Humanities Aut 1 · 2026–27 · Enquiry: How can evidence show why a person or community matters without reducing them to a single story?
| Key Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Impact | A change we can evidence |
| Significance | Why a person/event matters |
| Single story | Reducing people to one label |
| Attribution | Saying precisely who |
| Agency | A person's power to choose and act |
| Context | The circumstances around a person |
1) Name one pull factor that brought people to the Tees.
2) Name anyone from history you think mattered.
3) Is it fair to describe a whole town with one word? Why not?
4) What do we call a clue about the past?
1) Push, pull, network — define one.
2) What's the difference between being famous and mattering?
3) Name one community that came to the Tees.
4) Why say 'this family…' rather than 'they all…'?
1) Condition vs trigger — one example each.
2) What does 'agency' mean about a historical person?
3) Why does the moment matter as much as the person?
4) Improve: 'The Irish built Middlesbrough.'
Key Question: Every brick round here was laid by somebody with a name, a family, a story. Who gets remembered — and who does the remembering?
Groups: ✅ FAIR & PRECISE, ⚠️ SINGLE STORY. Sort: 'The Irish were all poor labourers', 'Many Irish families worked the docks; some opened shops', 'Women didn't work back then', 'The census lists women as dressmakers, teachers, shopkeepers', 'This Welsh family brought chapel music', 'Everyone loved the ironmasters', 'Wage records show boys as young as 12 at the works', 'Nobody complained about conditions'
Draw lines to match:
🏭 Bolckow & Vaughan · ⛏️ Migrant labourers · ⛪ Welsh chapel communities · 👩⚕️ Fever nurses · 🏪 Migrant shopkeepers · ✊ Early union men & women
Opened the works that made the town · Built railways, docks and streets · Fought epidemics in crowded streets · Won safer shifts and better pay · Fed streets and gave credit in hard weeks · Music, schooling and self-help
mattered, evidence, changed, family, worked, built, because
"___ mattered because…" | "The evidence is…" | "After this, ___ changed."
Claim: who mattered. Evidence: the source detail. Change: what was different. Precision: 'this family / these workers', never 'they all'.
"___'s impact lasted longer because…" | "How far was this them, how far their moment? ___ because…" | "The sources over-record ___, so I also weighed ___"
⚡ BEFORE (what was wrong) → 🏃 CLAIM (what they DID) → 🔎 EVIDENCE (the source line you can point at) → 💥 CHANGE (what was different after).
🔑 Fame is not the test. Evidenced change is. A nurse in a census can pass; a famous name with no evidence cannot.
❌ “The Irish were all poor labourers.” ✅ “Many Irish families worked the docks; some opened shops.”
Say WHO exactly, and say SOME or MANY — never all, never they.
| Person / community | What changed after |
|---|---|
| 🏭 Bolckow & Vaughan | Opened the works that made the town |
| ⛏️ Migrant labourers | Built railways, docks and streets |
| ⛪ Welsh chapel communities | Gave newcomers somewhere to belong |
| 👩⚕️ Fever nurses | Fought epidemics in crowded streets |
| 🏪 Migrant shopkeepers | Fed and supplied a growing town |
| ✊ Early union men & women | Won safer work and better pay |
🛑 IS IT THE ACTION OR THE CHANGE?
Ask: did the PERSON do it themselves? → that is the CLAIM / ACTION 🏃
Or did it happen TO the town afterwards? → that is the CHANGE 💥
Nursing through the epidemic = action. Fewer children dying the next year = change.
❓ NO FAMOUS NAME? THAT IS FINE.
You do not need a statue to matter. A census line, a chapel record, a works ledger — any of those can carry a proof. Ordinary people changed this town.
🔤 Words I might need: impact · evidence · change · community · attribution · census · some · many
Proof Card
1) My person/community: ______________
2) Before — what was wrong or hard first?
3) Claim: "They mattered because…"
3) Evidence (point to the line on the card):
4) What changed:
Two Proofs
1) Famous figure — claim + evidence + change:
2) Un-famous person/community — claim + evidence + change:
3) Circle every precise attribution you used.
Proofs & Comparison
1) Two proof paragraphs (famous + un-famous):
2) Whose impact lasted longer? Name your criterion:
3) Agency vs context: could anyone have done this then?
1) What makes a person 'matter' in history?
2) Why is 'they were all poor' unfair?
3) Complete: claim → ______ → change.
Space → Voice → Audience → Influence. The adult’s first job is Space: regulate before you educate.
| Space | The People Wall has blank frames — anyone from your family's past can be added, with their proof. |
| Voice | Nominate one un-famous person who mattered — one claim, one evidence line, out loud or posted. |
| Audience | Our People Wall proofs are shared with families at the term showcase. |
| Influence | The class chooses which nominated person becomes Week 5's significance case study. |
Closing the loop: out loud, as a class, is enough here. Any inclusion counts — a nod, a word, a pointed finger. If a pupil wants theirs written down, an adult scribes it in their words. Pass is always allowed.
Keep with your book / folder.
| Pupil name: | Date: |
| WWW (What Went Well): | |
| EBI (Even Better If): | |
| Level worked at: Supported / Standard / Stretch | Evidence filed: Yes / Not yet |
| Authorship — what I chose or decided myself: | |
| Support given — prepared / scribed / modelled / hand-over-hand: | |
| Pupil response — my next step: | |
1) Give the three-part proof pattern.
2) Why can an un-famous nurse matter as much as an ironmaster?
3) Rewrite precisely: 'The Welsh brought music.'
1) Define agency and context in one sentence each.
2) Whose impact is easier to evidence, ironmasters or labourers? Why?
3) Why does 'who wrote it down' shape who matters?
BUILD Humanities · Week 4 · People Who Shaped Britain
Add your class once — names stay on this device only, and every Made by Matt lesson on it shares the list. Band each pupil so questions are tier-matched.
Pass is always allowed — passing still counts as taking part.