Preparing Students to Understand Theme

One way to help students understand the importance of theme is to use the skills, which they already have as applied to simulated texts such as fables, collages, timelines, paintings, photos, and precious objects.


FABLES – Often thought of as useful for lower grades only, fables can be used in all grades for the purpose of teaching students to understand theme.

IN ACTION - Read a couple of fables that relate to the particular essential question that you be pursuing.For example: when using the inquiry question, “What does it take to be happy?” read fables such as "The Flies and the Honey Pot," "The Lioness," and "The Miser." With the first few fables tell the students what the moral is and ask, “What comment on achievement and happiness does the fable make?” After a couple of fables are addressed together in this way present other related fables without giving the moral. Students can then work in pairs or small groups to write the missing morals. They can then debate who has written the best moral by tying their particular moral to data in the fable, explaining how their moral matches the story, and finally how their moral connects to life in general.

With this preparation, students are nearly ready to write their own fables. Brainstorm qualities of people that really get on their nerves. Choose one human foible to work on as a class and have kids address the following: “What kind of problems are caused by that shortcoming? What are the consequences of the quirk?”

Next discuss the knowledge of form for the fable. Lead a discussion on the animals what would best represent that foible. Then consider how the behavior will change an initial situation, complicating it and leading to particular consequences. Finally students can be helped to see how a moral must reflect the trajectory of the story, … how the moral reflects the changes wrought or problems caused by this particular foible.

Students can then work in groups to compose a fable together. Then jigsaw the students into new groups with one pupil from each group entering the new group to share what their original group had come up with. “After a read around of each fable, students discuss the choices they made and why they made them” (pg 170).

Next students could write advice from the point of view of the author – in this case Aesop. The RAFT technique can be a useful organizing and brainstorming device.

R = Role = Aesop
A = Audience = a person who need advice about happiness – the miser
F = Form = an advice letter
T = Topic = Advice about happiness based on a particular fable

Next, students can rewrite the ending of the fable, then rewrite the letter of advice to match the new situation and moral. This last step helps students to see how the ending of a novel is of great importance in establishing theme.

More to come on simulated texts to develop theme.

Thinking About Theme

Since we are getting close to the end of our Blogging Bliss, I have decided to sort through the remainder of this work on literary elements and cover the sections, which I found the most helpful. So I will move away from the promised blogs on setting and move to the last section of the book, which covers the element of theme.

“Theme is where all the other literary elements come together to give a story's ultimate reward and fulfill its consummate purpose.” p 153 A great theme is something we can transfer to our lives. It can transform us and help us grow.

Authors Smith and Wilhelm point out that there is more to theme than the moral or gist of the story. They describe theme as a rich understanding, expressed through a crafted work of art but applicable to life beyond the work, and situated in an ongoing cultural conversation that tests and complicates it. Pg 155.

What theme is not – a one-work topic: love, war, friendship. Why not? Because these are topics from which many themes can be generated. What about love? What about friendship? Understanding the topic is only the halfway point. We must understand the topic and the conversation. Thinking of theme as a conversation is what we need to do. If a group at a party is discussing education we may feel that we are able to join the conversation. However, they folks could be discussing any number of ideas regarding education and we may or may not be inclined to want to jump into.

Throughout this text the authors have proposed that we teach literature by structuring units around essential questions. These questions are about ongoing disciplinary debate or cultural conversations.
This is where theme comes in. Rich and complex works of art will contain multiple themes, both major and minor. For example while teaching Romeo and Juliet as part of an inquiry unit on what makes or breaks a relationship, students came up with themes like “love stinks,” “love is always changing,” and “deceit causes all human problems” as they progressed through the text.


What should teachers do to help their students be successful in finding themes?

· Help students recognize the existence of ongoing cultural conversations and place their reading in those conversations – by using essential questions.

· Help students see the importance of coherence and develop and name useful coherence strategies – recognizing and making inferences and understanding genre patterns.

· Create an environment where students feel free to discuss and accept or reject the author's themes. For example one of our classmates mentioned that their students struggled when they were told that the theme of Romeo and Juliet was that we are controlled by fate. I would too. I don't see it that way at all. Nevertheless, let's day for the sake of the argument that this was Shakespeare's intent. As a reader we must have the right to disagree with the idea that we are controlled by fate and to argue that we have the power of self-control and that our decisions bring about consequences.

