A lesson about how the theme of conflict is presented in the poem.

This is a lesson I taught in order to get students thinking about how to write more descriptively and in a fun way. It involves them writing a 'pirate' story by using a 6x6 grid which gives them images as a stimulus for each sentence. They will need dice for this activity. After they have done this, they then think about techniques to improve their writing further (extract from 'Treasure Island' provided for students to get some ideas). They then create an up-levelled and improved version of the grid and challenge each other to improve their descriptions. Any feedback welcome!

A lesson with resources to help students independently analyse/annotate/explore the poem. The starter activity involves getting students to look at a wordle with jumbled words from the poem. I would ask students to pick out some words of interest in order to annotate, thinking about connotations/literal meaning etc. Based on this they can make their own predictions about the poem before reading it. The main body of the lesson involves them using a 6x6 grid (they will need dice for this). They should use the square they land on as the stimulus for them to annotate a particular part of the poem/spot or comment on a particular technique used. Students can also write their own questions using the Blooms Taxonomy question stems in order to create higher order questions. They can also swap questions throughout the lesson. (Please note the question stems are uploaded in my free resources.) Any feedback appreciated.

This is a lesson I created for a very low ability Year 7 class as they were struggling with identifying the basic word classes. It involves them thinking of definitions and writing their own (guided by teacher). There are then some pictures as stimulus to get them identifying their own examples (I used mini whiteboards for this task). The students are finally given a picture for them to put into practice what they have learnt/recapped. There is an extension activity using some of the Alan Peat sentence types for further challenge. I ended the lesson by playing a silly sentence game where students are put into groups of 4 and come up with their own silly sentences by including the word classes they have learnt/recapped in the lesson. My students really enjoyed this (especially as I included pictures of my son!)

A lesson which requires students to think about higher order questions and write their own.

A lesson suitable for either KS3 or 4 in order to encourage students to independently explore the poem by using a 6x6 grid. Dice are needed for the activities. Feedback welcome!

A lesson I have put together for a high ability Year 7 class which challenges them to interpret Act 1 Scene 5 and independently annotate it in a fun and challenging way. This could easily be used with higher year groups.

I have used this lesson for a low ability KS4 group to help with their creative writing- based on creating a character.

This is a resource that has worked really well with both KS3 and 4 in teaching them how to construct a balanced argument whilst also recapping persuasive devices and thinking about sentence structure to improve writing. Rather than giving them the usual boring topic of 'should school uniform be banned' etc, I looked at the idea of music festivals with them. I found that this was something they could really become enthused about, especially with the aid of the YouTube clips. The powerpoint uploaded will take a series of lessons to work through accompanied by the resources. There is also a peer assessment activity at the end.

This is a group debate task which could easily lead in to a written piece. Students complete an individual task where they have to decide how far their given character is responsible. They then come together as a group to decide together which character is most responsible. Students really enjoyed this lesson and it promoted a lot of discussion/debate. Any feedback welcome!

A resource I produced to help students look at the use of grammar and punctuation in the poem. It challenges them to think about why particular techniques/devices have been used as opposed to just understanding the subject of the poem. This idea could easily be adapted to suit other poems.

A lesson I taught to a lower ability KS3 group which gets them thinking about using PEE to write about a text. This will take a few lessons to teach. It also gives them some useful phrases in order to link their paragraphs together. A copy of the story is provided as well as a success criteria so students can self/peer assess after they have completed their final response to the question.

A lesson I used with a Year 11 class which asked them to focus on 'zooming in&' to aid with descriptive writing. I found that the catch phrase game worked really well in order to get students to really focus on aspects of a scene in order to provide more detail and focus in their writing, The individual challenge cards also worked well and students enjoyed having their own personal challenges to meet during the lesson.

A powerpoint that walks through the main ideas in the poem including key annotations. Also includes a revision quiz to complete after studying the poem.

A lesson which takes students through a section of the scene in order to prepare them for an extended written response.

A lesson I used for a middle - high ability class who have just finished reading 'Of Mice and Men'. In order to challenge them further I got them to analyse the 'Two Scavengers poem' - they used a 6x6 grid to help them (you will need dice for this). They then used a venn to compare themes/ideas/characters from the poem to the novella. This was a really successful lesson and the students cam up with some amazing links. I was observed teaching this and received excellent feedback. I have also attached my lesson plan.

A lesson I used with Yr 10s during which they play a game as a stimulus for a piece of descriptive writing. You will need dice for this! They then create their own version of the game but include language techniques in order to up-level their writing. They can use the Treasure Island text/mark scheme to help them think about what they should be including in their own writing in order to improve.

A lesson created for Year 7s to introduce them to the Shakespearean sonnet. The lesson mainly focuses on the meaning of the poem and deciphering/interpreting language as a starting point. I have included some activities on iambic pentameter at the end of the PowerPoint and also a homework to further knowledge and understanding of the structure of a sonnet.

An annotated version of the poem in detail - would be useful for higher end GCSE students studying the AQA Power and Conflict cluster or teachers who are unfamiliar with the poem. Also contains notes on context/form/structure as well as some discussion questions. Revision quiz also attached which could be used as a homework activity/consolidation task.

An annotated version of the poem in detail - would be useful for higher end GCSE students studying the AQA Power and Conflict cluster or teachers who are unfamiliar with the poem. Also contains notes on context/form/structure as well as some discussion questions. Revision quiz also attached for completion after studying the poem. Could be given as a homework activity/consolidation task.