Based on information in the AQA Text book, these 6 slides designed to lead to discussion, either as a new story has been read, or as revision once the whole collection has been studied. This is a useful way of helping students discuss alternative interpretations

The aim of this series of starters is to show students that they do possess the skills required for the course; also, that the skills required for the non-fiction media paper is the same as for the literature paper and visa versa. There is also a quick test to see if they can evaluate the effect of design or structural features.

A starter with images and quotes from the poem to engage initial interest.

In this writing lesson, students exercise both their close reading of fiction - learning from published authors - and writing creatively ‘to demonstrate their narrative and descriptive skills in response to a written prompt, scenario or visual image’, which is the requirement for AQA's new English Paper 1 Section B creative writing question. Whether you're preparing KS3 students for what will be required at GCSE , or revising skills with KS4, these tasks focus on writing for effect and noticing how published writers have done so, which can only promote improvement.

Kids love playing teacher and in this exercise they get to 'mark' Clarence P. Clapp's spelling. The answers are on the second page and can be projected or handed to a group or table to check their marking. If you can, let pupils mark in red pen to add to the game. This work is aimed at weaker KS3 students, but should also suit KS2. 'The Boy who Swam with Piranhas' is written by David Almond, published by Walker Books and is illustrated, so ideal for reluctant readers. As an extra challenge, project a letter table containing a 9-letter word from the task. students should find the 9letter word as well as 4-or more letter words using the letters. Answers are on slide 2.

This 'trial' exam paper is based on the AQA specimen paper for the 2015 Spec to be examined in 2017. The tasks are different, but the style is similar, so this work sheet can be used as exercises with current KS3s to familiarise them with the type of task, or as revision with KS4 in the future. The PP starter gives them a strategy when faced with a similar exam paper and some extracts to inspire their writing. On the last slide an extra click of the mouse [when they've had time to try] reveals the answers.

This resource covers two lessons or a lesson and a homework for Chap.3 and . I set the Chapter 3 questions as homework and went over the answers on the PP in class and ended with the newspaper article, but the lesson could as easily begin with the questions and the newspaper article set as homework. Handout sheet 1 has the differentiated questions for homework or independent class work, including a word game for those who enjoy them. The second handout sheet is to help weaker students with the newspaper article. Time taken going over the answers and explaining them will be well spent as even the basic retrieval questions require some thought. Help the students notice how the author gives the reader a lot of information, some of which will be vital clues to future events, but ensures that it is not boring even though very little actually happens. With the newspaper article, emphasise that the factual information comes first, the 'story' is there for those who are interested in more information. Chapter 4's lesson is covered by a PP and focuses chiefly on Sig's character. A word document worksheet allows for 2 levels of help with the task.

This quiz is foremost about remembering key quotes by remembering the covered word. Students discuss the relevance of the quote and what points it could evidence as well as which story it belongs to. In this way it could be used as a starter. To build on this, students could create their own quote quiz, perhaps working in groups and focusing on a particular story. An alternative strategy is to give students the fill-in sheet to do first, in pairs or groups, thus making the feedback ‘quiz’ session livelier (recommended with a weaker group). If there isn’t time for students to make their own quizzes as a plenary, they can at least find one more quote to share with the class. Having a filled in sheet (corrected) gives students handy notes for revision. However, don’t despair if paper use / printing/copying is limited: so that each student can be given a different slide [or slides] to prepare, the page is arranged to make cutting it into strips do-able.

This short novel is riveting, so ideal for a boy-heavy class or those not too keep on reading. The lesson begins with a true or false starter dressed up as 'Would I Lie to You': depending on the group you could invite students to come up with their own facts, perhaps researched for homework and present them with more spin, or divide the group into two opposing teams. These facts are chosen for their general relevance to the story. The next phase is looking at the opening of the novel to notice how succinctly so much is said - a good exercise in inference. The PP takes students through the thinking process and the handout sheet enables them to annotate the text without re-writing the sentences. The lesson ends with a writing exercise in which they try to emulate Sedgwick's concentrated writing in 75 words. These extracts could also be used to supplement a unit on 'survival', or a focus on reading: 'how does the writer use language to...'

