Teacher Notes
This packet combines the Semester 1 and Semester 2 revision units into one five-week cycle. It is a teaching and formative-feedback resource, not a set of practice papers or a confidential school document. These notes explain how the pages fit together and where to adapt them.
Purpose and scope
The cycle assumes students have already studied the four text groups: the fifteen public-domain Romantic poems, the four Australian short stories, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Oryx and Crake. It does not reteach every text. It rebuilds the knowledge students need in order to read closely, compare texts and write a defensible argument.
The packet is intentionally generic. It does not reproduce a school brief, a class calendar, a set of questions from a confidential document or any material that would identify a student or a school. Adapt the sequence to your class rather than treating it as a fixed program.
Sequence at a glance
| Week | Focus | Key pages | Evidence of learning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Audit and organise | Five-week plan, knowledge audit | A specific gap and a plan for the first return. |
| 2 | Retrieve and close-read | Close-reading routine, text consolidation pages | An annotation that moves from detail to effect to claim. |
| 3 | Compare and connect | Comparative connections | A comparative paragraph that explains a difference in construction. |
| 4 | Argue and redraft | Argument and evidence, writing and redrafting | A complete draft and one named improvement. |
| 5 | Consolidate and transfer | Seminar and discussion | A contribution that builds on another student's idea. |
Before you teach
- Check the texts. Students need their own copies of the two novels. The poems and short stories are public domain and linked from the source pack.
- Read the content notes. Both novels include material that may affect students. Plan how you will signal it and how students can opt out of a discussion without losing the learning.
- Check the links. The text-consolidation pages link to the relevant Year 11 packets. If a packet is updated, check that the section you want still exists.
- Do not add confidential material. Keep school briefs, student data and internal documents out of the public packet.
Differentiation
Differentiation is built into the tasks rather than published as a separate stream. Most pages offer a route in, a core task and an extension.
| Area | Support | Core | Extension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retrieval | Provide a partly completed grid or a list of prompts. | Blank grid, corrected from notes. | Rebuild the grid from memory and explain one connection between two text groups. |
| Close reading | Annotate one sentence with a checklist of what to look for. | Use the five-step routine on a short passage. | Compare two passages and explain which construction does more work. |
| Comparison | Provide the shared question and two details. | Write one comparative paragraph. | Build a counter-reading into the comparison. |
| Writing | Provide a paragraph frame and a short evidence bank. | Plan and draft a response with a counter-reading. | Redraft for a different reader or a different emphasis. |
| Seminar | Offer a written contribution or a pair rehearsal. | Offer a claim, evidence and question. | Chair the discussion or synthesise the group's positions. |
For students learning English as an additional language or dialect, preview key vocabulary such as claim, evidence, effect, counter-reading and synthesis. Allow extra time for reading and offer a glossary of genre terms. For extension, ask for a narrower claim, a more surprising comparison or a more precise account of form.
Sensitive content
| Text | Content to flag | Teaching approach |
|---|---|---|
| Romantic Poetry | Death, grief, madness, enchantment and imperial violence in some poems. | Preview the poem, name the content briefly and focus on how the poem handles it. |
| Australian Short Stories | Poverty, isolation, colonial violence, sexual violence and death. | Do not use graphic detail. Give students a way to step out of a discussion and return. |
| Picnic at Hanging Rock | Disappearance, suicide, sexual violence, institutional cruelty and colonial erasure. | Signpost the difficult sections. Distinguish analysis from speculation about real people. |
| Oryx and Crake | Pandemic, extinction, child exploitation, sexual exploitation, self-harm and graphic violence. | Use short, purposeful extracts. Avoid dwelling on graphic detail. Offer alternative passages for close reading. |
Students should not be asked to disclose personal experience. If a discussion touches on a student's life, redirect to the text and follow your school's wellbeing procedures.
Formative feedback
- Conferences. Ask the student to explain one choice in their draft before you comment.
- Whole-class feedback. Name one pattern that worked and one pattern to change, using anonymous examples.
- Peer feedback. Use one strength, one question and one next step. Keep it specific to the text.
- Self-check. Use the checklists on the outcomes, argument and writing pages.
- Follow-up. Check that the student has acted on the feedback, not just recorded it.
The knowledge audit belongs to the student. It is a planning tool, not a record of results. Do not collect it as a ranking or compare students publicly.
Materials and access
- Students' own copies of the two novels.
- The public Romantic Poetry source pack and the Australian short stories packet.
- Highlighters or a digital annotation tool.
- A timer for retrieval and seminar rounds.
- Printed copies for students who prefer paper, and a plain-text outline for students who use screen readers or need a reduced layout.
Every page has a skip link, semantic headings, print styles and tables that scroll on narrow screens. If you adapt a page, keep those features.
Copyright
The Romantic poems and the four short stories are public domain and are linked rather than copied into this packet. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967) and Oryx and Crake (2003) remain in copyright. Do not reproduce their text, film stills, screenplays or audio in the packet or in a public classroom site. Students may use short quotations from their own copies for analysis.
What this packet does not contain
- No assessment instrument, scoring scheme, bands, weights or ranked results.
- No confidential class brief, school calendar or internal planning document.
- No student names, work, results or school data.
- No copied novel text, film stills, screenplays or audio recordings.
- No private library index or source folder.
Last reviewed: October 2026. Adapt the sequence to your class, but keep the public packet free of confidential and copyrighted material.