In this 51-slide PPT students address the skill of interpretation. The lesson begins with a DingBats Starter Activity designed to see how much of the traditional tale they already know (answers are given) and the class are introduced to two opposing opinions on Robin Hood’s existence (David Carpenter and Julian Luxford). Graduated lesson aims are introduced (all will/most will/some will) with the lesson’s Key Question. The class then work through 18 pieces of evidence in a card sort activity (there is a colour coded version for those who need extra help) and they place these into two columns: evidence which suggests Robin Hood was a real person and evidence which suggests he was a purely fictional character. They do not have to use all the information and can discriminate between evidence before attempting a piece of extended writing. The class then concludes with a voting plenary where they revisit the two earlier opinions and stand on the side of the classroom with which they mostly agree (there is some music to accompany this). Thanks for your interest in this lesson, which is written in UK English and designed for high achieving Key Stage 3 high school students. Wishing you a wonderful day.

This lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which students are invited to comment on an easy, medium or difficult question on a cartoon which sheds light on the position of Black Americans from slavery to the modern day. The lesson title and aims as well as graduated criteria (all will/most will/some will) are introduced and there are some teacher expo slides which explain the concept of significance. This invites students to explain their perspective on what makes someone or something important. The acronym GREAT is introduced (ground-breaking, remembered, importance at the time, affected the future, and turning point) and after a few intro slides on MLK himself, examples are given to aid discussion and understanding of these GREAT significance criteria as they relate specifically to Dr. King and his significance. This information is then used as the class begin their main activity (to make a digital, written, or visual model celebrating his importance.) The lesson concludes with a Design Your Own Question retrieval knowledge activity to check understanding. A consolidation homework task is included where students write an answer to the Key Question. I created this as a series of 3 lessons and its pitched at high achieving Key Stage 3 students for Martin Luther King Day. Because I am British the words are in UK-English. If you have any questions do let me know and I wish you a wonderful day. Dr. King is one of my heroes and I am proud that this lesson will impact on your students as well as mine.

This lesson begins with an Odd One Out starter activity designed to get students thinking about those who have given their lives for the Civil Rights movement. This activity then connects to the lesson title, and students are invited to read the graduated learning outcomes (all will/most will/some will). Following this, there is some background information provided for teacher exposition on Emmett. The main activity is then introduced: students work in small groups to sift through 12 pieces of evidence about his murder. As they do so, they write down their thoughts or inferences on the History mystery grid. There are 12 slides in which the teacher can run through each piece of evidence. By this point, students will have formulated a narrative of what happened and are invited to vote in the plenary. A written homework task is also included at the end of the PowerPoint. I hope your students get as much from this crucial history lesson as mine always do.

In this 44-slide PowerPoint presentation, the lesson commences with a “What’s Behind the Squares? - Starter Activity” introducing the class to the black power symbol given by Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the 200 meters final of the Mexico 1968 Olympics. Graduated lesson aims are provided, delineating objectives for all, most, and some students. Background information about the Black Panthers is presented to allow for teacher exposition. The main task entails a 24-piece hexagonal card sort where students categorize perceptions of the Panthers into positive and negative, making connections before assembling them into an essay map to guide extended written work on the Key Question. The lesson revisits its aims, concluding with students listening to Curtis Mayfield’s music about the Panthers before attempting a class vote based on the Key Question, weighing perspectives such as those of J. Edgar Hoover and Angela Davis. As interpretations may vary, this setup fosters robust debate. It is underscored that lessons about Civil Rights are crucially taught head-on but sensitively, with the hope that this resource facilitates such discussions in the classroom. The lesson is pitched at high achieving high school students and is written in UK English.

This lesson focuses on the historical skill of interpretation, and students are invited to consider two different opinions on Malcolm X: those of conservative analyst William F. Buckley (who calls him a “public menace”) and movie director Spike Lee (who calls him a “freedom fighter”). The lesson has graduated aims (all will/most will/some will), and students are quickly introduced to the Starter Activity. This activity involves two sources showing different opinions on Malcolm X: one is a mural in New York which shows him as a martyr, and the other is a letter written to the FBI complaining about him. They complete a Venn diagram on these two sources to begin conversations about why there should be such duality of opinions on this Civil Rights leader. Then, there is some background information on his early life to enable teacher exposition. The main task is then introduced, and the class divides 18 cards into positives and negatives to help them form an opinion. This then leads to written and verbal explanations before the class concludes with a voting plenary to answer the main question. All topics on Civil Rights must be taught sensitively and head-on, and I hope this resource helps you bring this important leader and his legacy to life in your classroom.

