I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
I am a History Teacher with a love for producing high quality and easily accessible history lessons, which I have accumulated and adapted for over 20 years of my teaching career. I appreciate just how time consuming teaching now is and the difficulty of constantly producing resources for an ever changing curriculum.
The aim of this lesson is to explore how historians find out about the past using historical sources.
Students are firstly questioned about how we can find out about Castles or Roman artefacts for example with usually some interesting replies.
They then have to study four historical sources with differentiated questioning to help decipher and discover their provenance.
There is an extended writing task to complete with their new found knowledge, with help and prompts given if required.
The resource is differentiated and gives suggested teaching strategies.
It comes in PowerPoint format which can be amended and changed to suit.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Elizabethan England, 1568-1603
The overarching aim of this and the subsequent bundle of lessons is to question and explore how Elizabeth tried to assert and establish her authority in the early years of her reign.
The lessons are therefore linked together to build up a picture of her difficulties in trying to overcome this.
This fourth lesson looks at the significance of marriage for Elizabeth and the subsequent problems it caused her throughout her reign.
There are retrieval practice activities to start the lesson including an odd one out task and ‘splatting’ the board to choose the correct answers.
Students are introduced to the criteria for why Elizabeth should marry and then check the criteria against the possible suitors, thus coming to a conclusion about the best candidate.
There is also a GCSE practice question to answer. There are sentence starters provided for differentiation and the lesson comes complete with fun activities and video footage.
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 Tudors
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the character and motives of Henry VII when he became King.
The lesson focuses on some crucial and important decision making for Henry VII upon his accession to the throne.
He has six decisions to make and students plot these on a grid giving their own judgements before finding out and evaluating how ruthless Henry was in charge.
The lesson hinges upon whether he was a Gangster or not (judged on the criteria at the beginning of the lesson) in an extended and differentiated written answer with a checklist for guidance.
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 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.
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 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
This 33 page Revision Guide is broken down into 3 main sections: Germany 1890-1918, the Weimar Republic 1918-1933, Nazi Dictatorship 1933-1945
This Revision Guide includes practice exam questions and gives examples and tips on how to answer each.
It will enable all learners to achieve the higher grades with clear guidance on how to achieve them. The questions target the main questions in the exam from interpretations and source analysis, cause and consequence, change and continuity, significance and evaluation.
The Guide also gives the students some useful mnemonics to remember some of the key details such as the Treaty of Versailles, problems in the Weimar, recover under Stresemann and Hitler’s consolidation of power for example.
The information is also broken down into an easy to use format to aid the students. The Guide can be used for revision, interleaving, home learning as well as class teaching. For home learning, each student taking GCSE History in my school has a copy assigned to them on the google drive and it is used frequently when using google classroom assignments, such as homework and revision for assessments.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and can be edited and changed to suit, It comes in both Word and PDF format.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated. Please email me for a free copy of any of my resources worth £3.00 if you do.
I have also made similar revision resources for AQA GCSE 9-1 include Britain: Health and the People c.1000 to the present day, Elizabethan England c,1568-1603, Conflict and Tension and Power and the People.
This is the complete bundle in a series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c.1000-present.
I have taught this course for more than 20 years now and have decided to completely overhaul my lessons to bring them up to date with the latest teaching and learning ideas I have picked up and with a focus on the new 9-1 GCSE.
Furthermore I have dispensed with learning objectives to focus on specific enquiry based questions which address skills required for the GCSE questions.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons are all differentiated and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades. They are also fully resourced and contain easy to print worksheets.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the periods studied from the impact of Hippocrates and Galen on medieval medicine to the new ideas of the Renaissance, the laissez-faire approach of preceding Governments through to modern day Government and the nanny state.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the development of ideas about disease as well as the causes and consequences of medical treatment throughout the ages
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example, surgery, Public Health and the introduction of the NHS whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the discovery and development of penicillin, the development of the welfare state and the influence of the seven factors in medicine.