This is an exciting novel, especially for boys: short enough for reluctant readers to give it a chance and gripping enough for all readers to be engaged. The PP covering chapter 5 begins with a focus on the structure of the novel, introducing the term 'generating circumstance' and then structure at sentence level. Chapter 6 begins with a deceptively simple test: True or False to test recall and a] or b] to test understanding of imagery. The answers are on the Chapter 6 PP to enable peer assessment. For more able students there is an enrichment question on juxtaposition in imagery - expect a PEEL paragraph to the effect that contrasting God and the Devil, stroking and hammering emphasises how evil the man looks - and turns out to be .

This 'recreative' lesson prepares students in KS3 and KS4 for writing based on another creative text. Particularly useful for section B of the new [2015 for 2017]AQA English paper 1, where students have to write 'their own creative text, inspired by the topic that they have responded to in section A to demonstrate their narrative and descriptive skills in response to a written prompt, scenario or visual image'. In this case it is a poem, 'Down the Laundrette' , and they are given a range of writing options, culminating in peer assessment. 'Down at the Launderette' is from Hiding Out by Irene Rawnsley (Smith|Doorstop Books, 1996) and is used with the publisher's permission. Top Tip: when checking peer assessed work, give rewards not only for good work, but perceptive peer comments; that way you keep students taking peer assessment seriously and raise the standard of response- the last slide suggests the type of comment looked for.

The PP contains the lesson, which focuses reading: by practising finding apt quotes; inferring and deducing; and writing about reading by analysing key words. Slide one presents a starter question which partners can discuss briefly. This gives students a POINT. Subsequent questioning leads them to EVIDENCE and EXPLORE/ANALYSE and there are slides with possible answers to allow for self- or peer assessment. The lesson ends with a SPaG plenary on the use of quotation marks. There is also a differentiated handout, one page giving a condensed lesson for weak or visually impaired students - could work with TA outside the classroom [give the TA a slide handout for reference]- and another for slow workers who need to be given a copy of the quote rather than write it out.

We all know it is no revision at all to tell students to write loads of past papers in timed conditions – only a few would do it. These tasks lend themselves specifically to the revision of essay questions of any topic or content subject [R.E., Biology; English; History; Geography...] and all you have to do by way of preparation is apply the tasks to the specifics of your subject, particularly your exam board and provide some guidance as to where students can find information, whether that’s in the text book, online or reference books. Your exam board’s website should be able to provide you with sample questions, mark schemes and sample answers. Before using these tasks you will need to prepare the material, but chances are you’ll have it to hand anyway as it is what you’d be revising: this resource helps you approach it in a different way and gets the students actively involved in their revision. On the task prompt sheet is a ‘You will need’ list to help you prepare. Slide one has 6 images – choose any icon to click on in a way that engages the class [throw a di, ask a question, choose a quiet student to make the choice]. A hyperlink will take you straight to the relevant slide, where the tasks will come up in steps on your click [adapt the wording of these to suit your specifics if you wish]. At the end of the lesson ‘end show’ to get back to slide 1 for the next lesson. Each task is explained in your ‘recipe for success’ word document and alternatives or ways to differentiate suggested. The central idea is to get students helping each other while you facilitate only when required. And I’ve added a bonus task in recognition of the price rise – you should get at least 8 lessons out of this pack – Enjoy!

These are the 100 words the DfE claims primary pupils should be able to spell in y3/4 – of course older pupils could do with a bit of revision too. They are divided into groups of five and after five groups there’s a test, But here’s the difference… Being dyslexic myself, I’ve written the words out in a way that makes learning them easier for others with a similar condition – by looking for patterns and words within words – without being a problem to good spellers. Use as a weekly homework, a fill-in starter while you call the register or an occasional filler for a quick worker. At the end of the list there’s a revision opportunity and words to find in a string of letters along with some unscrambling to do. Work is set out for ease of printing/photocopying and teacher’s answers are on the last pages of each set (week 1-5)– print or project as suits. A PP gives end of list answers to the strings and unscrambles. If you do these with older students, just do remember to remove the ‘year’ label with each test to avoid embarrassing them. 6 downloads gives you 5 weeks of daily spelling, 5 tests and 2 revision activities, all self-mark and dyslexia friendly!

