I am a Secondary English Teacher on a mission - to produce the highest quality lessons I possibly can with the intention of saving precious time for teachers!
I am a Secondary English Teacher on a mission - to produce the highest quality lessons I possibly can with the intention of saving precious time for teachers!
This is a bundle of lessons covering award-winning documentaries BLACKFISH, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and SUPER SIZE ME.
PLUS - two worksheets - one on Aristotle's Means of Persuasion, and one that introduces students to begin working on their own persuasive campaign.
SUPER SIZE ME: Obesity is second only to smoking as the biggest killer in the United States. Morgan Spurlock's award-winning documentary highlights the dangers of fast food in a hilarious and shocking way.
-NOTE- This documentary is 'PG-13' rated in the US and '12' in the UK. Prior-viewing is advised. There are some brief incidents of bad language and some graphic footage of surgery, along with one conversation of a sexual nature (nothing visual; this is a discussion on Morgan's impeded 'performance' as a result of his diet.)
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE:The Columbine tragedy affected the world. It was the first in a wave of school shootings and people have fought to understand why and how it could have happened.
Michael Moore's award-winning documentary seeks to unearth the background to America's gun crimes and questions everything from causes to culpability.
-NOTE- This documentary is 'R' rated in the US and '15' in the UK. Prior-viewing is advised. There are some incidents of bad language and some graphic footage, but I strongly believe that the importance of this documentary outweighs any potential concerns.
BLACKFISH:This documentary explores SeaWorld's treatment of killer whales and interviews past and present employees and orca trainers. A hard-hitting look at the treatment of animals in captivity, this documentary is a perfect way to introduce students to the rules of rhetoric.
This is a four-sheet organiser for the main characters in William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
It includes space for:
Ralph
Piggy
Simon
Jack
The Twins
Roger
The Lord of the Flies
Beast.
It asks students to fill in any physical descriptions, inner desires and important traits of the characters. It is an excellent resource to use alongside reading and to make students accountable for their own notes while still giving them some structure.
A whole lesson analysing the poem 'War Photographer' by Carole Satyamurti from the Edexcel Conflict Cluster (9-1 GCSE)
Includes language analysis, vocab, context and questions.
A whole lesson analysing the poem 'The Destruction of Sennacherib' by Lord Byron from the Edexcel Conflict Cluster (1-9 GCSE)
Includes language analysis, vocab, context and questions.
A whole lesson analysing the poem 'What Were They Like' by Denise Levertov from the Edexcel Conflict Cluster (1-9 GCSE)
Includes language analysis, vocab, context and questions.
This is a homework menu for Lord of the Flies - containing a huge range of tasks and activities with a points value attached to each.
I usually assign a number of points that the students must achieve across the unit and collect in one piece per week.
Welcome to Word Birds, a weekly lesson and resources to build higher-level vocabulary in your Year 10 students.
These weekly lessons include the following:
• a single word plus definition as a PDF designed to be printed as a poster and displayed in your room
• a PowerPoint slide to accompany the poster, with an example of how to use the word in a sentence
• 6 entertaining task cards to get your students using the word in a variety of ways including my trademark comic strip!
• a Word Bird helpsheet explaining the differences between verbs, adjectives, nouns and adverbs.
• a record sheet to go in student exercise books to help them keep track of the words they have learnt.
Most school years run for 38 weeks, but I’ve included 40 words in case you don’t fancy using any of them or you want to use them on other occasions too.
Package includes:
40 slides PowerPoint
40-page PDF of words plus definitions for student handouts or posters
6 mini task cards
1 record sheet
1 help sheet to be used as a student handout.
ALL RESOURCES ARE INCLUDED WITH US AND UK SPELLINGS.
Obesity is second only to smoking as the biggest killer in the United States. Morgan Spurlock's award-winning documentary highlights the dangers of fast food in a hilarious and shocking way.
This two-page worksheet is a comprehensive way to ensure that students are watching the 'Super Size Me' documentary with purpose.
This information can then be used for informative or persuasive writing outcomes - my students generate an awareness campaign for other teenagers.
Entirely print and go - no preparation needed!
-NOTE- This documentary is 'PG-13' rated in the US and '12' in the UK. Prior-viewing is advised. There are some brief incidents of bad language and some graphic footage of surgery, along with one conversation of a sexual nature (nothing visual; this is a discussion on Morgan's impeded 'performance' as a result of his diet.)
This resource is to support Science Fiction, Horror and Dystopian fiction lessons.