The lessons are as follows:
L1 An introduction to the course
L2 Hippocrates and Galen
L3 The influence of the Christian Church
L4 Islamic Medicine (free resource)
L5 Doctors and surgeons in the Middle Ages
L6 Public Health in the Medieval towns
L7 The Black Death and the Plague
L8 Renaissance Medicine
L9 Medicine in the 17th and 18th Century (free resource)
L10 John Hunter
L11 Edward Jenner and smallpox
L12 Surgery in the 19th Century
L13 Florence Nightingale and hospitals
L14 Pasteur, Koch and Tyndall
L15 Public Health in the 19th Century
L16 Liberal Reforms
L17 Medicine and war (free resource)
L18 Magic Bullets and the Pharmaceutical Industry
L19 Penicillin
L20 The NHS
L21 How to answer the factor question
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing each unit is strongly recommended (L1-7, L8-15 and L16-21).
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
Unfortunately TES restrict bundles to 20 lessons and therefore please download Lesson 17 separately, which is a free resource.
This bundle is the complete series of lessons I have created for AQA GCSE 9-1 Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship.
As well as focusing on GCSE exam practice questions, the lessons apply the skills necessary to enable the students to achieve the highest grades.
The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the Wall Street Crash and the transformation by Hitler of the Nazis into an electable force.
They will study (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in the economic problems facing Germany and the causes and consequences of Hitler becoming Chancellor.
The analysis and evaluation of sources (AO3) are used in for example The Night of the Long Knives lessons whilst substantiated judgements are made (AO4) on the limited opposition in Nazi Germany and the conversion into a totalitarian state.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: Kaiser Wilhelm II (free resource)
L2 The Kaiser’s Government and Weltpolitik
L3 The impact of World War 1 on Germany (free resource)
L4 The Weimar Constitution and Political Parties
L5 The Treaty of Versailles
L6 Political Uprisings – the Spartacists and the Kapp Putsch (free resource)
L7 The Ruhr Crisis and Hyperinflation
L8 The Munich Beer Hall Putsch
L9 Super Stresemann
L10 The Golden Age of Stresemann
L11 The Wall Street Crash
L12 The rise of the Nazis and the transformation of the Nazi Party
L13 How did Hitler become Chancellor? (free resource)
L14 How did Hitler consolidate his power?
L15 The Night of the Long Knives
L16 The Nazi Police State
L17 The Nazis and the economy
L18The Hitler Youth
L19 The role of women in Nazi Germany
L20 The Nazis and the Churches
L21 Hitler’s hate list
L22 The Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht
L23 The Final Solution
L24 Opposition in Nazi Germany
L25 The German Home Front 1939-45 (free resource)
Please note that setting a full mock examination in class after completing each unit is strongly recommended.
All the examination resources and markschemes are subject to copyright but can easily be found on the AQA website.
Each resource gives suggested teaching strategies and are differentiated . They come in PDF and Powerpoint formats and can be amended and changed to suit.
Please note that due to Bundle restrictions of 20 lessons, the free resources (L1, L3, L6, L13, L25) need to be downloaded seperately.
Cold War
The aim of this lesson is to explore the moon landings 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 to be the first to put a man on the moon 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.
Edexcel GCSE 9-1 Medicine Through Time, c1250-present
These key individual flashcards aim to get the students thinking of key people and their significance in medicine.
I always find students have revised thoroughly for exams, but do not push their grades into the higher brackets as they focus on content rather than the individual’s impact and importance, particularly over time.
These flashcards are great when addressing the 12 mark ‘explain why’ question, particularly when arguing over rapid change.
There are 33 individuals listed, including those for the Historic Environment; The British sector of the Western Front.
Students can use them in class (I use them as starters and plenaries) or to take home and use for their own personal revision programme.
I also display them in the classroom (enlarged) and use when teaching this unit of study.
The resource comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91
The lesson aims to explore the importance of the Kennan and Novikov Telegrams.
The context of the Telegrams is given at the start of the lesson, with students using video footage to explain the consequences if the atomic bomb was used.
Students will also learn of the recommendations each of the foreign ministers proposed to their respective superiors and the importance of their advise.
There is also a home learning challenge which the students can answer a key question and self assess themselves using a model answer.
The plenary make use of an interactive connect four game, complete with differentiated questions.
The lesson is enquiry based with a key question using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout this and subsequent lessons to show the progress of learning.
The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as subsequently forming mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question.
