“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “Why is the Great Wall of China so important?” This 38-slide PowerPoint presentation begins with a Starter Activity where students answer true or false statements about the Great Wall. Following this, an introduction to the Great Wall is provided, alongside graduated lesson aims (all will/most will/some will). The slides delve into 8 different ways in which the Great Wall has proven significant (defence, literature, etc.) to allow for teacher exposition. The main activity gets students to craft a Lonely Planet-style travel book explaining the Wall’s importance, with suggested areas to include and ideas for supporting and illustrating the guide. Finally, the lesson aims are revisited, culminating in a plenary where students fill in eight petals on a flower to answer the Key Question: Why is the Great Wall so important? This lesson, tailored for Key Stage 3 high school students, was crafted during my tenure teaching History in China and is adaptable for younger audiences. It is composed in UK English. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “What can we learn from Tutankhamun’s tomb? Pop-up Lesson” This lesson begins with a starter activity in which students pick out the one untruth from five statements about the Boy King. The PPT then explains the title of the lesson and aims and objectives are graduated into all will/most will/some will. There are then 6 slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. Following this the class are told they will begin their main task which is to create a pop up and to annotate it with artifacts and their meanings (14 examples are provided). The class peer assess in the plenary using the template provided. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “Why was the River Nile so important to Ancient Egypt?” The lesson begins with a game of Deal or No Deal? where students have to guess three statistics related to the Nile. The Key Question is then introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). There are then 6 slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The class are then take part in a dartboard diagram activity where they place 12 reasons more centrally depending on how important they feel they are (from 3 factors – cultural, political, and economic). They then write a letter explaining the Key Question (3 examples are provided). Aims and objectives are revisited and the lesson concludes with a plenary in which students place 16 Post-It notes into either a true or false trash can to test knowledge gained in the lesson. I hope your students get as much out of this lesson as mine always do. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “What as the social structure of Ancient Egypt?” The lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which students are asked to draw a triangle and to plot down important people in their own school or education, with the most senior at the top. Examples are given and this leads to an introduction of the Key Question along with lesson aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are 6 slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The PPT then ask students to suggest Mr. Men and Little Miss characters which symbolize each aspect of the Egyptian social hierarchy (they make choices such as Mr. Brave or Mr. Greedy for example) and examples are given although they are encouraged to find their own too. They then use this information to write a six-page children’s book to explain the Ancient Egyptian social structure using the list of key words provided. The lesson concludes with a fill in the blanks pyramid plenary to test knowledge acquired in the lesson. I hope your students enjoy this lesson as much as mine always do. It has been created for high school students but could be adapted to work with slightly younger students too. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “What was the role of the Pharaoh?” The lesson begins with a true or false starter activity to introduce the topic. The Key Question is then introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). There are then 5 slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The class then begin their main task in which they play Snakes & Ladders. As they do so they make mind maps on the political, cultural, religious, military, and economic duties of a Pharaoh (they are color-coded). There is then a fill in the gaps activity to test knowledge learned. They are then prepared for the written task. Aims and objectives are revisited. The lesson concludes with a plenary in which students come to the board and write answers on the speech bubble diagram. I hope your students get as much out of this lesson as mine always do. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “Why did Ancient Egypt collapse?” The lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which students look at an AI generated prompt image, in order to infer some key causes (a broken crown represents political instability, a dry river bed the Nile’s failure to flood etc). This leads to an introduction of the Key Question along with lesson aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are 6 slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The PPT then reveals five key factors in a starfish diagram and students are placed in ‘jigsaw’ groups of 5 and issued 1 fact-file on one of the factors. Their task is to later explain their factor and convince their peers of its importance in answering the Key Question. They then use this information to answer a piece of extended written work. The lesson concludes with reference back to the starfish diagram introduced earlier, which students label with Post-It notes to demonstrate learning. I hope your students enjoy this lesson as much as mine always do. It has been created for high school students but could be adapted to work with slightly younger students too. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “What can we learn from hieroglyphics?” The lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which students are asked to match up some simple shape hieroglyphics with their modern English translations. This leads to an introduction of the Key Question along with lesson aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are 6 slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. Students are then given a hieroglyphic alphabet along with one of 19 statements about Ancient Egypt, which are differentiated by length. These are issued to students, and they are asked to privately translate their statement, before sharing them with peers to translate (twice or three times depending on time). Lesson objectives are revisited, and the lesson concludes with a trash cans plenary in which students add information learned through hieroglyphics about 5 factors of Ancient Egyptian civilisation. This lesson was created for high school students but works with slightly younger students too. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “Emperor Nero - Terrific or Tyrant?” This 31-slide PowerPoint commences with a Starter Activity, inviting students to examine images of famous leaders and engage in a discussion regarding their classification as terrific or tyrannical. The lesson title and graded aims (all will/most will/some will) are then introduced, alongside two contrasting viewpoints on the subject, which are revisited in the plenary session. Background information about Emperor Nero is provided for teacher exposition, followed by a 24-piece hexagonal card sort activity, where students categorize into positive and negative columns, further dissecting them into social, economic, political and military aspects of Nero’s much-debated rule. A colour-coded version aids those needing additional support. Subsequently, students prepare for a debate, selecting a side to support, with the debate format provided and monitored by the teacher. A written task addressing the Key Question is assigned, concluding with a plenary session where students revisit the opposing views on Nero and position themselves within the classroom. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan The title of this lesson is “What were the causes of the First World War?” Students are given one of the 26 different character cards ranging from Kaiser Wilhelm to Gavrilo Princip to lesser known players such as Leopold Lojka. Once students have got to know their character they then get into teams of fellow countrymen and attempt to find evidence to answer the question as to why the war began. There are 31 pieces of evidence for them to sift through, all greatly detailed and colour-coded for differentiation. This is one of the lessons I’m proudest of and it always leads to powerful debate and empowers students with extremely high levels of subject knowledge from which to begin extended written responses to one of the biggest questions in History. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do. It has been designed for high school students. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This resource is titled “USA 1920s Revision Card Game” Teeming with precise and carefully selected evidence my students love playing this game to boost their subject knowledge. There are 71 cards (which work best when cut out and laminated) and they are colour-coordinated into categories: gangsters & prohibition, arts & culture, immigrants & African Americans, sports & entertainment, industry & economic boom. These cards include all the main figures you would expect such as Babe Ruth, Rudolf Valentino, and Al Capone but also some lesser known figures from the period such as the ‘IT’ girl Clara Bow, the Harlem Renaissance’s Countee Cullen, and Felix the Cat! On each card there is a key date/event for that person, two precise statistics, and a quotation. There is also a ‘bonus’ research question on each card to encourage students to delve into each character further. To play, students simply call out a category and the person with the highest number in that category ‘trumps’ the other, winning their card. The objective is to strip your opponent of their cards to win the game. This is a resource I am very proud of and which has received many accolades from students and staff alike and which will really boost your students’ subject knowledge of 1920s USA. This activity works really well as a stand-alone activity, revision tool, or starter/plenary to any lesson on 1920s USA. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do! And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “Was William Calley a war criminal or a scapegoat?” I designed this activity to encourage my students to be reflective Historians capable of textured debate. Students divide 39 pieces of evidence (textual and photographic) into columns which suggest the leader of Charlie Company during the My Lai massacre in Vietnam was a war criminal or a scapegoat. The cards are colour-coordinated to allow for differentiation. I ask students to lie down on some large paper to draw around each other to make mannequins. They then place evidence for him being a war criminal on one side and evidence that he was a scapegoat on the other. This then provides the perfect large scaffold for a debate or piece of exended written analysis. This is a hard-hitting lesson which always provokes historical reasoning but please be aware many of the images and text are graphic in content and should be taught to students with the emotional tools to deal with sensitive issues. Students will learn Ron Weber, the ‘and babies?’ photograph, Captain Medina’s role, and the ‘black blouse girl’ and much more. My hope in sharing this resource is that more students will learn about the heartbreaking tragedy which took place in My Lai. It has been designed for older high school students. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day and please let me know before purchase if you have any questions about this card sort activity.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This resource is titled “Weimar & Nazi Germany Revision Card Game Activity.” Teeming with precise and carefully selected evidence my students love playing this game to boost subject knowledge. There are 132 cards (which work best when cut out and laminated) including figures such as the only Jewish representative of the 1936 German Olympic squad Helene (Meyer) and Hitler’s British wartime dog (Fuchsl), as well as more obvious characters such as Vienna-period Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler etc. On each card there is a key date/event for that person, two precise statistics, and a quotation. Students simply call out a category and the person with the highest card ‘trumps’ the other, winning their card. The objective is to strip your opponent of their cards to win the game. This is a resource I am very proud of and which has received many accolades from students and lesson observations alike. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan The resource is titled “Stalin’s USSR Revision Card Game Activity.” Teeming with precise and carefully selected evidence my students love playing this game to boost subject knowledge. There are 61 cards (which work best when cut out and laminated) and they are colour coordinated into categories: rise to power, purges, WWII, industry/agriculture, and culture. These cards include all the main figures you would expect such as young Stalin, Trotsky, Beria and so on but also some lesser known figures such as Maria Yudina (Stalin’s favourite musician), Vasily Blokhin (notorious WWII executor), and Mikhail Gelovani (actor who played Stalin 13 times in various Soviet movies). On each card there is a key date/event for that person, two precise statistics, and a quotation. Students simply call out a category and the person with the highest card ‘trumps’ the other, winning their card. The objective is to strip your opponent of their cards to win the game. This is a resource I am very proud of and which has received many accolades from students and lesson observations alike and which will really boost your students’ subject knowledge of Stalin’s Russia. This activity works really well as a stand-alone activity, revision tool, or starter/plenary to any lesson on Stalin’s Russia. