Part of SOW on Crusades/ Frankish invasions and interpretations, inspired by Christine Counsell’s work on interpretations skills (“Uncovering the jewel of the KS3”, https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/categories/489/module/8723/secondary-workshop-resources-ha-conference-2014/9612/interpretations-of-history-uncovering-the-jewel-o) Designed to be completed online/ during lockdown, this lesson introduces students to the idea that accounts of history are interpretations - we choose what is and is not included in them. Students are asked to analyse two interpretations (paintings) suggesting quite different things about the conflict. Each painting was completed in a different time and for a different purpose and they return to these images later in the SoW. They are then asked to compare the accounts of events as presented in modern textbooks - Western and Arabic - noting which events are included and emphasised and how they are described. The final homework task is to construct their own account of events. (This last task could be adapted to include explicit judgements on significance, but as the focus of this SoW is on interpretations, I felt we didn’t need to add further complication! It is also something we discussed in feedback sessions - how did you decide what to include and what to leave out?) Note that the resources provided to help them to construct their accounts ARE biased towards the Western interpretation - something that can also be discussed in feedback (did they notice?). If you can find a more balanced or English-language accounts presenting a more Arabic interpretation that is manageable for Year 7s, please let me know! The lesson is preceded by two looking at how the Islamic Empire developed and whether it was a Golden Age. It has been designed for a class of students of high ability.

Lesson looks at events from independence movements in Baltic/ Eastern Europe and coup against Gorbachev to Yeltsin in power & declaration of end of USSR. Students are given engaging evidence to sort into chronological order and are then asked to analyse to identify key causes of communism’s collapse in the USSR. Final task is a Diamond 9 evaluation of the importance of these causes (with optional help provided in working out what the relevant causes are!) All resources are differentiated for higher and lower ability classes and suitable for use w all exam boards.

KS3 lesson comparing aspects of British and American Civil Rights Movements: similarities and differences between the Bristol Bus Boycott and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, leading to an essay judging the role of leaders in the success of each movement. Resources include accounts of both boycotts for student comparison and advice and sentence starters for essay provided.

Part of SOW on Crusades/ Frankish invasions and interpretations, inspired by Christine Counsell’s work on interpretations skills (“Uncovering the jewel of the KS3”, https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/categories/489/module/8723/secondary-workshop-resources-ha-conference-2014/9612/interpretations-of-history-uncovering-the-jewel-o) Designed to be completed online/ during lockdown, this lesson introduces students to the process of deconstructing an interpretation based on 1. what it is saying, 2. what aspects are factual, imagined or points of view and 3 what is the relationship between the interpretation and the available evidence. Students are asked to analyse an interpretation of Richard I to work out what it is saying about him and to compare the interpretation to available evidence. It does ask that they evaluate the accuracy of the interpretation and to redesign it, as part of a wider look at how and why interpretations are constructed - leading them in future lessons towards making some suggestions about why Richard might have been interpreted like this in the Victorian period. It has been designed for a class of students of high ability.

Knowledge organiser to help students analyse, causes, events and consequences of Boer Wars and to support making a judgement on the significance of Rhodes to the wars. An excellent summary/ revision activity and entirely self-contained! Print sheet on A3 for students.

Lesson targeting students’ difficulties with analysing tone and emphasis for source questions, using content on the Civil Rights Movement in America (Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael). Lesson was rated outstanding and received excellent feedback from student voice! Students analyse 2 speeches by CRM leaders in the 1960s. Starter activity is designed to emphasise the importance of tone: the 2 men are talking about the same thing but there is a BIG contrast in TONE (source material provided). Students view short clip from The Apprentice to practice analysing and evaluating tone. (Clip still works!) In small groups, students use worksheet with structured questions to move from describing tone (a list of adjectives provided to help) through to analysing and then evaluating it. Allows students to work at most appropriate level and benefit from understanding of others. Followed by class discussion of findings. Plenary: students view exemplar analysis and evaluation of one of the speeches and must explain what makes it such a good answer! NB As this was an observation lesson, there is extensive explanation and justification of activities in the notes section of the slides.

Khrushchev supposedly introduced a thaw in relations between the East and West. Students are asked to study evidence to make a judgement about how far the Soviet bloc and USSR actually experienced destalinisation in the early years of Khrushchev’s rule.

An engaging way to get students to review the events that contributed to Hitler becoming Fuhrer/establishing dictatorship in Germany, but also encourages students to consider what key powers were won at each point and to evaluate the most important cause. Essay question is AQA GCSE 9-1, but could be easily adapted for an alternate exam board. You can print out the board game onto A3 for groups of four students to play (I have 6 or 7 laminated and they can be pulled out when we get bored of other types of revision). It is essentially a snakes and ladders game, so you just need a few sets of dice (1 die per board) and some sort of counters (pieces of paper with students initials on them??). I have found that my students get quite competitive and often ask to play again. The only proviso is that I sometimes have to introduce a rule that your go is invalid if you don’t read out the history on the square you land on! Could also be used as a family activity during Covid lockdown?

Over two lessons, students are asked to develop their understanding of the links between events in the Cold War, as well as reviewing the main events (Origins, Crises, Detente: 1945-72) and evaluating relative importance. I have used this resource over and over with my classes, printing out the 3 sections on A3. I adapt their use depending on my focus - sometimes getting students to add detailed evidence, sometimes getting them to add a picture for each event as a mnemonic. (The activity laid out here focuses on spotting and explaining how the main events ink). I find breaking the story down into clear, managable chunks helps hem to “hold” it in their heads, making it easier then to see causes, consequences and changes. I have used and reused these resources!

