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Ruth Messenger's Shop

Average Rating3.44
(based on 19 reviews)

I've been teaching history for four years, and I aim to provide lessons that are ready to go with minimal tweaking just to personalise the resource to your class and their prior learning. I'm a big fan of paired discussion, group work, debates, living graphs and hot seating, and I provide a variety of tasks in each lesson to ensure learning happens at a pace and that all learning styles are catered for. All feedback gratefully received.

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I've been teaching history for four years, and I aim to provide lessons that are ready to go with minimal tweaking just to personalise the resource to your class and their prior learning. I'm a big fan of paired discussion, group work, debates, living graphs and hot seating, and I provide a variety of tasks in each lesson to ensure learning happens at a pace and that all learning styles are catered for. All feedback gratefully received.
Intro to the Ideologies of the Cold War: Communism and Capitalism
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Intro to the Ideologies of the Cold War: Communism and Capitalism

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Designed for KS3, the HA resources are appropriate for KS4, with an additional research task this could be adapted for KS5. This lesson considers the ideologies separate from their historical contexts so it is a great introduction, but also provides space for debate that would be appropriate to a politics or citizenship lesson. Tasks: a vocab based starter, a main that encourages group work with speaking and listening the main method of learning, a class vote as to which ideology is best and a plenary that sneakily uses group work to consolidate learning. Learning Outcomes for this lesson: To be able to identify differences between ideologies To describe one ideology and give a way in which the other ideology is different To explain the differences between the ideologies and why they appeal to people To analyse the pros and cons of the ideologies to understand how they would work in practice Please note this is a self contained lesson with all necessary materials included (unless you want to adapt for KS5), no textbooks needed and no potentially problematic youtube clips to play. Whether you love it or you hate it, please review below so I can keep adjusting these resources to suit! Many thanks, Ruth
How did the Feudal System help William keep control of England after 1066?
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How did the Feudal System help William keep control of England after 1066?

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Teaching the feudal system is not the most exciting lesson, so I have turned this one on its head. Students spend the lesson preparing to teach the feudal system to their parents/guardians at home, using the facts they can gain from the lesson. They know this at the outset, have the feudal system explained to them and have 20 minutes to prepare their 'mini lesson' during their history lesson. I have several slides explaining the feudal system with cartoon pictures in colour to liven things up, then you have a class discussion about the homework. Ask them about their favourite lessons and what kind of activities the teachers had them doing. I've put loads of suggestions for this on the PowerPoint and the best thing about this lesson is that there is absolutely no marking! Parents fill in a feedback sheet for the homework and all you need to do is smile and say well done - the parents have marked them for you! Learning Objectives covered here: ALL: Will be able to describe the feudal system MOST: Will be able to explain the relationships between each level SOME: Will be able to explain how this would help William to keep control over his new country. Bonus material - a colouring in sheet of the feudal system. Not bad cover if you got them to colour and then annotate it.
Segregation in the Southern States of the USA
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Segregation in the Southern States of the USA

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A complete lesson - ready to go if you’re in a hurry, or full of tasks to pick and choose from if you have time to personalise this for your class. All resources included on the Power Point to make it easy to access and print the necessary parts. Aims to cover these objectives: * To understand how segregation came about * To give detailed descriptions of segregation * To explain the attitudes towards race that made segregation so pervasive * To predict the challenges faced by civil rights campaigners Includes a variety of tasks, classroom discussion with additional information for the teacher to support questioning, group work task with opportunity for students to move and a 7 minute clip of a primary source for students to evaluate. Includes ideas for differentiation for each task and so is suitable as a stand alone resource for KS 3 and KS 4, a great intro to the topic for KS 5 but would need to be accompanied by a textbook on the topic to support the research task. Originally designed to support teaching of Edexcel AS Level D5 Civil Rights module.
What did Protestants Protest about? The origins of the Protestant Church
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What did Protestants Protest about? The origins of the Protestant Church

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This lesson is an introduction to the basic issues that Martin Luther had with the Catholic church. It touches on the central role of the priest, indulgences and the financial profligacy of the church. There is one task that uses a page from the SHP Year 7 textbook, but most textbooks will have a page to help answer the question 'what were the main differences between Protestants and Catholics?' This is the question that students use the page to answer, so if you have a similar resource then this lesson is still good for you. Here are the lesson objectives this lesson is designed to satisfy: ALL: Will be able to identify differences between the Catholic and Protestant Churches MOST: Will be able to explain the differences based on what the Protestants protested about SOME: Will be able to make supported inferences about why some people were unhappy with the Catholic church
XFactor Game for contenders to the English throne in 1066
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XFactor Game for contenders to the English throne in 1066

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This resource really got my year 7 classes engaged and involved with the 'who should be king?' conundrum because they really liked taking on the personas of the judges from the X factor. The PowerPoint is a pretty straightforward mini play that students read out to the class in the persona you have allocated to them. It worked really well as a whole class activity, but it could also work in groups. As they go, students fill out their voting sheet, giving points out of ten for how well each contestant performs in each question. Your role as teacher is simply to ham it up, express suspicions about William's intentions, play the devil's advocate with students as they chose their King. Finally, the class vote and a King is chosen. This lesson works best if students haven't yet found out who wins the battle of Hastings, it tends to put them firmly on Harold Godwinson's side!
Crime and Punishment - How did Crime change under Norman rule?
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Crime and Punishment - How did Crime change under Norman rule?

