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Mastering English

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I'm a published academic/educational author and poet (Unifrog, Original Plus Books, HEB Books, AQA, and Cambridge University Press). I have been an English teacher and Visiting Lecturer for 15 years and am the English Network Co-ordinator for BSME. I'm passionate about pedagogy, particularly metacognition, and always seek to inspire a passion for English in learners of all ages.

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I'm a published academic/educational author and poet (Unifrog, Original Plus Books, HEB Books, AQA, and Cambridge University Press). I have been an English teacher and Visiting Lecturer for 15 years and am the English Network Co-ordinator for BSME. I'm passionate about pedagogy, particularly metacognition, and always seek to inspire a passion for English in learners of all ages.
An Inspector Calls: The Trial
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An Inspector Calls: The Trial

(2)
A sequence of lessons based on the premise that the Birlings and Gerald are on trial for Eva Smith’s manslaughter that encourages engagement with the play on a close textual level and improve students’ analytical skills. The structured PPT guides students through the entire process in an emersive way, explaining their role and how to prepare their case. There are slides for every aspect of the trial and an accompanying booklet of resources for students to use whilst they plan/deliver their address to the court. Once the jury have deliberated, students are asked to reflect upon the process of gathering evidence and to consolidate their learning by writing an extended essay.
Whole Class Feedback Template - Assessment for Learning tool
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Whole Class Feedback Template - Assessment for Learning tool

(1)
A whole class feedback template designed to facilitate AfL and allow the teacher to feedback to the class in a structured way that can be embedded into daily practice. The template includes sections based on common errors and misconceptions; today's targets; star students; WAGOLL (what a good one looks like), and 'Hall of Fame' to feature a particular student's work. This template has proved incredibly successful with my classes, which I print out and stick in students books as a reminder of the formative feedback given during the course of the term.
Edexcel IGCSE English Literature Guide - Unseen Poetry and Of Mice and Men
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Edexcel IGCSE English Literature Guide - Unseen Poetry and Of Mice and Men

(1)
A detailed guide, covering everything students need to know in order to write sophisticated responses to Unseen Poetry and Of Mice and Men. The guide includes: How to breakdown and understand questions Approaches to answering questions and structuring responses Exemplar responses Marked responses and commentaries from Edexcel Context for OMAM Character analysis and key quotations Practise questions, indicative content and mark schemes Advice on timings, planning and fluency
Language in The Handmaid's Tale
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Language in The Handmaid's Tale

(2)
An A Level revision aid which explores the various techniques Atwood uses in The Handmaid’s Tale. Particularly useful for supporting AO2 when analysing writers’ methods.
Giuseppe by Roderick Ford - Edexcel International A Level (AS) English Literature Anthology Poetry
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Giuseppe by Roderick Ford - Edexcel International A Level (AS) English Literature Anthology Poetry

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A comprehensive series of slides that should last for approximately 4 hours of study, guiding students through Giuseppe by Roderick Ford. Slides include: Information about both Ford and historical context. Student-led exploratory activities, such as independent, paired and group analysis. An introduction to post-colonial literary theory. Analysis prompt questions that promote deep thinking for each stanza. A task where students design their own exam-style questions and a self/peer review task using the marking criteria. Accompanying blank mind-map
Edexcel IGCSE English Language Transactional Writing - Section B - Questions 6/7
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Edexcel IGCSE English Language Transactional Writing - Section B - Questions 6/7

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Comprehensive 42-slide presentation that guides students through how to structure and compose their IGCSE transactional writing exam responses. The first section offers exemplar responses and encourages students to identify what makes the responses high-level. The second section guides students through how to successfully structure a piece of extended transactional writing every single time with a tried and tested essay writing plan in the form of an easy to remember six paragraph poem. The third section offers a detailed and exhaustive checklist of spelling, punctuation, grammatical and stylistic considerations for students to achieve the highest levels, enabling them to check their work against what the examiners will be looking for. The fourth section includes ten past paper Section Bs with accompanying examiners’ reports. The final section includes marking criteria and a self/peer assessment task.
The Handmaid's Tale: Language, Symbolism & Imagery
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The Handmaid's Tale: Language, Symbolism & Imagery

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This resource allows students to track Attwood's use of language, symbolism and imagery. Students make notes as they read (as a whole class or autonomously), creating a compendium of revision notes as they progress through the novel. Visually engaging and with structured headings, this resource was popular with both my Y12 and 13 classes. (print 1 copy for every chapter).
The Handmaid's Tale Ch. 37-40 Knowledge Organiser
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The Handmaid's Tale Ch. 37-40 Knowledge Organiser

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Students use this knowledge organizer to focus their attention on key themes, language techniques, quotations and critical interpretations. Each section contains a prompt which then leads to autonomous note taking. This resource can be issued as homework task or used as a tool in class when exploring this crucial section of the novel.
John Proctor's Use of Language (The Crucible)
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John Proctor's Use of Language (The Crucible)

