IB DP Individual Oral--Choosing Your Literary & Non-Literary Body of Work

No Prep Plans: Choosing Your Literary & Non-Literary Body of Work | IB DP Individual Oral Preparation

Help students make one of the most important early decisions in the Individual Oral preparation process: selecting a literary work and non-literary body of work that provide strong, balanced opportunities for analysis.

Instead of simply choosing the texts they like best, students learn to evaluate potential pairings based on evidence, authorial choices, connection to their global issue, and balance between the two texts. The lesson reinforces that students need one literary work and one non-literary body of work and should be able to give meaningful attention to both during the oral.

What’s Included
- Teacher Directions with flexible 1–2 class period lesson flow
- Student Overview explaining key considerations when selecting texts
- Mini Research Questions for guided investigation
- 5-Step Text Pairing Selection Activity
- 3 Student Worksheets for researching, comparing, testing, and selecting text pairings
- Color + printer-friendly black-and-white student pages

Students Will
- Identify possible literary works and non-literary bodies of work
- Connect potential texts to a refined global issue
- Identify specific authorial choices that offer opportunities for analysis
- Compare multiple possible text combinations
- Evaluate pairings for evidence strength, balance, and clarity of connection
- Recognize when one side of a pairing is substantially stronger than the other
- Distinguish between choosing texts based on personal preference vs. analytical potential
- Seek teacher feedback before committing to a pairing
- Defend a final text pairing using specific evidence

Why Teachers Love It
- Moves students beyond “I like this text” toward evidence-based decision making.
- Provides a clear structure for comparing several possible text combinations.
- Encourages students to identify specific evidence and authorial choices before committing to their texts.
- Makes the often-overlooked issue of balance between the two sides of the oral visible to students.
- Includes built-in opportunities for teacher feedback and revision.
- Encourages deeper research, planning, analysis, and reflection rather than simple text selection.
- Gives students a documented final pairing decision and rationale they can use as they move into extract selection and IO planning.

Perfect for: IB DP Language A: Language & Literature • Individual Oral Preparation • IO Text Selection • Literary & Non-Literary Texts • Global Issues • Authorial Choices • Oral Assessment Planning

Please Note: This is an independently created educational resource designed to support classroom instruction. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to the International Baccalaureate Organization.