The Norman Conquest

Pupils' book: 60pp. Authors: Christopher Culpin & Ian Dawson

Teachers' book: 64pp, including photocopiable resources.

Let’s start at the end of the book - a 4 page illustrated story of the Norman Conquest but we’ve left the captions out. Can pupils write their own captions to tell the story? A great wall display in the making and the book guides you through the task, making sure that those evidence skills are carefully developed, not just rushed past quickly.

The first half of the book asks Why did William win the Battle of Hastings? and Who was telling the truth about their claim to the throne? The key point is helping pupils to handle an unreliable source – do they throw it in the bin, ignore it or use it constructively? Here they learn how to use it constructively with the help of the Source Testing machine, the Careful Language Tank and the officials of SourceTesters – Why? Who? When?

And then onto what happened next – Did the Norman Conquest change everything? Pupils decide whether they would have rebelled against the Normans, collecting evidence for their decision from the actions of the Normans, their impact and the fate of other rebellions. Then it’s time for the last question - Was the Norman Conquest really so important? which provides an introduction to criteria for significance.

So you have a real depth study on the Norman Conquest plus detailed work on Evidence, Change and Continuity and Significance – plus that final activity that enables pupils to produce their own account, integrating all the information and skills they’ve learned. How does this relate to the new NC? One of the strands is Conflict and though this is couched in terms of European and World History the events of 1066 fit into this strand more comfortably than they do elsewhere. Think of the key questions about conflict – Why do wars start? How are they fought? What effects do they have? All these questions can be answered clearly from the Norman Conquest, memorably setting up answers that can be contrasted with later conflicts.

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The Trenches

Pupils' book: 68pp. Authors: Dale Banham & Christopher Culpin

Teachers' book: 64pp, including photocopiable resources.

Almost everyone does ‘The Trenches’ so how is this book different? Firstly it takes the well-known film The Battle of the Somme and asks pupils to assess its accuracy. Then it helps pupils assess other interpretations of the First World War and finally guides them through planning their own film on the war. It’s creative, motivating and provides pupils with a great sense of making progress.

That’s the outline. Taking a closer look, in Part One pupils explore the war through the eyes of the soldiers, using photographs, diaries, memoirs, interviews, letters, cartoons, poems, songs and paintings to construct their own account of life in the trenches. In doing so they can challenge the key messages put forward in propaganda films and newspapers at the time of the conflict. In Part Two pupils study how the War has been presented recently in novels and TV programmes such as Blackadder. This allows pupils to see how people represent and interpret the past in many different ways and through a range of media. The final task helps pupils present their ideas in a creative way by focussing on film documentary making, combining text, image and sound to create their own accounts of the past.

And pupils learn about more than the First World War. They develop their ability to extract information from visual and written sources, make inferences, think critically and piece together their own accounts of the past, building the key skills needed to evaluate evidence by studying the provenance, purposes and language of sources. Teachers have commented on how the book fully prepares pupils for the challenges of source based papers at GCSE.

Finally, The Trenches also offers a range of stimulating strategies for developing literacy, addressing the problems pupils face in organising and communicating their ideas. Memorable analogies such as the Loaded Language Gun and the History Rollercoaster develop pupils’ ability to communicate in a coherent, organised and structured way. This all helps them argue with passion, engage in debates and produce substantiated explanations.

As users have said, if you want to improve your GCSE grades start with Key Stage 3 – and use The Trenches!

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The Holocaust

Pupils' book: 64pp. Authors: Ann Moore & Christopher Culpin

Teachers' book: 64pp, including photocopiable resources.

Regina Scherer was born in 1926 in Poland. She had three siblings but was the only one to grow to adulthood. Regina’ story runs through this book, helping pupils to appreciate that ‘every one of those killed was unique’.

The task is for pupils to plan and write a website that evaluates the evidence about the Holocaust, enabling pupils to examine events through the discipline and methods of Historical investigation. There is plenty of context – life for the Jewish community in Germany before 1933 and the history of anti-Semitism across time. Then there is the detail of the Jewish experience under Nazi rule and important questions about resistance to Hitler and whether Britain could have been done more to help German Jews before 1939? Finally pupils assess why the Holocaust could happen and its historical significance – can studying the Holocaust help to stop history repeating itself?

This is a serious book, moving, challenging and succeeding in its aim to help pupils appreciate that ‘every one of those killed was unique’.

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The Twentieth Century

Pupils' book: 94pp. Author: Christopher Culpin

Teachers' book: 64pp, including photocopiable resources.

How do you decide if an event was significant? You use the Skittles of Significance – each one a criterion for significance. So pupils take a trip to Significance Alley to work out why each of the World Wars and the Cold War was significant, using those Skittles of Significance. The topics sound familiar but this isn’t a book cobbled together from a GCSE Modern World course – it’s been specially written for children who don’t remember the Millennium and only know about World War Two from their grandparents’ stories. Uniquely, it encourages pupils to see not only the global implications of these events, but their impact on the lives of “ordinary” people. Pupils in Year 9 were still in primary school when the 20th century ended – so what are the most important things they need to know about it?

How do we relate these distant events to pupils’ lives? By focussing on the experiences of individuals – of Harry Bell, shelled in West Hartlepool in 1914, of Maurice Micklewhite, evacuated in 1939 and Conrad Schumann, jumping the wall in 1961. And through engaging, active investigations – What would you have done when Hitler invaded the Rhineland? Was Truman right to drop the Atomic bomb? How would you report the news of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

And finally there’s an important question challenging the NC’s assumption that the 20th century was all about conflict – what should the century really be remembered for – the communications revolution, globalism, human rights, space travel? The decision is yours – just make sure your choice knocks over those Skittles of Significance.

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