Lesson planFictional example: teacher and class are made up

Can we trust it? Two sources on the Great Fire of London

HistoryYear 9, ages 13 to 1450 minutesClass 9C (fictional)Ms Okafor (fictional)

Teacher talk 12Whole class 9Pairs 16Alone 3Buffer 2Quiz 8Longest talk as labelled 12 min, limit 10 min (default)

Minutes are a plan. Unless a row says so, no time is set aside for settling, handing out or packing up.

What you asked for

A 50-minute history lesson for my Year 9s on judging sources, using the Great Fire of London. They have not met this period, so I want to tell the whole story in one go before they start. No curriculum to follow.

Copied as given. Compare: any standard, talk limit or teacher's words on this sheet should come from here.

Goals

Goal 1Say who made a source, when, and how close they were to the event.

Goal 2Explain how the purpose of a source changes how far it can be trusted.

Goal 3Use two sources together to make a claim, and say how sure you are.

Standards

None given by the teacher, so none are listed.

You must bring this

B1 Blank map of the City of London, one per student
B2 Same map to project, and a projector
B3 Sticky notes in two colours

In this file: H1 Source card A: a diary from that week H2 Source card B: words on a monument H3 What to listen for at the line

Safety

No risk assessment has been done for this lesson.

When

What the teacher does

What students do

00–05

5 minutes

Whole class

1. Start with a rumourGoal 1

Read out: "A foreigner started it on purpose." Ask who believes it and what they would need to see before they did.

Stand if they believe it, sit if not. Two or three say what evidence would change their mind.

05–17

12 minutes

Teacher talk

2. The story of the four daysB1B2Goal 1

Tell it straight, map on screen: the fire starts on Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666, wind, wooden houses, St Paul's. Include that the recorded dead are only about six people1.

Listen and mark the spread on a blank map as each day is described.

Over the limit: 12 minutes of talk against a limit of 10. The teacher's words: "I want to tell the whole story in one go"

17–25

8 minutes

Pairs

3. Source A: a diary from that weekH1Goal 1Goal 2

Give out Source card A. Ask pairs: who made it, when, how close were they, and who was it for?

Fill in the four boxes on the card. Underline one line they believe and one they doubt, with a reason.

25–33

8 minutes

Pairs

4. Source B: words on a monumentH2Goal 1Goal 2

Give out Source card B. Same four questions. Do not say yet which card you would trust more.

Fill in the four boxes. Decide what the people who paid for these words wanted readers to think.

33–37

4 minutes

Whole class

5. Line up the sourcesB3H3Goal 2

Draw a line from "would trust" to "would not". Ask pairs to place A and B and defend their spot. Do not settle it.

Put sticky notes on the line. Challenge one other pair's placing using purpose, not only date.

37–40

3 minutes

Alone

6. Write one claimGoal 3

Model the sentence: "Source A suggests..., but Source B... so I am fairly sure that..." Then stop talking.

Write one sentence that uses both sources and says how sure they are.

40–42

2 minutes

Buffer

7. Buffer: collect cards, clear desksH1H2

Collect the cards. If the lesson has run late, this time goes first, before the quiz does.

Pass cards forward and clear their desks.

42–50

8 minutes

Quiz

8. Quiz

Hand out the student sheet. Walk the room. Note who writes "older means more reliable" for question 5.

Work alone on the student sheet.

Support

Need more help

Fill in the who and when boxes on Source card A with the student, then let them do Source card B alone.
Offer sentence starters: "This person wanted readers to think..."
Read both Source cards aloud once to the whole pair.

Finished early

Ask what a third source would have to be to settle the question, and who could have written it.
Ask whether a diary can have a purpose even if nobody was meant to read it.

Reading, writing or language

Enlarge Source card A when you copy it, and keep the same four boxes.
Let students who find writing hard say their claim to you and copy it down.

For the teacher to check before class

1Only about six people This low count is often repeated and is disputed by historians
2Watched it from a boat on the river and from a church tower, and buried his wine and cheese in his garden to save them Summarised from memory of the diary. Check against a printed edition before copying
3Some years later, words were added to it saying that Catholics had started the fire on purpose. Much later, the words were removed Check the wording and the dates (often given as 1681 and 1830) before copying

Not stated by the teacher, filled in here

The talk limit of 10 minutes is the default: the teacher did not set one.
28 students, seated in pairs.

Facts on this sheet have not been checked against a source, unless the teacher gave them.

