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.
This resource in booklet form sets the AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945 Democracy and Dictatorship course out in two sides of A4.
This is ideal for the student who wants a quick recap of the course as it sets out all the main details, people and events in bullet form.
It is also great for quickly printing and giving out for revision lessons, interleaving or for homework, especially when the course content has now doubled for the GCSE 9-1 exam.
I have included PDF and Word formats if there is a need to change or adapt.
This is cheap to photocopy and includes a summary of the exam questions from the start.
If you like this resource, please check out my full revision guide for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945 here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/aqa-gcse-9-1-revision-guide-germany-1890-1945-11764985
Norman Conquest
The aim of this lesson is to assess how scary the Black Death was in1348.
Students are introduced to the idea of why the Black Death was so scary, learning about the symptoms of the Bubonic Plague and Pneumonic Plague and the devastation that lay in its wake from empty villages today to paintings showing devastation and death.
They learn key words such as contagion, flagellants, humours and miasmas and how these words link to the learning objective through a thinking quilt.
They will also find out how the peasants gained in status as a result of the reduction of the workforce and how this gave them more bargaining power with their landlords over wages.
The plenary is a Black Death connecting wall which requires students to link four key phrases and to explain how and why they link together.
This lesson is therefore designed to be interactive, fun, challenging and engaging and could be used over two lessons.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end using a rate ‘o’ meter to show the progress of learning.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
Britain: Health and the People, C.1000AD to present
With revision constantly in full swing, I have started to make these revision workbooks which my Year 11 students love (as an alternative to death by Powerpoint).
We pick certain sections each lesson to revise and come up with model answers and discuss the best way to tackle each question in the best way, considering exam time constraints.
I print out the sheets in A5, which the students stick in their books and use to colour code
Students answer the questions next to or underneath the sheets.
They can also be used for homework or interleaving.
The resource comes in Word format if there is a need to change or adapt.
The English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to understand why James lost his crown in the Glorious Revolution and how and why the lessons of his father were not learned.
Students will define what they think a Glorious Revolution might be, before learning about the reign of James.
They will have to judge how seriously Parliament saw him as a threat to the stability of the monarchy and how they could avoid turning the world upside down yet again.
They also have to assess the impact of the Magna Carta on the Stuart dynasty as well as completing a thinking quilt, defining key terminology such as Whigs and Tories under James II.
The plenary requires students to find and fix statements which will consolidate their learning from the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
This lesson sets out to explains how Hitler set Germany on the road to war in 5 steps.
Students are challenged to find out how and why was he able to defy the Treaty of Versailles so easily with little or no consequences (shown through a causal spider’s web).
Students analyse video footage and a number of sources, using the COP technique (modelled for student understanding) which has proved invaluable for evaluating sources at GCSE.
A final chronological recap of the events and evaluation of the most and least important of the events that led to war, will give students an in depth understanding of why World War II started.
This lesson is ideal as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills or teaching the interwar years or WWII at Key stage 4.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to understand how the British Government prepared for war and if they were successful in doing so.
The lesson begins by analysing a source and making inferences about the precautions to be taken in times of war.
Furthermore students will also have to decide the Government’s priorities by making judgements as to whether they are low or high, from ideas such as rationing to aid raids or war work to conscription.
They will then complete some research focusing on four areas: warning people of air attacks, the Homeguard, the use of gas masks and the blackout.
Students will plot what the government did or didn’t do on a grid and then after analysing and processing the evidence, justify their conclusions using a colour coding evaluation table as well as completing an extended written task.
The plenary requires students to answer differentiated questions to check their understanding.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to understand how the British Government prepared for war.
The lesson leads students through a wealth of primary sources from path𝑒 news, government films and information leaflets.
It analyses how the government used propaganda to rally and convince the nation to stand firm against Hitler and how they could endure and eventually win the war.
How effective and convincing their messages were is up to the students to unpick and judge for themselves.
Primary evidence, which not surprisingly gives a positive outlook on events such as the evacuation of Dunkirk, Churchill’s radio broadcasts and the bombing of cities, is used; but how effective is their message and will the nation adhere to their warnings about spying and what not to say?
Students are questioned throughout the slides and complete some independent research on the types of propaganda posters published.
A summarising pyramid at the end builds upon the evidence and judgements they have made.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Cold War
The aims of this lesson are to explain what the Cold War was in post war Europe and how it developed between the two existing Superpowers in 1945.
