This lesson is aimed at getting students confident in answering a 8 mark 'chronological narrative' question for the new AQA GCSE paper. For this lesson it is assumed that students will have studied events in Cuba from 1958-1962. The lesson starts with four maths problems - how long would different US cities have to react to a MRBM strike from Cuba (it gives them the speed of the missile - and they aren't too hard!) Students remind themselves of the key events in the 'Cuba story' and attempt a timed 8 mark question titled: 'Write an account of how events in Cuba led to an international crisis'. 3 different model answers are provided (4, 6 and 8 out of 8) and as the teacher you can decide who gets which one. The students highlight information and key phrases they could have inclided but didn't and then use that to make a second attempt at answering the question, A student friendly mark scheme is then included so students can self assess both of their answers and explain why the marks awarded to both were different. Hopefully the progress is very evident! The lesson ends with a slide where students are encouraged to match their knowledge/learning to abstract images. As the teacher you can then question them to extend their thinking.

This lesson was designed for my GCSE English Lit students who were about to embark on their study of Othello. The lesson isn’t Othello specific though, it is more a brief overview of the cultural and social changes that were going on during Shakespeare’s own times - and prompting students through a variety of tasks to think about how this changing society ended up influencing Shakespeare’s writing and being reflected in his plays. E.g. Renaissance themes, Golden Age of Elizabethan England, increased prosperity including a video (embedded) looking at the emergence of the new merchant class - and the effect this had on what kind of audience Shakespeare came to write for. Also the number of theatres springing up in Elizabethan London is also looked at - along with prompt questions which students can answer in written form or verbally regarding the effect that increasing demand had on the number of plays Shakespeare wrote. At the beginning and the end of the lesson is a short quickfire quiz which is designed to get students thinking about the lesson content. The lesson was really designed with the idea of ‘world-building’ in mind i.e. getting the students to develop a really vivid picture of what Elizabethan England was like and the changes it was undergoing, in order to have excellent grounding to refer back to studying any Shakespeare play, enabling them to place much of Shakespeare’s idoms etc into context. Thanks for taking a look :)

This booklet was created with our Year 8s in mind - and served as their Christmas English Language examination. It covers: Section A simple verbal reasoning connectives spelling Section B creative writing composition / literary devices / authorial techniques. It fit nicely into an hour and we found in terms of challenge it was in the perfect zone in between ‘not too easy’ and ‘not too hard’ - meaning there is a chance for pupils of all abilities to pick up marks and it will stretch higher ability pupils too. The booklet would equally work well as something to give students to complete during a cover lesson for an hour or as a piece of class work that you as the English teacher could walk them through step-by-step. Thanks for taking a look and I hope it’s useful :)

This lesson was designed for my Year 10 class and was designed to set the scene for their study of Shakespeare’s Othello. Before embarking upon reading the play itself, this lesson can ground their understanding of who Othello, Iago and Desdemona are, and cement an understanding of the role of each character in students’ minds. This lesson provides students with all the contextual knowledge about the storyline of the play, which coupled with prior knowledge of Elizabethan England, provides a powerful introduction to the Tragedy of Othello. The main lesson task, done after a low stakes quiz starter and a look at the relative locations of Venice and Cyprus (and why they are important to the play), centres around students using their knowledge of the characters, which the teacher talks through one by one (info on slides) and adds exposition to, to fill in an info sheet (included as a hidden slide for printing) - but crucially and more importantly, begin to engage in the debate around which characters are tragic villains and which are victims, with Othello deliberately left until last in this debate, given the ambiguous nature of his role in the play. The lesson is made with the principles of dual coding in mind to reduce students’ cognitive load (which my students genuinely seem to appreciate) and there is a removable and editable coloured overlay to each slide to help those students with dyslexia or Irlen syndrome who feel they benefit from it. Thanks for taking a look :)