This lesson is a 40-slide PowerPoint presentation with graduated lesson aims (all will/most will/some will) and begins with some images and quotations to illustrate why bus segregation was such an important issue. The lesson then includes a “What’s Behind the Squares?” Starter Activity, which reveals two images: one of Rosa Parks on a bus in Louisiana and a photograph of an injured Freedom Rider. The main activity consists of an 18-piece card sort, in which students are invited to identify strategies, challenges, and impacts of both events (they’re colour coordinated), and then divide these into similarities or differences. Both were non-violent and led to desegregation, but there are also some key differences in terms of participants, scale of impact, and how they are remembered. The lesson concludes by referring back to the lesson aims and asks students to write a three-paragraph piece of work addressing the Key Question. I hope your students find it as useful as mine always do. I haven’t included any YouTube links because the links often expire, but there are many terrific documentary clips you can use. You may also wish to play the Joan Baez song “We Shall Overcome” during the plenary.

This 26-slide PowerPoint begins with a starter activity in which students listen to the folk song ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and fill in the blanks in a ‘Have I Got News For You’ style activity. They then discuss the meaning of the song. The lesson title and graduated aims (‘all will/most will/some will’) are then introduced. There are some background information slides about transportation to penal colonies for teacher exposition. This then leads to the main activity in which students pair up heads and tails cards in a card sort (the answers are provided so students can self or peer assess) before plotting them onto an emotional rollercoaster to determine the worst aspects of being convicted and sent to Botany Bay. The lesson aims are referred back to, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which students are asked to use the knowledge and understanding they have acquired to create a dialogue between the characters in a famous painting by Ford Madox Brown (‘The Last of England’). This lesson was created with a desirable difficulty level for high-achieving Key Stage 4 students in high school settings and is written in UK English.

This lesson is titled “What impact did women have on the Civil Rights movement?” This lesson begins with a What’s Behind the Squares Starter Activity which reveals a work of art entitled ‘The liberation of Aunt Jemima.’ It is an assemblage piece created by Betye Saar, a female artist, and features Black Power symbols. It introduces the class to the importance of the role women played in the Civil Rights movement. The PPT then explains the title of the lesson and aims and objectives are graduated into all will/most will/some will. There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. These include examples of women in terms of leadership, activism, media and communication, protest songs, grassroots work, legal cases, as well as inspiration for the future. Following this the class are told they will begin their main task which is to research one important woman and create a speech explaining their importance and impact to the class. They must include and analyse at least one source relating to them, and examples are provided. They are told to try to include 5 x people/places, 4 x dates/events, 3 x statistics, 2 x quotations, and 1 x opinion. The class peer assess using the template provided. The lesson concludes with a plenary in which they are invited to place a post-it note on a pentagon on the board – the more central they place their notes denotes how important they feel each groups’ person was. I hope your students get as much out of this important topic as mine always do. It has been designed for older high school students with good research skills but can be adapted to meet the needs of younger learners.

This lesson is titled “How similar and how different was the treatment of Conscientious Objectors in the First and Second World Wars?” The lesson begins with an Odd One Out Starter Activity which invites students to pick out Elvis Presley (the only one of the three who picked up arms to fight for his country). This then introduces the lesson’s Key Question/title and aims are given along with graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. The class are then allocated roles within teams and begin a Gallery Walk which they use to fill in their grids to show similarities and differences. After this they complete a piece of written work to answer the Key Question. Lesson objectives are revisited, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity where they are invited to come up to the board and to add a similarity or difference to one of the two categories (trash cans) given. Wishing you a terrific day.

This lesson is titled “Why did the Mughal Empire collapse?” The lesson begins with a Blankety Blank style Starter Activity in which students are invited to fill in the missing word. This then leads to the Key Question and the introduction of aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). After this there are slides of background information to enable teacher exposition. Students are then placed in groups of six and given a one slide fact file on either regional fragmentation, external invasions, European powers, internal problems, weak succession, or economic decline. Their jigsaw activity is to research their topic using the cards as well as internet/library to then return to their group as an expert and convince them of the importance of their single factor. After this they are asked to work together to complete a piece of writing to answer the Key Question. The lesson objectives are revisited, and the lesson concludes with a plenary activity in which students vote on the most convincing reason. This lesson has been designed for high school students. I hope yours get as much from it as much as mine do. Please be aware this lesson is pitched to students who have reasonable research skills. Wishing you a terrific day.

