This self-study professional development unit is designed for English teachers and departments who wish to develop their practice in relation to teaching the whole class novel. It is a self study unit which includes lots of practical ideas for the high school or secondary classroom as well as opportunities for reflection and activities to help translate what you have learned into practice. The unit covers how to choose and introduce the novel, improve reading fluency, develop key reading skills, write about the novel and integrate engaging drama approaches. It is ideal for those preparing to teach the class novel to grades 6-10. Please note this has also been published as a mobile learning unit by Pearsons.

This unit is specifically designed for English teachers who wish to develop their teaching of Shakespeare in middle or high school. It takes you through a range of active approaches including practical drama activities to promote engagement with the themes, characters and ideas of the plays as well as suggestions for writing creatively about Shakespeare. This unit will support you in developing a repertoire of teaching strategies which you can apply to any of Shakespeare’s plays. They are based on the principles of ‘active Shakespeare’ and includes lots of activities and advice which will help make the learning both enjoyable and effective. It includes tasks and opportunities for personal reflection and is ideal for teachers preparing to teach a Shakespeare play.

This unit is aimed at English teachers and departments who wish to develop their practice in relation to teaching narrative and descriptive writing. It is a self study unit which includes lots of practical ideas for the Middle and High School classroom as well as opportunities for reflection and activities to help translate what you have learned into practice. The unit covers approaches to teaching key elements of narrative and descriptive writing including planning, structure, sentences and vocabulary as well as specific techniques such as ‘show not tell’. It is an ideal unit for an English teacher preparing to teach creative writing to a class.

English Key Stage 3 Creative Writing Unit for Years 7-8 This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses. It is ideal for a Year 7-8 class. A very nicely presented 83 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources. Please see the Preview for a selection of slides from across the unit. You may also like: English Key Stage 3: Travel Writing (Literary Non-fiction) Unit for Years 8-9 This unit is designed to teach key reading and writing skills in the context of travel literature and to help build some of the key skills required at GCSE level when studying non-fiction texts. It moves from reading to writing and is based on the study of a number of short travel extracts from writers such as Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban and Dervla Murphy. It is aimed at Year 9 as preparation for GCSE and would work equally well with Year 8 groups. Outcomes include analytical as well as creative writing.

This highly engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help students write creatively with a particular focus on narrative and descriptive writing. It supports students in actively exploring and enjoying both descriptive and narrative texts, looking at excellent and varied models from a range of literature and identifying successful features before moving to composing their own creative responses. It is ideal for a Grade 7-8 class. A beautifully presented 83 slide teaching PPT is included as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes with suggested approaches and all thirteen classroom resources. Common Core Standards include: CCRA SL1, W3,4,5, R4 I enjoyed teaching this unit and hope you do too.

This engaging and enjoyable unit of work is designed to help build the skills necessary for success in two speaking and listening tasks as well as those valued by employers. It is a discussion based unit and explores skills such as asking questions, leading a discussion, researching and planning a presentation. It leads to two assessment activities, a ‘meeting’ in which students discuss setting up a series of lunchtime clubs for younger students followed by an individual presentation in which students showcase their own plans for a school club. I have included a detailed set of teacher’s notes, a well-presented 44 slide teaching PPT and all student resources. I hope your students enjoy taking part in this unit. Common Core Skills include CCRA SL 1,4,6

This engaging and enjoyable half-termly unit is designed to develop key skills in reading fiction and non-fiction as well as writing creatively. It is based on the topic of Exploring with lots of activities and great texts to help students develop key reading skills such as locating information, inference and comparison as well as key writing skills such as opening a story, writing direct speech, using narrative voice and varying sentences. Texts include extracts from non-fiction and fiction texts including ‘My Family and Other Animals’ , Charles Darwin’s Journal and Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’. Common Core Standards CCRA W.3,4,5 CCRA R1,4 All 15 student resources are included in pdf format as well as a 54 slide teaching PPT and a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit.