These detailed course / revision notes were specially written to give AQA A Level Religious Studies students a comprehensive understanding of all the key knowledge from the specification for Component 2: Study of religion and dialogues - 2B Christianity: Section A: Christianity Sources of wisdom and authority God Self, death and afterlife Good conduct and key moral principles Expressions of religious identity Christianity, gender and sexuality Christianity and science Christianity and the challenge of secularisation Christianity, migration and religious pluralism Section B: Dialogues The dialogue between Christianity and philosophy The dialogue between Christianity and ethics These extensive notes are especially useful for students whose note-taking in lesson isn’t as good as others, or whose organisational skills mean they are missing notes/handouts on certain topics / areas. These notes will certainly help reduce the time it takes them to catch up with their peers, and also students like to use these as a checklist of topics to go into in further detail. They give peace of mind that every single corner of the specification/syllabus has been covered in great detail. Hopefully these notes help to save your students (and you!) some time in the hectic run up to exams. Thanks for taking a look :)

These detailed course / revision notes were specially written to give AQA A Level Religious Studies students a comprehensive understanding of all the key knowledge from the specification for Component 2: Study of religion and dialogues - 2A Buddhism: Section A: Buddhism Sources of wisdom and authority Ultimate reality Self, death and afterlife Good conduct and key moral principles Expressions of religious identity Buddhism, gender and sexuality Buddhism and science Buddhism and the challenge of secularisation Buddhism, migration and religious pluralism Section B: Dialogues The dialogue between Buddhism and philosophy The dialogue between Buddhism and ethics These extensive notes are especially useful for students whose note-taking in lesson isn’t as good as others, or whose organisational skills mean they are missing notes/handouts on certain topics / areas. These notes will certainly help reduce the time it takes them to catch up with their peers, and also students like to use these as a checklist of topics to go into in further detail. They give peace of mind that every single corner of the specification/syllabus has been covered in great detail. Hopefully these notes help to save your students (and you!) some time in the hectic run up to exams. Thanks for taking a look :)

‘Live marking and feedback’ is the idea of marking or giving feedback on students’ work ‘in the moment’ - which cognitive science research tells us is incredibly effective in moving learning forward and addressing misconceptions before they become embedded. This presentation takes staff through the rationale behind it, the practicalities in its implementation, and the different ways it can be done. We have introduced it and in addition to helping our students make greater learning gains, it has reduced staff workload dramatically. This policy is for forward thinking schools who are looking to introduce evidence-informed practices into their school environment, benefiting students and staff alike. This was something that was really well received when it was presented and live marking and feedback continues to go form strength to strength as more practitioners begin to see its value when done well. Thanks for taking a look :)

This resource is a pretty comprehensive summary of all the knowledge required for OCR A Level Ancient History Republic and Empire: Breakdown of the Late Republic unit (H407/21): The form of the Constitution The challenges to the Constitution The means by which politicians achieved success and their importance in the breakdown of the Republic Social and Economic relationships and their importance in the breakdown of the Republic The roles and importance of individuals in the breakdown of the Republic At 20,000 words over 30 pages, this resource goes into detail about every topic on the specification, and explains how each topic is relevant and specific to the time period in question. These were really useful for my students for a number of reasons. For my top students who were anxious that they had covered every corner of the course, these provided much needed reassurance. For my students whose attendance was a little sporadic, these notes allowed them to easily fill gaps in their knowledge. For the lessons close to exam time where students were keen to be ‘spoon fed’ the key knowledge, these notes came in incredibly handy. They are detailed and can really be used as you see fit with your students according to their needs and your context. They also provide a pretty helpful teacher guide to refer to as you teach, as they helped me as I planned my lessons to make sure I was covering all the necessary key content as I progressed through the year. Thanks for taking a look and hopefully these notes provide your students with the help they need and help you you save some much needed time and stress in the run up to exams, or over the course of the year :)