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Designed to follow on from a study of crime and punishment in the Saxon period, students will also need prior knowledge of the basics of the Norman conquest (they need to know it was a violent and foreign occupation). This lesson is designed primarily for the GCSE Edexcel depth study 'Crime and Punishment' and is updated for the brand new 2018 GCSE. This PowerPoint includes information and tasks with ideas for group work and differentiation included. It also includes a sample exam question on this topic with a suggestion for a writing frame. Although the textbook is not explicitly referred it, it may help students to have one to hand. The Edexcel textbook is ideal, but the OCR or SHP will work just as well. Lesson Objectives: ALL Will be able to describe new crimes MOST Will be able to explain how these new crimes were connected to the Norman Conquest SOME Will be able to identify change and continuity in crime from Saxon times
Edexcel Paper 1, Option F - LESSON 6 What was the Appeal of Republicanism between 1921 and 1929?
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F - LESSON 6 What was the Appeal of Republicanism between 1921 and 1929?

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This follows on from lesson 5 which introduces students to the ideas of isolationism, normalcy and rugged individualism. It aims to achieve these outcomes: ALL will be able to explain why the American public admired Republican ideas at this time. MOST will be able to relate these to ideas of ‘normalcy’,’isolationism’ and ‘rugged individualism and explain how the three Republican presidents used these ideas. SOME Will be able to support their answer on the appeal of Republicanism with context from the 1920’s. The lesson includes a clip with questions for students to discuss, a colour coding card sort activity, a paragraph which they use to highlight evidence, a homework sheet on Harding and Coolidge and a worksheet to focus the lesson activities.
Mansa Musa and Medieval Mali
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Mansa Musa and Medieval Mali

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This PowerPoint includes all of the resources to run either a single, or a double lesson on Mansa Musa. It is aimed at Year 7 and provides support for students working between L3 and L6 on the old NC Levels. Lesson objectives: L3 - To identify facts about Medieval Mali and Mansa Musa L4 - To describe Medieval Mali and Mansa Musa L5 - To make inferences from sources about Medieval Mali and Mansa Musa L6 - To explain what Medieval Mali and Mansa Musa would seem like to a time traveller, drawing inferences from sources to support their points. Activities include: * A task where students work in pairs, one looks at an image and describes it to his/her partner. The partner draws the image. * Fact generation, teacher models how to get facts from the source, students compete. * Using written sources to gather information * Creating a Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval Mali
How to Make a Revision Plan
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How to Make a Revision Plan

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This PowerPoint guides students through how to make an effective revision plan. It is aimed at students aged 16-18 and encourages them to make a long term, practical and realistic plan. Here is one slide: Mark on the calendar the days you will NOT be working. Eg family events, birthdays, rugby matches, hairdressing appointments. Split the remaining days into 3 parts – morning, afternoon and night. Work only 2 of these parts. So crack on in the morning, take the afternoon off to paint your toenails/ go for a run/ whatever it is you do, and do more in the evening. Use your list of chucks to plan which topic you will do on which day. If you like a bit of variety, you can do two chunks from different subjects on one day. Write on the calendar the subject areas/ chunks/ topics/ chapters you will get done. Make sure you have leisure / kickback time. TRUST YOUR PLAN and change it if you really need to
Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 5 The impact of WW1 on US politics - isolationism and normalcy
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 5 The impact of WW1 on US politics - isolationism and normalcy

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ALL will be able to define these ideals and identify their appeal MOST will be able to explain how these ideas would affect politics SOME will be able to analyse the impact of these ideas on American politics This lesson explores how the First World War affected people in the US and includes lots of precise, detailed information for students to use in their essays. I use the term 'fantastatistics' for this kind of evidence (fantastic statistics) and this term is used in the PowerPoint. There is a task which follows on from the homework set in L4 to find out the definitions of 'isolationism' and 'normalcy', but you can allocate 5 mins to this in class if you are using this as a standalone lesson. The lesson asks students to imagine what kind of measures politicians would have to implement in order to return to a pre war country, and this should give students a handle on normalcy and what the US voters were looking for. The lesson also looks at isolationism and rugged individualism and students complete a venn diagram to see where these ideas overlap. This was a really successful exercise for my students who are now really comfortable with these political ideas. NB You will need the edexcel textbook to support this lesson, although if you have an alternate textbook I'm sure you could locate the information elsewhere.
Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 10 Was the Great Depression Hoover's fault?
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Edexcel Paper 1, Option F: LESSON 10 Was the Great Depression Hoover's fault?

