PP with note to teacher and 'brain gym' slide; starter looks at how the word Biography is built up; main section is defining the word and writing a brief biography and plenary is reporting back - a very simple introduction to the topic

7 past-paper questions on planning sheets that teach students to think of all aspects to be covered in answering the questions. For AQA's Gothic writing unit.

A straightforward summary of Brian Clark's Whose Life is it Anyway to make clear who the characters are, what the play is about and what the major themes are. Particularly useful for SEN students who need to know what they have to 'get&' before reading the play.

Based on information in the AQA Text book, these 6 slides designed to lead to discussion, either as a new story has been read, or as revision once the whole collection has been studied. This is a useful way of helping students discuss alternative interpretations

Whether revising unseen poetry or honing reading skills, focusing on a few lines of poetry as a starter enables students to practise picking out key words and commenting on them, as well as noting structural and literary devices. You could also use these as prompts for descriptive writing with a brigh KS3 group, or the new creative writing A-Level.

• You will need the specimen paper for Unseen Poetry – p10 & 11, AQA/AQA-77121-SQP.PDF- for each student. • The Power Point will give students a strategy to follow for this paper – annotating the specimen paper, then writing the key ‘steps’ of the strategy is a good way of ensuring students engage with the strategy, but a handout has been made for revision. Some suggested questions can be used by you as a guide for setting essays or given to students for their own revision.

Used as a quick verbal starter or a more detailed group discussion and write-up, these quotes further invite students to consider all the potential discussion questions they may be useful for.

Imagine if on one of the days we celebrate poetry every lesson began with a poem - that's what I hope this collection will inspire; no teaching, just savour, enjoy, discuss, think creatively and connect poetic insights with your subject area. Go with the flow and see what comes of just enjoying a wide range of poems. Also useful as a collection of unseen poems.

Using AQA's 'Love through the Ages' poetry anthology, these resources aim to distinguish as far as one can, between Metaphysical poetry and Cavalier poetry, but also to show how blurred the line between them sometimes is: this is the focus of the first Power Point . The quiz quotes lines of poetry and asks students to decide whether the extract represents Cavalier or Metaphysical poetry to enable them to discuss how to recognise each school. Focus turns to 'The Scrutiny' in the work sheet and then there's a revision sheet that focuses on the AOs to ensure that they are met.

In this lesson, explore the power of choosing the right verb. The Power Point provides the lesson from start to finish and the word doc. provides a fill-in opening for weaker students, to get them started. The Lesson provides a definition, an 'odd-one-out' task, some quick physical activity [select someone to demonstrate if the class would be unsettled by a bit of movement], an extract from 'The Recruit' and some writing suggested by photographs. At the heart of it all is 'show don't tell' to move writing up a gear.

Ideal for KS2 & 3, this quick starter has 3 slides taken from public signs and adverts where language ‘errors’ exist. From this, students can be encouraged to find errors in the signs, adverts and texts they encounter.

This resource contains a series of ideas for last lessons, whether the end of a topic or term. These can be used to revise previous units of work. Has a slant towards English and could be used with writing, reading and speaking and listening assessment foci.

A quick starter to reinforce the difference between there; their & they’re. The middle slide can be enlarged for display

A starter with images and quotes from the poem to engage initial interest.

The aim of this series of starters is to show students that they do possess the skills required for the course; also, that the skills required for the non-fiction media paper is the same as for the literature paper and visa versa. there is also a quick test to see if they've got the hang of inference.

Drip-feed language analysis while familiarising students with unseen poetry… once a month, once a week or even one a lesson, this is not something to rush through. While it is a good idea to ask students to copy the text with an open line between line of the poem for annotations, the texts are also supplied as a worksheet to allow you the flexibility of setting the task for homework or differentiating by giving weaker students a printed version. As a quick revision exercise groups could work on separate extracts. Though ‘answers’ are given on the PP it is important to stress that these are only possible things to notice and any reasonable interpretation is worth considering. Another thing worth pointing out is that merely naming a technique like alliteration is not enough, the effect the poet creates should also be discussed and evaluated.

These slides can be printed on A3 for display as well as being used as a starter to help students see how structure and imagery can enhance their writing.

With language becoming an even higher priority in the new Specs, vocabulary is a vital – but difficult to teach- component to preparing KS3 students for the years ahead. This series of starters focuses on building up their word-hoard [as the Anglo-Saxons called it]. Little and often is the best way to extend vocabulary and if it’s a game, so much the better. ‘Odd one out’ is a quick self-check starter with a handout version for weaker students. Reasons can be given verbally or in writing and any reasonable response is acceptable. This is probably a good place to begin the series as it is quick, easy, and introduces a range of words that can be used as synonyms.