Of Mice and Men: detailed analysis of the fight scene. Highly visual with colour coded word level and whole text level analysis of the whole fight scene. Thorough preparation for an essay entitled How does Steinbeck create tension in the fight scene? Script of the scene attached.

A Christmas Carol: Poverty and Children (Scrooge and The Ghost of Christmas Present) Background social and historical context about The Poor Law, The Workhouse and prisons and detailed analysis of the extract where Scrooge sees the "two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable" Worksheet to accompany the power point and a discursive essay with tips for success on the final slide.

Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches diary enty. Image, instructions and key words to enable pupils to imagine that they are either Macbeth, Banquo or one of the witches. They write a descriptive diary entry of the meeting upon the heath. Good for low ability as the worksheet is visual with key words for guidance.

A detailed analysis of parent/child relationships in Romeo and Juliet, Caitrin by Gillian Clarke and What has happened to Lulu? by Charles Causley. Originally made for WJEC English Literature Unit 3 (poetry and drama literary heritage) but could be used to analyse these texts individually.

Romeo and Juliet: detailed analysis of love in Act 1 Sc 5. Includes a copy of the scene. KS4. Encourages pupils to highlight and annotate the script, consider themes and to interrogate the text thoroughly in preparation for essay writing. Highly visual and colour-coded analysis for maximum impact with word level and dictionary work.

A differentiated, visual pair of worksheets which track August's school experience. Key words enable pupils to construct their own commentaries on the images: the more able worksheet has space for pupils to write their own sentences; the lower ability worksheet is a cloze exercise whereby the key words can be used to complete the commentary. Visual and engaging!

The Lost Happy Endings by Carol Ann Duffy: The setting analysis and writing activity with worksheet. Power point with extract on the setting. The question "How does the writer portray the setting?" is explored via colour coded analytic slides. Print and give out the blank extract slide to high ability pupils, the colour coded slide to medium ability pupils and the colour coded and annotated slide to lower ability pupils in order to answer the question. Subsequently, the pupils can use some of the descriptive writing techniques which they have just identified in order to fill in the worksheet describing their own setting. The final slide has skills criteria on in order for the pupils to peer assess their work. Level descriptors on the powerpoint and the worksheet are for the new GCSE 1-9 criteria but can be easily adapted for KS2/3.

Christmas acrostic poems worksheets (3) In colour and with images. Grid to make 9 poems. User friendly and engaging.

Halloween starter activities (2 worksheets) One worksheet has 5 cloze questions considering "which witch". Starter 2 has a table for pupils to make 5 acrostic poems with key words from Halloween. Colourful and fun as starters linked to Halloween. KS2 and 3.

AFL meta cognition chart: encourage pupils to reflect on their learning. Visual and colourful chart for use as a plenary. Pupils choose an image which most matches their learning in a particular lesson. They can justify their choices verbally or in writing. Encourages honest reflection and can lead to some valuable conversations with individual pupils. Laminate the sheet for greater longevity.

A fun poetry analysis and writing activity lesson (or two lessons) based on Rabbit by Ann Hoberman. Illustrated copy of the poem attached. The presentation analyses repetition, rhyme and onomatopoeia, there is word level dictionary and thesaurus work and a range of poetry or creative writing tasks linked to the poem for the pupils to choose from. There is a peer/self assessment and target setting slide. Ideal for primary Y5 and 6 or KS3. Did I mention the cute bunnies?...

An exploration of Island Man by Grace Nichols. Activities on this 21 slide powerpoint include: a starter to revisit and subsequently show progression (slides 1 and 3), a culture map for pupils to complete (slide 2); images of the poem to annotate (slide 4) a cloze exercise of the poem before reading (slide 5), copy of the poem to highlight (slide 6), a link to an audio clip of the poem in performance, a group drama task, imagery work, stimulus for writing task (slides 18 and 19) which can also be used as exemplars to support pupils and thereby differentiate and, finally, peer assessment.

First lesson back! Alton Towers creative writing power point, you tube clip and worksheet. Includes: embedded you tube clip, individual slides on rides to add vocabulary to as a whole class, exemplar worksheet to highlight and label techniques on which is duplicated, colour coded and labelled on the power point. Good, creative first lesson back after the holidays which gives an opportunity for baseline assessment in writing skills.

This is a GCSE resource on The Manhunt by Simon Armitage for use after reading the poem (poem attached) These resources (5 in total) explore PEE formulas, the poet's perspective, semantic fields and themes, leading up to an essay which is then self assessed using grade criteria sheets. The sequence of tasks is clearly organised. Pupils will need copies of the poem, the PEE formula worksheet and the Task 4 slide which has a word cloud of the poem on it. They are tasked to organise the words into groups. This is best done visually via colour coding. The lesson, or lessons as it can definitely stretch to more than one, is engaging and will appeal to a variety of learners to enable them to more easily interrogate the poem. New GCSE grades 1-9 on powerpoint. Assessment/target setting sheets have previous A-G grades. As they are still in flux, I thought I would leave them to suit individual and school preferences; they can be easily changed.

Reading Skills lesson: based on an extract from Enduring Love by Ian McEwan Always a winner with pupils! This presentation leads pupils to analyse the opening of the novel. A longer extract is attached. There are 4 comprehension questions which interrogate the text with model answers to each so that pupils can use self or peer assessment to mark them. The opening extract is on the power point; the first comprehension question could be completed as a whole class activity with the teacher showing pupils where the evidence is. I have also shown the extract from the film version of the novel as well (on Youtube); show before reading and stop it a few minutes in to entice the pupils to read the extract to see what happens. There are a number of writing tasks after the plenary.

Reading skills: Richard Branson biography extract Analysis of an extract from Richard Branson: the inside story by Mick Brown. Includes questions and a model answer (slides 11 and 12) for pupils to identify and highlight PEE formulas. There is a sentence starter slide (13) to help pupils attempt the questions independently and the whole extract (which is also on the power point) for the teacher to work through and identify key areas so that pupils have highlighted and annotated copies ready to work on the reading skills questions. Works for KS3 and 4. Works well after Reading skills lesson 1 (on an extract from Enduring Love) and 2 (on a ballooning handbook) Both these resources are uploaded on TES too.

The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Sound effects starter, social and historical context of Poe's life, analysis of the opening to the story (pupils annotate their own copies) with leading questions in order to interrogate subsequent paragraphs. Comic strip writing activity with self assessment and review.

Narrative planning sheet. With labelled sections and space for pupils to make notes and plan a story. This has been used to create collaborative stories in pairs and on a carousel so that pupils get to contribute to a range of story plans of other pupils in the class. Most effective when enlarged to A3. Images and key words tick list focusing on descriptive techniques. Engaging and fun.

Poetry analysis: ‘Text’ and ‘Quickdraw’ by Carol Ann Duffy. Detailed powerpoint with leading questions and colour coded for pupils to effectively interrogate and compare both poems.

Pupils interrogate a painting as a whole class, using questions to infer and deduce a narrative. They zoom in on details of the image in order to create descriptive detail. They then create the "story" behind the painting. The pupils could write a paragraph of the story initially without any teacher led interrogation, then once the image is thoroughly analysed they could produce an improved version to show progression. This could be self/peer assessed at each stage. The plenary creates a chance to consider the skills involved and how they link to descriptive and narrative writing. Worksheet which includes the image for pupils to make notes on also attached.