This lesson is designed to fit neatly into an hour. It could equally be used as an assembly and can easily be shortened by taking out the discussion and written tasks that are included within the Powerpoint at pertinent points. It takes students step by step through the process of becoming an MP. It is meant to be both informative and aspirational - while at the same time pointing out some of the pitfalls present in the process. The lesson is fully dual coded and therefore information is presented throughout in a way that reduces cognitive load for pupils. There is also a coloured overlay on each slide to aid any pupils with dyslexia or Irlen’s who find this useful. Although, this can easily be deleted from each slide if it isn’t necessary for your pupils. There are quotations throughout from relevant literature and also from winning Members of Parliament and losing candidates. The rigour, length and cost of the process of becoming an MP is laid bare and students are constantly prompted with questions on screen regarding the time and financial costs versus the reward involved. This can also lead to questions surrounding whether our MPs are paid too much or too little, and whether candidates receive the support they need for the system to be truly fair. Thanks for taking a look and I hope this resource proves as useful for your students as it did for ours :-)

This lesson was designed for my Year 10 students to study just before they started to read Othello for their GCSE. Before diving into the play proper with its difficult-to-access language I felt it would be really beneficial for them to study a summary of the plot of Act 1, so that they know who the main characters are and what their role in the play’s exposition and rising action might be. I found that my students were definitely more ready to tackle reading Act 1 of the play having done this lesson. The main thrust of the lesson revolves around reading the summary that is included as a hidden slide for printing, and using this to create an 8 part storyboard. The point of this is to both solidify the storyline of Act 1 in their minds, along with the characters that feature, along with providing them with something they can refer back to throughout their study of Act 1. For students who finish their storyboard quicker than others, there are extension questions designed to extend students thinking. It was really successful and students definitely appreciated the ‘why’ behind this lesson. The lesson has been designed with dual coding purposes in mind in order to reduce cognitive load, and in addition there are removable coloured overlays on each slide to aid those students with Irlen Sydrome or dyslexia. The lesson ends with an introduction to how typically Shakespeare structured his tragedies and they are encouraged to ‘spot’ features from Act 1 that are in line with this tragedic arc. Thanks for taking a look :)

This PowerPoint is a ready-to-go T&L strategy to implement whole-school so that your teachers can get better outcomes / results from their lower ability groups. Students in lower ability groups, typically, tend to respond to certain teaching and learning strategies better than others. This strategy (in the form of a PowerPoint to be used as a presentation) uses the findings of research into what works, according to cognitive science, to ensure these students: retain more information make bigger learning gains from lesson to lesson make bigger learning gains over time enjoy school more get into a positive feedback loop The practicalities of achieving the above are outlined within the presentation, as are examples of how the T&L strategies might play out in reality. using this strategy at our school we have seen real results in terms of increasing the psychological safety of our lower ability pupils, increasing their buy-in and capacity to make greater leaps in their learning, resulting in better exam outcomes too. Thanks for taking a look and I hope this saves you some time :)

This lesson was made for my GCSE History students studying the Cold War. It is made in a way that it will cover the content of the any GCSE History spec - it is a concise and clear account of the agreements at Yalta and foreshadows the disagreements that come later at Potsdam in it plenary. It is designed to last an hour - I made this because other resources on the Yalta conference out there seemed unwieldy and lacked focus. This is designed to be the opposite and will prove invaluable to students who sometimes aren’t so quick to embed learning when presented with new information. For that reason, my students like these types of lessons because they are completely dual coded and easy to follow - they reduce cognitive load meaning that students can access the learning far more easily than through other resources which are ‘all singing, all dancing’ (!) or unnecessarily complex. There is a worksheet included as a slide to be printed off A4 that students add their notes on to as the lesson progresses and there is a sound clip that students listen to as a starter and jot a few notes down, and a summary video clip is also included (hence the larger file size) which prompts a few lines of questioning that will prove useful when studying the Potsdam conference. Thanks for taking a look :-)

Designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE in mind. Students are introduced to Ancient religion in general and the concepts of Hiera & Religio and the contractual nature of worship in the ancient world. In addition to this there is an exercise for students that is designed to compare ancient worship to modern worship and draw out the similarities and differences. There is a wealth of information contained within. The presentation goes through first the Greek gods and then their Roman equivalents. Each of the god's/goddess' areas of patronage are outlined, as are details about their associated mythologies, stories of origin and iconography. An A3 sheet is included to print and photocopy for students to record details about each deity, first for Greece and then for Rome. Primary Sources and GCSE practice questions are included as are model answers which students can use to improve their own answers. A final assessment task is also included which has GCSE rigour and can be used to get an accurate understanding of student's understanding of the topic to GCSE standard. Throughout, all technical terms are explained in 'glossary boxes' and students are encouraged to make a note of these as the lessons progress to build up their own glossary of key terms. The lesson could be easily differentiated for KS3 pupils by cutting out the GCSE style questions and focusing instead on the stories of each god/goddess.

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE in mind. Specifically, Paper 1 (Myth and Religion) topic 1.7 Death and Burial. it is designed to run over 2 hour long lessons. All worksheets referred to below are contained within the .ppt file in the appropriate places during the lesson which can be printed out and given to students. All instructions are also contained in the ‘notes’ section for each slide (in addition to helpful video links). The lesson does have a lot of information for students to get their head around and therefore students are asked to condense the information into note form at various points. There’s nothing to stop you printing out the info and highlighting it instead and annotating it - either works in my experience depending on the students in your class. Information students are introduced to goes from the preparation of the body after death up until burial of the ashes. In addition there is information on both the Anthesteria and Genesia which were festivals which honoured the dead in Ancient Greece. Stele are looked out and compared to modern gravestones followed by a final plenary of questions based on the learning. There are 3 different exam questions included too ( two 2 mark questions and an 8 mark question) plus there are handouts (pictured on the Iliad and Odyssey which challenge pupils at the top end to think about how the Greeks themselves perceived the importance of death and burial. Video links are included throughout to help students visualise what went on.

This lesson is designed with the topic ‘Myth and Symbols of Power’ within the ‘Myth and Religion’ unit (for the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE) in mind. The lesson begins with introducing students to the origin story and details of Centaurs. A worksheet is included within the .ppt file (pictured) which also briefly outlines the events of the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. This can be printed out, highlighted and annotated by students as it will be useful later in the lesson. Students then examine the importance of the Centauromachy to a) The Greeks as a whole, B) The Athenians and c) The Parthenon building itself. A link to a helpful Youtube Video has also been included so students who do not have the opportunity to see the marbles up close in real life can do so through this video. A cloze test where students fill in the missing words in a passage analysing a metope from the Parthenon frieze is also included which can be worked through on the board as a class or printed out and given to students. Answers are also included on the following slide. The lesson finishes with a practice exam question where students need to use the type of language used in the analysis they have seen while doing the cloze test to successfully answer the 8 mark question. (Also included for students who may finish this and need further challenge are questions comparing the Parthenon frieze to the Bassae frieze and Temple of Zeus pediment versions of the Centauromachy). In addition to this for top students a translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses is included so that they can look at the account of the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths at the wedding in detail.

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisation 9-1 GCSE in mind. Specifically, Paper 1 (Myth and Religion) topic 1.6 Myth and Symbols of Power. it is designed to run over 2 hour long lessons. All worksheets referred to below are contained within the .ppt file in the appropriate places during the lesson which can be printed out and given to students. All instructions are also contained in the ‘notes’ section for each slide (in addition to helpful video links). The lesson starts with a comprehension starter regarding how Augustus came to power and an accompanying video. There is then some class reading on the aims of Augustan art in general and the messages Augustus was keen to promote. Students are then introduced to the Ara Pacis itself via Augustus himself through studying the appropriate part of the Res Gestae. A short OU video link is included to help students visualise the size of the Ara Pacis itself. A worksheet is then included ready to be printed off (pictured)looking at Ovid’s Fasti and what he has to say about the altar. An in-depth look at the carvings one each frieze then follows with accompanying exam questions (8 and 15 markers). In the plenary students are encourage to envisage their own version of the Ara Pacis and what it would depict.

