Are you falling asleep while marking your students' work? Whether descriptive or narrative, these resources are designed to help get those uninspired writing to the next level, making their work imaginative and engaging to read. I used them initially with a top set GCSE group, but quickly started rolling them out all the way down to year 7 low ability (high expectations are the key!). Each lesson has specific outcomes with resources for students to self or peer assess so they can see their progress. There are 7 complete lessons which deal with vocabulary building, word connotations, sentence structure, paragraphing, planning, etc. I found my students' marks went up by as much as two grades by using these key ideas and students who found it hard to be creative before had the confidence to take much better risks with their work and enjoy the process. I felt like I'd discovered a secret of some kind with these ideas and I hope you feel the same.

A complete lesson or two including interactive starter, specific questions for analysis, quizzes with answers and an AFL plenary which clearly shows progress. There is also a creative writing structure sheet provided for homework which is accessible for all abilities. These resources make a fantastic introduction to or recap on * any poetry SOW * language features and effects, particularly covering imagery. It clearly builds towards essay writing skills. * lessons on different accents and dialects (Scots) * poems from around the world / variations within English language. * 18th century Literature * Romanticism This was used as my first lesson for iGCSE poetry coursework and nearly half of the students wanted to analyse this poem in their essays because they felt so confident with it. That's with a male and female mixed-ability group of EAL students in year 9. If they loved it, so will your students! Check out my Love Poetry bundle to get extra value! Everything you need here for an excellent lesson. Enjoy!

10 starter games which help students with memorising lines, characterisation, imagery etc. Plus a bonus one! These are all tried and tested and beloved by my classes from 11 - 19! Examples are given of any more complicated games. No printing or resources needed apart from this Powerpoint (and not even that necessarily if you know the rules!) (These also make fun games for parties either at the end of term or, frankly, after a few pints at the pub!)

Ten games which cover a range of skills and focuses in English. These have made my lessons really fun and kept the kids hooked and happy, not realising that there's some serious learning or revising going on. Want to trick them into reading? I got you. Want to introduce them to different word types? Here you go. Want them to revise key quotations? It's here. I hope there's plenty here to keep you going and examples are given wherever needed so very little preparation is needed. Enjoy!

An active and engaging poetry lesson on Annabel Lee. There are a range of activities including a crossword with secret message, questions and activities to draw out ideas about characters, genre, structure, form, themes and meanings as well as an AFL plenary and engaging starter. The worksheet attached has a lower ability option with word bank provided and a higher ability option which asks students to work out and then create their own hidden message from the characters. There are also questions to get them thinking on this sheet. The main development of the lesson is built around De Bono's Thinking Hats so will support students' speaking and listening skills and could be assessed as a group discussion. This would make an excellent one-off lesson for or as part of a wider SOW on * Poetry * 19th century literature * American Literature * Gothic Literature Enjoy!

Two speaking and listening activities to introduce the theme of crime and punishment in the novel Holes by Louis Sacher. These could be individual lessons to introduce the class to courtroom processes, decision making skills, ethics and morality, and speaking and listening skills in general. The first is a group debate where a list of crimes must be ranked and the class must come to a group decision about which are the worst crimes and which are least offensive, or offences at all. They include having mixed-race relationships, so open a historical (and *sigh* still apparently current) dialogue about racism and equality, useful for citizenship and PSHE. The second is a role playing activity where students set up a courtroom and put a young man on trial for stealing a pair of trainers. There are 9 different roles, including the judge and students can either take one role between two or the non-role-taking students could be the jurors. All PowerPoints come withe clear outcomes, starters, task instructions and plenaries. All you need to do is print one A4 sheet of role cards and/or a list of the crimes for each student (A5 works fine for these). This is a really useful lesson which students find really engaging and interesting, particularly if they are into mystery solving! As an extension activity you could ask them to report on the trial or debate for a newspaper/blog/TV news programme. The non-speaking characters could interview those who took part in the trial and use those quotations in their reports. A court scribe could also be used during the trial to make sure notes can be reviewed.

