'Bright Star' - John Keats – A Level Poetry Bundle: Teaching PowerPoint, Revision Sheet and Teaching Pack
Everything you need to teach and revise Bright Star, written by Andy Hurley, former Principal Examiner, HMI Inspector and Headteacher. The resources are built around the Assessment Objectives rather than a single specification, so they work for any A Level English Literature course. Please check the requirements of the specification you are teaching.
The bundle takes students from close reading of the poem through to the critical debates it raises, with activities pitched from C grade to undergraduate standard.
**What’s included**
1. Teaching PowerPoint
Phase-coded slides built around the four-phase learning continuum: Connect, Activate, Demonstrate and Consolidate. There is no lesson framing, so you can sequence the material over one, two or three lessons to suit your timetable. The deck moves from context and pre-reading activities, through modelled close reading of the poem, to independent analysis, critical discussion, comparative work and essay planning. Bridge slides mark natural pauses between phases. The deck is fully self-contained: every instruction, question, answer and piece of teacher guidance sits in the presenter notes, with suggested timings for each activity.
2. Student Revision Sheet
Seven sections: Overview, Form and Structure, Close Analysis, Key Themes, Context (AO3), Critical Perspectives (AO5), and Study Questions and Extension Activities. It finishes with a Quote Quilt, a one-page grid of key quotations with brief analysis, coded for voices, themes and contexts. Ideal for independent study, homework or exam revision.
3. Teaching Pack
A detailed planning document for teachers. It includes an overview of the poem, a planning summary of activities across all four phases, full implementation notes with timings, and specifications for building an interactive online activity. It also offers a range of alternative activities, such as annotation, creative responses, debate, essay challenges and further research. Ready-to-use student handouts are included as well.
A free seminar on this poem is available on the A Level AHEAD website
