This fully resourced lesson begins with two starter activities designed to introduce the topic. First students watch a short video clip about the first McDonalds in Pushkin Square and are asked to guess the price of a Big Mac in four countries in the early 1990s. Russia is by far the most expensive and this leads to a question of why. They then watch a second video clip which shows some of Yeltsin’s eccentricities and they are invited to offer three adjectives. Students then divide a page into four and there is detailed information for the teacher to run through describing economic successes/failures and political successes/failures. An overall crib sheet to summarise is provided also. The lesson concludes with two plenaries designed to test subject knowledge. A fun dingbats game focusing on some of the key words (shock therapy, Chicago school, depression etc) and a fill in the blanks Have I Got News for You style exercise. It is a PowerPoint with 75 slides. I hope your students get as much from mine from this resource. If you have any questions please ask away and I wish you a wonderful day. This resource is written in English and is pitched at high achieving IB / A Level students.

In this 21-page PPT students are introduced to the events of 1066 with a short video activity. Lesson objectives are clear and graduated and there is detailed information about the Tapestry which runs through some key moments, including in note form. The main activity asks students to sequences the events in order by matching the heads and tails of the sentences. It also includes extension questions for more able students. The lesson concludes by asking students to evaluate which level they achieved in the lesson objectives. I hope your students get as much from this lesson as mine do. It has been pitched to 11 year old students in mainstream settings.

In this very detailed lesson students received clear aims and objectives (all will, most will, and some will) before being given a source starter activity which they are asked to break down using the frame provided. This introduces the idea of growing Japanese strength (its about the Russo-Japanese War). The class are then given activation material in the form of extremely detailed notes. The consolidation phase then asks IB students to sort a 25 piece hexagonal card sort into factors - domestic, economic, militaristic, and nationalistic. The lesson concludes with a chronology activity to test student knowledge acquired in a fun way. I have also made a revision video which is included as homework. I hope your IB students get as much from this as mine do and that it helps them prepare for this Move to Global War Paper 1 IB topic.

This book features 12 high scoring IB essays for the Paper 3 topic: The USSR and post Soviet Russia 1924-2000 Teachers – this book is for you if you have high-performing students asking what a good one looks like (WAGOLL). Set an essay and staple the corresponding exemplar to your students’ effort for instant assessment for learning. Included are over 70 annotations by an experienced IB examiner offering tips and tricks to improve your students’ Paper 3 technique. Don’t just tell them what to do, show them. Students - this book features high-performance essays for popular IB examination questions from real past papers. It will teach you how to unpack popular Paper 3 IB questions and to write an introduction with a thesis statement which pivots your response perfectly, using the DCO technique. It will also give you ways in which to evaluate historians’ perspectives as well as schools of thought and teach you how to forensically dissect historical evidence. It will also introduce many of the world’s leading experts to you. You will learn how to effectively embed words such as martinet, kleptocracy, multivalent, panoply, dialectical, polity, nomenklatura, gerontocracy, encomium, casus belli, opprobrium, polemic, and quinquennial to make your essays stand out from the rest. You will also read about how to use topic sentences and how to challenge the very premise of a given question. It will also provide fun and creative ideas for IB projects. If you are a student achieving Level 6 but want to reach for the very top grade in IB History this book is for you. Parents - this book will help you support your child to think critically and to produce deluxe essays. Essays include: Analyse the reasons for Stalin’s emergence as Lenin’s successor by 1929. (May 2012) “Propaganda was not a major factor in Stalin’s maintenance of power between 1929 and 1953.” Discuss. (November 2020) To what extent did the cult of personality contribute to Stalin’s maintenance of power more than terror? (November 2011) “Stalin’s Five-Year Plans and the policy of collectivisation failed to improve the Soviet economy by 1941.” Discuss. (November 2017) What were the consequences of the Second World War for Russia? (May 1994) Analyse the successes and failures of Khrushchev’s domestic policies in the years 1955 to 1964. (November 2012) Evaluate the success of Khrushchev’s foreign policy. (May 2014) Examine the view that Brezhnev’s domestic policies had a very limited impact on the USSR. (November 2015) “Brezhnev’s foreign policy was successful in reducing Cold War tensions.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? (November 2019) Evaluate the impact of Gorbachev’s domestic policies on the USSR. (May 2021) To what extent were Gorbachev’s policies responsible for improved East-West relations between 1985 and 1991? (May 2019) Evaluate the impact of political and economic developments in post Soviet Russia between 1991 and 2000. (November 2020)