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Classical Civilisations 9-1 GCSE in mind. Specifically, Paper 1 (Myth and Religion) topic 1.6 Myth and Symbols of Power. it is designed to run over 2 hour long lessons. All worksheets referred to below are contained within the .ppt file in the appropriate places during the lesson which can be printed out and given to students. All instructions are also contained in the ‘notes’ section for each slide (in addition to helpful video links). The lesson starts with a comprehension starter regarding how Augustus came to power and an accompanying video. There is then some class reading on the aims of Augustan art in general and the messages Augustus was keen to promote. The lesson then moves onto the Prima Porta statue (a prescribed source for the new course) with an analysis of each aspect of it that students can record on a worksheet (pictured). There is another summary video followed by study questions surrounding Augustus’ supposed divine status. The lesson finishes with a plenary where students get commissioned by Augustus to design a new statue.

This lesson takes students through the basic differences between Doric, Ionic and Corinthian Greek Temples. HD examples are included of a variety of temples from each ‘order’ of Greek Architecture. Blank templates are included so students can have a go at drawing their own columns for each order. A differentiated homework task is included at the end of the lesson to encourage further research and thinking. This lesson would be ideally suited to KS4+5 students who are studying Greek architecture for whatever reason for the first time.

This ‘lesson’ on the importance of the Amazonomachy (which will ideally cover 2-3 lessons) is designed with the new Classical Civilisation 9-1 OCR GCSE in mind. Specifically, the Myth and Religion Paper 1 unit: 1.6 Myth and Symbols of Power. Students will ideally have just finished studying the Centauromachy and so at the end of this powerpoint they will be able to compare their knowledge of both and evaluate the significance of both in relation to each other. All worksheets mentioned here are included as slides within the .ppt file itself, ready to be printed off and inserted into the appropriate part of the lesson. The lesson starts with a look at how Amazons are depicted in art and students are introduced to the Amazon race through the video (link attached). Information about who the Amazons were and their battles with the Greeks is then included with a challenge question included below (designed to be printed off A5 size). Students are then introduced to the Temple of Apollo at Bassae with background information on the temple itself in order to contextualise the Bassae Frieze (a prescribed source for the course). This is followed by a numeracy challenge where students have to calculate the area of the temple (which can then lead to a discussion as to the length of the Bassae Frieze and its impressiveness etc.) A cloze test/passage is then included to be printed off where students fill in missing words in order to get them used to the kind of language they need to be using while analysing the sculptor’s use of space etc on the frieze. There is then an 8 mark source Exam question where students have to produce a similar style answer to the one on the cloze sheet but now off their own heads. Students should be encouraged to use the model as they write their own. Finally students are asked to link their learning during this topic to a set of abstract images where they can be questioned in order to explain fully what they have learnt in relation to the learning aims.

This lesson is designed with the OCR 9-1 GCSE spec in mind. Topic 1.5: Festivals in the Myth and Religion Unit of the paper. The lesson starts with reminding students of who Saturn was and his background as father of Jupiter and rule of the Earth during the Golden Age. Students then look at the 17th c. copy of the 4th c. Calendar depicting elements of the Saturnalia and are encouraged to draw inferences about what might have happened during the festival itself. A worksheet is included in the .ppt file for this. A knowledge organiser is also included on a slide to be printed out and given to students who then highlight and annotate it and use it to inform a travel guide/newspaper task where they have to write about their experience of the Saturnalia to a ‘foreign’ (I.e. non-Roman) audience. Practice exam questions are also included with help on how to structure their answers. These involve a Source inference (2 mark question) and two 8 mark comparison questions where students are told to compare the festival to the Lupercalia. Finally, students are encouraged to match a series of abstract images to their learning in order to demonstrate how much they have learnt in relation to the success criteria/ learning aims.