I’ve done quite a few of these now, and I always try to improve on the last one. I think this is about as far as I can go with this format. Here’s what you get: An individual breakdown of each of the exam questions. Each section contains the following: A breakdown of the AQA related material A walk-through for Q2, Q3 and Q4 Suggested targets and strategies 5 Case studies using real student responses (Except for Q1. You’ve got 10 for Q5 though) Real students planning processes laid out for discussion It’s a big one - you’ve got 60+ slides to work through. In terms of teaching, this works best after you’ve sat the relevant exam. However, it wouldn’t take much tweaking for a mock-style scenario. Also, this is designed to be given to the students so that they can engage with it at home.

Similar to a number of other resources I’ve already posted. Designed to be used after the students have sat the associated AQA English Language Paper 1 GCSE Paper, though with a little tinkering, you could run this as a mock exam itself and then have the students peer/self-assess afterwards. The powerpoint goes through each of the five questions, placing a firm expectation on the students having a pre-established strategy for completing each task. The students are then encouraged to refine this strategy. Each of the sections contains a break down of the associated source, exploration of the stepped Model Responses provided by AQA, and then provides the students with up to FIVE Case Study responses written by students (containing mistakes and all). I’ve had a lot of success with these types of powerpoints and they are especially useful for students working in isolation, or as a revision tool. Hopefully this will be of use to you.

Numerous lessons (though as you’ll see they can be expanded/contracted as meets your need) surrounding the teaching of Phillip Pullman’s Northern Lights (a quite awesome book) to a Key Stage 3 class. I taught this unit to a top and bottom set and got a lot out of it in terms of enjoyment and successful creative writing. I will be using it as a starting point for a reading assignment with very little modification. May your daemon guide you well. ADDITION: I have adapted the material to be more focused on GCSE Language creative skills, and incorporated material drawn from the BBC series His Dark Materials. The “newer” lessons are aimed for higher ability students and deal with some more specific creative writing issues like dialogue.

A powerpoint lesson designed to be taught either AFTER a class has sat AQA English Language Specimen Paper 4, or to be used WHILST a class is sitting the same paper in the form of a mock exam where feedback is given immediately. In this powerpoint, I refer directly to the model material provided by AQA and provide some feedback that can be given to the students. The idea with the feedback is that the person marking (teacher or student) writes down the letter/number and, when the marked work is returned, the owner of the response can either write the target down in full or highlight it in a printed version.

A lesson designed to be taught AFTER the class has sat a mock exam. However, with very little modifcation this can become a walking-talking mock exam, or a peer/self assessment based lesson. The powerpoint contains model material and an indicator as to the quality of the model material. My class found this lesson to be very useful. Additionally, the insert is available for free should you wish to download it for yourself. I include the link below: https://linwood.bournemouth.sch.uk/summerwood/files/2017/12/8700_1-INS-EnglishLanguage-G-6Jun17-AM.pdf

A PowerPoint designed to be used after students have sat the Section A of the AQA English Language Paper 1 for June 2019. It wouldn’t take much altering to be used as a mock exam itself. The slides are set up to show the model answers from the mark scheme so that students can peer/self assess and give actions and feedback.

A set of resources designed to engage year 11s with English Language Paper 2 Section A. I shaped the lessons around the articles written surrounding the time of Jack the Ripper, and around an article published following the Zodiac Killer sending a letter to the San Fransisco Chronicle. The class were fascinated by these articles - I had students independently going away and reading pre-19th century newspapers off their own backs! This will need to be taught delicately though - the content is graphic in nature, so be sure that your class has the necessary level of maturity to access this material without being distracted.

Two powerpoints, both showing the same thing, but one is designed to be used on a mobile phone (portrait, no animations etc.). The powerpoint can be used one of two ways. Either it can be used as part of a talking mock exam (where the students talk through a strategy before attempting each task, followed by marking and reflective targets) or as part of getting the students to evaluate their own efforts with a view to setting individual targets. Model material is included as well as the source itself (along with the appropriate mark scheme). The only thing this doesn’t “mark” is the AO5 element of Question 5. But everything else is there.

