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 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
Text: Ready Player One
Skills: Extended critical writing, language analysis, self-marking
Designed for GSCE Language Q4, but can be taught as it is for any Dystopian unit.
Suitable for higher ability classes, these 3-4 lessons cover:
- An introduction to the short story form
- Recap of form, language and structure
- An analysis of the short story “The Flowers” by Alice Walker
- Creative writing
- Self and peer marking activities
Enjoy :)
For the GCSE paper Language Paper 2 (Non-fiction), this lesson facilitates students' development of summary writing skills (Q2 of the exam).
Ideal for a weaker class- visual clips of Wonderwoman and Guardians of the Galaxy make the material more accessible, with other written non-fiction texts the focus for the latter part of the lesson.
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.
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!
These three lessons introduce students to the poem “All One Race” by Ooderoo Noonuccal.
Sequence of activities is as follows:
Brief authorial context
Word sort
Guided annotation of the poem
Scaffold for how to write a TEEL paragraph
How to create a meaningful topic sentence
Peer feedback activity
Included also is:
How to analyse techniques effectively placemat
Model paragraph
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
My year 7s are continuing their non-fiction unit this term and after seeing (and loving!) Black Panther these holidays, I saw an opportunity for some enlightenment. 1-2 lessons examine a film review of Black Panther, with a series of questions and activities analysing its language features and meaning. Can be taught as a one off. A particularly important lesson for young students who, like mine, come from primary white backgrounds.
A single lesson that builds students' comparison skills for the GCSE Power & Conflict poetry unit. Activities include comparison and contrast for AO1-2, and critical writing.
A useful lesson for revising how to compare poems in the Power & Conflict poetry cluster, for AQA’s GCSE. I recommend this resource if you have already taught the entire unit. A few skills that the lesson covers are:
Detailed revision and analysis of poetic form
Revision of contextual influences and the importance of these
How to structure a comparison paragraph
Activity sheets for printing are included in the PP.
A quick resource I whipped up for my year 10s, who are about to start Jekyll & Hyde for their GCSE. They are going to research an extract from Victorian literature and present on how this text reflects contextual ideas. Please adapt the first few slides for your own use, but thought others might find the project useful!
Includes:
Presentation planning stage
Research questions
Marking criteria (made student friendly)
A one off lesson (could be taught for either KS3 or KS4 depending on class ability) defining charactonyms. The focus is on the character of Minerva McGonagall, with an extract from "The Deathly Hallows", some language analysis and finally, a creative activity.
I've designed this lesson and posted it as a free resource so as to showcase my work in resource planning/creation. If you like this lesson, please check out my other resources which span KS3-5.