This book features 11 high scoring IB essays for the Paper 3 topic Imperial Russia, revolution, and the establishment of the USSR 1855-1924. Teachers – this book is for you if you have high-performing students asking what a good one looks like (WAGOLL). Set an essay and staple the corresponding exemplar to your students’ effort for instant assessment for learning. Included are over 70 annotations by an experienced IB examiner offering tips and tricks to improve your students’ Paper 3 technique. Don’t just tell them what to do, show them. Students - this book features high-performance essays for popular IB examination questions from real past papers. You’ll learn great essay mechanics and clever ways to dazzle the examiners. Learn how to apply Q SPEND, write an introduction using the DCO technique, and use fancy words like panegyric, quixotic, potentate and more to make your essays stand out from the rest. What is ‘snowballing’ and how is an essay like a Grand Prix? Look at real examples of how to evaluate perspectives effectively. Discover how topic sentences can help you and how anecdotal evidence can add colour to your response. Are you guilty of post hoc ergo propter hoc? How can you ensure you are more conceptual and when exactly should you challenge the premise of a question? If you are a student achieving Level 6 but want to reach for the very top grade in IB History this book is for you. Parents - this book will help you support your child to think critically and to produce deluxe essays. Essays include: To what extent do you agree that Alexander II was the Tsar Liberator? (May 2021) “Alexander III was a political reactionary, but an economic moderniser.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? (November 2013) How significant were the weaknesses of Russia by the end of the Nineteenth Century? (May 2008) Discuss the causes of the 1905 Revolution in Russia. (November 2018) How effectively did Nicholas II respond to the 1905 Revolution? (November 2005) Why did Russia lose the First World War? (May 2003) Discuss the reasons for the final crisis of autocracy in February/March 1917. (November 2019) How effectively did the Provisional Government rule Russia in 1917? (November 2017) Evaluate the reasons for the overthrow of the Provisional Government in October/November 1917. (May 2021) Why did the Reds win the Russian Civil War, 1918-21? (November 2001) “The Bolshevik state under Lenin between 1918 and 1924 was a ruthless dictatorship, caring little for the Russian people.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? (November 2008) Daniel Guiney is a highly experienced IB teacher, examiner and assessment author. He has led highly successful History departments in the UK as well as Singapore, Egypt, and China.

This lesson explores how reactionary Alexander III was. Lesson objectives are differentiated and very clear and there is an interesting starter activity (about the ‘hippo’ statue of Alexander in St. Petersburg). The 52 page PPT proceeds to discuss the various changes Alexander made to Russia (economy, society, politics and opposition, Russification) and the class then have a two part main task. One is to create a speech as a particular character, and the second is to plot this on a graph to show which groups were repressed, like Jews, Poles, Zemstvos etc and which were doing well like the black clergy and Pobodonostev etc. The lesson concludes with a plenary in the form of ‘Have I Got News For You’ where students test their knowledge retrieval of what they have learned. The lesson also comes with a set of ready-made student notes. I hope you enjoy this lesson as much as my students do. It has been designed for high achieving post-16 students and is written in English, not US- English. Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks so much for your interest in this lesson. Have a great day fellow teachers!! Daniel

This lesson has clearly defined learning objectives and a starter activity which asks students to consider two very different historian’s perspectives on the reign of Alexander II. The 56-slide PowerPoint then provides very detailed information on the reforms Alexander put in place including the Emancipation Statute of 1861 before giving students a task of creating a mind map showing the positive and negative aspects of the reforms. There is a two part plenary - a fun DingBats exercise which goes over some of the key vocabulary - and a voting exercise based on the starter and main activity. This lesson is pitched at high-achieving post-16 students and has been created by a UK teacher so is in English rather than American English. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I hope this lesson helps you deliver this fascinating topic! Have a terrific day, Daniel

My IB students always do really well in their exams, especially on Paper 3 (Higher Level). One of the main reasons for this is the detailed and focused set of revision menus I give them to help them prepare for exam success. Now you can have them too. Of all of my resources these revision menus are my must-haves! I hope they can be of much use to your students as they are to mine. If you enjoyed this resource please leaf through my collection of other revision menus and resources. This pack focuses on Russia from c. 1953-1991 and includes revision content for the following topics: How successful was Khrushchev’s rule? Was the USSR stagnant under Brezhnev? Was Gorbachev the “gravedigger of Communism?” How successful was the rule of Boris Yeltsin, 1991-1999?

