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.
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 exemplar response to Macbeth for GCSE Literature with a comprehensive commentary. Ideal for revision or to use for modelling purposes when teaching the text.
Role-on-the-Wall templates for the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
This activity enhances students understanding of the protagonists, encouraging them to learn character-specific key quotations, contextual links and relationships with other characters. An excellent consolidation activity in class or revision activity.
A two-page document that constitutes a whole lesson, demonstrating how to plan and respond to a GCSE/IGCSE English Language non-fiction writing task. Purpose: argue/persuade.
The resource:
explains how to plan effectively (including exemplar plan)
details how to structure the entire piece of writing in 6 stages
models how to write the first 4 paragraphs
invites students to finish the response using the prompts for the final 2 paragraphs
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.
This matrix will enable students to make salient thematic links between the pre-1900 anthology poems and The Great Gatsby in preparation for their exam.
4 rows have been completed as a guide for students, including key quotations from both texts. The rest of the grid has been left blank to use as a lesson resource or revision aid, allowing students to make their own perceptive comparisons.
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.
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.
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.
A KS3 resource to accompany a gothic SOW. Students use imperative verbs to create a set of instructions to build Frankenstein’s monster.
Ideal for Y7 or low ability groups in 8 and 9.
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.
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.
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.
A 47-slide end of term/academic year English quiz that students will love. It combines fun and challenge, with beautifully designed slides and 10 rounds of questions:
Round 1: The History of the English Language
Round 2: Guess the Author
Round 3: Shakespeare
Round 4: Books made into Movies (in 2022/23)
Round 5: Loan Words
Round 6: Lexical Expansion (interesting words added to the dictionary in 2022/23)
Round 7: Strange but True - bizarre English facts
Round 8: Technique Scramble
Round 9: What am I?
Round 10: Answer Smash (questions that encourage students to make portmanteaus)
There is a printable answer sheet, slides containing all answers plus bonus info to challenge students, tie breaker round (should it be needed), and a celebration slide at the end that can be printed as a certificate for the winning team.
Enjoy!
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).
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.
A comprehensive exploration of language, form and structure, including: contextual information, detailed analysis of each stanza, questions for further discussion and an exam-style timed response.
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.
Complete set of Role-on-the-Wall worksheets. These tasks will encourage students to consolidate their knowledge of characterisation in An Inspector Calls, learn key quotations and forge contextual links. Excellent independent revision tasks or teacher-led consolidation activities.
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.
An exciting English quiz to round off the 2024 academic year. This vibrant quiz includes 38 slides, 10 fun and academically engaging rounds relating to both Language and Literature, worth 50 points in total. Answer sheets and winners’ certificates are included (slides 4 and 39).
This was one of my most popular resources of 2023, and for those who loved it last year, the format is the same for 2024 but every question is brand new!
The quiz aims to consolidate some key concepts learnt throughout the year whilst also injecting some quirky facts about our ever-evolving language.
The quiz can take anywhere between 1 and 2 lessons depending upon pace and whether certificates are awarded.
Round 1: Punctuate This - do you know your comma from your semicolon?
Round 2: Name the Author - who are these 3 contemporary British authors?
Round 3: Shakespeare - do you know which pandemic Shakespeare lived through, twice?!
Round 4: From Page to Screen - were these 2023/4 movies based on books? Were these books ever made into movies?
Round 5: Loan Words - which languages does English borrow these words from?
Round 6: Lexical Expansion - which of these idiolect terms were added to the OED this year?
Round 7: Strange but True - which of these weird and wonderful facts about English is true?
Round 8: Technique Scramble - can you unscramble these weird words to uncover 3 language/literary techniques?
Round 9: What am I? If techniques could talk…Guess which technique is describing itself.
Round 10: See and Say: create crazy portmanteaus by smashing two words together from the clues given.