A research activity on Chaucer which requires students to work independently and work through different levels of questions. (I’ve used SOLO Taxonomy to provide a range of questions). The resources included are: a detailed contextual booklet on Chaucer’s life, The Canterbury Tales, and a history of Pilgrimage; differentiated questions which require students to read the booklet and do their own research. This is an effective introductory lesson for A Level study of Chaucer and provides much of the contextual knowledge required by OCR.

A full Paper 1 Non-Fiction Texts and Transactional Writing mock exam for the new Edexcel IGCSE English Language A 2016 specification, to be first examined in Summer 2018. I designed this to mimic the sample material provided by Edexcel so it includes all the question types you would expect to find in Sections A and B of the exam. The booklet is 19 pages in total, providing space for students to write their answers. The two extracts that Section A is based on are from the 2012 specification - ‘Taking on the World’ (Ellen MacArthur) and ‘Explorers, or Boys Messing Around?’ (Stephen Morris - also in the updated 2016 anthology). For copyright reasons, I can’t include these extracts, however they are easily found on the Edexcel IGCSE website in the 2012 anthology (green cover). Any questions, please ask!

A selection of resources for teaching the novel Dark Matter to Key Stage Three. The resources included are: 1. A one-page set of analysis questions for Chapters 3 & 4, with a point, evidence explain model to show students how to write analytical paragraphs. 2. A creative writing lesson focused on using pathetic fallacy inspired by Dark Matter, including a group carousel activity. There are three resources for this: Lesson Slides, A3 carousel resources for printing and a 3-page handout for students including two extracts from Dark Matter in which Michelle Paver uses pathetic fallacy and a guidance page to help students start writing. 3. A sentences lesson which uses Dark Matter to teach students how to identify and use simple, compound and complex sentences - includes lesson slides and a 3-page worksheet of sentences exercises for students to practise. 4. A whole-text analytical essay writing activity to be completed once you have finished reading the novel. This one-page handout introduces the essay to students, gives them question options to choose from and models how to plan the essay. If you have any questions, please ask!

A 32-page character revision resource for Romeo and Juliet covering twenty characters in depth. This booklet is designed to give students the thorough and highly detailed knowledge required by the new GCSE. The character profiles for major characters contain: - Key Facts - Character Function & Development (focusing in detail on how each character functions at a symbolic level and how they develop over the course of the play) - Characteristics - Key plot points in the play - Key Quotations - Summary of themes linked with the character Key summaries are also provided for minor characters, e.g. Peter, Potpan, Abram and Balthasar, the Chorus. Although the focus is on character, the resource also provides much detail on key events and themes, motifs and context. In addition, at the end of the resource, there is a summary section of character development over the course of the play - half of these are completed as examples and students can complete the second half themselves. I have used this resource to: - Provide staggered revision homework and followed up with tests on each character - As a support resource for essay-writing - As a way to introduce characters or explore them in more depth as a class. - As a research resource for jigsaw learning activities, dividing the class into groups and assigning a major character to each group. - To help students understand how to think about character function and development. Differentiation can be done in a number of ways - through the character assigned to a student, the sections they are asked to work on, and the number and length of quotations they are expected to revise. This is a particularly useful resource for a high-ability group with high target grades. It gives them the level of detail and breadth of knowledge that will allow their essays to stand out, and is designed to get them thinking at a functional and symbolic level considering the whole of the play. Any questions, please ask.

A handout which examines A Doll's House as a problem play, and looks at the evidence for it as a feminist play and a tragedy. Includes quotations from Ibsen himself and the critic Tornqvist. A useful resource for understanding genre and meeting the context assessment objective on the OCR A Level spec.

A detailed handout explaining the Pluto and Proserpina Interlude in The Merchant's Tale. Their unique presentation and nuanced relationship is explored in relation to the wider tale. Designed for the OCR specification, which weights context heavily.