Here's a little something to challenge your top students: persuasion the classical way. The Ancient Greeks worked out how a persuasive speech should be structured to make it effective, Shakespeare played around with the form in many of his most famous speeches and even Barack Obama's speech writers follow the formula. Along with their connectives and persuasive devices, give your most able a tried and tested structure to lift their persuasive writing above the ordinary. There's a handout explaining the structure, a PP to test it's been understood and a worksheet to guide preparation for students to write their own speeches.

Everything you need for exploring the short story 'Subha' by Rabindranath Tagore. [Multiculturalism in the context of Empire has a firm place in 19th century writing ; this is a good place to ensure it's not lost with the new syllabus]. The lesson begins with prediction, requiring students to infer and deduce, then looks at 3 extracts with imagery that suggests things about the character while describing something else. The focus then moves on to how language is used to present the character, while the plenary asks students to consider other ways in which the character is presented. The extracts to be annotated are given on a handout, with key phrases to be noticed in bold. The teacher's note also has links to the text, a reading and information about Rabindranath Tagore, along with the outline of the lesson and possible homework or extension tasks.

With language becoming an even higher priority in the new Specs, vocabulary is a vital – but difficult to teach- component to preparing KS3 students for the years ahead. This series of starters focuses on building up their word-hoard [as the Anglo-Saxons called it]. Little and often is the best way to extend vocabulary and if it’s a game, so much the better. ‘Odd one out’ is a quick self-check starter with a handout version for weaker students. Reasons can be given verbally or in writing and any reasonable response is acceptable. This is probably a good place to begin the series as it is quick, easy, and introduces a range of words that can be used as synonyms.

‘Practise makes perfect’ is the idea behind this resource: I believe in the ‘drip-feed’ approach because it is important to keep doing something until it becomes second nature. These starters cover all types of reading: poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, modern and 19th century. Essentially students should pick out what they see as key features to write about - you can decide whether their annotations should be formulated into paragraphs as a plenary or homework. The two opening slides on the PP bear repeating a few times to remind students what to do and get a strategy to become second nature. Each quote slide is followed by a ‘possible ideas’ answer slide and supported by a handout of the quote which can be annotated, either as differentiation for slow writers, or generally to speed the process. If speed and cost is an issue, the task can be done as a ‘whole class’ exercise, especially if you have an IWB or a way of annotating the projected text.

Using a variety of sentence openers is an effective and easy way to improve writing. The PP begins with a reminder of the ways in which sentences can be opened more effectively. The worksheet task - 2 to a page to cut costs - is to label the openers in a piece of writing, using the reminder slide if needed. Students check their own work from the next slide, writing in correct answers. This task is also useful preparation for any task that requires close reading. A final slide challenges students to complete the story in at least 4 more sentences, each with a different opening, a task which could be set as homework, a plenary or extension work.

Shakespeare Day this year has the added thrill of marking 400 years since the Bard’s death [or 452 since his birth!]. To help you mark the anniversary, here’s a ‘Where’s Will?’ competition with quotes, student fill in sheets and an answer sheet. Set up the competition school wide, departmentally or as a class activity to get students reading quotes and finding where the action is set. The competition is really easy – its merit is exposure – participants have to find the posters, read a quote and be alert to where the action is set. At the very least they’ll have heard of a few more plays. This activity is easy enough for upper primary pupils. That’s just one activity. On the quotes PP you have a template you can send to students and colleagues on which they can write their favourite Shakespeare quotes [even if it is from the play they are currently studying] to display around the school. Primary pupils could display insults they've generated. Each subsequent slide can be printed [on coloured A3?] to make a display for the classroom or to boost the display around the school. Longer term, there is the set of starter quotes that could introduce students to Shakespeare’s language, as a Shakespeare ‘quote of the half-term’, or for 6 lessons in April… the idea is to get students to think about both the literal and figurative meaning of memorable lines, as well as expose them to a wider range of plays. The ‘fill-in’ version allows you to set the whole task as a one off lesson activity or a self-mark homework. For anyone who has missed the lesson, quotes and answers are available as a paper version too. The Teachers' Guide also provides useful links and ideas. Enjoy a super Shakespeare Day!