I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939
The aim of this lesson is to make sure students are able to remember the finer points of the Treaty of Versailles
By the end of the lesson they should be able to give an accurate, detailed knowledge and understanding of which parts of the Treaty the Germans hated the most and why
Using a podcast, video evidence and different revision techniques in the classroom such as using a chatterbox, students using this lesson will have the tools required to answer a GCSE practice question making substantiated judgements.
Furthermore they are given a student friendly markscheme which they can use to peer assess their work.
This lesson has a variety of learning strategies to enable a fun, engaging and challenging lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, some retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to question what sort of a monarch Elizabeth promised to be.
Students also have to decide the initial problems she needed to overcome and how she set about rectifying these to some degree.
The obvious starting point with this lesson, is to compare Elizabeth to her sister Mary. Students then decide the people most influential in her early years and why. They have the chance to rate and debate each of them.
A quiz will check their understanding of the aims of the lesson and a flahcard plenary requires them to categorise her early monarchy.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated, fully resourced and includes suggested teaching strategies.
The aim of this lesson is to analyse and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Norman and Anglo-Saxon armies in 1066.
There are differentiated questions and worksheets for the students to answer before they make their conclusions as to whose army was the best using some argument words to base their decisions upon.
The worksheets include information and visual images to aid the students and are easy to print off for individual or group work.
A guess who plenary tests their recall knowledge from the lesson.
The resource is therefore differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
This lesson aims to explain how English planning for the Armada was forward thinking, complete with technological innovation, daring courage and just a little bit of luck mixed in.
Students have a choice of differentiated materials at their disposal to analyse historical significance of these English innovations and the Commanders involved.
Students also have a chance to use causational equations to promote linking ideas together to provide sustained lines of reasoning required for the higher level 4 answers in the marksheme
There are some exemplar answers given at the end to emphasise common mistakes and how students can achieve the highest grades, which are typical of those analysed in AQA GCSE courses such as ‘getting to grips with Elizabethan England.’
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The French Revolution
The aim of this lesson is to question who supported the French Revolution both internally and externally
The lesson begins with the students giving their own opinions as to whether they would support the Revolution. They are then given the context with a literacy challenge, as to how attitudes at the time began to change with the September Massacres of 1793.
No lesson is complete without James Gillray’s ‘Un petit Souper a La Parisienne’, which is analysed. Some help with prompts and guidance is given if required.
A study of the British reaction is also scrutinised as students learn how opinion became divided with the published works of Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine.
The main task is to analyse how different groups within France reacted; these include the Church (with a model answer given on how to complete the task), the Sans-culottes, nobles, Jacobins and Girondins and finally Counter-Revolutionaries. Students can feedback and present their findings to the class.
The plenary required a talking heads activities and to distinguish which group would be attributed to the various comments and opinions used.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
It is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is analyse how Henry used propaganda to cement his hold on power.
Students are given a number of sources to analyse from which they have to identify the type of propaganda used, the messages given, the target audience and how effective it really was for Henry VII.
The plenary required students to link numbers to what they have learned in the lesson.
There is an exam practice question to complete. Help is given here with a planning sheet, suggested topics to focus on if required and a generic markscheme.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies as well as a number of tasks for some retrieval practice.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the character of Henry VII and to question how legitimate his claim to the throne really was.
The timeline of the houses and York and Lancaster are again analysed, as students are given more information of John of Gaunt’s line and the marriage to his third wife, Katherine Swynford.
Using extracts from two renowned historians, students study Henry’s character traits to build up more of a picture of what he was like as a person.
They are also introduced for the first time to some GCE exam question practice. This is their first attempt at a validity question.
Some guidance is given on how to approach this and a generic markscheme is supplied to allow feedback once completed.
The plenary uses picture prompts to recap on the learning from the lesson.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is assess the threat Perkin Warbeck posed to Henry VII.
Students are required to plot the causes, events and consequences of his rebellion(s) as well as discovering others such as those from De la pole, the Cornish and Yorkshire rebellions.
They are also required to evaluate the biggest threat of all the rebellions to Henry, including Lamber Simnel, Lovell and Stafford rebellions studied previously.
There is a key word literacy plenary to complete before students undertake some exam question extract practice, complete with scaffolding, planning ideas, the key information required as well as a generic markscheme.
There is an enquiry question posed and revisited to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to judge the threat Ireland posed to Henry and evaluate how much control he exerted over it in his reign.
