A useful little resource that can be a starter/plenary element in your lessons. The spreadsheet generates ten randomly selected true or false statements from a bank of over 260. Each of the power and conflict poems is covered and there is the scope for you to add in your own or edit the statements that are there. I released this to my year 11s as a revision tool and they found it very useful. Additionally, I have included a blank copy of the spreadsheet so you can create your own ToF statement generator.

A lesson take from a collaborative scheme of work. The lesson focuses on the quite excellent Born A Crime by Trevor Noah. The focus is developing an initial understanding of South Africa, then Trevor Noah himself, before focusing in on the context surrounding the story itself. After, the focus switches to analysing the structural choices made in the extract. Additionally, I’ve included a useful little follow up lesson where the focus ins to build a piece of creative writing that follows a specific structural path.

To make effective use of this scheme I suggest you have a copy of the most recent RSC version of As You Like It (It is quite marvelous…) else a lot of the images I use will make little sense. There are five “lessons” that each last around the two hour mark. Each of the assessments is available, so the whole package is a self-contained unit of work. We had a lot of fun with this unit, and I inter-spaced the learning with periods where the class would act out elements of the play. You don’t necessarily need a copy of the play to teach this unit either.

Using a format that proved successful in the KS4 arena, I’ve adapted the thinking to apply to an AQA English Language P1 Q2/P2 Q3 style task that would fit for a higher ability top set KS3 class. The approach is to initially read the extract then to specifically identify concepts that relate to a language focused task, followed be explicitly identifying language based methods and incorporating into a response.

I pulled together a lot of thinking from a lot of different websites and have shaped it into these lessons. Not all of the content is mine.

Similar to a lesson I posted on A Christmas Carol. After a bit of a warm-up, the crux of the lesson is focused on establishing concepts then explicitly showing students HOW to identify methods - again, some still confuse quotations and methods - before pointing them at an exam question. UPDATE: I repeated this lesson a few weeks later with a different extract, but backing off a notch in terms of explicitly identifying methods.

My year 11s were STILL struggling with how to frame a method, so I came up with this stand alone lesson. The idea is that, having reviewed the slide where the methods are explicitly identified, the students will see that a method and a quotation are not the same thing. This was a successful lesson. UPDATE: I repeated this process with a bottom set year 10 class where I was even more specific. This was also a successful lesson, so I’ve included it.

A series of lessons and resources designed for a top set year 8 class. The extracts are a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. The focus was to take a group of year 8 students who are used to using the PEE structure and get them to write a concept focused response. I’ve included the model responses we built as a class, as well as the model response the students were provided.

A lesson that models the process of building a high-end An Inspector Calls essay. Please note, the lesson assumes that the class has read the play and has attempted versions of the AQA English Literature questions already. Also, the lesson works best as an aspirational example: I concentrate on using sophisticated language to shape my points, and focus on integrating appropriate references. Please note I’ve deliberately left some academic “gaps” too - this model response is a high-quality response, but there are other avenues of academic insight that can be taken. Bottom line, to get the most out of this lesson, you’ll need to spend a little time going through it all first - hence the low price.

I’ve used the opening chapter of the novel as the basis for an AQA Language Paper 1 mock exam. I’ve created an Answer paper too.

I’ve done quite a few of these now, and I always try to improve on the last one. I think this is about as far as I can go with this format. Here’s what you get: An individual breakdown of each of the exam questions. Each section contains the following: A breakdown of the AQA related material A walk-through for Q2, Q3 and Q4 Suggested targets and strategies 5 Case studies using real student responses (Except for Q1. You’ve got 10 for Q5 though) Real students planning processes laid out for discussion It’s a big one - you’ve got 60+ slides to work through. In terms of teaching, this works best after you’ve sat the relevant exam. However, it wouldn’t take much tweaking for a mock-style scenario. Also, this is designed to be given to the students so that they can engage with it at home.

Similar to a number of other resources I’ve already posted. Designed to be used after the students have sat the associated AQA English Language Paper 1 GCSE Paper, though with a little tinkering, you could run this as a mock exam itself and then have the students peer/self-assess afterwards. The powerpoint goes through each of the five questions, placing a firm expectation on the students having a pre-established strategy for completing each task. The students are then encouraged to refine this strategy. Each of the sections contains a break down of the associated source, exploration of the stepped Model Responses provided by AQA, and then provides the students with up to FIVE Case Study responses written by students (containing mistakes and all). I’ve had a lot of success with these types of powerpoints and they are especially useful for students working in isolation, or as a revision tool. Hopefully this will be of use to you.

