Sheila Birling as you have probably never thought about her before, and in more detail than your students have thought about before. Here’s a sample from the beginning:

“He must be deformed somewhere”. This is part of a series of 5 short extracts on Hyde. They will enable your students to answer any essay on Hyde. Each extract is explicitly linked to the following 5 themes. Understanding any two of these fully ought to be enough to gain a grade 7. Referencing more than 2 is likely to propel students into grade 8. Key words and phrases are analysed in each slide and linked to each of the 5 themes. I’m pricing this as cheaply as TES will allow! If you really want a bargain, buy all 5 extracts in the bundle! If you want any help on how to teach them, follow the links to thee videos. Christian Morality Tale Fear of Scientific Progress Repressed Homosexuality Love of the Gothic and Detective Genres Hypocrisy of Middle Class Men

This beautiful presentation will help your students remember the 14 most important quotations to think and write about Macbeth’s character. They are also presented in the order you would use them in an essay on Macbeth. Print them off as revision cards. Get your students to write paragraphs on the back, incorporating the quotation. Put them together to construct the essay. Use the best essays to teach the rest of your class how to succeed.

This is a 20 minute assembly, or tutor period, or presentation to parents, showing students exactly how to revise so that they remember more of what they study. It shows them the cognitive science behind why revising in very small chunks works over time, and why only revising in the last month before the exams is a very poor strategy. It uses the analogy of eating an elephant to make clear why the best strategy is to revise in 10-20 minute chunks over the whole of year 11, or 10 and 11. It has a highly engaging embedded video of Twilight, Bad Lip Reading, in which you test students on what they have heard. It works - they all chant out the ridiculous answers. Example, what did he slap? Answer: A fish. You can use this to show how dual coding works: marrying images with speech really helps memory and explains why YouTube is your friend or, if you have bought it for your school, GCSEpod. Other explanations are of spaced learning, retrieval practice, interleaving, and elaboration. It also explodes three key myths about revision: reading, cramming and highlighting. You can see what the assembly might look like by watching my video on it in the link with this resource. There are over 50 slides - more than enough to adapt to your context.

AQA likes to test the novel by asking students to compare Pip to another character. This is my top tip for 2018. Students often struggle to find interesting comparisons and fail to write about Dickens’ purpose. This resource introduces four big ideas which will allow your students to write confidently about Dickens’ purpose. It also provides 20 ideas and 20 quotations for them to use in their essay. Most quotations, as you can see, are detailed, so that you can give your students practice in selecting judiciously, and so that they learn to embed quotations in their sentences. Below is a sample of the first 4 ideas:

“With ape-like fury”. This is part of a series of 5 short extracts on Hyde. They will enable your students to answer any essay on Hyde. Each extract is explicitly linked to the following 5 themes. Understanding any two of these fully ought to be enough to gain a grade 7. Referencing more than 2 is likely to propel students into grade 8. Key words and phrases are analysed in each slide and linked to each of the 5 themes. I’m pricing this as cheaply as TES will allow! If you really want a bargain, buy all 5 extracts in the bundle! If you want any help on how to teach them, follow the links to thee videos. Christian Morality Tale Fear of Scientific Progress Repressed Homosexuality Love of the Gothic and Detective Genres Hypocrisy of Middle Class Men

We all know rhyme and music aid memory. What if you could get your students to learn their quotations this way? Here is a rap, based on Eminem’s Slim Shady, to help your students remember 50 quotations! Most struggle to reach 10, because they don’t challenge their memory. Students will also love the challenge of setting their own quotations to a song they love - the rap need only be a way in to their own creativity. Students learn what they think hard about, and showing them how to adapt quotations to their own favourite songs is a tried and tested way to do this. You’ll find my video to help you - students will like this, as I am unable to rap, and feel they can do much better. There is also another video, by Spitting Ink, a real rapper, showing how to adapt the quotations to a song of their own. Here is a sample of the lyrics:

AQA typically asks students to write about two characters, Pip and another. This can lead to very superficial comparisons, or uneven essays. The attached resource gives students 20 ideas, and 20 quotations they could include in their essay. It also shows students the three big ideas connected to Dickens’ purpose, which will lead to grades 7, 8 and 9. Quotations are deliberately long, so that your students learn to select telling detail. Here is a sample of the first 3 ideas:

