IMPORTANT: Many of these activities refer to the textbook “Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History, The American West, c1835-c1895” (editor Leonard A. and published by Pearson) ISBN 9781292127309 ad will not be usable without a copy of this text. This Edexcel 9-1 GCSE unit covers around 3-4 lessons depending upon your class and their overall ability/work rate. Aims and Objectives: Specification area: The destruction of the Plains Indians’ way of life, 1876-95 To understand the hunting and extermination of the buffalo. To understand the Plains Indians’ life on the reservation. To understand the significance of changing government attitudes to the Plains Indians, including the Dawes Act 1887 and the closure of the Indian Frontier. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources. It also provides feedback/answers at intervals. Activities include inference work, time line creation, summary note-taking, diary extract of a Plains Indian child in a government boarding school, analysis of success v. failure of Dawes Act, Section A explanation 16 mark question with advice.

This KS3 unit of work covers several lessons and I’ve generally been quite flexible and allowed classes who are particularly engaged with the topic and research to spend longer on it. The lessons build up the students’ knowledge and understanding of trench structure, purpose, conditions and warfare. The booklet ensures that all students know the key facts surrounding this topic with the Power Point leading students through all of the activities. A few different starter activities are included at the end of the Power Point which can be selected according to the length of time spent on the main activities. Having worked through the key facts and background, the students undertake more independent research. Support materials are included for weaker classes, such as research tables and a source booklet which covers all of the key areas. I have used a great variety of resources depending upon each class- textbooks, library lessons, Internet, videos etc. Once the research is complete, the students complete the Trench Diary assessment task which is levelled according to subject knowledge and understanding of cause/effect. A mark scheme is included. Support materials are also included in this pack, such as a plan outline for students who require a little more guidance and a writing frame for the less able.

This KS3 lesson should take around two hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities and accompanying resources are included. Aims and Objectives: To think about and discuss the main reasons both for and against banning slavery (from our own opinions and ideas held at the actual time). To put these arguments into categories and rank their importance. To know the key events which led to the banning of slavery and sort this information into key factors. To write up our findings in an essay style. Students evaluate to arguments for and against abolishing slavery across the British Empire. They categorise and rank the various reasons historically given. They then categorise the key reasons into those relating to the economy, the slaves themselves and the Abolitionists. This leads into an essay-style written assessment. A writing frame and mark scheme is also provided. To assist with the review of this assessment, there are explained samples paragraphs and a conclusion.

This KS3 lesson should take around 2 hours to complete. The Power Point leads students through all activities with accompanying resources included. Aims and Objectives: To know the main features of a motte and bailey and stone keep castle. To understand how and why castle design changed over time. To weight up the advantages and disadvantages of each type of castle. To compare both types of castles, considering similarities and differences. Students compare the design of a motte and bailey castle to that of a stone keep, looking for areas of similarity and difference. These are recorded in table and venn diagram format. This then leads into an assessed piece of writing on continuity versus change in castle design. A mark scheme is included.

Includes a set of revision notes for each area of the specification. These notes are used in conjunction with my full revision guide. In contrast to the full guide, they follow a more analytical structure which matches previous exam questions. The notes can be used separately or put together into one booklet. I integrated previous exam questions and mark schemes which had been sorted by topic rather than by date set. Students used the full guide and revision notes to prepare essay plans on each unit in preparation for the exam.

Before looking at the reigns of each Tudor monarch in KS3, I start with this lesson underlining the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. It really helps with the understanding of each ruler’s actions later in the Tudor course. Aims and Objectives: To know how a Catholic and Protestant church look different. To know the main differences in beliefs between the two types of Christianity. To understand why Catholics and Protestants practised their faith differently and why they both felt so strongly about this. After a short parody video on the Reformation, we start by comparing and analysing the diagrams of a Catholic and Protestant church. Students then complete the colour-code activity setting out the different beliefs. There’s an SEN version of the colour-coding which I replace the longer version with when teaching nurture groups. Students then demonstrate their understanding by creating a poster supporting one of the denominations. This is generally set as homework and as a competition. The plenary asks students to identify whether a range of beliefs are Catholic or Protestant using the “C/P” cards to ensure they all have to get involved.