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The Powerpoint contains images of Hoovervilles for students to see and for you to describe the effects of the Depression. The worksheet needs to be completed using the textbook. ALL Will be able to describe Hoover’s actions and the effects of the Great Depression MOST Will be able to explain Hoover’s limitations and the impact on public opinion of the Bonus Army SOME Will be able to predict the impact of Hoover’s actions on the former popularity of Republicanism.
Crime and Punishment - What was the role of the King in Medieval Law Enforcement?
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Crime and Punishment - What was the role of the King in Medieval Law Enforcement?

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This lesson looks particularly at Henry II and the changes he made in 1154. It includes a clip, a sock matching exercise and an alternative exercise if you prefer to keep your students seated. It includes a structured written exercise and a plenary. Learning objectives are: ALL will be able to describe how the King affected law and order in Medieval England MOST will be able to used precise historical detail to describe the changes the King brought SOME will be able to explain how much things change. All resources are included, no textbook needed. Questions are differentiated into traffic light colours.
Understanding Significance
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Understanding Significance

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This lesson is an introduction to the historical skill of significance and explaining significance. It gets students to discuss why someone might be significant in history eg. They changed peoples lives at the time, or they made a lot of money, or they achieved something extraordinary. Students put these in order of the most effective way of measuring historical significance to the least. I designed this for year 7, but have found myself using this lesson over and over again with all secondary year groups as it helps to reset the basics for understanding significance. The second part of the lesson is the balloon game, I would get students to play this in groups rather than as a class.
Gerald Ford, the 'Half a Term President'
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Gerald Ford, the 'Half a Term President'

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This lesson gives students the task of working together in a group to publish a short newspaper and it is designed for KS5 as independent research skills are central to this lesson. They have to chose whether they use a Pro Ford headline, or an Anti-Ford headline and need the resources available to research aspects of Ford's presidency. I strongly suggest that you make textbooks available such as 'Access to History, Politics, Presidency and Society' to support this piece of group work. Within this PP are prompts for the group to research on the economy, women's rights, racial equality and politics within the Republican Party. At the end, students have to decide whether to include a political cartoon about Ford being the 'the mender'.
Student guidance on answering questions for the new AQA spec Paper 1: Understanding the Modern World
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Student guidance on answering questions for the new AQA spec Paper 1: Understanding the Modern World

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This resource is designed for use with the NEW History 8145 AQA specification Paper 1: Section A: Understanding the Modern World. This guidance is appropriate for: 1A America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation 1B Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and dictatorship 1C Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and communism 1D America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and inequality (all examples are from this paper) So what is this? Well for each question I have prepared a 'how to' guide. This includes: - Student friendly guidance to the marking levels - Examples of what an answer at each level would look like - a writing grid to help answer each question - Student friendly self assessment grid for Assessment for Learning - Suggestions for how to use these resources in your lessons and incorporate these skills into your SoW DISCLAIMER: I do not work for AQA and I haven't examined for them. However my experience working as an examiner for Edexcel combined with four years teaching KS4 makes me as confident as its probably possible to be with this new exam spec. This resource is not provided by AQA, but has been compiled following a thorough investigation of all resources online as well as speaking to the advice centre at AQA.
Crime and Punishment - How was Tudor Law Enforcement different from Medieval Law Enforcement?
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Crime and Punishment - How was Tudor Law Enforcement different from Medieval Law Enforcement?

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Designed for GCSE students either studying the OCR course, or the Edexcel course, you will need a textbook for this (OCR, SHP and Edexcel are all appropriate for this) and prior learning on law enforcement in medieval times. Students will compare tudor law enforcement with law enforcement from medieval times: ALL Will be able to describe one difference and one similarity MOST Will be able to describe several differences and several similarities using detail SOME Will be able to analyse the extent of change
Structuring an essay on why confidence in the US government declined from 1968-1980
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Structuring an essay on why confidence in the US government declined from 1968-1980

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This needs to be included in a scheme of work on American politics during this period as it helps structure an essay, but it doesn't provide new knowledge on content. The lesson is focused on how to pick out themes and structure an essay at A Level. Students come up with their themes as a class, but suggestions are made in the lesson, students assess a model paragraph to find the evidence and analysis present. Students structure their own paragraphs around the model paragraph structure. The question this lesson considers is “The Vietnam War was the main reason the American public lost confidence in their President between the years 1968 and 1980” How far do you agree? This lesson was designed to be part of a Scheme of Work on Edexcel AS/A Level history Paper 1, Option F: The American Dream