Five-Week Plan

Year 11 ATAR Literature • Australian Short Stories • Five-week sequence

The sequence assumes each story is read in full before the lesson that discusses it. Each week pairs one or two stories with a single analytical skill, so students practise the moves before they are asked to sustain a longer argument.

Texts. The four stories are public domain and are linked from Stories and Authors. They are not copied into this packet. Read the whole story first; the annotations and questions come after the first reading, not instead of it.

Week 1 - Context and first readings

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	What is a short story? Shape, compression, implication and the single scene. Introduce the unit's guiding question: how do these stories make the bush mean something?	Students write one question they want a story to answer.
2	Read The Drover's Wife and map the house, the people and the threat.	A simple map of the setting with three annotations.
3	Read The Union Buries Its Dead and notice what the narrator refuses to supply.	Two observations about the narrator's tone, each with a short quotation.
4	Colonial Context: the 1890s, the bush myth and the Bulletin. Keep context tied to specific words and choices.	One contextual detail that changes the reading of a line.

Week 2 - Voice and close reading

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Narrative Voice: first-person plural, third-person restraint, the yarn and the shifted perspective.	A voice map for two stories: who speaks, who is silent, what the voice knows.
2	Read The Loaded Dog aloud. Track the comic timing and the narrator's commentary.	One paragraph on how the story makes a dangerous event funny.
3	Close-Reading Method: five steps from first response to a defensible claim.	A five-step annotation of one short passage.
4	Workshop: improve one sentence so it explains an effect rather than naming a technique.	One revised sentence and a note explaining the change.

Week 3 - Landscape, endings and ambiguity

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Landscape and Setting: the bush as workplace, threat and myth. Compare the house in Lawson with the hut in Baynton.	A setting grid with three details and their effects.
2	Read The Chosen Vessel. Handle the violence carefully and keep the discussion analytical.	One observation about how the story directs sympathy and blame.
3	Endings and Ambiguity: what each ending refuses to resolve.	A table of ending, refusal and effect for two stories.
4	Build a claim: turn an observation into an argument about the whole story.	A thesis sentence and one rival reading.

Week 4 - Comparison and writing

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Comparing Stories: choose a pair and a shared question.	A comparison grid with two shared and two different choices.
2	Draft a comparative paragraph using the writing guide.	One paragraph with claim, evidence, analysis and link.
3	Peer feedback: underline the claim, circle the evidence, mark the explanation of effect.	One specific revision the writer will make.
4	Plan a longer argument across two or three stories.	A thesis, three claims and the evidence for each.

Week 5 - Creative, oral and seminar

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Creative and Oral Response: choose a missing scene, an alternate ending or a spoken annotation.	A plan that names the story, the change 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 story grid and the quotation bank.	A completed retrieval grid from memory, then corrected.

The plan is adaptable. If a class needs more time on voice, move the comparative paragraph into Week 5 and shorten the seminar preparation rather than dropping the reading.