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English and Literacy

This guide supports the teaching of P-12 English, and literacy as an integral element of the curriculum.

Young Adult Fiction & children's literature learning resources

The following websites provide resources for use in primary and secondary school classrooms including discussion guides for YA novels and lesson plans that will save you time with lesson planning and preparation.

Allen & Unwin's teacher resource site 

A resource for teacher's to assist in the promotion and teaching of literature and encourage recreational reading and a love of books in children. Book trailers, discussion notes and author posters are available free for use in the classroom.

The Way Forward - Teacher notes/curriculum recommendations (Blog)

This blog is written by Judith Way, a teacher librarian from Melbourne. Judith provides links to discussion notes based on YA novels and ideas for integrating technology into teaching practice.

Scholastic - Teachers

With a focus on primary school, this site provides a range of resources for teachers' which can be integrated within various learning areas including book-talks, lesson plans, author studies, videos, and discussion guides.

Random House - Educator guides

These guides offer discussion notes and writing exercise ideas for YA literature.

Random House - Reading group guides

Random House offers discussion guides for current YA novels, which can be used in a whole class context or for small reading groups.

Lesson plans for reading fiction (Primary school)

Teacher guides to A-Z fiction list

These teacher's guides to works of literature for the late-elementary and middle-school levels (grades 3-8) include overview information, discussion questions, and extended learning activities, in addition to printable worksheets and lesson plans.

University of Queensland Press teachers notes

This site provides teachers' notes for picture books and a range of YA novels by Australian authors, including many which are widely used within schools. These comprehensive teachers' notes include features such as a synopsis, themes, activities, writing style, author motivation and study notes for each novel.

Tips for finding study guides

Try using these search examples in the catalogue or combine these term with an authors name:

e.g.  "criticism and interpretation" AND Salinger, J.D.

"criticism and interpretation" AND senior secondary english

"study guide*" AND VCE English

Try using subject headings to find resources:

English language -- Study and teaching (Secondary)

Fiction -- History and criticism

Novels as school level English texts

The following list of novels are English texts widely used for secondary school English.

English Texts:

Novels for students : presenting analysis, context and criticism on commonly studied novels / Diane Telgen, editor. UniM Giblin Eunson 808 NOVE

'Novels for Students' is an 8 volume resource in which each entry or chapter focuses on one novel. The following elements are contained in each entry: introduction, author biography, plot summary, characters, themes, style, historical and cultural context, critical overview, sources, for further study, and criticism.

Wuthering Heights / Emily Brontë. UniM Giblin Eunson 823.8 BRONTE

The great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald. UniM Giblin Eunson 813.52 FITZGER 

To kill a mockingbird / Harper Lee. UniM Giblin Eunson 813.54 LEE

The catcher in the rye / J. D. Salinger. UniM Giblin Eunson 813.54 SALING 

Night / Elie Wiesel ; translated from the French by Stella Rodway ; foreword by François Mauriac. UniM Giblin Eunson 940.5318 WIES