KS3 lesson creating setting and storyboarding creative writing. Questions to help develop depth of setting Structure of chapters/short stories - one setting leading to another then another - but what happens in each? Storyboard to plot ideas in more detail.

Looking at how to hook a reader in the opening sentence and paragraph of a book. Pair work analysing opening sentences. Success criteria. Discussion what makes a strong opening. Analysis and feedback on extract of strong opening - The Graveyard Book. Writing their own opening. Peer assessment.

An introduction lesson to Shakespeare and his life. Fact finding mission - Each student given a fact about Shakespeare, they a few mins moving around the classroom to gather as many facts as possible. Make a poster collating all the facts you can remember. Creative writing task to write a diary entry as a day in the life of Shakespeare. Plenary activity one fact per student as they leave the class.

Engaging lesson to consolidate understanding of plot and develop understandings of themes - focus on deceit. Students move around classroom after every thunder flash on PPT - they collect evidence of the theme of deceit and consolidate knowledge of plot. Previously on TES and rated 23 times at 4.9 stars.

One lesson writing an extended metaphor poem - teacher example to annotate and analyse as well as poetic techniques to be used in own writing.

KS3 - Developing essay writing. Challenging task for extra work/summer/extended project. Using Philip Pullman’s ‘The Northern Lights’. Planning their own essay topic - choosing their own essay title. Success criteria. Structure of an essay. PQEL explanation - with a more detailed scaffold. Self assessment. Questions for book review.

Introduction lesson to Shakespeare. Picture of Shakespeare to annotate. True or False quiz with facts about Shakespeare. Shakespeare insults plenary.

These lessons take 4-5 lessons to complete. Creative enquiry looking at staging Macbeth. Can be assessed as speaking and listening. Group work - considering themes, connotations of choices of language and setting etc.

KS3 - Developing essay writing. Using Lord Tennyson’s ‘The Kraken’ Discussion images to engage students. Poem and glossary of terms. Success criteria. List of techniques to look for. Structure of an essay. PQEL explanation - with a more detailed scaffold. Poem to annotate with some techniques in bold. Self assessment.

A 15min assembly on Human Curiosity / Life Long Learners. Could be done as a form group or one person. Looking at things that make us curious - aliens, ghosts, Jack the Ripper, Mary Celeste, the Kraken, Bermuda Triangle. Exploring why these things fascinate us. This then links to why curiosity is a good thing - the positive impact it can have. Isaac Newton and his curiosity about why the apple fell. The creator of Wikipedia and his thirst for knowledge. Being a life long learner and how we should feed our curiosity. Link to short clip in the PPT. Slides with writing on are not visible when PPT is in full screen mode.

Looking at views of homelessness and the facts about homelessness in the UK. Exploring why people are homeless. Clip on homelessness in the UK. How can we help - Big Issue clip. Avoiding being judgemental and being grateful for what we've got.

Lesson exploring the relationship between George and Lennie in OMAM The different types of relationship How they relationships are presented Analysis of quotes - teacher model Development of more sophisticated ideas Asks students to do an in-depth analysis of a quote with authorial intentions linking to theme

Focus on possessions to explore isolation. What do itinerant workers carry on them? Symbolic meaning to any items? Exploring items in detail. Whit and the Bill Tanner letter. Crooks and his possessions. Analysis of theme of isolation. PQEL framework and mark scheme.

A descriptive writing lesson building on a class' understanding of 'show, don't tell'. Looking at building simple sentences into showing sentences where descriptive techniques have been used to create impact. List of techniques needed, teacher model, sentences to convert to description, self assessment.

Discussion on what dreams are and why we have them. Robert Burns' poem - how does this influence our understanding of the theme? Brief analysis of poem. The American Dream. Dreams of characters. Lennie and George's dream - how is it similar, how is it different.

KS3 lesson exploring tension What is tension? Extract to annotate for creation of tension Pair work to explore text Creative writing to continue extract with devices to create tension Success criteria Self assessment

Lesson on how to make engaging writing to inform. Question to write. List of techniques. Tips on how to plan and write. Looking at TAPS. Teacher models to analyse.

Focus on how to develop analysis and structure a solid essay. Common errors with essay writing. Pair work to explore George and Lennie's relationship. Close analysis of language - authorial intention. Teacher model of introduction, main body and development. Mark scheme.

Developing understanding and analysis of Crooks. Discussion whether he's better off than the other itinerant workers. Pair work gathering information/analysing - possessions, childhood, interactions with Lennie, Curley's Wife scene, his offer to join the dream. Class feedback. Answering exam style question.

Discussion of how she's presented. Authorial intentions of her presentation. Finding quotes to analyse. Example of teacher model - analysing quote. Exam question. PQEL framework. Mark scheme.