A Christmas Carol: Poverty and Children (Scrooge and The Ghost of Christmas Present) Background social and historical context about The Poor Law, The Workhouse and prisons and detailed analysis of the extract where Scrooge sees the "two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable" Worksheet to accompany the power point and a discursive essay with tips for success on the final slide.

The Witches' song from Macbeth Act 4 Sc 1 (analysis and writing tasks) Watch a YouTube reading of the poem, acrostic poem starter, detailed text and word level analysis with a choice of writing tasks, peer assessment and review. Copy of the extract for the pupils to highlight and annotate. KS3 and 4. Ideal for Halloween or general Shakespeare/poetry topic.

The Lost Happy Endings by Carol Ann Duffy: The setting analysis and writing activity with worksheet. Power point with extract on the setting. The question "How does the writer portray the setting?" is explored via colour coded analytic slides. Print and give out the blank extract slide to high ability pupils, the colour coded slide to medium ability pupils and the colour coded and annotated slide to lower ability pupils in order to answer the question. Subsequently, the pupils can use some of the descriptive writing techniques which they have just identified in order to fill in the worksheet describing their own setting. The final slide has skills criteria on in order for the pupils to peer assess their work. Level descriptors on the powerpoint and the worksheet are for the new GCSE 1-9 criteria but can be easily adapted for KS2/3.

Reading Skills lesson: based on an extract from Enduring Love by Ian McEwan Always a winner with pupils! This presentation leads pupils to analyse the opening of the novel. A longer extract is attached. There are 4 comprehension questions which interrogate the text with model answers to each so that pupils can use self or peer assessment to mark them. The opening extract is on the power point; the first comprehension question could be completed as a whole class activity with the teacher showing pupils where the evidence is. I have also shown the extract from the film version of the novel as well (on Youtube); show before reading and stop it a few minutes in to entice the pupils to read the extract to see what happens. There are a number of writing tasks after the plenary.

Descriptive writing; semantic fields based on 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke. Enquiry based learning using a word cloud of the poem to create pupil led categories. These are then used as a springboard for writing and creating semantic fields before the poem is studied (I used an audio clip of the poem on Youtube) The pupils then revisit and improve their work (showing progression) and it is then either self or peer assessed using the WJEC grade criteria on the power point. The plenary has leading questions linking to semantic fields, key skills and target setting. I printed out copies of the slides showing the poem, the word cloud and the grade criteria (one between two) Don't let the pupils access the poem until they have tried categorising the words in the word cloud. This enquiry based learning lesson is effective in terms of varied activities, a range of learning styles, showing progression and target setting.

Narrative planning sheet. With labelled sections and space for pupils to make notes and plan a story. This has been used to create collaborative stories in pairs and on a carousel so that pupils get to contribute to a range of story plans of other pupils in the class. Most effective when enlarged to A3. Images and key words tick list focusing on descriptive techniques. Engaging and fun.

The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Sound effects starter, social and historical context of Poe's life, analysis of the opening to the story (pupils annotate their own copies) with leading questions in order to interrogate subsequent paragraphs. Comic strip writing activity with self assessment and review.

Of Mice and Men starter activities power point. Includes a quiz, images to discuss or print out and annotate, key words activities such as acrostic poems.

Descriptive writing: Autumn. The power point includes: a starter, 'Ode to Autumn' by John Keats which is analysed at word and whole text level, an opportunity for pupils to improve their work to show progression, a skills slide, a writing planning slide and a checklist for peer assessment. Highly visual and engaging.

Poetry extract from The Witches by Roald Dahl (analysis and writing tasks) The Grand High Witch reveals her plan to turn all children into mice. Acrostic poem starter, watch film trailer, detailed analysis of text with self assessment, choice of writing tasks and peer assessment and review. Copy of the poem for the pupils to highlight and annotate. Also phoneme word families sort activity and a spelling sort with words taken from the extract. KS2 and 3. Ideal for Halloween or general poetry topic.