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A structured PPT exploring John Proctor's use of language in a pivotal speech. This resource explores Miller's use of lexical sets, interrogative and exclamatory sentence forms in order to develop Proctor's character and augment the audience's response to him. The PPT includes annotated and exemplar 'WAGOLL' slides that can be printed off for students.
Language Analysis/Narrative Writing lesson based on Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes
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Language Analysis/Narrative Writing lesson based on Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes

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A complete lesson analysing extracts from Ray Bradbury's crossover novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury's rich prose forms the basis of students' exploration of figurative techniques and their effects. The lesson encourages students to explore Bradbury's stylistic choices, such as divergence from conventional grammatical rules, with a view to understanding authorial methods. This lesson assists students with the skills required for AQA Paper 1 GCSE English, in terms of A0s 1,2,5 and 6.
GCSE English AO5 Writing Tasks
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GCSE English AO5 Writing Tasks

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A series of activities designed to develop writing skills in line with AO5 of the AQA GCSE Language specification. These tasks can be used as bell work or as stand alone tasks incorporated into a series of lessons. Each task explains which element of AO5 is being addressed, why this skill is essential for success in the examinations, has expert tips and prompts and engaging activities. These resources are bright, uniform and specifically tailored to develop essential examination skills and to foster familiarity with the assessment objectives. Tasks are differentiated so that lower ability students can attempt a word or sentence level task whilst more and most able students can attempt structural/whole text level tasks.
Mock Exam (PPE) Feedback Template - GCSE Literature (AQA)
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Mock Exam (PPE) Feedback Template - GCSE Literature (AQA)

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Two adaptable templates already populated with targets addressing common errors and misconceptions. This resource focuses students' attention upon common errors - much like an examiner's report - but in a far more bespoke manner. The first template is designed to feedback to the entire class, the second is designed as a template for students to engage with their individual strengths and weaknesses. I've used this with several classes and it has made a significant impact upon self-reflection and target setting.
The Handmaid's Tale - Metacognitive Mind Palace (Revision aid)
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The Handmaid's Tale - Metacognitive Mind Palace (Revision aid)

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A revision aid based on the principle of the ‘Mind Palace’. Students memorise the respective pieces of furniture and their associated ypoics then recall these in the examination, thus encouraging neuroplascticity and recall in the examination hall. This has proven extremely effective with my KS5 students as a starting point or springboard for their revision.
The Great Gatsby and the American Dream
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The Great Gatsby and the American Dream

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Critical essay writen by literary critic, poet and A Level teacher, Samantha Roden (author of Roth Through the Lens of Kepesh, 2016, and Catch Ourselves in Glass, 2017) exploring the relationship between The Great Gatsby and the American Dream. Ideal for AQA AS and A Level Literature AO5 and to demonstrate to students how to write academically about literary texts. Abstract: The pursuit of happiness, the most pervasive of American ideologies, is embedded in the American psyche. But for Fitzgerald, the American Dream in its original form seemed as dry as the constitution from which it was born. The idealised view of the dream, which saw honest, hardworking men reap the just rewards of freedom and financial security is far removed from the champagne, bright lights and capitalist hegemony of Fitzgerald’s world. Whilst it could be argued that The Great Gatsby is little more than a critique of the American Dream, signifying its inherent frailties, it is equally apropos to suggest that the novel is symbolic of an American society struggling to free itself from the limitations of social conscience, having been seduced by individualism, material happiness and a more innate form of morality, whereby man is only answerable to his conscience.
Key Quotations/Analysis Prompts for the Character of Macbeth
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Key Quotations/Analysis Prompts for the Character of Macbeth

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Designed for KS4 AQA Literature Students. The two sheets guide students through key quotations relating to Macbeth’s character. Difficult quotations are explained and every quotation is accompanied by analytical prompt questions that will facilitate deep learning. An ideal resource to use with higher ability students or as stretch and challenge tasks for mid-ability.
AQA Paper 1 Style Question 2 plus bespoke mark scheme
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AQA Paper 1 Style Question 2 plus bespoke mark scheme

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A complete lesson/mini-assessment with question specific mark scheme designed for students to hone the skills required for Paper 1 Question 2. The question sheet features an extract from Northern Lights and the question focus upon micro-level language analysis of specific lines. The mark scheme has been tailored to both question and extract and exemplifies what is expected for each level. The scaffolded student response is a useful metacognitive tool, demonstrating to students how an analytical paragraph is built. As an examiner and author of GCSE exam papers and mark schemes for PiXL and pedagogical resources for AQA and Cambridge University Press, I designed this task with the application of skills and resultant accelerated progress in mind. Can also be used as a KS3 mini-assessment as part of a fantasy/dystopian scheme, or as resouce to aid KS5 resit students.
Biblical allusion and intertext in Handmaid's Tale: Jezebel
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Biblical allusion and intertext in Handmaid's Tale: Jezebel

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A compendium of biblical references/extracts to enable A-Level students to understand how Atwood uses scriputure to explore extremist views in Gilead. The accompanying questions ask students to consider how religious scripture is used to exhonerate the regime from blame, and how language can be abused/interpreted/appropriated for different purposes.