The USA and the USSR had different ideologies and students will learn the differences between Capitalism and Communism.
Furthermore, despite cordial relations at the three meetings held before the end of the war at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam, suspicions were soon aroused.
Students will analyse the preceding decisions made about the divisions of Germany and Berlin and make informed judgements as to why these suspicions developed.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age.
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.
The Holocaust
The aims of this lesson are to explain how Jewish people rose in rebellion or resisted against Nazi atrocities during the holocaust.
The first part of the lesson examines the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, using a thinking quilt to challenge ideas and ask key questions about the motivation and determination to succeed against overwhelming odds.
The second part of the lesson analyses resistance in the extermination camps in particular events in Sobibor, Treblinka and Auschwitz.
Students are then asked to justify the best and most effective ways to resist from passive to active resistance. Finally a find and fix activity checks understanding and the 3 R’s.
The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons in the bundle is to ask who was to blame for the holocaust?
Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how difficult it is to blame a single individual or event for this catastrophe.
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.
This bundle is the first part in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England 1568-1603.
Having taught this unit for a number of years, I have tweaked the order of lessons I now teach at the beginning.
As well as teaching her court, government and parliament, I have included Elizabeth’s favourites and an introduction to the religious settlement (which are offered as free lessons), as I felt students were getting confused without these aspects of the course being referred to early on.
The theme throughout this bundle of lessons is to examine how Elizabeth tried to assert her authority and control in the first half of her reign.
The lessons contain different tasks to challenge the students and are differentiated. Furthermore each lesson focuses on how to answer a GCSE practice question from the exam, notably in this unit a source, write an account and significance question.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: An introduction to Elizabeth
L2 Elizabethan Court and Government
L3 Which problems did Elizabeth face in her first ten years?
L4 Elizabeth and marriage
L5 Who were Elizabeth’s key people? (free resource)
L6 The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (free resource)
L7 Threats from the Norfolk and Ridolfi Plots
L8 The Essex Rebellion
L9 Catholic threats at home and abroad
L10 The Puritan threat
L11 The threat of Mary, Queen of Scots
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resources includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
The English Civil War
This lesson aims to analyse the personality of King Charles and questions how and why this might have implications for his reign.
Following in his father’s footsteps, his vanity and obsession with the Divine Right of Kings are major causes of concern for those in Parliament.
Students learn about his fragility in his younger life to eventual arrogance as he became King and will link a number of reasons together as to why this was to lead to Civil War.
Video footage and sourcework are used to gather the evidence and the students will have to think outside the box to understand his motives and actions and link ideas together.
The plenary is a literacy challenge to help evaluate his personality using key words from the lesson.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
These lessons focus on Elizabethan society from wealth, status and the latest fashions of the time, an analysis of the Elizabethan theatre and Tudor exploration and trade.
There is also a lesson for the Historic Environment Questions of 2023 on Sheffield Manor Lodge.
The lessons are enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning.
Each lesson aims to challenge the students and focuses on how to answer a GCSE practice question set in the exam.
These range from how convincing is the source, write an account and how significant.
For further assessment materials, please visit the AQA website for specimen questions and answers.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: Wealth Status and fashion
L2: Elizabethan Theatre
L3: The Golden Age (free resource)
L4: Poverty and the Poor Law of 1601
L5: Famous explorers (focus on Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh)
L6: Planning the Spanish Armada
L7: Planning for the Spanish Armada
L8: Defeat of the Spanish Armada
All the resources include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
The English Civil War
The aim of this lesson is to be able to distinguish between the two sides in the English Civil War.
Students will be researching how they differed from their dress, their mannerisms, what they believed in and their goals.
They will also be analysing some real life examples from people today who discuss which side they would prefer to be on and why.
Students will be using various written sources and video evidence to find out which side they would support.
Ultimately they will have to produce a propaganda leaflet encouraging people to join their campaign as a Royalist or Cavalier using persuasive literacy techniques and song lyrics. Exemplars and scaffolding is included if required.
This is a fun lesson with a number of activities designed to get all students involved actively and to enjoy their learning.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
The Tudors
This lesson aims to question the importance of Edward VI and his priorities when he became King.
Recent research has claimed Edward was not a sickly boy at all and therefore this is not the emphasis of the lesson.