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do! And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This resource is titled “Weimar & Nazi Germany Revision Card Game Activity.” Teeming with precise and carefully selected evidence my students love playing this game to boost subject knowledge. There are 132 cards (which work best when cut out and laminated) including figures such as the only Jewish representative of the 1936 German Olympic squad Helene (Meyer) and Hitler’s British wartime dog (Fuchsl), as well as more obvious characters such as Vienna-period Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler etc. On each card there is a key date/event for that person, two precise statistics, and a quotation. Students simply call out a category and the person with the highest card ‘trumps’ the other, winning their card. The objective is to strip your opponent of their cards to win the game. This is a resource I am very proud of and which has received many accolades from students and lesson observations alike. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is part of a series of 10 lessons for students aged 11-14 and is titled “The Apprentice – Market Research.” This PowerPoint commences with a starter activity in which students explore various products which failed due to poor market research (Colgate Frozen Foods for example!). After this they are issued criteria for effective market research which enables teacher exposition. Students are issued a wacky product (of 10) and are tasked with designing an advert for it using the criteria. There are then comprehension questions and an extension activity. In the plenary, the class are cold called and a thinking thumbs voting plenary decides on who this week’s lesson is the winner of The Apprentice. Every review you leave on TPT earns you credits to buy free resources, so I’d be so grateful if you can find time to add a positive review if you enjoyed this lesson. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is part of a series of 10 lessons for students aged 11-14 and is titled “The Apprentice – Retail.” This PowerPoint commences with a starter activity in which students look at a number of stores, including pop-up stores, and choose which ones they dislike the most and why. After this they are given background knowledge on effective store design which enables teacher exposition. Students are issued a store-type (of 10) and are tasked with designing their own store using the criteria. There are then comprehension questions and an extension activity. In the plenary, the class are cold called and peer assessed to decide on who this week’s lesson is the winner of The Apprentice before a trash can plenary which tests knowledge learned about what makes effective store design. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is part of a series of 10 lessons for students aged 11-14 and is titled “The Apprentice – Assessment.” This PowerPoint asks students to draw on their knowledge of previous lessons in the unit to create a presentation on the five topics covered. It includes an assessment rubric grading students from Mastery to Beginning. Finally, an overall unit winner of The Apprentice is announced. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is part of a series of 10 lessons for students aged 11-14 and is titled “The Apprentice – Negotiation.” This PowerPoint commences with a starter activity in which students guess the number of negotiations the average person takes part in each day in a Deal or No Deal? activity. After this they are given background knowledge on effective negotiation skills which enables teacher exposition. Students are issued a scenario (of 10) and are tasked with designing a role play for it using the criteria. There are then comprehension questions and an extension activity. In the plenary, the class are cold called and a voting plenary decides on who this week’s lesson is the winner of The Apprentice before a Flower Diagram which tests knowledge learned about what makes a good business negotiation. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is titled “What can we learn from The Mayflower?” This lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which the class are invited to decide which one of 5 statements about The Mayflower is not true (there WAS a baby born on the ship and named after the ocean!). There are then 6 slides of background information to allow teacher exposition, and the lesson title is introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). Students then create a pop-up ship using the instructions given, before reviewing 19 artifacts and inferences. The class then present these before the lesson plenary in which they peer assess using the 5-criteria rubric. I hope your students get as much from this lesson as mine do. This lesson was written for high achieving high school students but can work for slightly younger students too. I’d be so grateful if you can follow me and find time to add a positive review if you enjoyed this lesson. If you do, let me know by emailing me at danguiney78@gmail.com and I’ll send you any extra lesson from the site totally free of charge as my way of saying thank you, as well as adding you to my mailing list for freebies and great deals. Wishing you a terrific day. Dan @ Dan’s History Highway

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “What really happened to the lost colony of Roanoke?” This lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which the class are invited to discuss what they would think if they were John White in 1590, returning to the empty colony. There are then 5 slides of background information to allow teacher exposition and the lesson title is introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). The main activity is a 20-piece card sort whereby students divide information into three different scenarios (they assimilated with Native Americans, they were attacked, and that they drowned trying to sail back to England). From this they then create a 3-5 minute TV news report explaining what they feel happened using the evidence they have handled. The class then present these before the lesson plenary in which they are asked to vote on the most likely of the 3 scenarios by raising 1, 2, or 3 fingers. I hope your students get as much from this History Mystery as mine do. This lesson was written for high achieving high school students. **I’d be so grateful if you can follow me and find time to add a positive review if you enjoyed this lesson. If you do, let me know by emailing me at danguiney78@gmail.com and I’ll send you any extra lesson from the site totally free of charge as my way of saying thank you. ** Wishing you a terrific day.