“Figuring out theme is a challenge but it is one we can help students meet." pg. 164

In the next blog we will discuss how to connect theme to student's lives using simulated texts, fables, collages, paintings, and precious objects.

“Setting is really about rule setting.”

Let's get back to reflecting on Literary Elements and How to Teach What Really Matters About Character, Setting, Point of View and Theme. In previous blogs we discussed character, what matters in teaching students about it, and how to best do that. These next few entries will be dedicated to discovering what really matters about setting, why, and how to best work through those ideas with students.

After reading this chapter I have to admit that I am guilty of poor teaching in this area. I have always taught my students a definition of setting to memorize – the time and place in which the characters are placed – and that is about it. Authors Smith and Wilhelm have showed me that setting is one of the most overlooked elements in a novel. There is more to understand regarding setting and there is importance in understanding the setting. Our teaching and thinking have to be much deeper and more nuanced than it generally is. I have to warn you, Reader , that this information is new to me and I have not fully digested it. I will do my best to pass on to you what matters most about setting.

Let's think about setting for a minute and what matters about it in our personal lives. Setting is directly related to our behaviors, actions and words. Take for example two settings of the office and the home. In the office we try to look nice, we speak politely, and we behave in a professional manner. At home on the other hand we slip into comfy clothes, raise our voice if needed, and let our hair down. Two other examples would be the classroom and the playground. In the classroom we teach our students to use inside voices, not to run, and to be kind. On the play ground students yell, run, and are often unkind.

So what does all this mean in relation to text? Every setting will imply certain rules of behavior. It is vitally important for students to understand the setting in detail to understand why characters behave in the way that they do, whether their behavior or words are appropriate, weird or normal according to the rules of the location and time period. For example if students are to understand why a certain character is seen as impertinent they must know that men were not supposed to talk to unmarried women during certain time periods. Understanding the setting helps us get a feel for the motivation behind the characters actions. How people follow, adapt, or violate these rules says a lot about their character and relationship to the social settings in which they are operating.

When considering setting we must keep in mind that there are multiple contextual influences on characters and situations. Our job is to figure out which ones are important to notice keeping in mind that all activity is situated and must be understood in that context.

1) the microsystem – the family, friendships, church, school, and neighborhood
2) the mesosystem – the government, entertainment and transportation
3) the macrosystem – the global climate

Note to self: I tried to apply this information in my classroom this week as we got into our new novel Silas Marner. I wanted the students to really understand fully the English countryside setting at the time period and how the people stayed very much to their own communities and how anyone from outside was suspect. I felt that this was important because it resulted in the countrymen's behavior towards Silas. This did cause some confusion for me because we have talked about not giving the students our interpretation of the text before they have read and had a chance to make meaning themselves. I wonder if I should have let them read some chapters first and waited to see what questions they had. However, I am suspicious that they would not ask anything and just get a very small bit of the meaning out of the story. Maybe that is OK.

How Do We Fix Literature Circle Problems?

My connection with the instructor in the article by Clarke & Holwadel (2007) "Help! What Is Wrong With These Literature Circles and How Can We Fix Them?" is minimal. After reading of the teacher’s struggles I was reminded how very blessed I am with the group I currently teach.

There are no issues with community among my students. All are same race and socio-economic level, come from families with similar political affiliations, values and beliefs. I also have no issues with students coming or going, thus no revolving door issues. I have rarely witnessed issues of unkindness or any sort, or the use of inappropriate words. There are no feelings of hostility displayed. I do not struggle with issues related to interruptions. My class meets every Friday from 8:30 – 4:45. There are no disturbances to our schedule during this time - although I do have to cover history, and science as well as language arts during this time period. Students do not switch teachers during this day. So I don’t have to deal with the issues related to that either.

I think that two of the concerns mentioned may be a problem for me when I begin to implement my first literature circles. One is that I have been presenting material in one fashion for several years, as prescribed by the program for which I work. This new method of student led discussion will be a great change for my students, and I expect it will take a few sessions for all of us to adjust.

