The British Empire This lesson focuses on the role Gandhi played in achieving Indian independence from Britain which ultimately cost him his life. The first part of the lesson looks at why the Indian population were unhappy with British rule, from the Indian Mutiny of 1857, events happening abroad to the Rowlatt Act culminating in the Amritsar Massacre. They are then introduced to Gandhi, his philosophy of passive resistance (or as he called it satyagraha) and why he set up his Independent Congress Party. This is accompanied with some excellent video footage from the BBC as well as clips from the film ‘Gandhi’ by Sir Richard Attenborough. The second part of the lesson centers around his life and by analysing various sources from which they complete either a table or grid; students then have to decide how big a part Gandhi played in many events leading to Independence and his lasting legacy for India in 1947. The lesson comes with retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching and learning strategies, differentiated materials and is linked to the latest historical interpretations, video clips and debate. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The lesson is fully adaptable in PowerPoint format and can be changed to suit.

The Holocaust The aims of this lesson are to explain how the extermination camps were liberated such as Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen by horrified allied soldiers whose shock quickly turned to anger. Students are placed in the liberators shoes and have to decide how they would react, from cleaning up, to taking pictures and leaving things untouched to of course more violent extremes. There is some excellent video footage to accompany the lesson, but please again treat with caution and care. The second part of the lesson is a case study of Herta Bothe, a German camp guard who was convicted of war crimes by a British military tribunal. Students are given certain facts about her and have to decide if the sentence was justified or whether as in the previous lesson she was an unfortunate victim of circumstance and just an ordinary woman completing the job required of her. The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons in the bundle is to ask who was to blame for the holocaust? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how difficult it is to blame a single individual or event for this catastrophe. The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.

Cold War The aim of this extended lesson on the Vietnam War is to analyse its significance in the Cold War and the ideology of the Domino Theory. The lesson will analyse its dubious beginnings and inception to the types of weapons used such as Agent Orange, the war crimes which followed at My Lai and the ensuing lack of support at home as well as the consequences for the civilian population of Vietnam. So why did America fail to win this war despite overwhelming manpower, control of the air and sea and the most modern military weapons available at the time? As a starting point, students focus on Paul Hardcastle’s 19 song and his reasons for writing it and analyse the photograph of Kim Phúc before examining the details surrounding the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. They are given a number of differentiated tasks to analyse both American and Vietcong tactics to win the war (using printable worksheets) and the horrors surrounding search and destroy and the My Lai massacre, the tunnelling system as well as the use of napalm and agent orange. At the end they will prioritise the reasons for Vietcong success and American failure and how this war played its key part in the Cold War. The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives during the Cold War? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age. The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.

AQA GCSE Britain: Health and the People, C.1000AD to present With revision constantly in full swing, I have started to make these revision workbooks which my Year 11 students love (as an alternative to death by PowerPoint). We pick certain sections (as part of a revision programme) to revise and come up with model answers and discuss the best way to tackle each question in the best way, considering exam time constraints. I print out the sheets in A5, which the students stick in their books and use to colour code Students answer the questions next to or underneath the sheets. They can also be used for homework or interleaving. The resource comes in Word format if there is a need to change or adapt.

Cold War The aim of this lesson is to analyse the moon landings during the Cold War and the subsequent conspiracy theories which suggest it was faked and not real at all. Students have to decide why it was so important for the USA and NASA to be the first to put a man on the moon with Apollo 11 and prioritise their reasoning using their knowledge of the Cold War. They analyse footage from the time and are introduced to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to emphasise this audacious achievement in 1969. However they also analyse sources from the time and different interpretations making their own sustained judgements as to whether the moon landings were fake or fiction. They finish with writing an extended piece on the evidence they have selected and are given some argument words to help if required. The plenary required them to judge if further facts are fake or authentic news. The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives during the Cold War? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age. The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.

The Holocaust The aims of this lesson are to explain who was put on trial at Nuremberg, the crimes they were charged with and their category of criminality ranging from major offenders to followers. Students begin by learning about Denazification and how this was implemented immediately after the war, before Cold War tensions took over. They also learn why Nuremberg was chosen as the place for the trials. The main task requires them to analyse up to 8 individuals and how they ‘conducted’ themselves during World War II. Students then have to decide which of the four war crimes they committed and which category of prisoner they would come under. They also have to judge whether their sentences would be death by shooting, hanging or a prison sentence. The verdicts are given later in the Powerpoint so students can check and compare their answers. There is an accompanying video task which looks at Nuremberg 75 years on, with some brilliant footage of holocaust survivors and the son of Hans Frank, the Butcher of Poland. The central enquiry of this and the other lessons in the bundle is to ask who was to blame for the holocaust? Students map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how difficult it is to blame a single individual or event for this catastrophe. The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.

