poems by: Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Lord Tennyson, William Blake and many more.
Lesson 1: Poetic techniques
Lesson 2: Poetic techniques review
Lesson 3: How poets use rhythm
Lesson 4: The Eagle by Tennyson
Lesson 5: The Jaguar by Ted Hughes
Lesson 6: The Tyger by William Blake
Lesson 7: The Hyena by Edwin Morgan
Lesson 8: View of a Pig by Ted Hughes
Lesson 9: Sonnet by John Clare
Lesson 10: Spring by Hopkins
Lesson 11: Daffodils by William Wordsworth
Lesson 12: Inversnaid by Hopkins
Lesson 13: Little Trotty Wagtail by John Clare
Lesson 14: Seamus Heaney research
Lesson 15: Death of a Naturalist by Heaney
Lesson 16: Blackberry Picking by Heaney
Lesson 17: Planning your assessment
Lesson 18: Writing your assessment
Lesson 19: Assessment feedback
This unit works really well with a Year 7 or Year 8 group. They get really excited about the characters, especially The Artful Dodger! The unit consists of 17 lessons covering the whole of the play. It is fully resourced with PowerPoints, newspaper articles, character descriptions, extracts and diary entries. The page numbers refer to the Heinemann Edition by Nigel Bryant.
Lesson 1: Oliver’s feelings
Lesson 2: The workhouse
Lesson 3: Mr Bumble
Lesson 4: Oliver’s diary
Lesson 5: Apprenticeships
Lesson 6: Crime and Punishment
Lesson 7: Dodger and Fagin
Lesson 8: Writing a newspaper article
Lesson 9: Mr Brownlow
Lesson 10: Creating settings
Lesson 11: Designing Fagin’s hideout
Lesson 12: Solving the mystery
Lesson 13: Nancy
Lesson 14: The End
Lesson 15: Acting out the play
Lesson 16: Writing your assessment
Lesson 17: Assessment feedback