The focus of the unit is around issues of homelessness, so accompanying the unit is a class reading of Robert Swindell's novel ‘Stone Cold’. The assessment, however, isn’t on ‘Stone Cold’, but is on a creative writing piece, that uses description (so not narration) to describe a homeless person in Cambridge (but this can be changed to any city or town, really). The novel is merely being read to them so that they can use it to help them feel empathy etc. I have shown my groups clips from the film ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ as well, to help get their minds working about issues of homelessness.

A resource with lesson presentations and activities for My Year 8 unit on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Students work towards an essay assessment, which requires them to analyse how Scrooge changes after each visit by the ghosts. I&'ve updated these lessons recently (Nov 2010) to be a little clearer and easier to follow. The assessment task sheet is also better (in my opinion). Enjoy :) Also, I&';ve saved them as PPTs in the 97-2003 format, so that those not working on Vista/7 can access (I hope!)

This powerpoint goes through Act 2 of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge small sections at a time. After each scene there are comprehensive questions, which are meant to build student understanding of plot, themes, and characterization. There are a few activities mixed in the middle as well, including a task to create a ‘Jeremy Kyle’ style skit. At the end, there is also an opportunity to exlpore the themes, giving points and then finding evidence from the text to support it. This would be essential for revision.

The following resource, a powerpoint lesson presentation, goes through an introduction to Arthur Miller's play A View from the Bridge, as well as breaks the first Act down, scene by scene. Each scene is followed by comprehension questions to aid in developing a sense of plot and character. The Word document is a simple character grid, where students record character information and then go on quote quests to find corresponding quotes. I am making my group complete this as we finish each section, with the intention that it will be invaluable to them when revising.

A resource with a series of lessons based around a whole class reading of Louis Sachar’s novel ‘Small Steps’. This is only ‘part one’ of the complete unit, going from an introduction where students watch the film HOLES and discuss (Can do a S&L assessment), and then introduce the novel and read Chapters 1 - 7, with comprehension questions and empathetic writing tasks. I will continue to upload as I create the unit.

I didn’t create the idea, but I’ve revised it a bit and created a PowerPoint presentation that you can use with the handouts that I’ve borrowed from another user. This worksheet provide all the information needed to run a Macbeth Murder Mystery and use drama activity to teach a range of dramatic techniques including use of flashback. I’ve used this with my year 8 group, but it can likely be applied to most KS3 groups.

I initially created this to fill a cover lesson, during an absense. It’s a fun activity to do with KS3 students, to get them to warm up to the idea of producing poetry, without the pressure of writing it entirely on their own. It requires old newspapers, scissors, and glue. Details are all contained in the PPT, which acts as a lesson plan.

This was an activity that went over really well with my year 9 students. We read Poe’s poem ‘The Raven’, watched the Simpsons version, and then the students were asked to create their own dramatic performance of the poem, which we recorded and screened. Took two lessons.