One of the main reasons for my department’s exam success is the detailed and focused set of revision menus I give to my students to help them prepare. Now you can have them too. Of all of my resources these revision menus are my must-haves! I hope they can be of much use to your students as they are to mine. If you enjoyed this resource please leaf through my collection of other revision menus and resources. This pack focuses on Russia from 1855-1924 and includes revision content for the following topics: Does Alexander II deserve the title ‘Tsar Liberator’? √ How reactionary was the reign of Alexander III? √ How well did the Tsarist regime deal with the difficulties of ruling Russia c. 1900? √ What were the causes of the 1905 Revolution? √ How did the Tsar respond to the 1905 Revolution? √ Why did Russia do so badly in the First World War? √ Why was the Revolution of March 1917 successful? √ How effectively did the Provisional Government rule Russia in 1917? √ Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power in November 1917? √ Why did the Bolsheviks win the Civil War? √ How did Lenin rule Russia? √

This lesson is pitched at high achieving secondary aged students (16+) and is an interpretation based lesson on Khrushchev. The lesson begins with clear differentiated learning objectives and a starter activity which invites students to question why this Soviet leader was not buried in the Kremlin Wall as with the others (he is buried in Novedivichy Cemetery in the south-west of Moscow - well worth a visit!). From here students work through background info on his rise to power before attempting the main task, a 29-piece evidence sort (with some images to spruce it up). These need to be broken down into those factors related to domestic policy (five year plan, Virgin Lands programme, abolition of MTS etc) and also foreign policy (not least Berlin, Cuba, and Hungary). Students then divide these into sub sections to ascertain if each was a triumph or failure for Khrushchev’s leadership. This can be a paired or individual task but the content is extremely precise and detailed and includes some perspectives (Thatcher Vs Taubman). There is also a differentiation version for students who need a bit more structure (colour coded). This will mean students effectively create a large essay map to answer the Key Question which I personally like to set as a homework. The class concludes with a thoughtful plenary in which students are invited to come up with a fitting statement for the tomb of this Soviet leader as well as a class vote on the Key Question. I hope your students get as much out of this lesson as mine always do. I take real pleasure in providing resources to the awesome community of History teachers out there. If you have any questions please contact me.

This lesson begins with an introduction to some perspectives about Gorbachev and then the class are invited to take part in a ‘what would you do?’ starter activity. They are given 12 scenarios (ranging from the war in Afghanistan through to economic stagnation through to Chernobyl and so on) and have to decide on one of three possible options. When they have completed all twelve issues/scenarios they are given a score for each answer which explains what kind of a leader they are. After this the class move on to the meat of the lesson which is a forty-eight piece card sort (including some images). The class need the information into those relating to foreign policy, perestroika (political and economic), glasnost, foreign policy, and nationalities issues. They glue these to a large piece of paper and label on successes/failures and causes/consequences. There are two versions of this card sort included so as to differentiate (one is colour coded already and has some key prompts emboldened). Once complete it leads to a good discussion of why Gorbachev acted the way he did and what the impact of his policies was. The lesson concludes by referring back to earlier perspectives and applying the knowledge acquired to see if the class agree or disagree with these before reviewing Gorbachev’s own conclusions on his rule. I have pitched this lesson towards high achieving post-16 students. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope your students gain as much from this lesson as mine do.

This lesson begins with an ‘Odd One Out’ starter activity where students are asked to look at four people (Honecker, Emperor Qin, Emperor Hadrian, and Donald Trump) and to offer reasons for one of them being the odd one out. The answer we are looking for is that they all built walls bar Trump whose proposed southern wall was never built. That introduces the concept of walls and their purpose. The class then take part in an escape room activity. (Please note this takes a bit of setting up to be done properly, but can be done more simply if missions and codes are just printed back to back - just tell students they can’t turn over the page until you have verified they have got the code correct). Nevertheless, if you can it is a whole lot more enjoyable with boxes and padlocks! There are six missions - each with background information about key turning points in the Wall’s History (from the end of WWII and the split through to the Berlin Blockade through to the border being closed through to barbed wire Sunday through to the Next Gen Wall through to Escape attempts). Each mission is then completed on the worksheet. Please note I do not cover the collapse of Communism or the fall of the wall here (because I cover that in a separate lesson). The lesson concludes with a ‘play your cards right’ chronology activity in which the students use the knowledge they have gained to test their awareness of key events and dates. The lesson comes with an accompanying 11-page set of notes. I hope your students get as much out of this fun lesson as mine always do and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

I give my students a learning journey sheet for each topic covered for Core Content B: International Relations since 1919 and also the B and C Depth Studies on Germany 1918-45 and Russia 1905-41. These come as PPT and are easily editable but ensure students constantly know where on there learning journey they are. Each separate journey includes inquiry questions, lesson headings, assessment information, and tips on how to challenge oneself further. I hope they are of use to you and please do email me if you have any questions about this resource.

Uploading all your Personal Reflections for the CIE IGCSE in Global Perspectives can be a very arduous task to say the least. That is why I created this simple one-page and easy to upload template where I can score students over all the assessment objectives in one place. Simply highlight the criteria hit for each section with a highlighter pen (or tick it) and then upload it with each candidate’s work. It really does save hours of writing on the paper and makes your grading nice and clear for the examiner. I hope you find this useful. Any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. This is for the 0457 course run by CIE .