A simple spreadsheet that allows you to keep track of your online lessons. My school uses classcharts as its medium in setting online learning - but you can easily change the headings of the columns to reflect whatever software you use.

Taught as part of a two teacher approach to a top set year 9 class. I focused on developing creative writing skills, with a particular emphasis on the structural components, whilst my partner teacher focused on the more traditional literature style approach. The Woman In Black was used as the stimulus for all elements of this unit and the climax is a GCSE English Language Paper 1 style task (not included in this pack as it is part of my school’s assessment pack). Overall, I found this unit to be really useful in challenging students to think about their creative writing in more than just a reactionary way. The nature of the structure focused questions align with my belief that it is always better to teach the Language Paper 1 Q3 question in the form of a structure-focused creative writing commentary at KS3 level. Hopefully this will provide you with a useful starting point for your own creative writing journey.

A powerpoint lesson designed to be taught either AFTER a class has sat AQA English Language Specimen Paper 4, or to be used WHILST a class is sitting the same paper in the form of a mock exam where feedback is given immediately. In this powerpoint, I refer directly to the model material provided by AQA and provide some feedback that can be given to the students. The idea with the feedback is that the person marking (teacher or student) writes down the letter/number and, when the marked work is returned, the owner of the response can either write the target down in full or highlight it in a printed version.

I had such a lot of sun creating this unit! In an effort to get students to reflect back on previous work, this unit is set in the same universe as a previous unit called “Escape from Kraznir”, but a point 30 years or so later. Over the course of the unit, the students will write various parts of a story from a variety of perspectives, in a number of tenses and using a range of different forms (all with the AQA English Language P1 Q5 and P2 Q5 in mind). They’ll create characters and be encouraged to focus on exploring the relationships between these characters. Additionally, part of the scheme encourages the students to creatively explore issues surrounding discrimination. This is a big story, with an emphasis on developing creative stamina. There is a real focus on students justifying their structural choices. This is, in part, a way to prepare the students for AQA English Language P1 Q3 - before the students can comfortably identify and comment on structural choices in the work of other writers, they can develop their ability to do so with their OWN creative writing here. I’ve incorporated a huge amount of different supporting extracts - not all of which need necessarily be used to progress - and I’ve had a lot of fun creating my own example of how to do it (it’s entirely derivative, but as I encourage students to take inspiration from a variety of sources, it bothers me not). I include all of the extracts here and was able to find each and every one online for free. Additionally, there is a homework booklet too. Finally, I embed a number of sound effects from a website called Zapsplat. Here’s a link to their site should you wish to use any of the samples: https://www.zapsplat.com/ It would be great to get some feedback for this - so let me know what you think! PS - if you’re interested in the original unit of work, here’s the link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks3-escape-from-kraznir-creative-writing-pack-my-version-11741179

A PowerPoint designed to be used after students have sat the Section A of the AQA English Language Paper 1 for June 2019. It wouldn’t take much altering to be used as a mock exam itself. The slides are set up to show the model answers from the mark scheme so that students can peer/self assess and give actions and feedback.

This resource was designed to be used after a class or cohort have sat the 2019 English Language paper 2. It’s set up to be used after a class has sat the exam and had their papers marked, but it wouldn’t take much modification to be used as part of a scenario where the students get the material, execute a preparatory strategy, answer the question and then peer/self mark. The material from the AQA mark scheme has been integrated into the PowerPoint, so students can get a sense of what level their response is before fine marking. I’ve done a few in this style and the students value them as revision tools too.

A deconstruction of the English Language Paper 1 examination that uses Brighton Rock as a source. I’ve lifted the model material from the mark schemes and there’s FAR related targets included. Essentially, this is a lesson that can be taught either AFTER the students have sat the exam and you want them to peer/self assess, or you could change it so that that they answer a question and then mark their efforts. The Section B element is a bit of an experiment - peer marking creative writing is always a challenge. So I’ve given the students a series of yes/not/some related questions. The idea is that they “tick” the level next to the answer on a copy of the AO5 and AO6 mark schemes. Using that, they should be better able to work out where the creative writing fits. My peer marked creative writing has got much more accurate as a result of this.