Three resources, including a 15 slide PowerPoint, for a lesson exploring Lady Macbeth's language in Act 1, Scene 5 and the use of dramatic irony in Act 1, Scene 6. The lesson was created for a Year 9 set 2 class, but could easily be adapted for different abilities or a KS4 class. Extension tasks are included and pupils peer assess their PEA work for RAF5 (explain and comment on a writer's use of language). A research homework - with extension task - is also included. The lesson proved to be hugely successful with my current and previous Year 9 classes.

Two resources - both PowerPoints have nine slides - covering two lessons on the opening scenes of Act 2. A range of activities included, including a homework task, extension activities and differentiation by choice. The modern version of Macbeth's soliloquy is not included as it is a Teachit sheet you can download for free. Both lessons were created for my set 2 Year 9 class, but could easily be adapted for different abilities.

Three resources covering two lessons from my Year 10 Great Expectations SOW for the new AQA GCSE English Literature spec (the 19th century novel - Paper 1, Section B). Lesson 25 covers key aspects of Chapters 49-53 (Volume Three). A variety of activities including close analysis of the Chapter 49 episode when Miss Havisham sets herself alight. Extension tasks included. A homework task is also included with an optional extension task. Lesson 26 focuses on key parts/quotes from Chapters 54-56. Extension tasks are included. Several tasks encourage pupils to find their own evidence, encouraging resilience and greater knowledge and understanding of the text. All the tasks worked well with my Year 10 class.

An eleven slide PowerPoint which guides pupils through Act 3, Scene 1 and helps them produce a high quality response to the question: Why does Macbeth plan to kill his friend and his friend’s son? The resource includes extension tasks to challenge the more able, starter sentences, modelling examples (including one you can print out and get pupils to annotate and assess before they complete their own answer), the assessment criteria for RAF3 and support for pupils to develop their skills in exploring different levels of meaning and embedding brief quotes into their answers. I got pupils to set their own target for the lesson and then self assess at the end of the lesson to check progress had been made. My school still uses APP levels, but this resource could easily be adapted for flightpaths. This lesson is part of a SOW I created for a set 2 Year 9 class.

Two PowerPoints to help pupils understand Act 1, Scenes 3 and 4. The worksheet for Act 1, Scene 3 is not included due to copyright. It is available to download for free from Teachit (1364) - details on PowerPoint. Extension tasks included to challenge the more able. Homework task included with extension activity. I used a DVD of the Judi Dench/Ian McKellan Macbeth as a recap for pupils after the first three scenes. This worked really well to consolidate their knowledge and understanding before moving onto Scene 4. These lessons were created for a set 2 Year 9 class, but could easily be adapted for different abilities or for a KS4 class.

Three resources covering two lessons of my Great Expectations SOW for the new AQA English Literature GCSE spec (Paper 1 - Section B: the 19th century novel). Lesson 19 covers key aspects of Chapters 33 and 34 (Volume Three) with a specific focus on developing pupils' understanding of how Miss Havisham manipulates Pip and Estella and how Estella in turn manipulates Pip. Pupils explore relevant quotes (on a pupil handout included) and then produce a written analysis of how Dickens uses language to show Pip and Estella are being manipulated. That work is then marked for AO2. The checklist I introduced pupils to in an earlier lesson is included on the PowerPoint along with extension tasks for differentiation. Lesson 20 covers Chapters 35-38. Whereas pupils were given the key quotes in the previous lesson, this lesson encourages them to find their own evidence from the novel to use in their analyses. The lesson involves a number of different activities with extension tasks for the more able for every task. These lessons worked very well with my current Year 10 class.

A ten slide PowerPoint from my Year 10 Great Expectations SOW for the new AQA GCSE English Literature spec (the 19th century novel - Paper 1, Section B). This lesson explores how Dickens uses character pairs, the importance of Herbert and Joe in the narrative and how Dickens presents Joe's character. Extension tasks are included to challenge the more able and enable them to access the top levels in the mark scheme. A related homework task is also included with differentiation by task and an optional extension task. The development of all relevant AOs are covered in this lesson, although the focus is exploring writer's methods (AO2 - language). All the tasks worked well with my Year 10 class.

