Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
PowerPoint one: appropriate for senior classes (years 10-12)
- includes tips to help students improve their verbal and nonverbal presentation skills
- includes clips of famous speeches to help students identify the techniques
PowerPoint two: appropriate for junior classes (years 7-9)
- includes public speaking tips
- includes tips for Power Points including visual pictures of what not to do
- includes an example PowerPoint presentation created by a student that presents the information effectively
- includes a list of topics for 30 seconds speeches (to get students to practice the skills they've learned
This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities.
This document introduces students to key terms like fact, opinion and embellishment. It includes sentences and paragraphs and challenges students to identify whether they are subjective/objective. It also provides some information about zoos and asks students to write a subjective and objective paragraph about the topic.
The second section explores how verbs, adverbs and well-constructed, extended noun groups can position the reader to form an opinion or judge a person. It gives an example of a famous Australian and shows how by changing a few words you can change the connotation of the text. It includes comprehension questions to check the students understanding.
In the third section, a subjective newspaper article about the Vietnam war is included for students to analyse. There are comprehension questions which follow this.
The final section introduces students to the concept of tone and gives them a list of different words to describe the tone of a text. Students then look at an advertisement and have to suggest the tone. Subsequently, they read a bias newspaper article and answer questions about this. Finally, there is a writing activity for students which encourages them to write persuasively.
A great resource for revisiting punctuation basics with high school students. This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities.
This document introduces students to the three major uses of the apostrophe: to make words possessive, to make contractions and to make odd plurals. Each section includes a range of activities for students to apply what they have learned (short response and some multiple choice questions taken from past NAPLAN tests).
It also includes some follow up activities that can be set for homework.
Unit plan designed for a 10-week term of 12 Essential English. It includes a subject description, a description of the unit, a list of unit objectives (from the syllabus), my planned teaching and learning cycle, the unit learning intentions and success criteria, assessment task details and a list of recommended resources.
A Scope and Sequence suggesting topics to be covered throughout the term is also included (as taught by me in 2023).
The learning resources (PPTs, worksheets etc.) for the unit are also available in My Store.
The first resource is a template I use for student reflections at the end of each term. It includes sections for feedback about the assessment, the learning opportunities and about me as a teacher.
The second resource is a template I use for completing my own reflections after teaching a unit. It can be great for beginning teachers or for staff to complete together at the end of term.
This PPT was designed for an English staff meeting but could be modified for use in other departments. It is especially useful when mentoring beginning teachers.
It explains the three types of assessment: Assessment of learning (summative). Assessment for learning (formative). Assessment as Learning (learning from reflections after completing the task). It looks at why all three forms are important and how to make each type meaningful.
It includes example scaffolding for an assessment task (including how to explain the criteria to your students). It includes an example template for students to write their assignment into (that teacher’s can then model their own templates off of). It includes an example of a draft checklist which can speed up a teacher’s draft time. It explains the importance of providing timely feedback on final assessment and includes example feedback and an explanation of the sandwich model.
A PowerPoint for an English meeting - offering advice to new staff in the department. It includes an example scope and sequence. It lists ideal opening and closing procedures that we would expect to see teachers completing at the start and end of each lesson.
Bloom’s taxonomy - a list of verbs useful when writing questions / tasks for school.
Two templates for a lesson sequence
Three lesson plan templates
A feedback form I use when observing other teachers
Do you have students who don't know when to use a comma? Do you want a resource that looks at the rules around when to, and when not to, utilise a comma in your writing? If so, this may be the resource for you.
This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities. You could even put this into a PowerPoint for a NAPLAN preparation lesson.
This worksheet includes explanations and examples. It also features a lot of activities to test students understanding of what they have learned.
Suitable for upper primary and high school students.
Do you have students who don't know the various parts of speech e.g. nouns, verbs and adjectives? Do you want a resource that looks at explains verbs and tense to your students? If so, this may be the resource for you.
This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities. You could even put this into a PowerPoint for a NAPLAN preparation lesson.
This worksheet includes explanations and examples. It also features a lot of activities to test students understanding of what they have learned.
Do you have students whose writing lacks cohesion because they just can't seem to connect their ideas together? The first half of this resource explains conjunctions and has a table of the different kids which could be printed as a poster for the classroom or given to the students as a handout to consult when drafting their work.
Do you have students who don't know the various parts of speech e.g. adverbs? Are you approaching NAPLAN and want a way to save yourself some time while still having a quality resource to use in your classroom? If so, this may be the resource for you.
This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities. You could even put this into a PowerPoint for a NAPLAN preparation lesson.
This worksheet includes explanations and examples. It also features a lot of activities to test students understanding of what they have learned. It also includes an extended reading activity (of a news article) at the bottom which challenges students to find all the conjunctions and adverbs in the text and explain the effect these vocabulary choices have on the reader.
Do you have students who constantly use fragments (incomplete sentences) in their writing? Do you want a resource that will teach students about clauses, sentences, and fragments so that you have a shared language when it comes to providing feedback at drafting time? If so, this may be the resource for you.