In this lesson students read background information on the fall of Singapore in the Second World War before completing an extremely detailed card sort activity (26 cards) to help them decide on the key reasons Yamashita’s Japanese army defeated that of Percival. The card sort itself is incredibly detailed and was drawn up during my time working and researching in Singapore and has been broken down into colour-coordinated factors (Percival’s mistakes, Japanese strengths, British high command decisions, technological shortcomings, and issues with British troops) to promote a structured and factor-led student approach. This activity helps students scaffold historical responses and prepares them well for extended written analysis in a follow up piece of work. It is one of my favourite lessons and I hope your students enjoy it just as much as mine do. If you have any questions please let me know. This lesson was designed for high achieving secondary aged students.

Please note: To use this lesson you need to have a copy of the 1998 animated Disney movie Mulan. This is a great lesson in which students are given graduated learning objectives (some of you will / most of you will / and all of you will) in order to help them answer the essential question 'what can we learn about Ancient China from the Disney movie Mulan?". The lesson begins with a starter activity to engage your students in which they are invited to guess the odd one out from a group of Disney characters (the answer is Mulan - because she has killed whereas the others, Bambi’s mother et al, had been killed. This leads them into the lesson nicely and the idea that the ballad of Hua Mulan is no ordinary ‘Disney Princess.’ The class then work through 45 different evidence cards and arrange these into things they can learn from the movie (ie accurate things like the use of rickshaws and only the Emperor being allowed to wear yellow etc) as well as movie mistakes and things which are inaccurate (such as Mulan being allowed to hug the Emperor and the way she inserts her chopsticks vertically into her rice etc). There are two versions of this card sort, one for students who like a challenge and a differentiated version for students who need a more straightforward task. Students can also divide them using the labels given (info relating to women, family, rule and government, culture, society, military etc. Students then watch the movie and tick off those they spot (a nice end of term type activity - but not simply ‘watching a movie for the sake of it’!). From this the class then complete a movie review exercise using the template given before attempting a plenary in which they vote with their feet to establish how many stars (1-5) they would rate the movie for historical authenticity (ie they now answer the essential question). I have also included a final slide which is an assessment rubric should you wish to turn this series of lessons into a formal testing point. I teach this to high achieving high school students as part of a scheme of learning about Ancient China and I hope your students get as much out of it as mine always do. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask and thanks again for your interest in this lesson, which is in PPT form but which does need the buyer to have purchased a copy of the 1998 animated movie (not the 2020 version.)

In this lesson students are given a quick odd one out activity as a starter to invite them to consider the positives and negatives of Capone, the notorious gangster. The PPT then offers them some background information and the learning objectives are broken down into all of you will/most of you will/and some of you will. The main activity is a 44-piece card sort and there is a slide explaining the answers to this also. The lesson concludes with a short voting plenary where students are asked to side with the views of different personalities when answering the question as to whether Capone was as “black as they say” to use his own words. This lesson has been designed for high achieving high school students and please do note I use English spellings (eg colour) throughout. If you have any questions please do not hestitate to contact me.

This is a great project-based lesson designed to introduce students to the topic of Ancient China and to the second-order concept of significance and includes graduated learning outcomes (all of you will/most of you will/some of you will). The lesson begins with a quick starter activity where students have to guess which of four sports was not invented in China. They’re often a bit surprised by the answer (table tennis) and this leads on to a second activity in which they have to see how many inventions which originated in China they can identify (the rocket, paper, wheelbarrows - 21 are given in total). From this the class are then introduced to the idea of how historians decide what makes an event or discovery significant and they explore the acronym GREAT: G = ground-breaking, R = remembered, E = extent of importance to people at the time, A = affected the future, and T = turning point. For the main task students are given a card with three different inventions on. They need to choose one of their inventions and explain in presentation form why they felt it was so significant. The lesson concludes with a class vote on which they felt was the most important invention and why. I’ve also thrown in an assessment rubric should you wish to turn the project into a formal assessment. Please note this lesson was designed for high achieving Year 7 students with the ability to do their own research (some websites are given) but it also works well as a great library-based lesson depending on the resources you have in yours. Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope your students get as much from this lesson as mine always do.

In this lesson students begin with a quick starter activity to see how many Rolls-Royce owning celebrities they can identify - they’re usually rather surprised to see that Lenin is one of these! The lesson has learning objectives which are graduated (all of you/most of you/some of you) and the class then work through a very detailed set of background information/notes focused on Lenin’s big promises of peace, land, and bread. The main activity is then for students to collate information on how well he achieved his aims in these three areas by creating a ‘school report card’ on him. A completed example is also included. The lesson then concludes with a simple voting plenary which asks students to answer the lesson’s question and to support it with evidence (ie did he achieve his promises of peace, land and bread). This lesson is aimed at high achieving secondary students. Please do ask if you have any questions and thanks for popping by. I hope your students get as much out of this activity as mine do.