I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
A power point to guide students through what to expect in the paper 2 exam for the new 9-1 specification.
Each question is explained with suggested timings and top tips.
Resources to support the teaching of the skills needed for the new AQA paper 2 question 2.
Opportunities provided for:
- Exploring model answers
- Exploring the mark scheme
- Synthesising information from 2 texts
- Using connectives effectively
- Structuring a response to question 2
Texts on the themes of tattoos and prison (4 texts included)
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher
A handout to aid student revision of the new specification English language paper 1 and paper 2 for AQA.
The resource:
- bullet points the key things students need to do in each question
- suggests timings
- suggests acronyms to help students structure a response
- provides tips on how to access the papers
A learning walk / observation document that can be used to observe lessons across secondary school subjects.
This has been created in light of Ofsted’s latest framework which puts emphasis on curriculum and what students know and can do.
Three focus areas are teaching for memory, responsive teaching and subject expertise.
Behaviour / culture for learning is not included but should always be considered when visiting lessons.
An introductory resource for AQA new specification paper 2
The resource guides students through what to expect on paper 2 and also provides 2 texts on the theme of prison (one modern text and the other from 19th century) for students to start exploring non fiction.
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher
An introductory resource for AQA new specification paper 1
The resource guides students through what to expect on paper 1 and provides tasks and assessment opportunities for students to begin exploring the short story 'Lullaby' by Elizabeth Berridge.
Differentiation:
purple = lower
blue = middle
yellow = higher
Resources to support the development of the following questioning and higher order thinking skills and strategies:
- Blooms taxonomy
- Socratic questioning
- No hands
- Pause time
- Secret 7
- Big question
Ideal for leading departmental or whole school training on questioning strategies.
Resources included:
- CPD power point presentation on questioning strategies with tasks for staff to complete to get them thinking about their existing practice and how they could develop this
- Socratic questioning prompt sheet to support student development of their questioning of each other within lessons
- Links to Ofsted expectations
- Departmental audit template
Resource to support exam revision for new specification AQA Power and conflict.
Resource guides students through comparing Kamikaze and Poppies
Included:
- mark scheme wording to help students
- a sample comparison paragraph
- tasks to help students identify similarities and differences
A presentation containing several strategies to get students planning their responses before they start writing.
Also included are some templates and resources to help students form an effective plan and then enable them to move on to structuring a cohesive and structured response to the question.
Also included are resources and strategies to encourage students to spend time editing and re-drafting their responses.
Resources included:
Narrative writing planning template
Non fiction writing planning template
Structure strips
Sample writing questions
presentation containing many possible strategies
Editing resources
Resources to support the revision of Romeo and Juliet for new specification.
Includes:
- Carousel activities to expose students to 4 significant extracts - in each extract students will go through the process of accessing the extract step by step and then consider relating to the whole text
- Pupil friendly mark scheme with sample responses
- sample exam questions
- opportunity for students to answer a timed question using the skills they have developed
- opportunity for self/peer assessment against the mark scheme
Carousel activities which allow students to revise the context of Elizabethan England and practice analysing extracts from the play as well as referring to the play as a whole.
Differentiated to allow students to structure an exam response which culminates in an exam practice question.
Extracts taken from:
Act 1 scene 2
Act 3 scene 5
Act 4 scene 3
Act 5 scene 3
Differentiation:
purple = lower ability
blue - middle ability
yellow = higher ability
A card for each poem (15 in total) for all of the conflict poems for new specification Edexcel.
Each card contains an image reminder, several key words taken from the poem and context links.
Useful for students to revise the key messages for each poem and rather than learn quotes remember key words that should spark a memory about the poem's meaning and tone etc.
Students can use the cards to arrange by themes or content as part of a revision lesson.
A complete walking talking mock for AQA English language paper 1.
Includes a student booklet containing model answers which encourage students to achieve thoughtful responses, exam tips and opportunity for students to practice annotation and structuring answers to the questions.
This resource uses the November 18 AQA English language inserts.
A power point is included to guide students through the mock including mark schemes.
Fully differentiated (by colour) resources to support the teaching of 'Of Mice and Men' for KS3/GCSE.
Ideal resources for year 8/9 students. These lessons are meticulously planned and embed skills needed for GCSE English language and literature. These lessons are ready to. Download and teach!
Lessons support:
- reading of the novel
- analysis of Steinbeck's language
- character analysis
- theme analysis
- context exploration and analysis
- revision of characters and themes
- begin to structure exam responses
- modelled exam paragraphs
Differentiation:
purple= lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
These resources cover chapters 4 - 7 of Jekyll and Hyde and meet the requirements of the new GCSE 9-1 specification.
9 outstanding lessons that are meticulously planned, fully differentiated and numbered for ease of use with activities included.
Homework tasks included.
Download and teach right away. These lessons are ready to go.
All lessons are fully differentiated by colour
Purple = lower ability
Blue = middle ability
Yellow = higher ability
Red = most able
These resources cover the following areas of the novel in chapters 4-7
- Context - duality - London fog - Victorian gentlemen - gothic etc.
- Letter as a plot device
- Comparison of characters
- Jekyll's changing character
- Character and theme presentation
- Sample GCSE answers
- Idiomatic expression
Chapters 1-3 and 8-10 are also available and are all meticulously planned and fully differentiated.
These documents outline what makes a student a HAP, MAP or LAP now that curriculum levels have been removed.
HAP = High achieving pupil
MAP = Middle achieving pupil
LAP = low achieving pupil
The documents outline the skills required (in both reading and writing) for each student in year 7 through to year 11 to be categorised as a HAP, MAP or LAP in English language. The skills are bullet pointed to allow ease of use for all department members.
For KS4 this information is separated into both language and literature.
For literature this is broken down even further so that teachers can determine whether students are a HAP, MAP or LAP in specific components of English such as:
- poetry
- 19th century literature
- Shakespeare
- modern novel
These documents would be ideal for teachers to use when assessing student progress in specific components of their English studies be it language or literature. Once used, the student work can then be compared to their target in order to track progress.
A power point to guide students through what to expect in the paper 1 exam for the new 9-1 specification.
Each question is explained with suggested timings and top tips.
With very few sample assessment materials provided by the exam boards I have created my own.
They have been made to look exactly like the assessments that students will sit n the real 9-1 examinations and are phrased in the same ways too.
This paper uses The Emigree as the printed poem.
The student responses can then be marked using the relevant mark scheme for Power and conflict poetry.
24 fully differentiated (by colour) lessons to support the teaching of Animal Farm. All chapters covered. Lessons develop skills to access the 9-1 GCSE English literature paper.
Lessons are meticulously planned - can be downloaded and taught straight away. They are ready to go. Lessons are numbered for ease of use.
Enjoyable lessons for GCSE or KS3.
Differentiation:
purple = low ability
Blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
These resources provide opportunities to:
- Analyse character and theme
- Explore context
- Write persuasively
- explore allegory
- explore propaganda
- Analyse language
Resources to support the teaching of imaginative writing for low ability KS3 pupils. This resource was planned to provide 4 lessons and was planned to allow students to create a short story to enter in the BBC radio 2 500 words competition.
Covers:
- story openings
- plot development
- descriptive writing
- show not tell
- character development
Comment back for English teachers in an excel file.
The comments cover the following areas:
- Pupil effort
- Pupil attitude
- Pupil homework
- Pupil classwork
- Pupil targets for improvement
Also broken down to provide comments for:
- Poetry
- Prose