Two to three lessons on the poem "London" by William Blake. Carries on from the "Ozymandias" lesson, but can be taught as it is. Context, high level language and structure analysis, critical writing, writing frames and model answers make for engaging, jammed-packed lessons.

Two to three lessons that carry on from 'Ozymandias' or 'London' but can be taught as it is. High level language and structural analysis, teacher-led annotations and other engaging activities.

2/3 lesson bundle that builds student understanding of how authorial tone works in texts, and how colour and senses can be devised as a narrative tool for generating different tones. Several creative writing activities get the ball rolling, with analytical writing for the 2nd/3rd lesson. An extract from "The Great Gatsby" (Scott Fitzgerald) is the example extract here: how does the author play with colour and senses to suggest the beautiful but tragic and empty love of Gatsby and Daisy? A clip from the film accompanies this (right click the picture to open hyperlink). Enjoy :)

Two lessons aligning with Memorial Day. Suitable for either year 9 or 10, these lessons cover an overview of historical fiction, creative writing and language analysis.

Suitable for teaching as a one off, or as part of the GCSE "Power and Conflict" poetry cluster. Skills covered: themes and ideas (with a look at literary criticism examining tribal conflict and the psychological landscape in Heaney's poetry); language forms, structure and features; and context.

1-2 lessons for the "Conflict and Power" poetry cluster for the GCSE. These lessons focus on comparison skills for the two above poems, with a focus on revising A01-A03 in London.

For the GCSE Language Paper 2 (non-fiction), this lesson facilitates students' development of critical writing for non-fiction texts. Tailored for question 3 of the exam. In this lesson, students revise persuasive language devices and analyse "Hiroshima" by John Hersey.

For GCSE Language Paper 2 (non-fiction), this lesson facilitates students’ development of comparison and critical writing skills, for question 4 of the exam. Clips introduce comparison skills, which are consolidated in examining non-fiction extracts surrounding the Titanic (original news report and survivor’s journal).

After marking my year 11 exams, I was disappointed by how many students continue to panic and write huge generalisations instead of proper analysis. E.g. "the imagery really helps the reader picture the scene in their mind" or "this technique creates tension and makes the reader want to read on." This resource can be used with high-ability year 9/10 or low-middle ability year 11s. A couple of different activities walk students through ways of approaching analysis.

You can adapt this for other years if need be- an easy and fun termly HW project, geared at years 7/8 studying an introduction to Shakespeare.

Regardless of how many times I’ve taught Macbeth at GCSE, students still seem to struggle to make meaningful connections between text and context, and thus hit their A03 target. Here are four lessons I designed to tackle this problem, going in depth to explore: Lesson 1: Who was King James? How did his paranoia, marriage to Anne of Denmark, taking of the English throne, and self-appointment as witch-hunter influence the shaping of Macbeth? Lesson 2: Protestantism & Catholicism. What are the key differences between the two? How did Luther’s teachings divert from Catholic tradition and lay the groundwork for Henry VIII? Lesson 3: The Chain of Being. How did this reinforce the feudal system? Lesson 4: The Supernatural. How does the setting of Scotland lend itself to supernatural elements? How does the supernatural in Macbeth reinforce the colonial narrative? My set 1 year 10s really engaged with these four lessons. Have also included “required readings” with key terms and questions for discussion that you might choose to set as homework before the lessons (flipped-model style).

10 essay questions for EACH of the English Literature topics: Power & Conflict, Jekyll & Hyde, An Inspector Calls and Macbeth. Presented in a flier format for students to tear off a question. Great resource for classroom displays, extension tasks, or students’ private study.

When students submit essays, it can become a laborious task to write extensive annotations on their responses. I developed this annotations key for my year 9 and 10 classes, based on common errors that I’ve identified in their writing. Rather than writing full comments on their essays, I’ll instead place a number. When the students receive their work back, simply print a copy of the annotations sheet and have them read through their responses and the key to understand what skills they need to improve. This is a great tool for maximising teachers’ marking time (work smarter, not harder!) and also encouraging students to really engage with their feedback, rather than just looking for their grade! Adapt the key as needed :)

This unit of work and accompanying series of lessons was designed for a class of Gifted and Talented students in year 8. They were studying fantasy fiction in their general English classes, and withdrawn for 2 separate sessions a week to focus on these extension activities. This unit can be integrated into a fantasy unit or taught separately. Details are as follows: PBL, student-centred model Culminating product is a fantasy narrative fiction Lots of scaffolds, differentiation and stretch and challenge Designed as an introduction to understanding literary theory Built around fostering higher order thinking skills, critical and creative writing, and 21st century skills (collaboration, questioning etc). Research and digital literacy- some lessons require independent research and inquiry. Lessons included focus on the following: Why have people dissed fantasy? Critical readings of Le Guinn and Tolkien Introduction of project and need to knows Process of creation: who was Tolkien and what were his methods? Introduction of complex terminology relating to fantasy world-building Breakdown of critical reading of “On Fairy Stories” and linking to ‘what is the purpose of fantasy?’ How to build a convincing fantasy world How to create unique magic systems What are the ethical considerations of fantasy? Originally, this powerpoint was made using Google Slides, and students all had their own digital copy. This is why some of the interactive “portals” (pictures where students can right-click and will be taken to a separate resource) link elsewhere. I have included the resources in a different form so that you can give these to students in hard copy form instead.

**Pitch: **Lower- set year 10 **Context: **For students writing fiction narratives Included: Explanation of Todorov narrative structure theory Breakdown of four narrative types: linear, non-linear, parallel, framed Bank of structural terms Narrative planning sheets in each of the four structure types.

**Pitched at: **Lower-set year 10 **Context: **Students writing narrative fiction Lesson content: Tips and tricks for writing in the historical fiction genre How to write setting How to write plot How to write characters and build a character arc. Included: Powerpoint Examples of historical fiction Planning sheets

Pitched at: Year 11 Standard **Context: Students are studying different fiction genres and culminating product is writing a narrative fiction in a genre of their choice. Lesson sequence: Introdution and goal setting Student get to know you/diagnostic What is genre? Recap of form, structure, language The Gothic Genre (several lessons, looking at extracts from Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf by Angela Carter. The Fantasy Genre (looking at Tolkien, WOT, world-building etc) The Dystopian genre What is narrative structure? How to write critical paragraphs analysing language How to structure a creative response Show, don’t tell workshop Resources included: Main power-point Model creatives and critical paragraphs Worlshop power-points on structure and narratology, symbolism, types of fantasy worlds All extracts Worksheets Peer marking activities

Two to three lessons on the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Romantic context, high level language and structure analysis, annotations and creative activities make an engaging three-part series.

The introduction lessons (or two) to the GCSE poem "Tissue" by Imtiaz Dharker. An guided annotation dissects language features and ideas in this challenging poem. Follow up lesson to come!

Now on sale for Christmas- whole scheme of work for "An Inspector Calls." 30 or so lessons covering everything you need for teaching this GCSE topic.