I'm a passionate secondary English and History teacher and am the main planner of resources for my department; as such, I thought I would start sharing them here with the wider community of teachers and professionals. I am Australian trained, but currently teaching GCSE and A- Level (AQA specifications). All lessons are very visually engaging, with images, clips and a variety of activities. You won't find any boring/blank resources here!
I'm a passionate secondary English and History teacher and am the main planner of resources for my department; as such, I thought I would start sharing them here with the wider community of teachers and professionals. I am Australian trained, but currently teaching GCSE and A- Level (AQA specifications). All lessons are very visually engaging, with images, clips and a variety of activities. You won't find any boring/blank resources here!
A non-fiction unit based around the concept of "freedom". All power-points and activities included. Students investigate the concept of freedom and how persuasive features are used in a range of non-fiction texts, such as memoirs, essays, articles and speeches.
I created this unit for my middle-range year 8 class. Enjoy!
Find enclosed 10-12 lessons covering the first act of Shakespeare's play "Antony & Cleopatra." All powerpoints, activities and worksheets for the following are included:
- Shakespeare's context
- Student historical presentation task
- Plot
- Act 1 (scene by scene lessons)
I am not currently teaching this unit, but love the play. I've just designed it to sell. Would work for either KS4 or KS5.
Enjoy
A one off lesson for revision with year 11 classes, focusing on question 5 of language paper 1. Can be taught however for any exam set. Model text included; enjoy!
1/2 lessons that introduce students to extracts from various Gothic texts, such as The Woman in Black, Interview with the Vampire and two short stories from The Bloody Chamber. Creative writing activity at the end.
GCSE skills and related questions: Language Paper 1, Q1, 2, 5
A one off lesson that you can teach either as a part of creative writing or just a filler lesson. Looks at how to structure a creative response based on different stimulus; plenty of model examples included.
A really straightforward and clear introduction to poetic meter. This lesson can be taught as a one off, or extended based on ability of your class. The lesson clearly demonstrates what meter is, and how to identify iambs through sound and rhythm. Students learn how to mark for iambs on lines of poetry/Shakespeare, building to the main activity of marking iambic pentameter in Orsino’s “Food of Love” monologue from Twelfth Night. A stretch and challenge activity at the end prompts thinking about other metrical forms (useful for if you’re teaching Macbeth, and looking at the witches’ patterns of speech).
Enjoy!
Updated and improved from last year, my new Crime & Punishment unit!
The unit looks and fiction and non-fiction texts, and teaches all the skills required for student success with the AQA English Language Papers 1 and 2.
This is a whole scope and sequence, covering well over a term’s worth of lessons. Included also is a social justice mini-unit, for getting students involved in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights annual campaign.
Resources span all manner of activities: mixed ability, plenty of differentiation, stretch and challenge, project-based activities, collaborative learning etc. Some of the new additions are: focalisation of narrative, importance of place in crime fiction, Victorian language, crafting compelling villains, and the role of justice in crime.
Formative assessments included, as are student friendly marking criteria and feedback sheets.
I’ve loved sculpting and teaching this unit. Please enjoy!
This is the first lesson I've taught for our new non-fiction unit with year 7. This lesson recaps language techniques, introduces non-fiction types, and then looks at a short review of "Alice in Wonderland." The final activity requires students to write their own review of "The Jabberwocky".
Enjoy
Using an extract from “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy, this booklet allows students to work in pairs or individually to complete a mini-project that covers all the skills for the Language Paper 1, AQA GSCE specimen. This took my class about 2-3 lessons to complete. Self-directed learning is great for this time of year!
I teach a rowdy but bright year 7 boys class once a week (the classes are split on our timetable between teachers, annoyingly). I decided to do a creative writing module with them, focusing on dystopian literature.
Included in this pack are 10 (or more, depending on pace) lessons that:
Introduce dystopian fiction and its conventions
Analyse extracts from famous dystopias
Build creative writing skills
Build planning, structuring, drafting and editing skills
Activities are varied, with some introductory links to Language Paper 1 skills for the GCSE.
Enjoy :)
A fun 2-3 lessons that introduce students to the structure and form of feature articles. Builds to a task where they write their own feature article as Lois Lane, on the topic of Does the world really need superman?
Included in this pack is an original model text of a feature article, written by yours truly :)
My class had a lot of fun with this. Enjoy!
If you've taught some of my other resources (Ready Player One, Jurassic Park) this can serve as a nice summative or formative assessment. This lesson guides students through developing presentations, where they choose an extract from a distinguished piece of literature, and analyse its various features. I've been really impressed with the presentations of my year 9 girls; some chose classics like Wilkie Collins to examine, with others choosing more contemporary texts such as The Book Thief.
Print the relevant task slides (I did this and stapled as a booklet) for students.