AQA likes to test the novel by asking students to compare Pip to another character. This is my top tip for 2018. Students often struggle to find interesting comparisons and fail to write about Dickens’ purpose. This resource introduces four big ideas which will allow your students to write confidently about Dickens’ purpose. It also provides 20 ideas and 20 quotations for them to use in their essay. Most quotations, as you can see, are detailed, so that you can give your students practice in selecting judiciously, and so that they learn to embed quotations in their sentences. Below is a sample of the first 4 ideas:

This resource teaches students how to use Here is an extract to show you what this resource teaches. What does the AQA mark scheme say? Convincing Critical analysis Conceptualised Exploration of context to author’s and contemporary readers’ perspectives Give interpretation(s) Response to the whole text Analyse it as a play, and deal with the structure Precise references Analysis of writer’s methods Subject terminology used judiciously Exploration of effects of writer’s methods on reader They basically mean this: What you must do Give more than one interpretation of the characters or events. Make sure you write about Priestley’s viewpoint and ideas about his society at the time, in 1945 Write about how the society of 1945 would respond to these ideas, characters and events. Write about the ending of the play, to show how characters have or haven’t changed Write about the ending to show Priestley’s viewpoint. When you do it, make sure you Embed quotations all the time Only use terminology if it helps explain an idea Better still, go back and look at the words in bold in the short essay. This is subject terminology. What does “subject terminology” mean? The words a student of literature at university would use in nearly every literature essay. You could argue that connectives fall under this category as well, if you want. How do you integrate context? All the italics in the short essay is context. Sometimes this is the context of the world inside the play, at other times it is Priestley’s viewpoint and history, and at others it is the shared experience or viewpoints of his contemporary audience. You should notice that it is impossible to write about any author’s purpose or viewpoint without delving into context, which makes it very easy to integrate as part of the evidence for your interpretation. Now we’ve read the key criteria from Edexcel, you can see that “what you must do”, and “make sure you” work perfectly for this exam board as well. There’s a reason for that, whichever exam board you study: literature essays always demand the same skills.

Eric is analysed in more depth than you’ve ever read before. You’ll know him better than you’ve ever done before, and your students will be able to excel. Here is a small sample so you can see what I mean:

“I read Satan’s signature upon a face”. This is part of a series of 5 short extracts on Hyde. They will enable your students to answer any essay on Hyde. Each extract is explicitly linked to the following 5 themes. Understanding any two of these fully ought to be enough to gain a grade 7. Referencing more than 2 is likely to propel students into grade 8. Key words and phrases are analysed in each slide and linked to each of the 5 themes. I’m pricing this as cheaply as TES will allow! If you really want a bargain, buy all 5 extracts in the bundle! If you want any help on how to teach them, follow the links to thee videos. Christian Morality Tale Fear of Scientific Progress Repressed Homosexuality Love of the Gothic and Detective Genres Hypocrisy of Middle Class Men

What does the examiner’s report teach us about getting top grades when answering questions on Macbeth? Show students how to consider alternative interpretations. How themes and characters develop over time in the play. How to link context to each interpretation, so that it scores highly, and doesn’t just get added in as an irrelevant paragraph. How to come up with interpretations which go beyond what most students will write. The danger of getting subject terminology, and why naming words as parts of speech is likely to lead to lower grades, and will probably preclude a grade 8 or 9. Consider how Macbeth might actually have a deep love for his wife. Or how Macduff deliberately sacrifices his family. Or how Banquo needs Macbeth to become a tyrant king in order to fulfil the prophecy of Fleance’s kingship Or how the supernatural element might not just pander to King James, but actually undermine his belief in the power of witchcraft. The attached video will also teach you this in much more depth, so that you can share it with your students.