An eleven slide resource for two lessons. In the first lesson pupils read Act 5, Scene 1 and explore how Lady Macbeth is presented using a variety of tasks. In the second lesson, pupils choose key quotes they can use from Act 1, Scenes 5-7 and Act 5, Scene 1 and then write a comparative mini essay answering the question: How has Lady Macbeth changed from the first to final Acts of the play? All the activities in these lessons build up to this essay, with extension tasks helping more able pupils access higher levels and a writing frame to help pupils structure their response. This writing frame also has starter sentences for pupils who need a bit of additional support. Pupils peer assess their essays before teacher feedback using success criteria viewed early in the first lesson. I have also included some different ideas re how you could get pupils to tackle different tasks depending on your class size and ability. These lessons were created as part of a SOW for my Year 9 set 2 class. I used this as their end of unit reading assessment with the following lesson being DIRT with pupils using my formative written feedback to guide them.

Five resources: 1. A sheet of key quotes from the novel for the new AQA GCSE English Lit closed book exam. Page numbers are included so pupils can see the quotes in context in their copy of the novel. This resource could also be used to help pupils revise the novel's themes by getting them to decide what key theme(s) each quote reveals or to test a pupil's knowledge of the novel by trying to allocate each quote to a chapter or who some of the quotes are spoken by. You could also use this resource for a differentiation by choice homework to help pupils practise their PEA skills. 2. Homework questions on Chapter Six. 3. Homework questions on Chapter Seven. 4. Homework questions on Chapter Nine. 5. Homework questions on Chapter Ten. All the homework sheets have extension tasks to challenge the more able and help them access the higher levels on the new AQA GCSE English Lit spec. These are ready made homework tasks you can set after reading these chapters or for revision.

Two resources (10 slide PowerPoint and key quotes chart) for a revision lesson on ‘Great Expectations’ preparing Year 11 students for Paper 1 of the new AQA English Literature GCSE. The lesson covers revision of the novel’s main themes; how themes are revealed through characters, events and settings; relevant context and key quotations from across the novel through a range of active learning tasks. Differentiation by choice and extension tasks are included. The key quotes chart (which I enlarged to A3 and printed single sided to encourage students to display at home) includes pictures for each quotation to aid visual learners. I have included some extra details and teaching options in the notes sections below some slides. The homework task is to complete the rest of the chart at home to consolidate and develop each student’s knowledge and understanding from the lesson and prior learning. The lesson was created for a mixed ability Year 11 class. All the activities were well received and helped students write high mark timed essays following my second revision lesson (available separately on TES Resources).

Four resources (15 slide PowerPoint, modelling examples, AQA style extract essay question - with additional tips to support less able students, and two short extracts for focused close analysis) for one lesson and a homework preparing Year 11 students for their ‘Great Expectations’ essay question in Paper 1 of the new AQA English Literature GCSE exam. A range of activities are included in which students complete tasks (discussions, notes, annotations, PEEL paragraphs, peer and self-assessment, DIRT) in pairs/individually which focus on the need for detailed, close analysis of the exam extract. Two activities also encourage students to include relevant contextual detail in their answers. The lesson builds on my previous revision lesson (available separately on TES Resources) which helps students revise key aspects of the novel as a whole, and builds towards the homework task: timed essay for teacher marking and feedback. Most tasks offer differentiation by choice and students work on their individual targets after peer assessment. Moreover, most slides have additional information or ideas in the notes sections. The lesson was created for a mixed ability Year 11 class. All the activities were well received. My students especially liked the modelling examples and revision of how to analyse structure as well as language. As a teacher, I was extremely pleased with the resulting essays.

Three resources covering two lessons on the opening scenes of the play and exploring why Shakespeare opened his play with the witches. Pupils produce a piece of written work at the end of the first lesson which they assess for RAF6. They complete DIRT on this piece at the start of the second lesson before moving onto reading and exploring scene 2 and their first impressions of Macbeth before the audience has even met him. These lessons were created for a set 2 Year 9 class, but could easily be adapted for different abilities or for a KS4 class.

An 81 slide fun quiz made up of 53 questions and answers which can be used for KS3, KS4 or even KS5 classes with three main rounds for engaging variety in those end of term lessons. There is a 25 question general literature knowledge quiz first - with the extra benefit that the last letter of each answer is the beginning letter of the following answer. This is followed by a ten question round on literary terms. You may or may not want to add correct spelling into the mix for that round! Answers are at the end of that round. The third round is a name that book round with fifteen book covers with the titles blanked out. Answers are at the end of that round. The books are from a range of target ages and genres. There is also a final round of three bonus questions if you need some tie-breakers. This was initially created last year and proved hugely popular with all my English classes from Year 7 to Year 13. It is an hour of end of term fun related to English, literature and independent reading.