This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities. You could even put this into a PowerPoint for a NAPLAN preparation lesson.
The first section of this worksheet includes explanations and examples of: independent, co-ordinant and dependent clauses. It also has a section about embedded clauses and how they can be an effective tool for writers. It also features a lot of activities to test students understanding of what they have learned.
The second section of the worksheet looks at the requirements of sentences. It includes examples of the following types of sentence: simple, compound and complex. The information is interspersed with activities to check for understanding.
The final section of the worksheet introduces students to fragments and why they are nonsensical and detrimental to your writing.
This is followed by a writing activity (students are given a list of key points to turn into a newspaper article). It also includes editing prompts at the end which helps students to refine their initial story.
This 9-page booklet/resource provides 8 tips to improve your writing. These can be applied to a range of text types including narratives, essays and newspaper articles. Each tip comes with examples, activities or a suggested word bank for students to try to incorporate in their writing going forward.
Do you fear teaching students about poetry because of how you learned about poets in school? Are you new to teaching poetry and want some ideas of where to start? If so this could be the resource for you. This lesson is the first of many created to teach learners to appreciate poems, analyse poems and write poems of their own. Each of these worksheets has been made after consulting numerous texts about best practice pedagogy and each includes links to other resources you may find helpful (see reference list).
This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use in a PowerPoint lesson, as fast finishers or homework activities. It includes a definition of poetry, some of the reasons people write poems and the effects poetry can have on the reader.
It goes back to the basics of grammar looking at how poets use adjectives, nouns, verbs and prepositions to convey meaning. Example poems are provided for students to identify these devices in.
Other poems are provided along with comprehension questions to help students see the importance of reading to glean meaning. There is also a section on tone which provides students with a list of words to describe the tones of various texts and activities to check for student understanding.
Finally, it includes a vocabulary building and spelling activity for fast finishers.
A brochure template for students to use to create their brochure. It features instructions about what students need to add.
A series of example brochures which can be evaluated (pros and cons). The template file requires Microsoft Publisher to open.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
A lesson designed to teach students the skills that they need to complete their inquiry booklet. This lesson focuses on teaching students how to evaluate whether a source is reliable and worth quoting in their essay. It also practices the skill of drawing key points from sources like web pages and news articles.
A PowerPoint which introduces students to the cognitive verb ‘evaluate’ and gives them an opportunity to practice evaluating sources provided by the teacher. It includes an explanation of the graphic organiser students need to complete in their inquiry booklet. There is an explanation of how to evaluate to meet criteria 2.1 to a C standard and to an A standard. Then they read an article about Social media and try to work out which points are most important. I have modelled answers on the slide as a way of talking through my decision making process. I also have included my answers to the graphic organiser. This is followed by a ‘brain break’ (interesting video) after which students read another article and do the evaluation independently or in pairs. There are additional activities at the end of the slide for if the students progress through this more quickly than expected.
A handout which contains the two articles referred to in the PowerPoint.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
An inquiry booklet which students complete in the early phase of the unit. They then use what they find to write their essay. This booklet includes: a pre quiz (to see what students already know), key terms to be defined, a graphic organiser to store their research in (with a column dedicated to evaluating the source). A scaffold to help students to write their essay (a breakdown of what to put in which paragraph). A SWOT analysis for the students to complete at the conclusion of their assessment.
An exemplar Inquiry booklet which can be handy for those new to teaching Social.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - Aussie_Resources. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
A unit plan for 11 Hospitality Unit 1: Introduction to Hospitality, Topic 1: Beverage operations and services. The table of contents allows for ease of navigation (you can hit control and click the part you want to visit and it will take you there). Included in the unit plan is some information from the syllabus, a description of the unit, some key terms, an outline of the assessment for term 1 and term 2 (as this informs the recipes made in prac), a breakdown of the criteria (C Standard), a plan for the prac lessons (what to teach and what food is being made), some suggested resources, prompts for a teacher reflection at the end of the unit and a list of some ways to monitor student learning.
Resources designed for use in an 11 Hospitality Practices class in Australia (2019 curriculum). My school has 70-minute lessons. (2 x theory and 1 x prac). The assessment at the end of this unit was an examination (short response).
A quiz made as a fun end of year activity but which could also be used at the beginning of a school year. It was inspired by the television show Task Master. It begins with individual tasks and has some small group tasks at the end. Good for beginning of the year icebreakers or end of the year celebrations.
NB: Taskmaster is a British comedy panel game show created by comedian and musician Alex Horne and presented by both Horne and Greg Davies. In the programme, a group of five celebrities – mainly comedians – attempt to complete a series of challenges, with Horne acting as umpire in each challenge and Davies, the titular “Taskmaster”, judging the work and awarding points based on contestants’ performances.
References:
Joffe, R. (Producer). (2015–present). Taskmaster [TV series]. Avalon Television / ABC.
Taskmaster [Still image]. (2023). Avalon Television / ABC.