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Tess of the d'Urban Quills

Average Rating3.80
(based on 59 reviews)

I'm a passionate secondary English and History teacher and am the main planner of resources for my department; as such, I thought I would start sharing them here with the wider community of teachers and professionals. I am Australian trained, but currently teaching GCSE and A- Level (AQA specifications). All lessons are very visually engaging, with images, clips and a variety of activities. You won't find any boring/blank resources here!

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I'm a passionate secondary English and History teacher and am the main planner of resources for my department; as such, I thought I would start sharing them here with the wider community of teachers and professionals. I am Australian trained, but currently teaching GCSE and A- Level (AQA specifications). All lessons are very visually engaging, with images, clips and a variety of activities. You won't find any boring/blank resources here!
Year 9/10: Ready Player One (lesson designed like a video game!)
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Year 9/10: Ready Player One (lesson designed like a video game!)

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An awesome lesson for boys in year 9 or 10, language analysis skills are made fun through a lesson designed like a video game. Each activity is a "mission", and students have to complete all three in either single, two player or combat mode (individually, in pairs, or in competition). Included: - All activities - Video resources (right click the image on slide 4 for hyperlink to video) - Extract from Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One". - Formative progress check (using playstation symbols- how cool is that?) - Creative writing activity Very proud and excited for this lesson, so please enjoy!
Year 9- Jurassic Park (2 Lessons)
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Year 9- Jurassic Park (2 Lessons)

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Two lessons for boys looking at language and structural analysis of an extract from the novel Jurassic Park. Fun clips from the movie, revision of the adventure genre and creative writing. Great for a double lesson!
Year 8-9: Structuring a creative response
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Year 8-9: Structuring a creative response

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A one off lesson that you can teach either as a part of creative writing or just a filler lesson. Looks at how to structure a creative response based on different stimulus; plenty of model examples included.
Gifted & Talented: Fantasy Unit
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Gifted & Talented: Fantasy Unit

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This unit of work and accompanying series of lessons was designed for a class of Gifted and Talented students in year 8. They were studying fantasy fiction in their general English classes, and withdrawn for 2 separate sessions a week to focus on these extension activities. This unit can be integrated into a fantasy unit or taught separately. Details are as follows: PBL, student-centred model Culminating product is a fantasy narrative fiction Lots of scaffolds, differentiation and stretch and challenge Designed as an introduction to understanding literary theory Built around fostering higher order thinking skills, critical and creative writing, and 21st century skills (collaboration, questioning etc). Research and digital literacy- some lessons require independent research and inquiry. Lessons included focus on the following: Why have people dissed fantasy? Critical readings of Le Guinn and Tolkien Introduction of project and need to knows Process of creation: who was Tolkien and what were his methods? Introduction of complex terminology relating to fantasy world-building Breakdown of critical reading of “On Fairy Stories” and linking to ‘what is the purpose of fantasy?’ How to build a convincing fantasy world How to create unique magic systems What are the ethical considerations of fantasy? Originally, this powerpoint was made using Google Slides, and students all had their own digital copy. This is why some of the interactive “portals” (pictures where students can right-click and will be taken to a separate resource) link elsewhere. I have included the resources in a different form so that you can give these to students in hard copy form instead.
How to write a history introduction
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How to write a history introduction

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This workshop guides students through how to: Write a thoughtful thesis statement in response to a history question Write and structure an introduction to a history essay Included resources are: Model examples Scaffold and writing frames BENTOS box activity.
Year 7: Non-Fiction
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Year 7: Non-Fiction

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This is the first lesson I've taught for our new non-fiction unit with year 7. This lesson recaps language techniques, introduces non-fiction types, and then looks at a short review of "Alice in Wonderland." The final activity requires students to write their own review of "The Jabberwocky". Enjoy
Year 7: Villain's Speeches
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Year 7: Villain's Speeches

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My year 7s are studying non-fiction at the moment, which I personally find very boring! To spice things up, we’ve been looking at non-fiction textual forms through the theme of comic books (see my other lessons for examples). This lesson/2 lessons examines the features of speeches, with examples being the grand speeches comic villains perform. Included: Two clips of Ego and Bane- why are their speeches convincing? Analysis activities for the Joker’s speech from The Dark Knight Model critical paragraph Creative: students write their own villain speech Extension: Students create a comic page featuring their villain and given speech. My class loved it. Enjoy!
Year 10/11: Language Paper 1 Revision Booklet
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Year 10/11: Language Paper 1 Revision Booklet

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Using an extract from “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy, this booklet allows students to work in pairs or individually to complete a mini-project that covers all the skills for the Language Paper 1, AQA GSCE specimen. This took my class about 2-3 lessons to complete. Self-directed learning is great for this time of year!
KS3/4: Writing Creatively
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KS3/4: Writing Creatively

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A one off lesson if you’re teaching creative writing. Focuses on building descriptive paragraphs using image stimuli. Skills covered include: Using adjectives and verbs Sentence forms and lengths Crafting effective language devices
Macbeth Acts 4/5 Revision
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Macbeth Acts 4/5 Revision

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A revision lesson that briefly looks at the main themes, language and contextual features for Macbeth Act 4 and 5, followed by an examination of the Biblical in Macbeth (whole play). Enjoy!
Year 7: Reading and writing feature articles
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Year 7: Reading and writing feature articles

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A fun 2-3 lessons that introduce students to the structure and form of feature articles. Builds to a task where they write their own feature article as Lois Lane, on the topic of Does the world really need superman? Included in this pack is an original model text of a feature article, written by yours truly :) My class had a lot of fun with this. Enjoy!
Year 7/8: Julius Caesar
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Year 7/8: Julius Caesar

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A one off lesson, as part of an "Introduction to Shakespeare" unit for KS3. A focus on language, plot and some characterisation. Posted as a freebie to give you an insight into my lessons- if you like this then please feel free to check out my shop :)
Year 7/8: Literary Devices Pt2
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Year 7/8: Literary Devices Pt2

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Second part to part one, with 11 lessons (all powerpoints, resources and worksheets included) on: verisimilitude, mythological reference, kinaesthesia, oxymoron and paradox, epistrophe and anaphora, iambic pentameter (a hard one to teach!), mood and atmosphere, an AFL literary devices quiz, allegory and allusion. Enjoy!
Year7/8: Non-Fiction Unit
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Year7/8: Non-Fiction Unit

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A scheme of work with 12-13 whole lessons (all power-points and worksheets included) geared at introducing students to non-fiction texts. Students learn about persuasive language features and how to analyse these in various non-fiction forms. Lots of creative activities allow students to apply these skills to the crafting of their own non-fiction texts. Lessons included cover forms/topics such as: newspaper articles, brochures and advertisements.
Year 8: Shakespeare Termly HW
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Year 8: Shakespeare Termly HW

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You can adapt this for other years if need be- an easy and fun termly HW project, geared at years 7/8 studying an introduction to Shakespeare.