Outstanding Lessons, Smart Tasks, lesson ideas

A level history outstanding lessons

In this section you will find three types of lessons. The first is a series of fully-resourced and described outstanding lessons ,graded 1 by an OFSTED history inspector. There are then Smart tasks- learning activities withe resources and finally lesson ideas.

SMART TASK: How significant was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the history of Civil Rights?

Quick ranking activity for GCSE/AS students. Students are asked to consider the relative significance of 11 possible arguments that have been used by historians who claim that the Montgomery bus boycott was the real start of the Civil Right movement in USA. The 11 arguments and full...

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LESSON IDEA: Edward IV was more successful as a king in his second reign than his first’. How far do you agree with this view?’

Activities

1. Introductory. Brainstorm Edward’s achievements and failures. 2. Provide students with cards for them to place on a spectrum from ‘unsuccessful’ to ‘highly successful’. 3. Compare this with historians’ verdicts you have available. 4. Ask the students to making any adjustments they see fit. They add to the...

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Why did Bolshevism survive in Russia between 1917 and 1924? SMART TASK AS-A2

This task asks students to investigate the perplexing question as to why the Bolshevik regime was able to survive from 1917-24.  Students are given the context: no plans; poor start; small party; fierce opposition from within and outside Russia. Few expected it would last. And...

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Italian foreign policy-outstanding lesson

At what point did Mussolini seem to side more with Germany than with Britain or France? Students arrive at the lesson having familiarised themselves with key events of Mussolini’s foreign policy which is checked with a quick sequencing task which is turned into two living graphs...

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‘Gladstone’s conversion to Home Rule was a calculated political act’. Assess the validity of this claim

Start by posing the question as a puzzle to be solved. Why would Gladstone convert so suddenly to Home Rule - one of the great voltes-face of the 19th century? Stress the comment in his diary of September 1885, shown on slide 2, in which...

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Who started the Korean War? Smart Task

In this short starter smart task students are given two contradictory accounts of the start of the Korean War, both emanating from Korea. But which account do they think is more plausible and which extract goes with which book? Students look for loaded language and...

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AS/A2 SMART TASK Threats to Henry VII, a living graph

Students create event cards for homework by way of preparation for creating a multi strand living graph showing the degree of threat to Henry VII from different quarters and how it changed over time. They look at a the range of different AS/A2 questions asked...

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The Marshall Plan: How should we interpret it? Just how philanthropic was it?

The activities in this very varied lesson ask students to raise questions, place sources on a continuum, add analysis to a short descriptive account and quickly tweet a caption to three contemporary cartoons. Starter Show slide 1 which is a German poster from 1949 advertising an exhibition...

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AS/A2 SMART TASK Did the ending of the Second World War make the Cold War inevitable?

In order for students to form their own view on this challenging question they read, discuss, sort and then place on a spectrum a number of influence cards enabling them to form a view about Michael Dobbs' latest theory.

Starter

Begin with the quotation from Hitler shown...

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The rise of Stalin: 4 smart tasks

Included here are 4 distinct smart tasks which could be used in various combinations at AS and A2 level. They vary from laying odds on the outcome of the leadership contest, and working out why Stalin triumphed using influence cards, to critiquing a modern explanation...

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The reasons why Labour won the General Election of 1945.

If Churchill’s popularity rating rarely dropped below 80% during the Second World War, why then was there a landslide victory for Labour in 1945? Building on the obvious paradox of the question, students need to work out for themselves a convincing explanation and be able to...

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Kristallnacht: Did the press allow itself to be taken in by Nazi propaganda?

This lesson starts by creating tension between what students have read in preparation for the lesson and a contemporary newspaper. With students clearly aware of the obvious contradiction, they then have to set about working out: firstly, what Goebbels was really up to on Kritsallnacht;...

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LESSON IDEA: Why have there been so many different theories as to why Stalin carried out the Terror?

Varied and active lesson in which students: generate a list of relevant questions; prioritise their own reasons; role-play the arguments used by 4 different named historians, and relate this to recent revised textbook versions used in Russia today. Contains lengthy excerpts from Conquest and Figes...

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Hitler Youth AS/A2 task

This smart task uses one of the most frequently misunderstood Hitler Youth posters. By taking students through a step-by-step deconstruction of the poster using an animated PowerPoint presentation, students are shown the overwhelming importance of context and purpose when trying to establish the true meaning...

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AS SMART TASK Vietnam; why was Rolling Thunder ultimately unsuccessful?

When by the end of 1965 US pilots had flown over 24,000 sortie missions and wiped out 355 of North Vietnam’s ammunition dumps, why then was operation Rolling Thunder ultimately unsuccessful? In answering this question, students should take into account the objectives for Rolling Thunder. 1. To...

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Why was Anne Boleyn executed? Which of these seems most plausible?

In this short task students work out for themselves the key inter-related reasons why Anne Boleyn was executed. Using the influence cards provided (see resources section below) which draw on recent different interpretations, students make their own meaning before answering the sample question for the...

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Was Hitler totally responsible for the Second World War?

This smart task looks deceptively simple, and should serve as a useful introduction, leading on to some sophisticated analysis exploring recent historiography. The main focus for this subsequent study hinges on the short entry in Laurence Rees’ website ww2history.com. This features a fascinating...

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