Students are reintroduced to Henry’s foreign policy aims and have to decide which one might be applied to Ireland. This will be revisited at the end of the lesson.
They are also given information on Henry’s policies towards Ireland and by using a colour coding activity, assess how much in control he actually was.
Students are also introduced to Poyning’s Law and the views of two renowned historians to help them justify their conclusions.
The plenary revisits Henry’s aims and students have to justify which aim is his main priority with Ireland and why.
There is also some extract exam question practice, complete with scaffolding and a generic markscheme if required.
There is an enquiry question posed and revisited to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
Conflicts and conquest, The American West c.1876-c1895.
This bundle is the third part in a series of lessons I have created for Edexcel GCSE 9-1 The American West, c.1835-c1895
Students will be assessed on their knowledge and understanding of the conflicts and conquest with changes in the farming industry, the cattle industry and settlement.
Students will learn about the establishment of law and order across the period. They will recognise the significance of key people such as Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid and Benjamin Singleton.
They will study the destruction of the Plain Indians way of life with events such as the Wounded Knee Massacre as well as the Range Wars and extermination of the Buffalo.
Lessons will also target the cause and consequence of US government policy with the Dawes Act of 1887 and the declaration of the disappearance of an Indian Frontier.
I have dispensed with individual learning objectives for each lesson to focus throughout on a specific enquiry based question which addresses the knowledge and skills required for the GCSE questions and shows progression in learning required during this course.
Moreover it allows the students to critically think for themselves to decide who was benefitting from this rapid change to America as well as how and why.
The lessons are as follows:
L21 Changes to farming on the Plains
L22 Changes in the Cattle Industry
L23 Exoduster Movement
L24 Billy the Kid
L25 Wyatt Earp
L26 Battle of Little Big Horn
L27 Wounded Knee Massacre
L28 Range Wars
L29 Extermination of the Buffalo
L30 Dawes Act of 1887
For assessment purposes each lesson is accompanied by one of the three exam questions with help and exam tips given if needed. These can be completed in the lesson or for homework tasks if required.
The lessons are all differentiated and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
This key word literacy display has been designed to be used on classroom walls (or on display boards outside) when introducing a new History topic to the students.
It is an easy resource to print and will hopefully save an incredible amount of time and effort when incorporating literacy into a new or existing scheme of work.
The slides can also be laminated and used as mobiles hanging from the ceiling or used as part of an informative display.
The slides cover the following words and their definitions:
The slides cover the following words and their definitions: Anglo-Saxons, allegiance, authority, cause, chainmail, change, Christianity, conqueror, consequence, continuity, defence, economic, features, feigned retreat, Fyrd, hierarchy, Housecarl, invasion, knights, landscape, medieval, Normans, oath, pagan, political, rebellion, religion, siege, society, victorious.
The slides come in PowerPoint format so they are easy to change and adapt.
This key word literacy display has been designed to be used on classroom walls (or on display boards outside) when introducing a new History topic to the students.
It is an easy resource to print and will hopefully save an incredible amount of time and effort when incorporating literacy into a new or existing scheme of work. The slides can also be laminated and used as mobiles hanging from the ceiling or used as part of an informative display.
The slides cover the following words and their definitions:
Alliance, armistice, arms, barbaric, bellicose, conscientious objector, cowardice, desertion, escalate, imperialism, inevitable, Jerry, Kaiser, militarism, munitions, nationalism, naval, propaganda, stalemate, trench foot, tommy, shellshock, shrapnel, trenches, Triple Alliance, Triple Entente, Victoria cross, warfare.
The slides come in PowerPoint format so they are easy to change and adapt.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
This lesson focuses on the impact of Pacific Railroad Act of 1842.
Students analyse maps and original advertisements to evaluate how effective the railroad companies were in encouraging people to move west and the difficulties involved in building a railroad in the first place.
They focus on the effects of the American Civil War and judge the economic impact of the railroad in terms of travel, immigration, the rise of towns, farming as well as the growth of the cattle industry.
They also have to determine the negative impacts the railroad had on the Plains Indians and the Buffalo.
There is some GCSE exam practice on the ‘consequences’ question, with help given if required.
The plenary requires thinking around the popular head, heart, bin and bag activity.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some key word retrieval practice is also included using a spider diagram.
It comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The American West, c1835-c1895, GCSE 9-1 Edexcel
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the large scale mass migration of black Americans to Kansas in 1879.