An introduction to a SOW on podcasting and radio for KS3 students. Designed for students in groups of 4 - 6. The final game could also be played in groups with a mini-whiteboard or as a whole class. There are two articles on podcasting and radio with a reading race (or just standard questions if you prefer), activities and worksheets to help with new vocabulary (three versions for different ability groups) and a brainstorm to help students KWL their learning. The homework structures their research of podcasts. A selection of recommended and student-friendly podcasts are given. These are differentiated (green for my EAL students, blue for more able or native speakers). I would suggest downloading a select few from some of the blue list as certain episodes can have more adult themes than others. Questions to structure each week's homework are included. There is an overview on the first slide which explains what will be covered in the unit for students. This can be adapted as you need, of course.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED! This is a very academic scheme of work, designed to see rapid progress in reading skills based around Gothic literature. No filler, all killer ;D. I initially created this for my English department to use so it is completely comprehensive and should mean all you have to do is print (sometimes) and go! The students I've taught this SOW to (more than 90 different ages, abilities and backgrounds) found the subject matter really engaging and the assessments challenging, but achievable. There are a wide variety of abilities catered for (from set 1 to set 7). I have taught this at KS3 and introduction to GCSE in year 9. Foundation lesson plans are provided for each lesson as well as worksheets or assessments, a PowerPoint for each lesson and homework assignments. This is going to save you tonnes of time and energy. 8 different narratives are covered including poetry, short stories and extracts from novels. These include: * The Raven * The Mummy * The Red Room * Call of Cthulhu * Wyrd Sisters * The Graveyard Book * Harry Potter * Jekyll and Hyde The SOW focuses on reading skills including reading for meaning; understanding characters and motives; genre, themes, conventions and author's messages; language features and analysis; structural techniques and tension building; analytical writing scaffolding structures at sentence, paragraph and whole essay level. There are at least 9 weeks' worth of lessons covered, though it could easily be shrunk or extended to suit your students and the available time. I always aim to give you more than you could possibly need, so only select what is right for you.

A wonderful lesson. Probably my favourite one ever. The kids enjoy the sense of mystery and the energetic, kinaesthetic lesson but it is based very solidly in seeing progression from them. This has worked for me at every school, with every ability and every year group. It's rare I get to bring up one of my favourite poets, Slyvia Plath, before 6th form, so I wanted to make sure they fell in love with her too. This poem is to her unborn child. The picture is painted pretty clearly in the imagery, so this is the overall puzzle the children have to solve: Who is she talking to when she says "You're". (Before this lesson is a great time to have a you're/your homework or starter.) At sixth form or for top set year 11 the students can work it out on their own or in pairs, but I have usually set it as group work in tables of four. This poetry lesson is also to get them to recognise different types of imagery, be able to analyse quotations and spot patterns in the imagery, making connections across the text. There is a second lesson attached which goes into much more detail about writing analytical paragraphs giving examples of other students' work. This could very easily become a mini-essay even at year 7. There are a range of different activities to suit each type of learner, so simply select the slides which are best for your class. Enjoy!!

A baker's dozen of revision creative tasks and activities. Little to no preparation time needed. These are student-focused, varied for different abilities and to keep students engaged. These make the student work hard, not you. These would form either the main focus of a lesson or part of a carousel of activities which students tackle over the lesson. They could also be set as homework tasks with opportunity to feedback in the following lesson. These are revision tasks, so students should have already read the book and discussed the themes and issues.

A range of games and activities to make students work on their vocabulary. These work fantastically with any group from EAL KS3 to KS5. They can all be done independently, in pairs or in teams and most have a competitive element. I use these as starters in English lessons, but my school used to have a Literacy Form Time every Monday when we would play one of these. Most don't require any printing but can be adapted into a more physical resource if this suits your group. These always make fun and engaging links into creative writing lessons or literacy lessons. My students love them! I even caught some of my year 7s playing the Alphabet Game at lunch! I hope your students enjoy them just as much.