This is one of my most popular lesson activities. Students read detailed background knowledge before completing a hexagonal card sort to divide reasons up into belief systems, technology, geography and economics. Here students will make links between their factors to create a visual map which they can use for an extended piece of written analysis. I am especially proud of the level of precision and detail in the historical content here. The eighteen cards are broken down and color coordinated for differentiation purposes. I really hope you enjoy this activity and that your students get as much from it as mine do.

This forty six-page pack is the incredibly detailed and complete set of notes I have written for my students. It is basically an entire course on inter-war USA in one pack! Suitable for G.C.S.E, AP, A Level, and I.B. students. Notes are broken down into the following sections: What was the impact of the First World War on the USA? What were American attitudes towards immigrants? Prohibition: causes, events and consequences How did the US economy change? How did society and culture change? What was life like during the Great Depression and how did Herbert Hoover react? Why did FDR win the Nineteenth Thirty Two US election? How did Roosevelt’s New Deal change America? Who opposed the New Deal and why? I am confident you will love this resource because there is nothing on the Internet which I have found which offers the same level of breadth and detail on this topic. Your students will find the notes supremely useful and they will help them achieve examination success.

This activity includes twenty detailed cards which are shaded to show the political, social and economic impact of the Black Death. Students acquire exceptionally precise and carefully selected historical detail and learn about the impact on salaries, the creation of the British pub, and the growth of the perfume industry as well as the many negative aspects of the disease. Its one of the lessons my students really enjoy because they get the opportunity to question previously held assumptions which in turn gives their ability to argue a case greater texture and resonance. I really hope you enjoy this as much as I do - makes for a great debate preparation task as well as a precursor to an extended piece of assessed written analysis.

After reading through the background information students sift through the 21 evidence cards provided to create columns which show how skill, luck, mistakes, and technology explain the outcome of the Battle of Hastings. This is an ideal task to help scaffold student responses to a piece of extended written work or timed assessment. Cards are colour-coded for differentiation.

Students are given character cards, some pro and some anti dropping the bomb ranging from Einstein and Churchill to Hirihito and Stalin. In groups each side then works through 36 cards which are teeming with precisely selected historical detail, some of which support the dropping of the A-bomb and some of which argue against it. This activity prepares students exceptionally well for a debate about one of the most keenly argued historical topics - the dropping of the atomic bombs - and can also be used to help students structure an extended written response to this question. The cards are colour coded for students who require additional differentiation. This is one of my best lessons year on year and I hope it gets your students talking, evaluating, and arguing - especially in this nuclear world which we live in today.

This forty three-page pack is the incredibly detailed and complete set of notes I have written for my students. It is basically an entire course on Twentieth Century in one pack! Suitable for G.C.S.E, AP, A Level, and I.B. students. Notes are broken down into the following sections: What were the causes and events of the revolution? How was China ruled after the revolution? How significant was the May 4th movement? Why did Mao triumph? What changes did Mao make to the economy? What was life like in China under Mao? How successful were Deng’s reforms? Why were people killed on June 4? I am confident you will love this resource because there is nothing on the Internet which I have found which offers the same level of breadth and detail on this topic. Your students will find the notes supremely useful and they will help them achieve examination success.

I’ve designed this lesson as a History mystery to get your students to really engage with evidence handling and to think like Historians. I am confident that the level of detail and precision in my resources is much stronger than you will find elsewhere (because of the amount of pride I take in my own historical research). During this series of activities students read through background information before siphoning through 16 detailed evidence cards about Suffragette activity in the horse race known as the 1913 Epsom Derby. The class then complete a History mystery grid based on their findings. I hope you enjoy this lesson as much as my students do! It is an excellent lesson in helping students comb through evidence to form historical interpretations.

Over 200 revision flash cards based on key people and events from Weimar and Nazi Germany. Simply print, cut out, and fold. These took me forever to create but they are my number one ‘go to’ revision tool for my exam classes and have had wholly positive feedback. Also works extremely well as an end of unit activity whereby students can use the cards to create a visual mind-map / layout of the course. Give them to your students before exams to ensure their subject knowledge is spot on!

My students love playing this to introduce or recap subject knowledge. Simply cut out and laminate the forty-two dominoes and ask students to match the question up with the correct answer. I hope your students enjoy the activity as much as mine do. Works really well as a starter, plenary or stand-alone activity.

After reading through the background information students sift through the twenty four incredibly detailed evidence cards provided to create columns which show how power, politics and people explain the reasons Caesar was killed on the Ides of March. This is an ideal task to help scaffold student responses to a piece of extended written work or timed assessment. I hope your students enjoy this lesson as much as mine do!