It is packed with writing prompts, research tasks and creative projects.
I ask students to gain 35 points across a half term, handing in one piece of homework per week.
These flexible choice homework menus allow students to take control of their own learning and pursue their own interests.
This resource is my own version of the Edexcel 9-1 English Language Paper 2.
I made a series of practice papers to help my own students as there aren't any past papers yet and only a handful of samples.
I've followed their style very carefully and included a detailed mark scheme to help you assess.
The topic of this paper is 'education' and includes two non-fiction articles on the theme.
The whole paper is prepped and ready to print so you simply need to run off enough copies for your class.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!
TWITTER ISSUES - Correct the Spelling and Grammar of Celebrities!
This great starter activity includes 25 grammatically incorrect tweets from famous celebrities. Pop one on the board and get your students to correct them!
A mixture of spelling and grammar issues #Twissues on one fun PPT.
I made this into a TuesdayTwissue activity and the kids LOVE it!
This could also be used in any subject area for Literacy across the curriculum.
Welcome to Word Birds, a weekly lesson and resources to build higher-level vocabulary in your Year 7 students.
These weekly lessons include the following:
• a single word plus definition as a PDF designed to be printed as a poster and displayed in your room
• a PowerPoint slide to accompany the poster, with an example of how to use the word in a sentence
• 6 entertaining task cards to get your students using the word in a variety of ways including my trademark comic strip!
• a Word Bird helpsheet explaining the differences between verbs, adjectives, nouns and adverbs.
• a record sheet to go in student exercise books to help them keep track of the words they have learnt.
Most school years run for 38 weeks, but I’ve included 40 words in case you don’t fancy using any of them or you want to use them on other occasions too.
Package includes:
40 slide in PowerPoint in British English
40-page PDF of words plus definitions for student handouts or posters
6 mini task cards
1 record sheet
1 help sheet to be used as a student handout.
NOTE: This set will be followed with Word Birds for years 8-12 shortly, along with a complete bundle of all six sets!
This product is for personal and classroom use. It is NOT for resale or any other commercial purposes.
This pack is full of resources to help you streamline your marking and assessment, and to make your students work harder in response!
If you're a teacher from the UK you'll know the OFSTED legend around response to marking. Even though it's not now a requirement, I've seen massive improvements and progress on work that has been DIRTed!
DIRT stands for Directed Improvement and Reflection Time. This is a time specifically for students to improve the work that you have marked - then and there. No more comments like, "Sorry Miss, I'll do it next time!"
This includes a time-saving key that you can edit to suit your requirements. You simply write the number of the task you want them to complete on their work, and they can reference the key in their books to find out what to do.
It also includes full instructions, including helpful links, sample marking and assessment, help sheets for capital letters and 'there, their, they're' and a PowerPoint for you to display during DIRT time.
This process has saved me masses of time while making my marking more worthwhile and getting far more progress out of the kids.
I hope you find it as useful as I do!
This is a homework menu that may help students with researching poems surrounding the Conflict cluster as part of the Edexcel exam board, and giving some creative choices for further study.
This is a fun and exciting review game for Macbeth which comprises of 50 character clues.
Instructions for play:
Stick the character names to the wall or board.
Split the class into teams (two works best, but you can rotate players if you need more) and have them nominate a ‘swatter’ to begin. You will need something they can use to hit the character answer – a flyswat or paper plate works well.
As you read out each clue, the players race to find the correct character name on the board and be the first to hit it.
This works wonderfully for an end of study review, or for revision before an exam. I hope it brings as much enthusiasm to your classroom as it does to mine – happy playing!
This lesson is part of an Imaginative Writing Scheme of Work focused on Science-Fiction and Dystopian short stories.
This lesson guides students through a reading of Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Brazilian Cat'. There is a character study and focused questions. This is also an excellent example of a 19th Century text to prepare students for the GCSE requirement.
PLEASE NOTE:
You will need to download my FREE short story anthology for use with this lesson.
As English teachers, one of the most challenging tasks is ensuring that students see the relevance of Shakespeare's work. I LOVE Shakespeare with every fragment of my heart, and I spend an inordinate amount of time developing resources to make my kids feel the same way!
This worksheet is a psychoanalysis of Lady Macbeth. A modern interpretation could view her as suffering from mental health issues - have your students analyse her actions and 'diagnose' her potential illness.
This can open up debate about the human nature of Shakespeare's work and also a wider conversation about mental health; a tricky but necessary topic to cover in your classroom.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this resource and that it buys you a little breathing space!