Students are given character cards, some pro and some anti dropping the bomb ranging from Einstein and Churchill to Hirihito and Stalin. In groups each side then works through 36 cards which are teeming with precisely selected historical detail, some of which support the dropping of the A-bomb and some of which argue against it. This activity prepares students exceptionally well for a debate about one of the most keenly argued historical topics - the dropping of the atomic bombs - and can also be used to help students structure an extended written response to this question. The cards are colour coded for students who require additional differentiation. This is one of my best lessons year on year and I hope it gets your students talking, evaluating, and arguing - especially in this nuclear world which we live in today.

I’ve designed this lesson as a History mystery to get your students to really engage with evidence handling and to think like Historians. I am confident that the level of detail and precision in my resources is much stronger than you will find elsewhere (because of the amount of pride I take in my own historical research). During this series of activities students read through background information before siphoning through 16 detailed evidence cards about Suffragette activity in the horse race known as the 1913 Epsom Derby. The class then complete a History mystery grid based on their findings. I hope you enjoy this lesson as much as my students do! It is an excellent lesson in helping students comb through evidence to form historical interpretations.

This is one of my most popular lesson activities. Here students will collate information to both sides of the historiographical debate and make links between their factors to create a visual map which they can use for an extended piece of written analysis. I am especially proud of the level of precision and detail in the historical content here as this is a niche area of mine formed whilst working for the Royal British Legion on the Somme a few years ago. The 60 cards are broken down and colour-coordinated for differentiation purposes into personality, tactics, technology, and politics in order to promote a factor-led response. I really hope you enjoy this activity and that your students get as much from it as mine do.

This resource features a starter in which students compare two sources on life in 1930s USA using a VENN diagram. The PowerPoint then provides some background information before inviting students to break down 22 factor-led thought bubbles into columns (these are colour-coded into social, economic, cultural and political). Students then use this information to create a written account of what life was like before concluding with a fun singing plenary. I really enjoy delivering this lesson (partly because Hoover is my favourite US President!) and hope you find it useful!

This is one of my most detailed and most enjoyable lessons. Students are issued with a suspect character card of their own (there are 21 including Druitt, Kosminski, and Chapman) and then have to siphon their way through 13 very detailed pieces of evidence to find information that suggests they might be the notorious serial killer. For example, Polish butcher John Pizer might argue that he is local (Evidence A), has an expert knowledge of anatomy (B), and came from Poland where there were a large number of Jews (Evidence L). Students then present their cases and the class vote on who makes the best case. This is an excellent lesson designed to engage students and get them to question evidence, structure, and present their findings. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do!

This is a powerful lesson in causation. Students read through the detailed background information before arranging 17 extremely detailed and precise information cards into factors (economic, cultural, and people). This activity helps students scaffold a response to the key question which can then be used as the basis for a piece of assessed or extended written work. I hope your students find this as useful as I know mine have!

My students love this project! In this 14 page pack you will find background information on the Industrial Revolution as well as information cards on 20 different inventions ranging from John Kay’s Flying Shuttle through to James Watt’s Steam Engine. Students need to research their invention and make a case for its historical significance using specific criteria (durability, importance at the time, number effected etc). The class then present to the Dragon’s (for me its usually SLT). This mini-project really brings the past to life and is one of the highlights of my teaching career. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do.

Background notes * 16 character cards * 48 piece evidence sort (small and large version) This 32-page pack contains background knowledge as well as 16 different character cards to issue to your students, ranging from Captain Smith, ship’s architect Thomas Andrews, down to lesser known characters such as 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller (who failed to fill the lifeboats). Once in character students then work through 48 detailed evidence cards to help them answer the question who was to blame for the large number of deaths (more than 1,500). This is one of my favourite activities and students always find it both fun and interesting and it helps hone historical skills such as evidence handling, refining questions, and formulating arguments. I hope you get as much out of this activity as my students always do.

Students read up on background information before being divided into research groups. In this 23 page pack students research either 1) architecture, military & religion, 2) Government, public health, & women, and 3) Roads, slavery & leisure. The packs are really detailed and encourage students to make links and to decide to what extent Ancient Rome can be considered civilised. Students use the information to create presentations which they deliver to the class. As you can see from the pictures this is a project my students love and which really hones their historical skills. I know your students will love it also.