Cold War The aims of this lesson are to explain what the Cold War was in post war Europe and how it developed between the two existing Superpowers in 1945. The USA and the USSR had different ideologies and students will learn the differences between Capitalism and Communism. Furthermore, despite cordial relations at the three meetings held before the end of the war at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam, suspicions were soon aroused. Students will analyse the preceding decisions made about the divisions of Germany and Berlin and make informed judgements as to why these suspicions developed especiallu after Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech. The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around a lightbulb) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age. The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.

AQA GCSE Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 What did Hitler want for Germany when he came to power and what were Hitler’s aims? This lesson is a key component to understanding and analysing the causes of World War II. Students are introduced to Hitler’s foreign policy and decide which were his six main aims for Germany. They also have to link these aims back to the Treaty of Versailles and decide what Hitler’s intentions were from the start. There is a chance to complete a literacy challenge at the end as well as answering a GCSE source question with some guidance given if required. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, some retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to analyse why the Elizabethan Poor Law was introduced and to assess its impact on Elizabethan and Tudor society. Students first of all have to analyse the causes of poverty and prioritise which has been the main reason for its increase whether that be the actions of local landowners and Henry VIII in his break with Rome or the debasement of the coinage. They are also required to write to the local landowner, using suggested key argument words, to express their sympathy for the poor, which was in sort supply in the Elizabethan era. As well as source analysis, students learn the so called tricks of the trade for begging and how Tudor propaganda shaped these negative views of the poor. Students subsequently have to assess the details of the new Elizabethan Poor Law, the reasons for a change in attitude towards the poor and assess its significance and impact upon society as a whole. The final task is to talk like an historian and answer the questions in a quiz picking up points for the harder questions. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the role the Black Tudors played in Tudor society. Students are given the context of the Tudor times, where they use some source scholarship and questioning to decide how and why Black Tudors came to Britain. Students then have to ascertain which roles and forms of employment they had using a dual coding activity to decipher them. There are video links included as well as a thinking quilt, which is designed to challenge concepts and judge the value and importance of their impact upon Tudor England. The main task is some research which requires students to analyse five Black Tudors in some differentiated Case Studies. The plenary concludes by checking what they have learnt in the lesson using an odd one out activity or by linking symbols and images used throughout the lesson. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is for the students to understand the causes and prioritise the reasons for the failure of the Spanish Armada. As the students are posed with the question, ‘Why did the Spanish eat rope?’, they make up an explosive cocktail to understand the main causes of the invasion. As the story unravels as to the failures of the Spanish invasion fleet, students have to analyse and prioritise which were the main reasons for English success, against Spanish superiority in numbers and firepower. The plenary requires students to evaluate the Blob bridge and explain which blob represents the best fit in this story, from an English sailor, the Spanish public right up to Queen Elizabeth and King Philip. The lesson is differentiated and includes video evidence as well as an interactive diagram plotting the route of the Armada. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

This is the first in a series of lessons I have created on the Tudors. This lesson is broken down into two parts. The first part describes and explains the events surrounding the Wars of the Roses. Students learn about the Kings involved and the battles fought through fun tasks, video evidence and role play of which they have to make choices on the victors. With this new found knowledge they have to explain what they have learnt through a ‘talk like an historian’ quiz. The second part of the lesson focuses on the previous Tudor perceptions of Richard III. Was he really a deceitful and cunning person, ‘a lump of foul deformity’ with a hunchback according to Shakespeare, More and Virgil? Archaeological evidence from King Richard’s remains is analysed by the students to prove or disprove some of these popular ‘misconceptions’ about his posture and character. Students are then challenged to write to the current Education Secretary to make sure correct history lessons are now taught about Richard III in secondary schools. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. This lesson is fully resourced includes suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The Industrial Revolution The aim of this lesson is to question how effective Victorian justice was. This is an interesting and engaging lesson for students as they decide who was a criminal (from their looks), which were the most common crimes in the early 1800’s and what you could expect at a public hanging though some source analysis. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to answer the following questions: Why was it so easy to commit crime in the Victorian period in the early nineteenth century and if you were unfortunate to get caught what could you expect from Victorian justice? What was the Bloody Code and why was the law so harsh to offenders irrespective in some cases of sex or age? There are also three case studies to unpick and students are left questioning the morality and effectiveness of the punishments inflicted. Please note that the reform of the criminal justice system is dealt with in other lessons such as the Victorian prison system and the setting up of the Metropolitan Police force by Sir Robert Peel and the abolition of the Bloody Code. There are a choice of plenaries from hangman to bingo and heart, head, bag, bin which get the students to prioritise the most ‘effective’ methods used to deal with crime. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.