Students are introduced to a picture called ‘American Progress’, painted in 1872 and have to decide how and why it promotes the inhuman treatment of native Americans.
They also have to answer the following key questions: Where does the word Exoduster come from? Who was Benjamin Singleton and why was there a mass migration of black Americans to Kansas in 1879?
Furthermore they have to pick part and decipher the causes and consequences of this mass migration to Kansas and why black Americans received a positive as well as a negative reaction from white Americans living there.
The plenary uses boxing gloves to spark a number of discussions amongst the students and what they have understood in this and previous lessons.
There is some follow up exam question practice using the ‘consequences ’ question worth 8 marks, with help given if needed.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies. Some recall retrieval practice is also included which involves splatting bubbles.
It comes in Powerpoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate why the Superpowers attempted to improve relations in the 1970s and reduce their stockpiles of nuclear.
Students will learn why the opportunity for détente presented itself, through source analysis and a challenge task.
This will enable them to decide if the agreements made at the SALT 1 talks were either a positive move to world peace or had very little impact on it.
They also have the opportunity to write an extended answer on the significance of these negotiations as well as practising a GCSE question. There are hints and prompts to help if required.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated material and GCSE question practice.
It comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The French Revolution
The aim of this lesson is to understand how and why Louis’s financial problems precipitated the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution
The lesson begins by questioning how our present government raises money through taxes, both directly and indirectly.
This is then linked to how much debt Louis is in and how he can raise money to run the country (and pay for his extravagances).
Moreover, students must prioritise what he should spend his money on and the reasons for this.
Students are then given a number of options, from which they have to decide whether this is a good idea to raise money or not and what could be the consequences as a result.
This is an evaluative task which will challenge their thinking outside the box, although answers are given or can be revealed to help if required.
The true or false plenary will test their knowledge of what they have learnt and check understanding.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, differentiated materials, suggested teaching and learning strategies and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.
Cold War and the Olympics
This lesson explores the link between the Cold War and sport.
As with technology and space exploration, sport was an area where rival powers could prove or assert their dominance without going to war.
Students compete a recall, retention and retrieval task on the previous Vietnam War lesson before undertaking a true or false quiz.
They analyse and evaluate medal tally statistics from previous Olympics and make judgement about the anomalies in different years.
They are given an account of the history of Olympic success and are challenged as to why it was so important to do well for your respective country.
As with previous lessons they use the light bulb and key question to continue to annotate around as the fear of losing spurred both nations on to different extremes.
No lesson on Cold War sports would be complete without refence to the Rocky film and the US propaganda machine is in full force as grit and determination to train is pitted against the use of drugs to cheat. Students can then determine which statement to agree with and use argument words to convince their peers.
.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
Cold War
This first lesson aims to set the scene of Europe from 1945 with the defeat of Germany.
The first part of the lesson investigates Hitler’s death, as the students break down and summarise some text into headings before writing a narrative account of the events.
The second part investigates the aims of the Big Three and what they agreed should happen to Germany and Berlin at the end of the War. Students scrutinise and decide what each of the leaders (Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill) might have said at Tehran and Yalta and complete a suspicions grid to be able to explain and justify these growing tensions.
The central theme throughout this and the proceeding ten lessons is to ask why civilians feared for their lives? In a new era after World War 2, suspicions and rivalries arose between the two new superpowers, the USA and the USSR. Each lesson explores these growing tensions and ultimately questions why people thought a nuclear war was imminent.
The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The overarching aim of this and the subsequent bundle of lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth asserted her authority and control in the second half of her reign.
The lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of this golden age and question if it really was a period of stability and prosperity.
This lesson questions if there really was an Elizabethan Golden Age or was it really a myth?
Was it just some Elizabethan propaganda to promote Elizabeth I and the Tudors?
The students get themselves involved in a mini debate agreeing or refuting the question using Cornell Note taking before presenting their findings to the class.
They will also tackle a GCSE ‘write an account’ question before peer assessing it and deciding what went well and how they need to improve the answer.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Holocaust
This lesson analyses the story of Anne Frank and celebrates her short life. It asks in a sequence of lessons I have produced, who is to blame for the holocaust?
Was it the SS who rounded up the Frank family or was it friends or spies to blame for theirs and countless death during World War 2?
The lesson tells her story and asks students to think of but, because and so.
There are some great video links to accompany the lesson as well as some analysis on an extract from her diary and a virtual tour of the annex.
A final true of false quiz checks recall and retrieval from the lesson.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.