In this lesson students read up on background knowledge before assembling a 30 piece hexagonal card sort into a factor-led response. Evidence is very precise and being a hexagonal rather than square card sort students are encouraged to make effective links between the evidence used whilst also being encouraged to prioritise the evidence they find the most compelling. Once the class have formulated their card sort this sets them up extremely well for either a debate or a written piece of work. My students love this lesson and I really hope yours do too!

Includes background notes, history mystery record sheet, and 15 evidence cards.

In this lesson students begin with a ‘what-would-you-do?’ style starter activity in which they score point according to their reactions to losing their freedoms. This stimulates discussion over how enslaved people might react and leads into the main activity which is a card sort. Students divide up the very precise 13 cards into examples of passive and active resistance and try to explain how they prioritised them. So for example was Nat Turner’s revolt much more high risk than say kicking a cow? Students then go on to use this card sort as an effective scaffold for a piece of extended written work before finishing the lesson off with a plenary about cultural appropriation (in particular whether it is right for a slave-trading nation like Britain to use a slave spiritual ‘Amazing Grace’ in its sporting fixtures). My students always find this a really powerful life lesson and one which hones their historical skills fantastically well. I hope you find it useful with your students too.

In this lesson students read very detailed information in the background notes before creating a factor-led mind map. Please watch the accompanying short video to see some of my students in action in this lesson. Its a great way for them to acquire super strong subject knowledge and to visually map out Deng’s domestic rule.

In this lesson students read through background information before reading through the extremely detailed evidence cards which they break up into the following factors : the role of abolitionists, economic reasons, and the role of enslaved people. From this scaffold students can then create a piece of extended written work and this lesson works really well as assessment preparation also. Please watch the short video to see just how well this set of resources works in action and in the classroom and I hope your students get just as much out of it as mine.

In this lesson students work through background information before completing a card sort to show positives and the many negatives of slave life from getting off slave ships through to working on plantations. Students need to place the events in a chronology in order to recount a story of the conditions and place them on an emotional rollercoaster graph to show which conditions they felt were the most horrific and why. This is a powerful lesson which should be taught with great sensitivity and a flavour of which can be experienced in the video file attached.

In this lesson your students will read through background knowledge before using this to complete a chronological card sort activity. I hope your students get as much out of it as I know mine do. Leads in ever so nicely to my follow up lessons on failures of the 1930s and allows for students to give more textured and two-sided responses.

Students read through the background notes before using this knowledge to help them create a physical timeline in the form of a road map. Click the link to watch just how powerful a teaching strategy this can be for raising chronological awareness as well as boosting subject knowledge significantly. I hope your students enjoy the lesson as much as mine do!

In this lesson students read through detailed background knowledge before completing a card sort activity to explain both the terrible aspects of the conflict as well as some of the more positive elements. This is a great lesson because the level of depth and detail acquired is top notch and because it offers students the opportunity to review two sides of an argument. It leads in really nicely to a piece of written or assessed work and I hope your students get as much from it as mine always do. The lesson includes two copies of a 25-piece evidence sort, one of which is colour-coded for students who require additional support.

My students love finding these in their books! Not only are they prettier than my messy handwriting but they make marking much faster and more precise. Each of the twenty seven statements is based specifically upon common skills and targets from the curriculum and they can be personalised further if needed. Simply print off on sticky label paper et voila. They look impressive and work superbly well for the busy teacher who wants to fine tune their AFL.

This is one of my most detailed lessons and one which students love. After a quick starter activity about the significance of the poppy in British-Chinese relations the class read detailed background notes before being issued one of 23 character cards. These range from tea-magnate Thomas Twining to Confucius! In role the students then extract evidence which their character might use to explain how China became to be ruled by foreigners after the Opium Wars. I always follow this up with either a piece of extended writing or even better a debate. Please watch the short video clip attached to see this lesson in action. The lesson includes a separate plenary Power Point also. I hope your students will gain as much from this lesson as I know mine always do. Enjoy!