This engaging and enjoyable unit is designed to develop some of the key skills required for responding to and writing non-fiction. It is built around the topic of Music and includes three sections: speaking and listening, reading and writing. The speaking and listening section prepares students for a discussion task and an individual presentation. The reading section is built around engaging texts such as music magazine covers, an advice leaflet on setting up a band and web information pages on the history of blues music and explores aspects such as organizational and presentational features. The writing section prepares students to complete their own gig review after exploring and identifying the key features of the genre. Common Core Standards CCRA SL1,2 CCRA W2,4 CCRA RI 7.5,7.9 All 11 student resources are included in pdf format as well as a 53 slide teaching PPT (see Preview) and a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit.

This engaging and enjoyable unit is designed to develop some of the key skills required for responding to and writing non-fiction. It is built around the topic of Hobbies and includes three sections: speaking and listening, reading and writing. The speaking and listening section prepares students for a discussion task and an individual presentation. The reading section is built around engaging texts such as a persuasive leaflet, an instructional piece on how to draw cartoon faces and an advice blog on starting up a new hobby, exploring aspects such as language, organizational and presentational features. The writing section prepares students to complete their own fact sheet after exploring and identifying the key features of the genre. Common Core Standards CCRA S.1,4 CCRA W.2,4 CCRA R.7 All 11 student resources are included as well as a nicely presented 54 slide teaching PPT and a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit.

This engaging and enjoyable half-termly unit is designed to develop key skills in reading fiction and non-fiction as well as writing creatively. It is based on the topic of Heroism with lots of activities and great texts to help students develop key reading skills such as locating information, inference, commenting on structure and comparison as well as key narrative writing skills such as opening and ending a story, writing direct speech, varying sentences, improving vocabulary and planning. Texts include extracts from non-fiction and fiction texts including 'Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’, Remarque’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’. All 17 well-presented student resources are included in pdf format as well as a 68 slide teaching PPT and a detailed set of teacher’s notes. I hope you enjoy teaching the unit as much as I did.

This highly engaging unit teaches students the key skills required for delivering an individual spoken presentation on a topic agreed with their teacher. It guides students through the process by looking at aspects of effective presentations such as openings, rhetorical devices, endings, use of cue cards to structure a talk, delivery and responding to questions. Strategies include exploring good examples of talks as well as group discussions and opportunities to try out a variety of techniques. A well-presented 37 slide PPT is included as well as all six resources in both word and pdf formats. Common Core Standards CCRA.SL. 1,4 I hope you enjoy teaching this unit.

This highly engaging, relevant and carefully designed unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for responding to and writing non-fiction texts. It is built around the idea of preparing for the world of further education or work. There are three sections: Speaking and Listening – preparation for a discussion and presentation task Reading section – exploring and responding to three different non-fiction texts - a news report, a college prospectus and web pages Writing section – covers writing a personal statement and a formal e-mail This unit includes a 71 slide teaching PPT as well as a detailed set of teacher’s notes and all 15 student resources. I hope you and your students enjoy the unit.

This highly engaging, relevant and fully resourced unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for responding to and writing non-fiction texts. It is built around the topic of the climate crisis. There are two sections: Reading section – building key skills through the study of three different non-fiction texts including a letter, web pages and a blog. Writing section – includes how to write a persuasive speech and an internet blog. Included in this package is a 56 slide teaching PPT as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes and all 11 student resources. Common Core Standards CCS CCRA W2,4,5 R7,10 I hope you enjoy teaching the unit.

This highly engaging and fully resourced unit of work is designed to teach some of the key skills required for responding to and writing non-fiction texts. It is built around the topic of Leisure and is aimed at grade 9-10 students. There are two sections: Reading section – building key skills through the study of three different non-fiction texts including a news report, a leaflet and web pages. Writing section – focus on building the skills required to write a review. This unit includes a 47 slide teaching PPT as well as a set of detailed teacher’s notes and all 9 student resources. Common Core Standards include: CCRA R.4,6,7 W4,5 I hope you enjoy teaching the unit as much as I did.