AQA likes to test the novel by asking students to compare Pip to another character. This is my top tip for 2018. Students often struggle to find interesting comparisons and fail to write about Dickens’ purpose. This resource introduces four big ideas which will allow your students to write confidently about Dickens’ purpose. It also provides 20 ideas and 20 quotations for them to use in their essay. Most quotations, as you can see, are detailed, so that you can give your students practice in selecting judiciously, and so that they learn to embed quotations in their sentences. Below is a sample of the first 4 ideas: Comparison of Pip and Miss Havisham The Big Ideas, which should feature as your argument, and in your conclusion. These points and longer quotations are to help you practise finding the right quotation to embed into your sentences. They are also the key quotations to use when comparing Pip to Miss Havisham. How Dickens uses the relationship to explore the corrupting power of wealth on those who no longer have a moral purpose in life, which is strongly connected to having proper work. ‘“And you live abroad still?” “Still.” “And do well, I am sure?” “I work pretty hard for a sufficient living, and therefore–yes, I do well.”’ How Dickens hints that the is a problem of the patriarchy, where a woman can only be defined by marriage, and is not able to forge an identity of her own through proper employment – which he contrasts to Pip and Herbert. “I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose had shrunk to skin and bone.” ‘“If you knew all my story,” she pleaded, “you would have some compassion for me and a better understanding of me.”’ 3. How her insanity at lost love is only possible in a patriarchal society – Pip does not experience the same level of madness because he can still live a useful and partly fulfilled life without marriage. How she symbolises the proper role of the wealthy, like Scrooge, learning to use her wealth to help others at the end. “‘leaving a cool four thousand to Mr. Matthew Pocket. And why, do you suppose, Pip, she left that cool four thousand unto him? 'Because of Pip’s account of the said Matthew.’”

Teach from part of a sample answer. Go through the 9 skills that students need for a grade 5. Then teach the same skills to grade 6 using the same essay, with an extra one - skill 10 which tips the balance between grades 5 and 6. Finally, exemplify a crucial tactic to approaching the question which makes grades 5 and 6 so much easier to get. Should students start with the extract or the whole text? There really is a right answer!

Arthur Birling in more depth than you ever thought possible. I guarantee you’ll never see him the same way again. Here is an extract to show you what I mean: Social Class is More Damaging to Society Than Capitalism However, as we have seen, this sacking actually led to a better job at Milwards. In this way, capitalism is not the direct cause of her tragedy. Social class, and the immorality of the upper classes, however, is responsible. Birling feels able to justify this cruelty by referring to how much paying his employees would cost the business, “Well it’s my duty to keep labour costs down” rather than increase them by “twelve percent”. Of course, while this seems cruel, it is also true. By 1945, as you will see later in the guide, Britain had lost its monopoly on the cotton trade, precisely because foreign competitors could pay their workers much less. Priestley understands Birling’s view on wages, and knows many in his audience will share it, which is why he has worked so hard to discredit everything else about him. He hopes this will make the audience more likely to question their own belief about fair wages. Priestley also uses Birling quite subtly to criticise the upper classes. Birling has become successful through business, he wasn’t born into privilege. This is the opposite of his son, Eric, who he now criticises, “That’s something this public-school-and-varsity life you’ve had doesn’t seem to teach you.” Even Birling is critical of the effect of being brought up as part of the ruling classes. This symbolises his message to his wealthy audience, a warning to stop trying to climb the social hierarchy, and instead make society fairer. Why pursue higher social status when it will only damage your character? We will see that most when we find out how Gerald and Eric are most responsible for Eva’s tragedy.

This presentation will help you teach the poet’s tone and point of view. It outlines the historical context and the political nature of the poem. It helps you teach the allusions to Macbeth, Ozymandias, Hamlet, and Dulce et Decorum Est, as well as looking at the imagery. Finally, it helps you analyse the poem’s structure and link this to Armitage’s purpose. The accompanying video gives you an indepth instruction on how to link your teaching to the slides.

“Desire to kill”. This is part of a series of 5 short extracts on Hyde. They will enable your students to answer any essay on Hyde. Each extract is explicitly linked to the following 5 themes. Understanding any two of these fully ought to be enough to gain a grade 7. Referencing more than 2 is likely to propel students into grade 8. Key words and phrases are analysed in each slide and linked to each of the 5 themes. I’m pricing this as cheaply as TES will allow! If you really want a bargain, buy all 5 extracts in the bundle! If you want any help on how to teach them, follow the links to thee videos. Christian Morality Tale Fear of Scientific Progress Repressed Homosexuality Love of the Gothic and Detective Genres Hypocrisy of Middle Class Men