Learning Through Sources - purposeful, interesting tasks that will engage your students as they analyse the Treaty of Versailles. For a long time, I’ve thought that so much use could be made of past source papers, not to merely teach source skills, but to teach the core topics. Great idea! But I never had the time until I retired. And now I’ve come up with this series of lessons that I think you’ll find very useful. Not only will they complement your other lessons but they will help your students become more comfortable working with sources. These lessons can be integrated into the way you teach the topic, some might be useful as a starter exercise, some as a plenary; or they can sit there in a folder ready to use for revision, or when, for 1001 reasons, you might be scrambling to prepare your lessons this week. They cover all these scenarios (probably some I’ve not thought of too). I put no timings to the lessons; I leave entirely up to you whether it’s one lesson or two or three. They also come with teachers copies. I am painfully aware of how busy teachers are and anything that cuts down on your personal preparation, I hope is helpful and they can help you when the lesson is in progress, pointing to what parts of the sources students should be using. They can also be used if you really do want to keep it to one lesson by helping students hone in on the key points, or they can be used with weaker groups. I make the presumption that all tasks will be in small groups or else pairs and that there will be feedback. What they don’t do is cover the whole of a topic – of course, I’m reliant on the focus of past source papers. The 1st one in each topic is free, then there is what I hope is a reasonable charge.

Learning Through Sources - Aims and Disagreements of the Paris Peacemakers Purposeful, interesting tasks that will engage your students. For a long time, I’ve thought that so much use could be made of past source papers, not to merely teach source skills, but to teach the core topics. Great idea! But I never had the time until I retired. And now I’ve come up with this series of lessons that I think you’ll find very useful. Not only will they complement your other lessons but they will help your students become more comfortable working with sources. These lessons can be integrated into the way you teach the topic, some might be useful as a starter exercise, some as a plenary; or they can sit there in a folder ready to use for revision, or when, for 1001 reasons, you might be scrambling to prepare your lessons this week. They cover all these scenarios (probably some I’ve not thought of too). I put no timings to the lessons; I leave entirely up to you whether it’s one lesson or two or three. They also come with teachers copies. I am painfully aware of how busy teachers are and anything that cuts down on your personal preparation, I hope is helpful and they can help you when the lesson is in progress, pointing to what parts of the sources students should be using. They can also be used if you really do want to keep it to one lesson by helping students hone in on the key points, or they can be used with weaker groups. I make the presumption that all tasks will be in small groups or else pairs and that there will be feedback. What they don’t do is cover the whole of a topic – of course, I’m reliant on the focus of past source papers. The 1st one in each topic is free, then there is what I hope is a reasonable charge.

A wide-ranging collection of 7 purposeful lessons covering Germany and the causes of WW2 that include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and with focused, thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Introduction - A power point to introduce the topic, including key questions. Blame WW1 + the Treaty of Versailles - An exercise that will get your students thinking about links, something key to high grades. Blame Hitler – Exercises that examine “Hitler’s War” in an analytical way and gives your students the chance to explore key focus points. Blame Appeasement - An exercise that is designed to add depth to the debate about Appeasement and to show that history is very real, is about choices made, and not made, and is highly contentious. Your class should find it fun. The Nazi-Soviet Pact - An exercise that, though it focuses on the Nazi-Soviet Pact will strengthen your student’s preparation for a number of potential questions. Dealing with that Pesky Exam - A series of three exercises to help students make use of their knowledge and understanding in answering potential essay questions as well as a tricky source question. How useful is this source? – A look at approaches to another frequently asked source question.

A wide-ranging collection of 8 purposeful lessons covering the League of Nations that include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and with focused, thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Introduction - A PowerPoint to introduce the topic as well as raise the first discussion points. Aims and Problems - An exercise to raise awareness of the scale of the League’s aims and enable students to place the League’s work in critically important context. The Organisation of the League - A simple but useful notes framework covering the League’s organisation coupled with an interesting task that gets students thinking like a diplomat. Keeping the peace in the 1920s – Exercises focused on possible exam questions with a PowerPoint to introduce the topic and supportive material. The League in the 1930s – An exercise that will complement the work you will do regarding Manchuria, disarmament and Abyssinia, focusing on the context to the 1930s. The League’s Humanitarian Work – a fun exercise fully supported with reading material. And there is a plenary exercise looking at possible exam questions. Conclusions – Valuable exercises to consolidate your students learning with a strong focus on possible exam questions. The message in a cartoon - An exercise that teaches students how to approach the “message” question when the message is in a cartoon.

