A simple lesson to help students get to grips with the meaning and effects of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. First, a modern translation of the poem is provided so that students can access its meaning, along with definitions for key words. Then, there is an example of how one of the key lines in the poem could be ‘exploded’ , followed by a task instructing students to ‘explode’ a line from the poem themselves. Several exemplars with images are also provided to help students on their way. Finally, there is a PETAL writing frame to support students in responding to the question: How does Shakespeare present love in Sonnet 116?

A resource which offers discussion activities on the character of Offred's mother, as well as a simple plot ordering activity for revision.

An introduction to Romanticism aimed squarely at KS3. The focus is on the art and ideals of the Romantic era and begins with some annotation of Fuseli's The Nightmare. There is a link to an engaging video on the topic, though it runs rather fast, so it would be worth pausing for discussion or using the video with higher ability only. The presentation contains printable grids with key questions, drawing students attention to important things in the artwork. The resource does not deal with any literature, but provides an opening from which you can segue into the works of the Romantics.

A step-by-step PowerPoint that takes students through writing an analytical response to a question on Shelley's Ozymandias. It centres on an exemplar piece that might be indicative of a grade 7 or 8 and has a writing frame included. There is also an annotating activity and a web hunt. It does not cover comparison to other poems. Suggested for more able years 10 and 11.

This lesson takes students through the Petrarchan sonnet form and Keats’s use of it, key context surrounding the poem and discussion / language analysis questions which focus students on its main interpretations. The language analysis task can be enacted in groups or as individual / paired comprehension. I have also included some information on Apollo and his relevance to Keats, as well as information on ‘The Camelion Poet’.

A full lesson on Keats’s La Belle Dame covering context, form and structure, interpretations and the central theme of the poem. The resource should enable the poem to be taught effectively in a single lesson.

The presentation contains a number of activities which will appeal to a range of abilities. For the lower ability there is a storyboard of the prologue and, for stronger students, there are activities on the sonnet form, iambic pentameter and an article on the role of fate in Shakespeare's plays. There are challenge and extension activities. Enough work for 1 - 2 one-hour lessons.

An introduction to the conventions of Gothic literature for KS3. This is an engaging resource with a video clip, a game of taboo, some descriptive writing and peer assessment. It is very accessible and would suit the low to middle ability.

The second in a sequence of lessons on dystopian fiction which builds upon grammatical skills for writing. The resource works as a stand-alone lesson too. The lesson introduces students to adverbs and adverbial phrases through the blurb of Gone by Michael Grant, getting them to identify the different types of adverbial in the text before asking them to write their own blurb or story opening in the dystopian genre. This lesson was designed for Year 7 but could work for students in years 5, 6 or 8 dependent upon ability.

A presentation which takes students through the very basics of understanding what it means to 'compare' one thing to another, to analysing a model answer and then planning their own response. The model answer compares Death of a Naturalist and Excerpt from the Prelude from the Eduqas exam board. Parts of the resource would suit low ability learners but, for the most part, the presentation suits middle ability learners.

Lesson 3 in the scheme of work on writing in the dystopian genre. The lesson could be used as a one-off resource but is designed to build on students’ prior knowledge of noun phrases, non-finite clauses and adverbials. The resource asks students to think about the conventions of the genre and then asks them to write their own story openings. An original exemplar story opening is included to discuss / annotate with the class, which showcases the techniques practised in the previous two lessons. The lesson has been designed for use with high-ability year 7s, but would equally be suitable for students in years 5, 6 or 8, dependent upon ability.

A wide-ranging lesson which introduces the sonnet form through creative writing and comprehension questions about Barrett Browning’s use of it. I really liked the well-known resource ‘What’s a sonnet miss?’ (a poem about how sonnets are written), but found it too inaccurate. So, I have written and included my own sonnet about sonnets called ‘What’s a sonnet sir?’. Also included are comprehension questions which focus students on language and context, as well as a simple outline for an essay on the topic of the poet’s presentation of love. I found this an engaging and accessible way to introduce the Eduqas GCSE poetry anthology to my year 9 students. However, the lesson would work for any syllabus with Sonnet 43 on it.

A full lesson centred around an extract from Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games with activities designed to get students to analyse how the author creates a sense of setting using a backstory and proper nouns. Students then have the opportunity to create their own backstory for a dystopia they have imagined. The resource was created as the fourth installment in a scheme of work, but could be used for a one-off lesson too. It is aimed at high-ability students in Year 7 but would work well for students in years 5, 6 or 8 dependent upon ability.

Intended as the fifth in a creative writing scheme of work on dystopian writing. However, this lesson will work independently. The resource is centred around an extract from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick as an example of how students could write a persuasive advert for their own automaton - either humanoid or animal. I have included an additional starter activity as the material may take more than one lesson to cover. The resource was designed for high ability year 7 students, but could work for students in years 5, 6 or 8, dependent upon ability.

A lesson which focuses on the language Keats uses to present the three figures (Love, Ambition and Poesy), as well as drawing connections and distinctions between this poem and the other great odes. There is little discussion of context here, save for the initial clarification of the epigraph as my students’ knowledge of Keats’s life is already strong.

A simple, highly-visual introduction to adjectives with a range of explanations and tasks for students to complete. There is also information and tasks on adjectival phrases and postmodification. The resource would make a good introductory lesson to this word class for primary age students (perhaps years 4, 5, 6) or early secondary age students who need a reminder (year 7).

A lesson designed for the extract from 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston from the Edexcel IGCSE anthology for English Language specification A. The lesson includes two starter activities, a pair of engaging embedded YouTube videos relating to the text, a simple task for annotating the text, an example question 4 from a past-paper with an exemplar response, and a writing frame utilising the PETAL acronym to support students in writing an exam-style response for question 4. This lesson was used with a year 9 class approaching their GCSE years and could easily be used or adapted for use with years 10 and 11 for initial teaching of the text.

An updated version of this lesson, now containing a web quest and group tasks on the form and structure, and imagery in John Keats’s O Solitude. The lesson is designed for A level students studying Edexcel English Literature. It is highly visual and engaging. At the end of the PowerPoint are the previously used slides containing key contextual information, which are useful for reference and revision.

A lesson sequence on Wilfred Owen’s poem Disabled. The lesson is designed with the coursework element of the Edexcel IGCSE in mind. Students answered a question on the presentation of ‘identity’. The lesson is highly visual and contains video clips. Also included are slides on Jessie Pope’s Who’s For The Game? and Owen’s most famous poem, Dulce et decorum est, as they provide students with a strong foundation for their study of Disabled. Included in the lesson are writing support materials such as word and phrase banks and a writing frame. Also included is an exemplar response. There should be enough material for 2-3 lessons.

Contained in this resource are a PDF document and PowerPoint version of display material and quote banks for each major character in Of Mice and Men. The quote banks are divided into four sections according to some of Steinbeck’s main themes and feature a small AI-generated image of the relevant character in the top right. Students can then populate the quote banks with key quotations for each character as they relate to the key themes. Please note: the quote banks are blank for students to fill in. The last slides/pages of the resource contain much larger versions of the AI images (one example can be seen in the cover image), which can be printed in colour and used for display.