A twenty-two page revision guide on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Contains a combination of information and activities for students to work through, taking them back to the text and asking them to think deeply and independently about characters, language, themes and context. Once completed, the activities then act as a further revision resource for students. This was written with the new AQA GCSE specification in mind and has information on the AQA assessment objectives, but beyond that would be useful for revising the text for any exam board. The booklet includes sections on: The AQA paper and assessment objectives Author Biography Plot Themes & Context Character function, traits and quotations Form and Narrative Structure Language and Structure Nineteenth Century Art and the unconscious mind Setting Practice extract question I have found this very useful as a homework pack for a half term/term, which can be reflected on and further discussed and developed in lessons. Differentiation is inbuilt - for example, a range of quotations is provided for the character activities. Students can analyse and learn a selection of these, or all of them, depending on skill level. A straightforward author biography is provided which will contain sufficient context for some students, but context is returned to in much greater depth in the 'themes and context' section of the booklet to provide stretch and challenge. The section on 19th century art could be used as an optional extension for targeted students or be used to challenge a whole class to develop their contextual knowledge even further. Any questions, please just ask. Thanks.

• 8 Week, 24 Lesson Scheme designed for teaching or revision of GCSE-level fiction reading skills. The scheme was created specifically for AQA English Language GCSE Paper 1, but may be useful for schools doing other exam boards. It aims to develop whole-text reading skills from the outset. • The scheme predominantly focuses on responding to reading questions, but there are some linked writing lessons in which students plan/create their own fiction texts. • Week 1 and 8 are set aside for baseline and final testing using exam-board papers of your choice, hence the resources included start at Week 2 and finish at Week 7. • The texts are taken from the AQA Anthology ‘Telling Tales’ and the AQA Paper 1 Reading Support Booklet, or are included as individual extracts. I cannot include the AQA Anthology or Reading Support booklet here for copyright reasons, but the anthology is available for order free of charge here for schools doing AQA. The reading support booklet is available online as a PDF here: https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-87001-RSB.PDF • The texts/extracts covered are: 1. My Polish Teacher’s Tie (Helen Dunmore); 2. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (Roddy Doyle). 3. Goldfinger (Ian Fleming); 4. Bring Up the Bodies (Hilary Mantel); 5. Remarkable Creatures (Tracy Chevalier). 5. I’m the King of the Castle (Susan Hill). 6. The Thirty-Nine Steps (John Buchan); 7. Chemistry (Graham Swift); 8. Birdsong (Sebastian Faulks). 9. Spies (Michael Frayn). 10. The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga). 11. The Awakening (Kate Chopin – Extra Challenge Reading). • Assessments: Baseline Paper 1 assessment (your choice); 2 teacher assessments with 2 D.I.R.T lessons; 2 peer/self-assessments; final Paper 1 Exam (your choice) • The D.I.R.T lesson is planned into the scheme for the lesson after the teacher assessment; however, this is a ‘floating’ lesson and there is flexibility in when it is delivered to accommodate marking. It should be delivered within 4 lessons of the assessment to ensure timely feedback. The D.I.R.T lesson will include both structured and independent tasks. • There is a focus on mastery of whole-text reading skills and technical writing skills. Interleaved activities are planned to prepare students for the independent reading requirement, the creation of their own non-fiction texts, as well as the SPaG element of the AQA GCSE qualifications. There are a number of fluency activities. • Homework is inbuilt but is called Independent Study and is designed to be challenging. It is an essential element of the scheme and linked class activities are based upon independent study tasks. The aim is to improve students’ independent study skills, reform their view of ‘homework’ so that they understand its central role in their learning and significantly improve the rate and quality of completion. • Teaching instructions & differentiation suggestions are contained within the notes of the PowerPoint slides.**

A valuable resource to help meet the context Assessment Objective for 'The Bloody Chamber'. This is a summary of key extracts from Edmund Gordon's recent biography of Carter, 'The Invention of Angela Carter'. Includes fascinating and revealing comments from Carter's personal writings which can be directly connected to The Bloody Chamber tales. My students found this very interesting and useful.

Set 'Bluebeard' as homework reading then do this lesson, which tests student's knowledge of the text and asks them to rewrite it in the style of Angela Carter. Post-modernism is then introduced (clear explanation provided) and students read and assess each others' rewritten stories for post-modernist traits. Finally, students consider quotations from critics and Carter herself examining the nature of revisionist fairy tales. There is a homework question on how far Carter is postmodern writer in the tales studied so far. *Note - This lesson presupposes that students have read 'Bluebeard' but have not yet read 'The Bloody Chamber'. They should be familiar with Carter's style and should have read at least one of her other stories (I always start with 'The Werewolf').