Two powerpoints (both alike in dignity…); the larger of the two covers the deconstruction of an English Language Paper 2 Section A mock exam - we go through common mistakes, areas of concern and identify how to improve on what we’ve done. I’ve provided the sources too, so you could use this as the basis of a Section A walking-talking mock; the smaller powerpoint covers speech writing, an area my lot particularly struggled with. Happy hunting…

A thoroughly enjoyable unit of work. Built around a work booklet and designed for that awkward half-term at the end of the year where you don’t want to give out new exercise books. The workbook contains a copy of The Norwood Builder, comprehension questions and vocabulary list, as well as a variety of activities that focus (primarily) upon creative writing skills with some language and structure based tasks. The lessons are designed to be used with the workbook. NOTE: I may upload a slightly different workbook in the future, but I will leave the original on here.

A variation on a selection of lessons that I sell elsewhere. Here, the center piece is a 26 page printable workbook that runs in tandem with the power-point lessons - ideal for a Summer Term 2 unit of work where you are reluctant to give the students a new work book, and working on paper is problematic. The text is Anil (from the old Sunlight on the Grass Anthology) and there is about 12 lessons worth of material here.

Three quick and easy tasks with supporting images. Ideal for quick and easy filler lesson, or as building into a larger scheme.

Taught as part of a two teacher approach to a top set year 9 class. I focused on developing creative writing skills, with a particular emphasis on the structural components, whilst my partner teacher focused on the more traditional literature style approach. The Woman In Black was used as the stimulus for all elements of this unit and the climax is a GCSE English Language Paper 1 style task (not included in this pack as it is part of my school’s assessment pack). Overall, I found this unit to be really useful in challenging students to think about their creative writing in more than just a reactionary way. The nature of the structure focused questions align with my belief that it is always better to teach the Language Paper 1 Q3 question in the form of a structure-focused creative writing commentary at KS3 level. Hopefully this will provide you with a useful starting point for your own creative writing journey.

A simple power-point designed to be used either AFTER a class has sat the AQA English Language Paper 2 Specimen Paper 2, or as part of a walking-mock style lesson where the students mark their work immediately afterwards. It’s cheap because I’ve essentially deposited the contents of the mark criteria on to the power point in such a way that the students can use it it to peer or self-assess. The resource JUST contains the power point.

A deconstruction of the English Language Paper 1 examination that uses Brighton Rock as a source. I’ve lifted the model material from the mark schemes and there’s FAR related targets included. Essentially, this is a lesson that can be taught either AFTER the students have sat the exam and you want them to peer/self assess, or you could change it so that that they answer a question and then mark their efforts. The Section B element is a bit of an experiment - peer marking creative writing is always a challenge. So I’ve given the students a series of yes/not/some related questions. The idea is that they “tick” the level next to the answer on a copy of the AO5 and AO6 mark schemes. Using that, they should be better able to work out where the creative writing fits. My peer marked creative writing has got much more accurate as a result of this.

This resource was designed to be used after a class or cohort have sat the 2019 English Language paper 2. It’s set up to be used after a class has sat the exam and had their papers marked, but it wouldn’t take much modification to be used as part of a scenario where the students get the material, execute a preparatory strategy, answer the question and then peer/self mark. The material from the AQA mark scheme has been integrated into the PowerPoint, so students can get a sense of what level their response is before fine marking. I’ve done a few in this style and the students value them as revision tools too.

This is quite possibly, the coolest thing I've ever tried out. The premise is as follows: a debate between two students (or teams) where four referees observe. The referees score what they see and a winner is announced at the end. Now add in entrance music a la pro-wrestlers (think the Rocky Theme, We Will Rock You etc.) and run it on an open evening and I promise you this - you will have EVERY parent in at some point to see what is going on. I've run this at SIX parents evenings now and the same thing happens every time - all of the kids rock up to watch. I set it last time round where the Deputy Head took on the winner of the students (a year 9 girl). They packed the place out to see who won . The debate topic "Batman vs Superman" (serious stuff this). Needless to say, she wiped the floor with him (in a totally professional way). You'll need to be the promoter/commentator/ring side referee - this can be exhilarating and exhausting! Try it.

A complete powerpoint lesson exploring the way in which students can interpret the characterisation evident in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.

A starter activity to get students involved in different types of fiction. You will need to cut out each of the constituent parts, but this is a great starter activity with the kids working together to match them up.

I teach a very low ability year 7 group and they are missing a large amount of spelling and comprehension knowledge of the simplest words. These work sheets are designed to be printed out back to back, taken home and completed. They will allow you to identify which of your students is able to accurately spell and use these first 100 words. VERY useful for EAL students.