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This resource is titled “7 Great Ideas for World Book Week/Day.” 7 great ideas for promoting reading and literacy in secondary schools during World Book Week and World Book Day in April. I’ve made the Power Point so it can be reused in assembly or Form Time without too much tweaking although one of the activities (guess the teacher) needs personalizing. Have a great Book Week! Please note there are two Book Weeks (April and November). Whilst my school celebrate the April one the activities here lend themselves just as well to the November one! And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan My students love this activity. 160+ questions based on the following categories: USA & her allies Soviet leaders The People Wars Words & Phrases Statistics It takes a little while to cut out the cards and the board and works best once laminated but your students will love this revision activity. The questions are designed to boost subject knowledge and focus on precise historical detail which in turn helps student examination performance. I hope your classes enjoy this activity as much as my IGCSE and IB classes always do.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this lesson students explore the Key Question ‘How successful was the League of Nations in the 1930s?’ They begin by acting out cards which they will have covered in the 1920s as a game of charades. The class then work through a set of detailed notes before playing a game of snakes and ladders bingo. It needs to be printed in colour and laminated but these work great with students and as an activity the league’s successes (ladders) and faults (snakes) become very clear. The lesson concludes with an angram plenary to test student comprehension of key terms. I hope your students enjoy this lesson as much as mine do.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this lesson students begin to explore the concept of totalitarianism by a class discussion of photographs of a much-loved Hitler in the starter activity. This the leads to students accessing a detailed set of notes before beginning a mind map exercise in which the class explore the role of propaganda, economics, crushing of opposition and use of terror. Students conclude this lesson by participating in a Connect 4 style plenary to measure subject knowledge. I hope your students get as much out of this lesson as mine do.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this lesson students receive background information before sequencing a 33 piece card sort to explain the terrible conditions enslaved Africans endured on Guineamen slave ships. This then leads on to the main task in which students are given a card listing three conditions experienced on the ships. They then create a class oral history project which can be recorded and stitched together. This is always an extremely powerful lesson and one which needs to be taught sensitively and with purpose.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan Escape from Sobibor is a terrific movie to showcase both the horrors of the Holocaust as well as one shining example of widerstand/resistance. In this activity there are 50 questions for students to response to as they watch the movie. Answers are provided also for peer and self assessment.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan 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.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.” Dan This works really well as a quick starter or plenary activity. Students complete a questionnaire about Roman inventions and how recently they have used them. From this they achieve a score (out of 66) and are asked to stand up when their score bracket is read aloud. A fun way to introduce the concept of why the Romans are so significant.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan 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.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This lesson is titled “Is the founding of Rome myth or reality?” This lesson begins with a Starter Activity in which students are invited to match up some celebrities with their twins, before being introduced to Romulus and Remus. The lesson title is then introduced along with aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will). There are then slides of background information to allow for teacher exposition. This is then followed by an 18 piece card sort in which the group divide evidence into those that suggest the founding story was a myth and those that suggest there was some truth in it. A colour-coded version is provided for those who need a little more help. From here they then use the evidence to create a TV chat show segment to answer the Key Question. An example if provided. Students present their role plays and revisit the lesson objectives before the plenary in which they vote on the Key Question by standing up and walking to the side of the voting spectrum they agree with mostly. I hope your students get as much out of this lesson as mine always do. This lesson was written for high achieving high school students and is written in UK English. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan This thirty-nine-page pack is the incredibly detailed and complete set of notes I have written for my students. It is basically an entire course on the I.B. Paper 1 Move to Global War in one pack! Notes are broken down into the following sections: How can we explain Japanese expansion in the move to Global War? How did Japan move to Global War? How did Italy fit into inter-war European geopolitics? Why was the international response to the Abyssinian Crisis so weak? How and why did German foreign policy develop? 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.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan 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.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan My students love this project! In this 14 page pack you will find background information on the Industrial Revolution as well as information cards on 20 different inventions ranging from John Kay’s Flying Shuttle through to James Watt’s Steam Engine. Students need to research their invention and make a case for its historical significance using specific criteria (durability, importance at the time, number effected etc). The class then present to the Dragon’s (for me its usually SLT). This mini-project really brings the past to life and is one of the highlights of my teaching career. I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan Students read up on background information before being divided into research groups. In this 23 page pack students research either 1) architecture, military & religion, 2) Government, public health, & women, and 3) Roads, slavery & leisure. The packs are really detailed and encourage students to make links and to decide to what extent Ancient Rome can be considered civilised. Students use the information to create presentations which they deliver to the class. As you can see from the pictures this is a project my students love and which really hones their historical skills. I know your students will love it also.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan 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.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this lesson students read detailed background knowledge before attempting to handle 9 very carefully selected source on the Suffragette movement. There are a range of written questions which students are asked to respond to. This is a powerful lesson which always generates a healthy level of debate in my classes.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this lesson students read through background information before reading through the extremely detailed evidence cards which they break up into the following factors : the role of abolitionists, economic reasons, and the role of enslaved people. From this scaffold students can then create a piece of extended written work and this lesson works really well as assessment preparation also.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this lesson students read up on background knowledge before assembling a 30 piece hexagonal card sort into a factor-led response. Evidence is very precise and being a hexagonal rather than square card sort students are encouraged to make effective links between the evidence used whilst also being encouraged to prioritise the evidence they find the most compelling. Once the class have formulated their card sort this sets them up extremely well for either a debate or a written piece of work. My students love this lesson and I really hope yours do too!

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see other’s points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan The title of this lesson is “Who is buried at Sutton Hoo?” The lesson begins with a starter activity where students view some pictures of modern day Sutton Hoo and there are directed questions to introduce the burial mounds. They then sift through a range of evidence from the British Museum to decide if they feel the Anglo-Saxon King buried here is Raedwald or Siegebert. Background information on both is provided. It leads to excellent and reasoned discussion as well as thoughtful judgements and can be used as preparation for an assessed piece of work. One has a child so the discovery of silver spoons (often given as a Christening present may allude to him etc). Students vote in the plenary to arrive at a class judgement. It is a lesson I designed when I lived in the East of England so it means a lot to share this history mystery with fellow teachers. Sometimes I like to bring in sirt and get the students to actually dig out the evidence! I hope your students enjoy it as much as mine and I’d love to hear who they think (!) is buried there in your review. And before you leave be sure to follow Dan’s History Highway for more info on hundreds of fully-resourced lessons for busy teachers! Wishing you a terrific day.

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking. Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan In this lesson students work through background information before completing a card sort to show positives and the many negatives of slave life from getting off slave ships through to working on plantations. Students need to place the events in a chronology in order to recount a story of the conditions and place them on an emotional rollercoaster graph to show which conditions they felt were the most horrific and why. This is a powerful lesson which should be taught with great sensitivity and a flavour of which can be experienced in the video file attached.