No teacher has reviewed this sheet or the tool that made it.

A draft until a teacher has read it.Checked byDate

After the lesson: what ran over, what to change next time

Materials 1For students · One per pair

Source card A: a diary from that week

A London official kept a private diary. In the week of the fire he wrote that he watched it from a boat on the river and from a church tower, and buried his wine and cheese in his garden to save them. He wrote about frightened neighbours carrying what they could, and about the wind pushing the flames on.

This card was written for this lesson in modern English. It is a summary, not the diary's own words.

Fill in the boxes

Question	Your answer
Who made it?
When?
How close were they to the event?
Who was it for?

One line you believe, one you doubt, and why

Materials 2For students · One per pair

Source card B: words on a monument

After the fire, a tall stone monument was built near where it began. Some years later, words were added to it saying that Catholics had started the fire on purpose. Much later, the words were removed.

This card was written for this lesson in modern English. It is a summary, not the words on the stone.

Fill in the boxes

Question	Your answer
Who made it?
When?
How close were they to the event?
Who was it for?

What did the people who paid for these words want readers to think?

Can we trust it? Two sources on the Great Fire of London

Quiz
8 minutes

Name

Class

Date

Score/ 8

A diary written in London during the week of the fire is best described as:

AA source made close to the event, by someone who saw it
BA source made long after the event
CA source that must be true because it is old
DA source made by a historian

1 mark

Before we trust a source, we ask who made it, it was made, and how close they were to the event.

1 mark

Words on a public monument blame one group of people for a disaster. What is the best first question to ask?

AIs the stone in good condition?
BWho paid for the words, and what did they want people to think?
CHow tall is the monument?
DDid the writer use good spelling?

1 mark

Explain one way a writer's purpose could make a source less reliable about what happened, and one thing the source could still tell us.

2 marks

Source A is a diary from the week of the fire. Source B is an inscription added years later blaming one group. Write a claim about the cause of the fire that uses both, and say how sure you are.

3 marks

Answer page

Teacher keeps this. Not for students

Can we trust it? Two sources on the Great Fire of LondonFictional example: teacher and class are made up

This key has not been verified by a machine. The checking script looks at format, not at whether an answer is right. Work the questions yourself.

Facts on this sheet have not been checked against a source, unless the teacher gave them.

No teacher has reviewed this sheet or the tool that made it.

Answer

How to mark, what to listen for

A. A source made close to the event, by someone who saw it

Goal 11 mark

Close in time and place. C is the mistake to catch: being old does not make a source true.

when

Goal 11 mark

Accept "what year" or "what date".

B. Who paid for the words, and what did they want people to think?

Goal 21 mark

Purpose comes first. Students who choose A are still thinking about the object and not the message.

Purpose may make them twist events. It still shows what they wanted people to believe.

Goal 22 marks

1 mark for each part. The second part is the harder idea: a biased source is still evidence of something.

A claim naming both sources, why they differ in weight, and a stated level of confidence.

Goal 33 marks

1 mark uses both, 1 mark weighs them by purpose or closeness, 1 mark says how sure. "Older means better" earns no second mark.

Questions and goals: a label match

This is only a label match: each question is labelled with one goal and each goal with at least one question. It does not show that a question really tests its goal. Write the class result on the right.

Goal	Marks	Class got it
Goal 1 Say who made a source, when, and how close they were to the event.	2	___ of ___
Goal 2 Explain how the purpose of a source changes how far it can be trusted.	3	___ of ___
Goal 3 Use two sources together to make a claim, and say how sure you are.	3	___ of ___

For the teacher to check before class

1Only about six people This low count is often repeated and is disputed by historians
2Watched it from a boat on the river and from a church tower, and buried his wine and cheese in his garden to save them Summarised from memory of the diary. Check against a printed edition before copying
3Some years later, words were added to it saying that Catholics had started the fire on purpose. Much later, the words were removed Check the wording and the dates (often given as 1681 and 1830) before copying

What to reteach next lesson

What to listen for at the line

Teacher keeps this. Not for students

Teacher onlyTeacher's copy only

Students who put Source card A nearer "would trust" have a fair reason: the writer was there, and he was not writing to persuade anyone.

Students who put Source card B nearer "would not" should say why: the words came years later, and they blame a whole group.

The answer to hold back

Neither card settles what started the fire. A strong pair says what each card can and cannot show. Do not give this away before the quiz.

Written for this plan. Read it before you use it.