A Christmas Carol: Marley's Ghost and The Ghost of Christmas Past. Quotation comparison chart with space for pupils to make a comparison and then write an explanation.

Muhammad Ali: non fiction analysis and writing/presentation tasks. Includes two news articles to read and analyse with comprehension questions on the short article, factual information on the powerpoint (including Ali's famous sayings) with word level dictionary work, non fiction writing task and pupil presentation task. NB: Slide two needs sensitivity regarding Ali's statement about refusing to be conscripted into the US military and joining the Vietnam War. Song lyrics by Faithless and R Kelly; one of these could be played as a starter. Equally, there is a plethora of YouTube videos of greatest moments.

A detailed analysis of parent/child relationships in Romeo and Juliet, Caitrin by Gillian Clarke and What has happened to Lulu? by Charles Causley. Originally made for WJEC English Literature Unit 3 (poetry and drama literary heritage) but could be used to analyse these texts individually.

Pupils interrogate a painting as a whole class, using questions to infer and deduce a narrative. They zoom in on details of the image in order to create descriptive detail. They then create the "story" behind the painting. The pupils could write a paragraph of the story initially without any teacher led interrogation, then once the image is thoroughly analysed they could produce an improved version to show progression. This could be self/peer assessed at each stage. The plenary creates a chance to consider the skills involved and how they link to descriptive and narrative writing. Worksheet which includes the image for pupils to make notes on also attached.

Frankenstein analysis and creative writing: chapter 5. Word level analysis of an extract from chapter 5 "It was on a dreary night of November..." Starter activity links to subsequent creative writing where pupils try to emulate some of the techniques used by Shelley to create atmosphere and tension. Peer assessment linking to skills on final slide. Extract of chapter 5 included with sections and instructions for colour coding and highlighting clearly labelled.

An Inspector Calls: revision of themes and social and historical context. This is a highly visual and interactive presentation with a PEE formula card sort activity. Pupils review SHC and make notes, make links between images and themes in AIC then complete the PEE formula card sort (in pairs or individually). Now they have PEE formulas modelled, they continue by creating 3 of their own (quotations are provided) This work is then peer assessed, then the plenary uses images to review themes. Engaging, visual and effective.

A Christmas Carol Visual: plot and Scrooge’s character development. A power point and worksheet with images in chronological order to discuss as a whole class and for pupils to make notes on plot, Scrooge’s character, themes and the author’s message. Highly visual so ideal for low ability and visual learners. Scaffolded questions at the end of the worksheet as a plenary to explain how Scrooge’s character changes.

Writing to persuade carousel powerpoint and 9 worksheets. The worksheets should be enlarged to A3 for maximum effectiveness. The 'carousel' set up could be merely passing the worksheets forwards to the pair in front rather than having to change the seating plan (if the classroom is not set up for group work) Stick to the timing (5 minutes on each paragraph) and this is a fast paced engaging lesson. Used for GCSE non-fiction writing practice prior to exams. The worksheets remind pupils of persuasive techniques along the way. As this is paired, and shared, group work, differentiation is by task.

An exploration of Island Man by Grace Nichols. Activities on this 21 slide powerpoint include: a starter to revisit and subsequently show progression (slides 1 and 3), a culture map for pupils to complete (slide 2); images of the poem to annotate (slide 4) a cloze exercise of the poem before reading (slide 5), copy of the poem to highlight (slide 6), a link to an audio clip of the poem in performance, a group drama task, imagery work, stimulus for writing task (slides 18 and 19) which can also be used as exemplars to support pupils and thereby differentiate and, finally, peer assessment.

A Christmas Carol Visual: plot and Scrooge's character development (with significant quotations) A power point and worksheet with images in chronological order to discuss as a whole class and for pupils to make notes on plot, Scrooge's character, themes and the author's message. Highly visual so ideal for low ability and visual learners. Scaffolded questions at the end of the worksheet as a plenary to explain how Scrooge's character changes.