4 resources (2 PowerPoints of 18 + 7 slides, worksheet and help sheet) for 2 lessons to help pupils improve their accurate use of capital letters and punctuation. Activities include: pair and class discussions; correcting an extract with missing capital letters and punctuation; a creative writing task with a punctuation focus; homework task (differentiation by choice). Differentiation: modelling examples; extension tasks; number of missing capital letters and punctuation marks on task 1 listed; peer checking and peer assessment; pupils set own targets; help sheet with examples of more advanced punctuation used correctly to support all pupils and encourage more able to include semi-colons and colons. I created these lessons for a mixed ability KS3 class. It has helped focus their attention on the need for an accurate clear punctuation range in their writing. Extracts are taken from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and an interview with John Boyne.

8 resources for 3 lessons (lessons 9-11 of my Year 10 SOW) focusing on Chapters 8-11 and developing key skills for AO1 and AO2. Resources include detailed PowerPoints for each lesson (lesson 9 = 10 slides; lesson 10 = 9 slides; lesson 11 = 10 slides); 2 sheets of extracts; a homework task sheet encouraging students to re-read an earlier chapter and analyse minor characters; a starter task sheet of an opinion article from The Telegraph and comprehensive lesson plans. Lesson plans include homework tasks building on class tasks and/or practising key analysis skills, extension tasks for the more able and suggestions for possible activity adaptations to suit different teaching groups. The lessons also encourage students to complete DIRT after teacher, peer or self assessment. All these tasks worked extremely well with my current Year 10 class and build on from lessons 1-8 which I have also uploaded in TES Resources.

Four resources covering two lessons - one lesson analysing Scene 3 with an AO1, AO2 and AO5 focus and leading to students writing an analytical essay on the scene; one lesson on essay feedback and DIRT. Resources include PowerPoints for each lesson, comprehensive lesson plans and an essay cover sheet I created using the mark scheme for the AS exam. These lessons form lesson 8 and lesson 11 of the SOW I created for the new Edexcel English Literature AS Level. However, both are equally valid for the new AQA spec. The lesson plan also explains how essays will be worded in the Edexcel AS Level drama exam. There are also ideas for other essay titles to help students develop their understanding of the play and prepare them for exam essays.

8 resources covering 5 lessons on my SOW for A Level coursework for the new Edexcel English Lit A Level spec. These could easily be used/adapted for the new AQA English Lit A Level spec. Lessons examine language, setting, narrative voice, character relationships and include independent learning tasks. The last two lessons involve students presenting chapters to the rest of the class. The final task is an essay question. There are a number of different learning tasks to encourage student engagement as well as developing their knowledge and understanding of the novel. The comprehensive lesson plans include ideas for differentiation and show how each lesson links to at least one of the assessment objectives. Lessons 1-7 of my SOW have been uploaded separately onto TES Resources.

Seven resources on prose extracts which can be used as extension/challenge or homework or starters with KS3 classes. They include a range of tasks (often through differentiation/adaptive learning by choice) to help pupils explore the effects of a range of language and structural techniques plus start to develop evaluative skills. These tasks also help pupils respond to more challenging ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions. Pupils have found these short extracts and guidance questions extremely helpful in preparing them for analysis of longer texts in end of unit and end of year assessments. I have these resources (along with my poetry extension/challenge reading tasks and extension/challenge writing tasks) laminated on coloured paper (green for reading and yellow for writing) in a folder my pupils can access if they have completed all my main lesson tasks. I have also used some for cover lessons and as adaptive learning group tasks. Now my school is moving towards pupils using laptops in lessons, I have uploaded these into my KS3 class Teams rooms to encourage pupils to access stretch and challenge activities as part of their independent learning. I have uploaded my reading extension/challange poetry tasks and writing extension/challenge tasks in separate resources on TES. You can also purchase them all in a money saving bundle.

Two language change lessons on early dictionaries and the age of prescriptivism for AQA English Language A Level Paper 2. Resources include two PowerPoints (19 slides and 13 slides) and two accompanying student handouts containing relevant information and a range of thought-provoking and engaging activities to apply learning and make it memorable. These lessons have been tried, tested and honed with numerous Year 13 classes as part of my language change SoW. The Words of the Year (WOTY) are from 2023; I will update when the 2024 ones are released.