This sequence of lessons spanned about 10 weeks but these were the powerpoints I used to structure the first 6 lessons. After this, rehearsal took on a larger role. These 6 PowerPoints include starters relevant to the dramatic skills the students should practice, introductions and with clear objectives and activities to develop students’ abilities and play with the text. There are also plenaries beyond just comparing themselves to the objectives. I performed this version of the script (the pdf is included for your ease here. It is not my work but is freely available) with year 7 and it has more than enough drama with none of the swearing or racism. The lessons themselves have activities for a range of abilities and ages and would be easily adapted to any other text. They work on voice, showing status through body language, symbolism, memorizing lines, teamwork and characterization, among other topics. This play is for 14 students, so we had understudies for each part and they teamed up to work on characterisation (though some decided to perform in contrasting ways) . The narrators took on a character each, other itinerant travelers in our case, but we discussed making them cats or dogs, birds or even angels. Break a leg!!

FIVE different activities to help students refresh their memories of the characters, events and quotations from The Secret River. These could be spread out over several lessons or combined into a couple. Students should have their own copies of the books, but there is no specific need for them here. I would suggest using these in the first week of revision. They are enjoyable, engaging, team activities with a bit of something for every learning style. Some notes on using the resources: Answers are provided for all of the quizzes on the same PPT. Cut up the dominoes beforehand because they are currently in the correct order. The pictures are taken from the TV mini-series, but should be obvious even if the students haven't seen it. The only ones who seem a little nondescript are Dan and Ned. Enjoy!

This resource pack is aimed at helping students analyse the text in close detail for a passage question and to structure that kind of response, and at students who will tackle a whole-book essay question. There are some activities which focus on Grenville herself and the information is provided for students along with some active reading challenges. This background information then links into a lesson helping students develop an empathetic response and a question on where our sympathies as readers lie. It succinctly takes them through the steps of structuring sentences, paragraphs and the whole response. There are clear objectives for each task, breaking down the C grade descriptors and A grade descriptors and helping students push themselves to the next grade. Best of luck to all of you guiding students through iGCSEs! I'm sure they will be a credit to you!

Several lessons which help students recap on the characters and plot of Spies by Michael Frayn and then some engaging activities to help students think more deeply about the text. There are slides to help with paragraph structure to ensure students are getting the level of detail required for an A grade and to help them self- or peer-assess their essay writing. As well as this there are some quizzes on spying and on memory to link in with another essay topic (available online). Best of luck to all the iGCSE students out there and to those tackling Spies for A level! Well done to all the teachers too! I hope this saves you some time and energy!

An all-in-one poetry lesson on the poem For Heidi With the Blue Hair by Fleur Adcock. A fantastic poem for KS3 and 4, dealing with themes of teenage life: friendship, rules and rebellion at school, and bereavement as well as hair! It is simple enough for any class to understand and enjoy. The resource focuses largely on understanding the events of the poem and how the personas feel, but also asks a range of questions about language and structure and guides students through annotating the poem. There is a peer- or self-assessment checklist to help students gain higher grades and a message ranking activity at the end. This is a set text for the CIE Songs of Ourselves iGCSE English Literature. It's a lovely poem to study and students understand its relevance to them and their lives. Enjoy!

This all-in-one PowerPoint has everything you could need for an excellent lesson: just add YOU! I usually spend two lessons analysing the poem in some depth, but you could use this as a taster lesson for KS3 or 4 with great success as well. The activities are varied and include activities relevant to every student from EAL year 7s to KS4: just pick the ones that are right for your class. There is little to no preparation or photocopying required, but I have included some photocopiable activities which will add some extra kinaesthetic options. The lessons focus on the vocabulary, themes and background which lead students to an understanding of the poem. There are a range of outcomes and differentiated tasks to show clear progress. I have taught it in units of work on conflict, power and authority, poems about art and Egyptians. I hope you enjoy teaching this beautiful and thought-provoking poem.

Book the ICT room, print these two sheets, done!

A surprisingly light-hearted poem on the subject of loss and how we can "master" the art! The biographical information should help students make links between her personal life and this poem. One Art is one of the poems for study on the Cambridge International Exam iGCSE English Literature Spec. I will be uploading a lesson on every poem, so please subscribe if you want to see more. There is a biography of Elizabeth Bishop to read and then a presentation to guide students through their reading. There are starters, outcomes, activities and plenaries so this is a complete lesson. No prep needed: walk in, teach, walk out!