Five-Week Plan

Year 11 ATAR Literature • Oryx and Crake • Five-week sequence

The sequence assumes the novel is read in full. It moves from first response to structure, then to worldbuilding and ethics, and finally to critical writing and discussion. The novel's open ending is treated as a deliberate formal choice, not a problem to be fixed.

Texts. The novel is in copyright. This packet does not reproduce its text. Students need their own copies; short quotations are supplied by students from their editions. The sources and provenance page records the rights position.

Week 1 - Context and first reading

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	First response: what kind of world is this, and what has happened before the novel begins?	Three questions and one observation about the opening.
2	Context and Composition: Atwood, 2003, speculative fiction, genomics and corporate power.	One contextual detail that changes the reading of a scene.
3	Read the opening and map Snowman's present-day world: the Crakers, the compound, the sea.	A setting map with three annotations.
4	Separate what Snowman remembers from what the novel presents as fact.	A two-column table: memory / evidence.

Week 2 - Structure, character and narration

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Plot and Structure: the present journey and the past that explains it.	A timeline with the novel's major reveals.
2	Characters and Power: Jimmy, Crake, Oryx, the Crakers and the corporate world.	A character map showing who has power and who is used.
3	Narration and Memory: limited perspective, self-mythology and the unreliable record.	One paragraph on how memory shapes the reader's understanding.
4	Close reading workshop: select one short passage and annotate for word choice, tone and implication.	An annotation with one observation, one effect and one question.

Week 3 - Worldbuilding, ethics and language

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Worldbuilding and Satire: Compounds, Pleeblands, corporate brands and engineered animals.	A world map with three inventions and their real-world targets.
2	Science and Ethics: genetic engineering, consent, extinction and the Crakers.	One ethical question and two possible answers.
3	Language and naming: BlyssPluss, Paradice, pigoons, Crakers, Snowman, Oryx and Crake.	A naming table with three names and their effects.
4	Build a claim: turn a pattern into an argument about the whole novel.	A thesis sentence and one rival reading.

Week 4 - Evidence and critical writing

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Close Reading and Evidence: how to use short quotations without letting them replace analysis.	An evidence log with three quotations and their effects.
2	Comparative and Critical Writing: biopolitics, eco-criticism, genre and comparison.	One perspective applied to one scene, with a limitation.
3	Draft a critical paragraph with claim, evidence, analysis and link.	One paragraph and one counter-reading.
4	Peer feedback: evidence, effect, counter-reading.	One specific revision the writer will make.

Week 5 - Creative, oral and seminar

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Creative and Oral Response: choose a missing perspective, a creation myth or a spoken annotation.	A plan that names the gap, the perspective and the intended effect.
2	Studio: draft the creative piece or the spoken walkthrough.	A complete draft, read aloud once.
3	Seminar and Discussion: prepare a position and one piece of evidence.	A seminar note with a claim, evidence and a question.
4	Revision and Retrieval: retrieve the timeline, character map and concept grid.	A completed retrieval grid from memory, then corrected.

The plan is adaptable. If a class needs more time on the novel's structure, move the creative response into Week 5 and shorten the seminar preparation rather than dropping the reading.