Instead students have to think about the importance of religion and the changes he made, even to the extent of altering the succession.
The lesson starts with a play your cards right game, the cards turning and the dates revealed as students are tested on their chronological understanding.
In true world cup fashion, they have to narrow down his fixtures culminating in a final and winning priority.
This lesson challenges students using numbers, a true or false quiz, source work as well as video evidence to give the students a thorough knowledge of his six year reign.
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 English Civil War
The aims of this lesson are to analyse the Battle of Marston Moor and evaluate how the New Model Army won the battle, as well as to question if Parliament decided to kill the king from the start.
Therefore this lesson comes in two parts.
This first lesson focuses on how the two sides fought in the Civil War.
Students learn about the musketeers and pikemen, before analysing their role in the Battle of Marston Moor.
The students take on the job of Oliver Cromwell and make key decisions to win the battle, gaining points as they go along.
However they must be careful not to make mistakes and lose the battle with catastrophic consequences for Parliament and the New Model Army.
The second part of the lesson looks at an alternative view of the Civil War. Was the decision taken to kill the King early on, or did Parliament arrive painstakingly at this decision over time.
Students plot this on a graph before reaching and justifying their own conclusions, using some argument words for help if required.
A lightbulb is posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
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 aim of this lesson is to give students the context to the role and importance the theatre played in Elizabethan England.
Building upon their knowledge and understanding of Shakespeare, they will learn how the theatre adapted and changed to permanent and purpose built theatres through text analysis, a thinking quilt and video evidence.
The second part of the lesson focuses on the globe theatre, with its seating arrangements and the types of plays the audiences could experience.
There are some excellent video links to the BBC included in this resource.
Students will then apply their skills to a choice of two exam practice questions on ‘importance’ and ‘how convincing’, with help and guidance offered if required.
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 British Empire
This lesson aims to question whether Britain was in India for the right reasons.
The subject matter is the East India Company and a study of how it slowly took over the country of India taking with it a precious diamond and making a fortune out of its trade. There are some great video links used here from the BBC and Dan Snow which help bring reasoning and clarity.
Students are asked if we should return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to India, the jewel in the British crown, after analysing some important evidence.
Students are also given key words to help them with their arguments as to whether the diamond should be returned to India or not.
The final activity focuses on the legacy of the East India Company and who benefitted from their rule before the company’s eventual collapse.
The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies and are linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question of who benefitted from the Empire 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.
This lesson aims to find out if the negative reputation of King John being nasty is a fair one.
To do this, students begin by evaluating a number of historical interpretations from statues, Disney cartoons, portraits, a Horrible Histories interpretation as well using a number of sources of King John.
These are then analysed and quested using a grid sheet to decide their final judgement if King John really was a ‘meanie’.
The plenary uses a summarising pyramid to test and challenge their knowledge and understanding.
Students will continue to plot the power struggle between the king, the church, the barons and the people in a sequence of lessons.
This lesson includes:
Fun, engaging and challenging tasks
Links to video footage
Printable worksheets
Differentiated tasks
Suggested teaching strategies
PowerPoint format, which can be changed to suit
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate how Protestant the country had become by 1547.
Students are required to estimate from the start which percentage they think the country had changed its religion, before they study the evidence and give their final evaluations and conclusions.
The evidence ranges from the Reformation Parliament, the Ten and Six Articles, Royal Injunctions, changes in doctrine, the influence of his wives as well as humanism.
The plenary focuses on a describe, explain, list, correct and erase activity.
There is some exam practice to also complete, together with a planning sheet, some focused help and a markscheme supplied.
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.
World War II
The aim of this lesson is to decide if Winston Churchill deserves the title as the ‘Greatest Briton’?
When the BBC conducted a poll entitled ‘Who is the Greatest Briton?’ Winston Churchill came out on top, besting some strong competition.
This lesson therefore challenges this assumption and evaluates the four areas the BBC cites as his fortitude; for being the greatest British Gentleman, for inspiring the nation, for symbolising the spirit and strength of Britain and for his comforting speeches.
The evidence for this task is through radio broadcasts, video footage and source analysis (using a battery rating) from which students will conclude and either concur or not with the poll.
A splat the bubble plenary will test their new assumptions.
This lesson is ideal as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills or teaching the interwar years or WWII at Key stage 4.
It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning.
The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
