A lesson exploring how the writer’s choices shape meaning in Act 3, Frankenstein the play by Philip Pullman. The lesson uses a range of drama activities to help students to explore the linguisitic and structural choices of Act 3 and to help them to form hypotheses / inferences about the ideas that Shelley / Pullman are exploring in this scene. Starter: freeze frames to introduce the key ideas. Main: drama activities to explore the language and use of punctuation Development: discussion questions to deepen students’ understanding of the writer’s choices. Plenary: multiple choice four corners activity where students move across the room to suggest how far they agree with a statement - allowing the teacher to get a snapshot of students’ understanding of the writer’s choices and key ideas of the play. Follow up / homework: discussion / independent writing questions. This lesson also includes suggested changes for making it work for online learning.

A resource modelling how to construct a sophisticated analysis response to Egeus’ speech in Act 1 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Literature essay question: How does Shakespeare present Egeus in Act 1 Scene 1?’ The lesson builds on the previous lesson where students have annotated the speech and planned a response to the question. It does rely on students having already written their essay plan / having access to a plan (but this doesn’t need to have followed my lesson on doing so). Activities: Starter: a link to a dual-coded quiz to reinforce knowledge of Shakespearean terminology. Task 1: Read a model paragraph and discuss guiding questions to consider how to construct a sophisticated analysis paragraph. Task 2: Use the model and the previous task’s discussion to write an analysis paragraph with peer support. Task 3: Students write an analysis paragraph independently. Plenary: Reflection activity Teacher instructions and suggestions are included in the notes section to clarify anything that may be unclear.

Cambridge First Language 0500 Paper 1 Question 2 practice using cultural capital relevant to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Includes both short questions and the writer’s effect questions for language paper 1, question 2 a-d. Text is the story of Daphne and Apollo - a key literary allusion from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream - to enhance knowledge of literary / classical context to the play and how this is used to parallel the gender dynamics in the play. Can be used as a summative / formative assessment or a teacher-directed example.

An introduction to the Athenian court in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, looking at Egeus’ speech in Act 1 Scene 1. The lesson focuses on how the noble characters are presented and the key ideas that are emphasised through this speech. It then goes on to draw parallels between what we learn about the Athenian court and Shakespeare’s England to connect students’ understanding of context to the choices made in the play. The first activity assumes a general knowledge of the first act of the play and checks recall of the ‘off-stage’ action. An alternative activity is suggested in the notes section for those who prefer to teach the play unseen. Instructions for each activity are included in the notes section. This activity would work well as a follow up to the following resources also available on my author page: Cambridge IGCSE 0500 Paper 1 Question 2: The story of Hippolyta and Theseus. Cambridge IGCSE 0500 Paper 1 Question 1 Summary: Shakespeare and Gender - context https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12840407 Cambridge IGCSE 0500 Paper 1 Question 1 Summary: Shakespeare and his influence https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12840068

Ideal for preparing students for Ted Hughes’ poems ‘The Other’ and ‘Wind’ as well as practising Cambridge IGCSE 0500 Language Paper 1 Question 1 exam technique. The resource gives an overview of Hughes’ relationships with Sylvia Plath and Assia Wevill, preparing them for the ambivalence of both ‘The Other’ and ‘Wind’ as well as helping them understand his collection of poetry more widely. The resource also follows the structure of the 0500 first language paper 1 question 1 to efficiently integrate both language and literature skills. It includes a mark scheme for either teacher- or self-assessment and could be used formatively or summatively.

This lesson explores the following structural choices in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Foils - how the different characters highlight different characteristics about each other. Genre - comedy and the idea of the the problem play (and how the ending might relate to this) Genre - literary allusions to Romeo and Juliet It uses group and paired work with guiding questions and sentence stems to help students to use structural terminology and to think about Shakespeare’s structural choices in a more academic and analytical format. The lesson ends with a mindmapping activity to help students to make connections between the knowledge learned in this lesson and their prior learning. This can then be built upon as students continue in the unit.

A resource including four essay questions with teacher model for students to respond to on Shakespeare’s presentation of Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (The questions are taken from and build the preparation lessons in my collection - Exploring the character of Hermia but can also be attempted indepedently of these resources). Resource includes: opportunities for metacognition teacher-written models on a similar question with specific questions to direct students’ attention to the ingredients needed in an analysis paragraph and how they should be integrated together. alternative suggestions (in the notes section) for teachers who don’t feel their students are ready for a full essay but who would like to use the models and activities to help support their students’ essay writing skills.

A Philosophy for Children inspired introduction to any William Shakespeare unit, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, and Macbeth. It is looking particularly at issues of representation and the influence of Shakespeare. This is a useful activity for developing speaking and listening skills as well as for getting buy in for the study of Shakespeare by allowing students to debate and discuss within a structured format. Suggestions for how the activities are structured are included in the ‘notes’ section of the PPT including an alternative starter activity for those who have not previously come across the story of Romeo and Juliet.

Comprehension questions followed by a knowledge check to support students’ development of deep knowledge of the theme of religion in Purple Hibiscus.

A lesson exploring the changing relationship between Frankenstein and Elizabeth in Act 1 of Frankenstein the Play, as well as their conflicting motivation. The lesson includes drama activities as well as discussion prompts to get students to consider the characters and Shelley’s / Pullman’s characterisation. This resource follows on from my lesson 'L2 Frankenstein the Play Act 1 - Victor Frankenstein.

Resources to cover three full lessons including: Planning lesson Assessment lesson Feedback lesson Planning lesson: This includes a PPT to support students with planning their response. Students are encouraged to consider Agathe’s character and how she might reflect on the events of Act 2. A very simple, adaptable writing frame is included to support students who might struggle. Writing lesson / assessment lesson: Includes a word document which contains: The task / question / prompt Success criteria (this can be adapted to suit your setting) A simple writing frame / collection of sentence starters to support students who might struggle. Notes to the teacher. Feedback lesson A one-slide PPT which provides a list of four tasks to get students to focus on the feedback they have been given by the teacher and to implement that feedback in their work. Also includes a suggested list of whole-class feedback style strengths and weaknesses / feedback that can be adapted based on patterns you notice within your own class. This could be used as a writing assessment opportunity or simply an opportunity for the students to produce a sustained piece of writing in a low-stakes environment.

A resource introducing students to the gothic genre and outlining some of its influences. The resource includes: a basic starter to identify students’ prior learning a reading comprehension with questions discussion opportunities to deepen students’ understanding of gothic influences a four corners game for the plenary to check learning Brief notes are provided in the notes section of each slide to support teacher delivery of the resources. The reading comprehension has a separate page including suggested / example responses for the comprehension questions.

A resource looking at the role of structural techniques in Act 4 of Philip Pullman’s Frankenstein the play. Students complete drama activities followed by discussion exercises encouraging them to think about the significance of the structural techniques used by Pullman and how they affect us as an audience. It covers the key terms of stichomythia and the cyclical narrative. Some suggestions for adapting for online learning are also included and notes for teachers are included in the notes section of each slide to guide delivery to students.