Five-Week Plan

Year 9 HEAP • Novel: Jurassic Park • Five-week sequence

This sequence treats Jurassic Park as a novel about the illusion of control. Students examine how Michael Crichton builds a convincing scientific world, populates it with conflicting interests and then lets those interests produce disaster. The packet supplies original analysis and prompts; it does not reproduce the novel.

Students use their own copies. The novel is in copyright. This packet contains no extracts, chapter summaries copied from the book, stills, logos or film scripts. Students should keep a quotation log with page numbers from their own edition and bring short quotations to class for discussion.

Week 1 - Context and design

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Context and composition: Crichton's career, the science of the late 1980s, and the novel's central thought experiment.	Three contextual details that shape the novel's concerns.
2	Genre and premise: science fiction, thriller, cautionary tale and the disaster plot.	A genre map with evidence from two scenes.
3	Plot and structure: the park tour, the systems failure and the survival sequence.	A timeline of causes and consequences.
4	Worldbuilding and science: how the novel makes an impossible park feel plausible.	Three techniques of plausibility, with examples.

Week 2 - Character and meaning

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Characters and power: Hammond, Grant, Malcolm, Sattler, Nedry and the systems they represent.	A power map showing who decides, who warns and who is ignored.
2	Themes and motifs: control, chaos, commodification, parenthood and the gaze.	A motif tracker with three appearances and a claim.
3	Narrative voice and perspective: third-person limited, multiple viewpoints and scientific interludes.	One paragraph explaining what a viewpoint reveals and hides.
4	Close reading and evidence: from a short quotation to a claim about the whole novel.	One analytical paragraph with a student-supplied quotation.

Week 3 - Argument and adaptation

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Argument architecture: claim, reasons, evidence, warrant and counterargument.	A contestable claim and two distinct reasons.
2	Adaptation and film: what changes when a novel becomes a blockbuster, and what those changes reveal.	A comparison of one character or scene across media, without stills.
3	Argument and essay: planning, paragraphing and using evidence without retelling.	An essay plan with a counterargument.
4	Seminar preparation: a short position statement and one question for the class.	A position statement that another student could dispute.

Week 4 - Draft and create

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Drafting an analytical response: evidence, explanation and connection.	A complete draft paragraph with a clear claim.
2	Redrafting in three passes: argument, clarity and effect.	One before-and-after paragraph with a named improvement.
3	Creative and oral response: a missing scene, a system log or a character monologue.	A creative draft that uses the novel's concerns without copying its text.
4	Feedback and revision: does the creative work illuminate the novel rather than merely repeat it?	One change made in response to feedback.

Week 5 - Present and transfer

Lesson	Focus	Formative checkpoint
1	Seminar: students present a claim, evidence and a question.	A response that builds on another student's idea.
2	Reflection: what the novel argues about science, profit and responsibility.	One ethical choice explained in relation to the novel.
3	Transfer: analyse an unfamiliar passage or a new text about technology.	A completed analysis without prompts.
4	Consolidation: revise the quotation log and the argument plan.	A corrected log with page numbers and accurate context.

The plan is adaptable. If time is short, keep the close-reading work, the argument plan and the seminar; reduce the creative task to a single scene. The novel is long, so choose focus chapters rather than attempting a chapter-by-chapter study.