Material for a complete set of lessons on the Treaty of Versailles. Ideal for KS3. Easy to adapt to the specific needs of your class with both differentiated reading and tasks that enable as well as test learning. You will find it both stretches and challenges students, enabling them to make analyses and evaluate whilst keeping them fully engaged in their lessons. What is included? • PowerPoint to introduce the topic • Differentiated and directed reading focused on the question: Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? • Differentiated source-based exercises • Crossword to test knowledge

Material for a complete set of lessons on the causes of WW1. Ideal for KS3 and as context for (I)GCSE students studying the Paris peace treaties. Easy to adapt to the specific needs of your class with both differentiated reading and tasks that enable as well as test learning. You will find it both stretches and challenges students, enabling them to make analyses and evaluate whilst keeping them fully engaged in their lessons. What is included? • Alternative introductory PowerPoints • A narrative accessible at two levels, broken up with things for students to THINK about and used as discussion points, as well as exercises, so the reading can be broken up across a number of lessons • A variety of exercises • A timeline exercise incorporating, for the more able students, a chance to evaluate the significance of events • Further differentiated tasks turning narrative into analyses, both of which are supported by note frameworks • A focus on countries • A focus on imperialism and nationalism as well as alliances • A chance to consider a third perspective – significant individuals - through sources with a further differentiated task that sets out to analyse a specific source • Three-source-based exercises • A focus on significant individuals • An extension task that looks at different ways the same source can be interpreted • A PowerPoint that uses war time posters to analyse the reasons Britain and Germany presented to the public for going to war • A fun task concerning the Balkans • An exercise that focuses specifically on the July Crisis • A crossword to test knowledge • A choice of two essay titles

A wide-ranging collection of 8 purposeful lessons covering the Paris Peace Treaties that include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and with focused, thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. WW1: the all-important context to the Paris Peace Treaties - A valuable exercise for a proper understanding of the Peace Conference and the treaties they produced. Different experiences, different views, different aims – Individual and group exercises to explain why the Big Three had different aims. The Treaty of Versailles – Exercises that will demonstrate how good notes can be put to very good use in the exam hall. Reactions and Events up to 1923 – A valuable focused note-taking exercise as well as opportunity to deconstruct the message in cartoons. The other treaties - A short PowerPoint that highlights the factors common to all the treaties and presents key questions to direct notes. Conclusions – A PowerPoint essentially designed to generate class discussion but also underlining key concepts. Comparing two sources - An exercise that gets students to think about what has been the most frequently asked source question (after Q6, of course) in the past few years: How far do two sources agree?

A wide-ranging collection of 7 purposeful lessons covering the Origins of the Cold War that include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and presenting focused thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Introduction - A PowerPoint to introduce not only this topic but the Cold War as a whole. What was the Cold War? - A guided exercise that will leave your students with a very good sense of just what the Cold War was. Choices - A fun and interesting exercise that gives a chance for students to discuss how they would have made a post-war settlement at Yalta and Potsdam. The Battle for Control of Europe - A series of short exercises with the focus firmly on applying knowledge and understanding to potential exam questions. When did the Cold War start? - An interesting and a useful exercise that doesn’t have an obvious answer. Who said what, and when? A fun, interesting and valuable exercise that will get students to revisit the “Who was to blame?” debate. Are you surprised? - A lesson that considers the “surprised” source question.

A wide-ranging collection of 8 purposeful lessons covering the Nazis control of Germany. They include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and presenting focused thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. The Totalitarian State - An exercise in which students get to be dictators. What can go wrong? How did the Nazis apply propaganda? – This time, a chance for your students to apply some propaganda of their own. What were the messages in Nazi propaganda? – A PowerPoint based lesson analysing the message in Nazi posters. The effectiveness of Nazi methods of control – Another PowerPoint based lesson that actually demonstrates the value of uncertainty. Opposition to the Nazis – An exercise in which students research opposition to the Nazis and assess its significance. The Nazis and Anti-Semitism – An exercise that as well as looking at Nazi propaganda again, gets students to consider the different phases in Nazi anti-Semitism. The Nazis and Other “Problem” Groups – An exercise that deals with the ways in which the Nazis viewed other “problem” groups, tying it to their ideology, and also how they set about dealing with them. Was Nazi Germany a Totalitarian State? - An important question to consider before your students walk into that exam hall!

A wide-ranging collection of 8 purposeful lessons covering life in Nazi Germany. They include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and presenting focused thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Were workers better off? - Two tasks considering Nazi policies for German workers from two perspectives. Business and Farming – An exercise in which statements, both positive and negative are developed and explanations of their significance added. Women in Nazi Germany - A role-play exercise that students can have fun with, demonstrating how women from different walks of life held very different views. What was it like to be young in Nazi Germany? - Another fun exercise to get your class into the mindset of Nazi Germany and the Nazis plans for German youth. Volksgemeinschaft - There have not been specific questions on the national community but it is, nevertheless, at the heart of Nazism and to understand it helps us to understand each policy in its own right. The Impact of War on Germany – A task that will get your students to consider the state of Germany mid-1944. Anti-Semitism and the Final Solution - A series of exercises that consider all aspects of the most sensitive issue on the (I)GCSE course. Centred on potential questions. Did life get better for Germans? – The ultimate question with students required to take opposite perspectives before reaching their conclusion.