This lesson aims to question the importance of Edward VI and his priorities when he became a Tudor King. Recent research has claimed Edward was not a sickly boy at all and therefore this is not the emphasis of the lesson. Instead students have to think about the importance of religion and the changes he made, even to the extent of altering the Tudor succession. The lesson starts with a play your cards right game, the cards turning and the dates revealed as students are tested on their chronological understanding. In true world cup fashion, they have to narrow down his fixtures culminating in a final and winning priority. This lesson challenges students using numbers, a true or false quiz, source work as well as video evidence to give the students a thorough knowledge of his six year reign. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The aim of this lesson is to decide if Winston Churchill deserves the title as the ‘Greatest Briton’? When the BBC conducted a poll entitled ‘Who is the Greatest Briton?’ Winston Churchill came out on top, besting some strong competition. This lesson therefore challenges this assumption and evaluates the four areas the BBC cites as his fortitude; for being the greatest British Gentleman, for inspiring the nation, for symbolising the spirit and strength of Britain and for his comforting speeches. The evidence for this task is through radio broadcasts, video footage and source analysis (using a battery rating) from which students will conclude and either concur or not with the poll. A splat the bubble plenary will test their new assumptions. This lesson is ideal as preparation for GCSE if you are embedding source skills or teaching the interwar years or the Second World War at Key stage 4. It is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade KS3 The aim of this lesson is to analyse the conditions, impact and human cost of the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage and its horrendous journey for the slaves is shown in this lesson through video, audio and source based evidence. Students analyse historical interpretations of how the slaves were crammed together and the treatments they endured. They then have to catalogue these conditions in a grid before trying to persuade a film director, who is making a film on slavery, that he is being misled about the journey. The advise the director is being given is from a slave ship owner, Captain Thomas Tobin. Some differentiated key questions check their understanding through the lesson. Students finally have to prioritise the worst conditions the slaves faced and justify their choices in an extension activity. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

Cold War The aim of this lesson is to explain how Germany was divided post 1945, as agreed at the Potsdam Conference and analyse the subsequent Berlin blockade and airlift which followed. Students learn the intentions of both the USA and USSR and how this played out in the Cold War theatre of Europe. This is a great opportunity for students to be creative as they plot the preceding events on an airport landing strip, using symbols and signs found in every international airport. They will track the obstacles thrown up by Stalin and the immediate problems this caused in Berlin as he attempted to prevent any further western moves in Germany and with his aim of starving the West Berliners into submission. Therefore this is intended to be a fun, challenging and engaging lesson to suit all abilities. The central enquiry of this and subsequent lessons is to ask why did civilians fear for their lives? Students will map out their ideas each lesson (which can be plotted in different colours or dates to show the progress of their learning and centred around the key question) and build up a picture of how these and different countries in the world responded and acted in this new nuclear age. The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change and is differentiated. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson.

The aim of this lesson is to explore how and why the D-Day landings were a success during the Second World War. Students are given the details about the Atlantic Wall and learn how Hitler’s attempts to design and build it ultimately led to its flaws and weakness in repelling the Allied forces in June 1944. Furthermore, students have to decide which landing site would be more advantageous to the Allies, the port of Calais or the beaches of Normandy. They also analyse the various ingenious inventions of the Allies from the Mulberry Harbours to the underwater PLUTO pipeline. There are some excellent visual sources to accompany the lesson and well as video footage from the BBC. The resource includes retrieval practice activities, suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning.

**AQA GCSE Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship ** The aim of this lesson is to examine the role of the Churches in Nazi Germany and to decide how much control Hitler exerted over them. The lesson starts by studying Christianity in Germany and explains why there was a conflict of interest with the State. Nazi policies to both the Catholic and Protestant Churches are analysed as students have to interpret the threats they both posed to Hitler who wanted to control them. Furthermore students have to distinguish the differences between the Christian Churches and the new Nazi Reich Church. There are some excellent links to video footage which explain why there was such a lack of opposition and a united front from the Churches, despite such fortitude and resolve from Cardinal Galen and Martin Niemoller. A thinking quilt poses some enquiry and GCSE questions, which students have to answer by linking specific key words to them. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited to show the progress of learning. The resource includes suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.

AQA GCSE Britain: Health and the People, c1000 to present The aim of this lesson is to determine how much of an impact the Renaissance had on Medicine. Students study and analyse key figures such as Andreas Vesalius, Ambroise Pare and William Harvey with their individual specialisms and contributions at the time of the Medical Renaissance. They then have to decide who has made the most important contribution to medicine and justify their decisions thinking about short, medium and long term significance. Opposition to all three is evaluated as students decide who was being criticised and why. There is a brilliant video link to BBC teach as well as learning activities to check understanding. The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited at the end to show the progress of learning. The resource comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change. I have also included suggested teaching strategies to deliver the lesson and there are differentiated materials included.