An A3 double-sided revision resource for Chaucer and The Merchant's Tale context. Includes information on Chaucer's life, The Canterbury Tales, the marriage tales, use of irony, conventions of medieval poetry, the medieval Church, contemporary beliefs about poverty and death, Chaucer's earlier great poem Troilus & Criseyde and specific symbolism, imagery and references in The Merchant's Tale. My students found this a really useful go-to for context revision as the information can seem overwhelming, but here it's brought together in one place.

A 3-page guide to writing a comparative thesis paragraph for the A Level Gothic Literature unit. The resource includes: 1. An explanation of what a thesis is. 2. The golden rules of thesis-writing. 3. A model thesis paragraph comparing The Tell-Tale Heart with The Fall of the House of Usher, focusing on the extent to which they are Gothic texts. 4. Two pages of sentence stems for essay-writing - these are useful for all Literature essays, not just Gothic. I used this resource as the basis for a lesson in which students worked in pairs to write their own comparative thesis on a different pair of Gothic texts, using the model and rules for guidance, first getting them to read the model and articulate what made it an effective opening paragraph. Alternatively, if your students have studied these texts, they could write the rest of the essay, using the thesis paragraph as a road map. *Please note, if you have purchased my 'Essay Writing Guide for A Level and GCSE', the sentence stems in this resource are the same as in that.

Four non-fiction model writing responses that I created to help students prepare for the non-fiction writing section of GCSE English Language. The models are as follows: A persusasive letter from a teacher to the school Principal about changes to the school canteen (398 words - suitable for middle or lower ability groups). A letter to a friend who is coming to stay describing the things they can see and do in the area. This is a hybrid of letter writing and travel writing, combining the skills of writing to describe, explain and inform (945 words - this is a lengthy, high level response suitable for middle or higher ability groups). A travel-writing article about Isafjordur in Iceland (452 words - suitable for a range of groups). A stop-smoking leaflet, aimed at persuading teenagers to quit smoking (381 words - suitable for a range of groups). Any questions, just ask!

This model answer responds to the June 2013 paper of the Edexcel IGCSE English Language, which contained two extracts from Anne Frank's diary. The exam paper can be accessed on the Edexcel website if you wish to use the extracts with your students. Although this was created specifically for the IGCSE, it is a useful example of analysis for use with any GCSE English class. I created this model to demonstrate sophisticated and in-depth analysis to my top set students. The response is detailed - 635 words - and provides students with high target grades with a good level of challenge. Any questions, just ask!

Detailed 2-page resource of analytical notes on 'Your Guide to Beach Safety' plus past questions on the extract - for use with Section B of the Edexcel IGCSE in English Language. I prepared these notes for first-teaching of the extract but also ultimately gave them to students who found them very useful for revision purposes. The notes begin by focusing on purpose, audience and tone and then focus in close detail on key linguistic and structural choices made by the writer. This helped my students to gain the in-depth and high level knowledge and skills required to score well on this section of the IGCSE exam.

Detailed 3-page resource of analytical notes on 'Touching the Void' plus a list of past questions on the extract - for use with Section B of the Edexcel IGCSE in English Language. I prepared these notes for first-teaching of the extract but also ultimately gave them to students who found them very useful for revision purposes. The notes begin by focusing on purpose, audience and tone and then focus in close detail on key linguistic and structural choices made by the writer. This helped my students to gain the in-depth and high level knowledge and skills required to score well on this section.

A display of sentence stems to help students verbalise their ideas using academic language. 65 slides in total - two 'title' slides which works well at the centre of the display and 63 different sentence stems. The sentence stems range from straightforward (e.g. 'This quotation suggests...') to complex (e.g. 'The dichotomy between [civilisation and savagery] underpins the novel'.) Lots of examples from a range of literary texts including Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet. Ellipses and square brackets show students where they can insert their own relevant text/character/theme. There are also definitions of key words on many of the slides, e.g. 'quotation', 'inference', implies' etc. I have had this display in every classroom I've taught in and use it every day in discussions and writing with students, to help them verbalise complex ideas and use more formal language. This translates really well into essay writing and my students also use the display as a reference point when writing. *The preview doesn't display properly - the slides are formatted properly but for some reason this isn't showing in the preview.*