This is a short and straightforward activity giving students an opportunity to practise and develop the skills of writing an analytical essay about an unseen poem. The poem is “A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti so no issues with copyright. The first slide of the ppt has a copy of the poem and the essay question. The second slide gives students a suggested pattern for tackling the task, the idea being that they should go through each of the steps in every paragraph of their response. The third slide can be used for self/peer assessment and developing the response further.

This is a 20-question multiple-choice quiz on Thomas Hardy’s “Neutral Tones”. It could be used for revision, for homework after the poem has been covered in class or as a flipped learning activity so that the students read the poem and attempt the quiz prior to teaching - that way, subsequent teaching can be targeted towards gaps and misconceptions. Answers are provided so that the task can be self or peer-assessed.

This is a multiple choice quiz with 25 questions (answers provided) that could be used as a homework, as a revision activity or as a flipped learning activity, to support students working from home as they work through the poem independently - and then for the teacher to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding prior to teaching the poem. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a small-group revision or catch-up session. Some questions lend themselves to further exploration of the poem; others assess whether basic knowledge is in place.

This uses an excerpt from “Dracula” in which the vampire hunters have lain in wait for Dracula who confronts, taunts and escapes them. There are 11 questions focusing on the writer’s methods and their effects with a couple on vocabulary and inference. Useful for homework or for setting as a cover activity. A useful addition to any study of the gothic horror genre. Alternatively, the question could be used for structuring a guided reading activity.

This uses the description from “Dracula” of Dracula’s ship arriving at Whitby in the midst of a terrible storm, steered only by a dead man… There are ten questions, focused mainly on the writer’s methods and their effect. This would be useful as a cover activity or for homework as part of a unit on gothic horror. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

Planned for my year 9 class as part of a unit of work on Journeys, introducing the skills and tasks of English GCSE, I have also used this with a year 10 group as we begin to tackle the unseen poetry question for English Literature. It uses Shakespeare’s sonnet 50 and is an opportunity to explore the sonnet form as well as the poet’s use of language and structural features.

Created for a higher-ability year 7 class as part of a unit of work on "Treasure Island" and pirates, this lesson plan takes the pupils through "The Ballad of John Silver" by John Masefield. Using images and drama to embed the idea of writing having a mood, the lesson culminates with the pupils selecting one of the verses from the poem and re-writing it in script form (model given on one of the slides), creating the same mood as the original poem.

Created for my year nine group as part of a non-fiction SOW on journeys, this uses Scott’s diary and focuses on the pupils using their skills of inference to link Scott’s feelings to his use of language. The lesson culminates with the writing of a P.E.E response.

The aim of this lesson is to explore the methods Shakespeare uses to present the character of Egeus. The lesson begins with a brief prose overview of the start of of the play and then the lesson moves to focus on Egeus’s speech to Theseus. The lesson uses questioning and asks the pupils to annotate their copy of the speech as well as zooming right in on a specific quotation and exploding it (again, through prompt questioning). There is a homework - a 10-question multiple-choice quiz intended to consolidate some of the learning from the lesson.

A straightforward lesson exploring Sassoon’s poem, “The Kiss” with questioning used to discuss the effect of the personification of bullet and bayonet. There are 8 close reading and response questions on slide 15. These could be used to structure a discussion or set for independent work. The lesson culminates with a task asking the students to draw inferences about the nature of the speaker in the poem, writing in role as a senior officer. Planned for year 9 but could be suitable to explore unseen poetry at KS4.

Created for students to build confidence in reading texts written prior to 1914, this is an account from Henry Mayhew’s “London Labour and the London Poor” of an interview with a child working as a mudlark. Useful alongside the study of “A Christmas Carol” as another insight into poverty in the 19th century. There are 11 multiple-choice questions here (answers provided). The questions are intended to be straightforward but the Word document is easily editable for you to add or remove questions or change the level of difficulty to suit your own class. This could be used as a homework or a pre-reading activity so that students are already familiar with the text before you use it in class. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading activity. Some questions lend themselves to being developed in order to deepen understanding.

This is an editable powerpoint which I created for my KS4 classes to use as settlers/starters and to build the skills they will need for the writing task on paper 2. The slides can be used for the first 5-15 minutes of the lesson (depending on whether you want your students to work independently or generate ideas through discussion). Of course, you may then wish to extend the ideas into a longer piece of writing - there’s scope for flexibility depending on the needs of your class. The first four slides are simply about the generation of ideas to support a viewpoint. The next three are focused more on varying the expression of ideas and the final four are slightly more developed again, using examples from existing media.

This is a straightforward powerpoint focusing on two short pre-twentieth century extracts. One is from “My Struggle with a Tiger” by Charles Jamrach and the other is from a story by Conan Doyle. This was planned for a less confident GCSE class but could also be used at KS3. It focuses on analysis - talking about the effect of the writer’s language choices on the reader. The last four slides are printables of the extracts.

This uses Emily Dickinson’s beautiful poem about resilience. I created this as a revision task for year 11 but it could be used at KS3. There are 11 questions that could work for cover, for homework or to structure a discussion or guided reading session. Suggested responses are provided but these are not definitive!

This is a straightforward, short powerpoint focused on the reading skills of inference, analysis and viewpoint, at quite a basic level. Useful for a quick assessment of students’ reading skills or for practise in polishing those skills. Could be used to structure a guided reading session with less confident learners. Could be used as a starter, for revision or for a homework.

Originally planned for KS3 students as part of a reading unit on the natural world, this could be used with much less confident readers at KS4, perhaps as part of a catch-up or intervention series. The text used is from “Nature Near London” (1905 so public domain) by Richard Jefferies. Alongside the short excerpt are some questions which can be used to diagnose gaps in reading skills and comprehension.

This is a short comprehension activity using an excerpt from Kipling’s “The Mark of the Beast” in which Fleete turns into a werewolf. There are 7 questions. Suggested answers are provided. This could be used as a cover activity or set for homework to support a unit on gothic horror. Alternatively, the questions could be used to structure a guided reading session.

I made this for my year 11 class at their request, to revise “Ozymandias” prior to their February mock exam in English Lit. Please feel free to use/amend for your own classes. The intention is that the ppt slides provide prompts for probing questioning and whole-class discussion of the poem. Just to be clear - this wasn’t used for first teaching of the poem - my students had a (in many cases, very hazy) knowledge and understanding before they went through this lesson. I hope very much that you will find this resource useful and will be really grateful if you’ll take a minute to leave a review. Thank you.

Aim - link characters’ names to the play’s themes. Powerpoint encouraging the students to explore the significance of the names Eva Smith and Daisy Renton and including a focus on the name of Inspector Goole.

GCSE resource for first teaching of William Blake's "London", part of the 'Power and Conflict' cluster.