The resource includes retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE question practice.
It also comes in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
World War I
The aim of this lesson is to question how much Britain valued its Empire soldiers in World War 1.
This subject is very topical at present as historians such as David Olusoga are putting cultural diversity at the forefront of our British history curriculum.
The starting point of the lesson is to analyse the story of Private Johnson Beharry, focusing on his background and the reasons why he was awarded a Victoria Cross, through source or video evidence.
Students will then link his story to World War 1, where they will learn how more V.C.’s were awarded to Empire soldiers than anyone else and discover which parts of the Empire contributed to the war effort and why.
There are case studies in the lesson focused on troops from the Punjab and the West Indies.
The main task students face is to judge how valued Empire soldiers were at the time and if not, how and why they were viewed differently. Ultimately they will need to clarify why this varied widely according to country and race.
They will also be required to write an extended answer using their own opinions, with argument words and scaffolding given if required.
There is a plethora of video evidence to accompany this lesson, with brilliant clips from the BBC and other sources.
Students will finally consolidate their learning by creating sentences from
‘fragments’ and a retrieval task.
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.
The resource includes suggested teaching strategies and differentiated materials, and comes in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Power and the People, c.1170 to the present day
This 33 page Revision Guide is broken down into four sections: challenging authority and feudalism, challenging royal authority, reform and reformers and equality and rights.
The Guide starts by explaining the 4 questions types asked in the exam and gives suggestions and tips on the easiest way to tackle these.
The Revision Guide gives over 20 typical exam questions asked on each topic (from significance, to how useful, to similarities and differences to factors) and how to put these questions into practise with model answers.
This Guide has been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow and can be adapted and changed to suit with PDF and Word formats supplied.
This Guide can be used for revision, interleaving, within the classroom as well for homework purposes.
Any reviews on this resource would be much appreciated.
AQA GCSE 9-1 Britain: Health and the People, c.1000 to present
This lesson aims to find out how significant Hippocrates and Galen were in the history of medicine.
With the GCSE significance question in mind, the focus is on how their ideas and treatments were developed and used in the short, medium and long terms.
Students find out, in depth, about the four humours for example and the use of opposites, with the acceptance of the Christian Church as well as how the emphasis on observation and professionalism still exists amongst doctors today.
There are links to video footage and learning tasks to suit all learning needs.
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.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to assess the reasons behind the fragility of the crown during the Fifteenth Century.
Students begin by using some source scholarship to analyse the weaknesses of the reign of Henry VI and the beginning of the Wars of the Roses between the Lancastrians and Yorkists.
They also have to decide whether it was the weaknesses of Henry VI, the nobles or lack of support for the monarchy which caused the Wars of the Roses.
The final task requires the students to fix a number of inaccurate statements and correct them from their learning during the lesson.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA A Level 1C The Tudors: England 1485-1603
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the character of Henry VII and to question how legitimate his claim to the throne really was.
The timeline of the houses and York and Lancaster are again analysed, as students are given more information of John of Gaunt’s line and the marriage to his third wife, Katherine Swynford.
Using extracts from two renowned historians, students study Henry’s character traits to build up more of a picture of what he was like as a person.
They are also introduced for the first time to some GCE exam question practice. This is their first attempt at a validity question.
Some guidance is given on how to approach this and a generic markscheme is supplied to allow feedback once completed.
The plenary uses picture prompts to recap on the learning from the lesson.
There is an enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to assess the state of the Republic by 1924 as a consequences of risings from the left and right.
As there is a lot of information in the lesson, students are given an overview of the learning in the lesson and what is covered.
Students begin by rating how serious six political uprisings were and be able to justify their choices.
They also have to summarise the reason why coalition governments made the Republic so weak, using information provided.
Case studies also focus on the Spartacist Uprising, the Munich Beer Hall Putsch and political assassinations.
This will enable students to tackle a source based question on the political instability of the Weimar Republic between 1919-24.
The lesson comes complete with a generic marksheme and question planning sheet.
The plenary is a find and fix task, recapping on learning from the lesson.
There is a enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
Germany 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the terms of the Treay of Versailles and its impact upon Weimar Germany.