Prohibition’s success or failure in 1920s America is evaluated through source-work. Students are asked to analyse a variety of differentiated sources to identify information that will help them make this judgement, but they are also challenged to take the provenance into account when deciding how far to trust the evidence that they have identified. The task is differentiated by outcome as students can choose which sources to analyse AND how challenging AND how many. Finally, students are asked to write a concluding paragraph in answer to the title question.

Lesson designed to develop skills in answering an importance/ significance question, reviewing the consequences and guiding through a 16 mark question (Unit 1, Section B). Differentiated ISM is designed to embed learning and demonstrate how image and humour can aid revision (and it’s a bit of fun). Detailed planning sheet and sentence starters support students to complete task.

A thorough break down for students (and staff!) of how to tackle each question type on this unit. Developed from the mark / exam feedback sheets we created with help from AQA, so you can be confident the guidance enables students to hit all assessment points. Includes where questions are similar across both sections, timings for each question and sentence starters for each question. Can also be used as a warm up before exams are attempted! Marking/ exam feedback sheets are also available for each section of each unit - have a look at my other resources and please do review!

A break thorough down for students (and staff!) of how to tackle each question type on this unit. Developed from the mark / exam feedback sheets we created with help from AQA, so you can be confident the guidance enables students to hit all assessment points. Includes where questions are similar across both sections, timings for each question and sentence starters for each question. Can also be used as a warm up before exams are attempted! Marking/ exam feedback sheets are also available for each section of each unit - have a look at my other resources and please do review!

Students analyse the aims tactics, supporters and achievements of key groups working for the civil rights of black Americans in the early 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Works as both a teaching and revision lesson. Differentiated group task builds to an evaluation of most successful group - according to what criteria?!

AQA 9-1 GCSE for 2019. A COMBINED assessment and feedback sheet that can be used to mark each question on this section ofthe exam. They saved our department HUGE amounts of time!! (it is literally a box-ticking exercise…) Assessment and feedback are made easy as each assessment level for each question is described in plain English for the teacher and student. You simply tick what the student has achieved - s/he can see at a glance what needs to be done next time to improve the grade. These descriptions were developed in association with the curriculum leader at AQA, and have been checked for accuracy, so you can feel confident that your colleagues and students are assessing themselves in line with exam board standards. They are up to date with the small changes to questions for 2019 and beyond. The mark sheets can be used to assess individual practice questions or an entire practice paper. They have been sized to print out on A4 paper. The spreadsheet will also calculate the student’s overall percentage and grade for you (you are welcome to adapt grade boundaries in the “Settings” tab). The file also contains detailed instructions for how to use the spreadsheet to generate multiple marksheets (so that, for example, you can have an electronic record of each student’s achievement on their mock), meaning you can be confident that even the most computer-illiterate can use.

AQA 9-1 GCSE for 2019. A COMBINED assessment and feedback sheet that can be used to mark each question on this section ofthe exam. They saved our department HUGE amounts of time!! (it is literally a box-ticking exercise…) Assessment and feedback are made easy as each assessment level for each question is described in plain English for the teacher and student. You simply tick what the student has achieved - s/he can see at a glance what needs to be done next time to improve the grade. These descriptions were developed in association with the curriculum leader at AQA, and have been checked for accuracy, so you can feel confident that your colleagues and students are assessing themselves in line with exam board standards. They are up to date with the small changes to questions for 2019 and beyond. The mark sheets can be used to assess individual practice questions or an entire practice paper. They have been sized to print out on A4 paper. The spreadsheet will also calculate the student’s overall percentage and grade for you (you are welcome to adapt grade boundaries in the “Settings” tab). The file also contains detailed instructions for how to use the spreadsheet to generate multiple marksheets (so that, for example, you can have an electronic record of each student’s achievement on their mock), meaning you can be confident that even the most computer-illiterate can use.

AQA 9-1 GCSE for 2019. A COMBINED assessment and feedback sheet that can be used to mark each question on this section ofthe exam. They saved our department HUGE amounts of time!! (it is literally a box-ticking exercise…) Assessment and feedback are made easy as each assessment level for each question is described in plain English for the teacher and student. You simply tick what the student has achieved - s/he can see at a glance what needs to be done next time to improve the grade. These descriptions were developed in association with the curriculum leader at AQA, and have been checked for accuracy, so you can feel confident that your colleagues and students are assessing themselves in line with exam board standards. They are up to date with the small changes to questions for 2019 and beyond. The mark sheets can be used to assess individual practice questions or an entire practice paper. They have been sized to print out on A4 paper. The spreadsheet will also calculate the student’s overall percentage and grade for you (you are welcome to adapt grade boundaries in the “Settings” tab). The file also contains detailed instructions for how to use the spreadsheet to generate multiple marksheets (so that, for example, you can have an electronic record of each student’s achievement on their mock), meaning you can be confident that even the most computer-illiterate can use.

AQA 9-1 GCSE. Developed with support from the curriculum leader at AQA and updated for 2019 changes. A mark sheet that can be used to mark each question on this section OR it can be printed out and used as a hard copy. They saved our department HUGE amounts of time!! Marking is made easy as each assessment level for each question is described for the teacher and student. You simply tick what the student has achieved. When I created these mark sheets, the curriculum leader at AQA was kind enough to review and give me feedback on the break down of skills at each level. This means they have been checked for accuracy, so you can feel confident that your colleagues and students are assessing themselves in line with exam board standards. The mark sheets can be used to assess individual practice questions or an entire practice paper. They have been sized to print out on A4 paper. The spreadsheet will also calculate the student’s overall percentage and grade for you (you are welcome to adapt grade boundaries in the “Settings” tab). The file also contains detailed instructions for how to use the spreadsheet, so you can be confident that even the most computer-illiterate can use.