Material for a complete set of lessons on the experience of WW1 and how the war was won and lost. Ideal for KS3 as well as context for (I)GCSE students studying the Paris peace treaties. Easy to adapt to the specific needs of your class with both differentiated reading and tasks that enable as well as test learning. You will find it both stretches and challenges students, enabling them to make analyses and evaluate whilst keeping them fully engaged in their lessons. What is included? • A PowerPoint that gives an overview of the war • A Timeline of the war • A PowerPoint of life in the trenches • A PowerPoint of life on Britain’s Home Front • An analysis of war-time experiences, both in the trenches and on the different Home Fronts, accessible at two levels • A PowerPoint on the War at Sea • An analysis of how the war was won and lost, accessible at three different levels, each with a framework for notes • An analysis of the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ debate, accessible at two different levels • A series of exercises: With a focus on life in the trenches With a focus on Total War and the Home Front With a focus on how the war was won and lost On the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ debate • A crossword to test knowledge

A wide-ranging collection of 8 purposeful lessons covering the troubles the Soviet Union faced in Eastern Europe until it eventually collapsed. They include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and presenting focused thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Asserting and Maintaining Control – A step away from history and a chance for students to be dictators! At least for one lesson. This fun exercise is designed to underpin understanding of authoritarianism. Hungary, Berlin + Czechoslovakia – Exercises that underpin what these crises had in common and what was unique about each crisis. Unions and Parties – Another step away from history, and another interesting and fun series of exercises. to underpin your students understanding of trade unions and political parties. Solidarity – Was it a trade union, a movement or a political party? This exercise is designed to help your students decide. Gorby - A really interesting set of group exercises, writing essays, but doing so by making use of Gorbachev’s speech on Christmas Day, 1991 which formally announced that the Soviet Union had dissolved Conclusions – Three perspectives for your class to work on. Why at this time? - An exercise that serves to look back at some of the crises in this topic and, at the same time, think about another type of source question. Something to think about – A final exercise, with supportive material, in which students face the problems Gorbachev faced.

A wide-ranging collection of 7 purposeful lessons covering the Origins of the Cold War that include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and presenting focused thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Introduction - A PowerPoint to introduce not only this topic but the Cold War as a whole. What was the Cold War? - A guided exercise that will leave your students with a very good sense of just what the Cold War was. Choices - A fun and interesting exercise that gives a chance for students to discuss how they would have made a post-war settlement at Yalta and Potsdam. The Battle for Control of Europe - A series of short exercises with the focus firmly on applying knowledge and understanding to potential exam questions. When did the Cold War start? - An interesting and a useful exercise that doesn’t have an obvious answer. Who said what, and when? A fun, interesting and valuable exercise that will get students to revisit the “Who was to blame?” debate. Are you surprised? - A lesson that considers the “surprised” source question.

A wide-ranging collection of 8 purposeful lessons covering Weimar Germany. They include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and presenting focused thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Weimar Germany 1919-22 – What should be a fun exercise that serves as a review of the work covered on the early chaotic years of Weimar Germany. The Spartacists and Kapp – An exercise to get students thinking about how to assess the threat to Weimar posed by these uprisings and to consider how to use the work of historians. 1923 – Groups will produce an article and a poster that demonstrate the way the German Right reacted to the events of 1923. Hitler’s Trial – An interesting exercise in which your students will build a case for the prosecution in Hitler’s trial following the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch The Republic post-1933 - An exercise developing writing skills as well as raising some useful discussion points. Weimar’s Golden Years – An exercise that encourages students to consider different perspectives and allows those with a flair for other subjects to make use of that. Conclusions to Weimar - An exercise designed with a potential question © in mind. The prompts provided will take your students through the journey that Weimar had experienced.

A wide-ranging collection of 8 purposeful lessons covering the Nazis rise to power. They include PowerPoints and supportive materials. These lessons enable all students to maximise their potential by raising key questions and presenting focused thought-provoking exercises. They will also enable students to develop a range of essential skills. Who was Adolf Hitler? – An exercise that ties Hitler’s experiences to Nazi policies. Characteristics of the Nazi Party – A task that ties the Nazi Party’s Twenty-Five Point Programme to an analytical framework. The Development of the Nazi Party - A nice little group exercise that can be made competitive and fun. The Nazi Party: an election winning machine - An exercise that sets out to encourage a focus on what was important about the way the Nazis organised for electoral success. The Nazi Vote - An exercise, with a focus on potential questions, to consolidate what your class has learned about who voted for the Nazis. Gleichshaltung - Two exercises that encourage an analysis of Gleichshaltung The Night of the Long Knives – A fun way to look at what happened as well as the reasons for it. A Fire, a Decree and an Act - An exercise that encourages linkage, good explanations and shows how knowledge can be applied to potential exam questions.

Fun for your students shouldn’t mean work for you! So, here’s a Christmas gift for teachers. A Christmas quiz for each year group in KS3 with the possible option of a second “Christmas lesson” if you have them twice in that last week of term – you will see it at the end of the “Answers” PowerPoint for each of the year groups. You could also use it for your tutor group. For Year 7 it is quite simply a fun Christmas quiz but for Years 8 + 9 there is also an opportunity to (a) appreciate just how big a subject history is, i.e. how much history there is; and (b) a chance to learn a few things. They will not have studied everything that is asked but the questions are hopefully general enough to allow them to answer most of them. Besides, you can always change any questions you are not happy with. And it will hopefully whet their appetite for more history!