From the start, students have to understand how difficult it was for the Allies (the Big Three) to decide how to treat Germany at the end of the war.
Moreover when they did eventually agree, how did it affect Germany and what were it terms?
The emphasis is also on how students can remember the terms of the treaty, especially with the land lost, complete with difficult spellings such as Schleswig-Holstein and Alsace-Lorraine.
Learning tasks include making notes from video evidence, creating a chatterbox, analysing sources, completing quizzes and filling in a ‘find someone who can’ worksheet (a brilliant idea from Aaron Wilkes).
The second part of the lesson focuses on GCSE exam practice using cartoon sources related to the Treaty as well as how to answer the first three source questions on the exam, with help on how to answer each.
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 GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to evaluate the problems for Ebert in the very early stages if the Weimar Republic.
Students begin at first by assessing the value of a speech given by Philip Scheidemann. This is an introduction to the source based question and using a COP technique, with help given if required.
They are then introduced to Friedrich Ebert and have to prioritise the biggest problems he faced as leader. Students are also introduced to the Ebert-Groener Pact. They are then given numerous scenarios of which they have to decide why he needed the help of the army and justify their choices.
Finally students have to decide which events posed a threat from the left or right wing. This culminates in the Spartacist rising from which they answer questions and predict the consequences for the Republic.
The plenary is a true or false task on the elections to the constituent Assembly.
There is a enquiry question posed at the start of the lesson and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning throughout the lesson and subsequent unit of work.
The lesson comes in PowerPoint format and can be changed and adapted to suit.
The lesson is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
AQA GCE A Level Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918-45
The aim of this lesson is to assess how much of a threat early opposition to the Nazis was.
From the off, students have to decide and give reasons why there would be political, worker, Church and youth opposition.
They then have to complete some source scholarship from an SS article, promoting total allegiance and devotion of the state.
The main task is to analyse the different forms of early opposition giving reasons for why and how resistance was shown, as well as the Nazis reaction to it
A headline plenary will aid the consolidation of learning from the lesson.
There is some source exam practice to complete if required, with help given together with a generic markscheme.
An enquiry question posed at the beginning of the lesson will be revisited throughout to track the progress of learning during the lesson and the subsequent unit of work.
The lesson is available in PowerPoint format and can be customised to suit specific needs.
It is differentiated and includes suggested teaching strategies.
These lessons have been written to deliver the unit for AQA GCSE 9-1 Conflict and Tension, 1918-39.
By the end of this unit, students will be able to understand the complex and diverse interests of different individuals and nation states in trying to preserve the peace and the setting up a League of Nations.
They will focus on the national self determination of states, the ideas of internationalism and the challenges of revising the Versailles Peace Settlement.
Students will also evaluate the causes of the Second World War, how it occurred and why it proved difficult to resolve the issues which led to its initiation.
They will also study the role of key individuals and groups in shaping change and how international relations were influenced and affected by them.
All the lessons come complete with suggested teaching strategies and differentiated learning tasks.
I have added many of the typical GCSE questions AQA have supplied, from source analysis, write an account, to the longer 16+4 mark questions. Markschemes and tips on how to answer the questions to achieve the higher level marks have also been included.
The lessons are as follows:
L1: Aims of the Peacemakers
L2: Compromise
L3: Terms of the Treaty of Versailles
L4: Satisfaction with the Treaty
L5: The Wider Peace Settlement (free resource)
L6: Introduction to the League of Nations
L7: The structure of the League of Nations
L8: The Commissions
L9: How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920’s?
L10: The decline of International Cooperation (free resource)
L11: The Manchurian Crisis
L12: The Abyssinian Crisis
L13: Was the League destined to fail?
L14: Hitler’s Aims
L15: Reactions to Hitler’s Foreign Policy
L16: The road to war and German rearmament
L17: Reoccupation of the Rhineland (free resource)
L18: The Anschluss
L19: The Sudeten Crisis
L20: The Nazi-Soviet Pact
L21: Why did World War II break out?
Lessons also include retrieval practice activities and come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
As TES restrict Bundle sizes to 20, Lesson 17 (Reoccupation of the Rhineland free lesson) will have to be downloaded seperately.
Any reviews would be gratefully received.