The other obstacle discussed in the article, which I feel I may encounter is sharing airtime. I do have one student who would try to dominate the conversation if I am not a direct part of it. I will use the poker chips idea to try to head this off. I will need to give mini lessons on listening to other’s ideas and perhaps have that student be the one who “reports in” what the team discussed to ensure that he is listening to others.

I am sure I will encounter other problems when I begin. Perhaps there will be problems that others have not faced, as my group is so atypical.

Wish me luck!

Literature Circles in a Perfect World

This week we take a diversion from _Teaching What Matters About Literary Elements_ to discuss the application of literature circles in our classrooms.

Mr. Daniels describes for us the ideal situation in which a literature circle flourishes. Many of us look at the list of 11 key features and say, “Yeah, but in my classroom...”

Literature circles are new to me, yet I am anxious to give them a try. While there will be many obstacles for me to overcome, I hope to be able to make these discussion groups a reality in my class of 6-8 grade students.

Since this entire idea will be foreign to my students I will need to begin with training. The training I will need to include is as follows:

1) Explaining how these activities will work and why it is important -

2) Demonstrating a live or recorded group for students to visualize – this will be a challenge for me. I wonder if there is something on Youtube or Teachertube to serve this purpose.

3) We will need to try out a variety of approaches until we find what works best for this group this year.

4) I will need to debrief with students following each circle session – asking kids to notice effective practices.

5) I will need to continuously refine the ideas and provide on going training through mini-lessons and coaching.

Of course this is all easier said than done. Not many of us have total freedom in our classrooms to do just as we would like. The program that I work for is very traditional and I am wondering how I will make adaptations to the perfect scenario to make it fit.


1) Students choose their own books – Right off the bat I have a problem. My program dictates the novels that we will read each quarter. To overcome this I will look for supplemental poetry, short stories, or picture books that could be used as part of an inquiry unit, which would include the assigned novel. This will be a challenge for me. Are there lists put together already somewhere that give titles of texts based on themes or inquiry units? I need to find out. If you know of any, please comment below. I would allow students to choose among these supplemental texts. This would hopefully give them a small sense of ownership.

2)Small temporary groups are formed based on book choice – Since my entire class will be reading the same novel this would not work, unless they form groups based on the supplemental reading choices. That might work. Those groups would be very shout term. Maybe only one day.

3)Groups meet on a regular basis – I think this would be fine as my class meets regularly once a week. The challenge would be to make the circle a priority and be sure it happened each week.

4)Kids use written notes to guide reading and discussion – This will be interesting. My students have never taken notes on anything aesthetic in nature. They will struggle with this at first. They will also not be used to having a discussion that I do not lead. They will probably LOVE this. (So will I)

5)Discussion topics come from students – how refreshing. I think it will take a while for this to happen but I feel it will be great once the kids get the hang of speaking from the heart and not waiting for me to tell them what to discuss.

6)Teacher serves as a facilitator – Leading all conversation is a responsibility I will gladly delegate to the kids. I am sick to death of having to do all of the talking all day long!

I really like the idea of an online wiki or blog spot for discussion where face-to-face meeting is impossible. I learned about blogging this past summer and think it holds much potential for academic application. I would probably be the one posting a Socratic open ended question for students to reply to so the project would not be totally student directed, but I still think this would be a lot of fun and give kids a great reason to be on the computer.

The reality of all of these dreams is that for years we have been teaching students to look for efferent types of correct answers. Sadly, the idea of thinking aesthetically will be a drastic change for them. But nothing good comes easy. I am willing to put in the effort to make literature more relevant, deliver transfer, and teach students about life.

Teaching Character With Particular Units and Texts

Previously we discussed prereading instruction which prepares students to work with characterization. This blog will describe how to create a context that directs and rewards students' attention to character during reading.

Inquiry Units

Centered around essential questions – timeless and debatable issues that draw us to literature - inquiry units help students to get the conceptual (what) and the procedural (how) together. A unit context not only focuses students' attention as they read but helps them develop an understanding of fundamental characteristics of effective argumentative writing since the culmination would likely be a written argument of judgment that assesses characters in regards to the big question or an argument providing an extended definition of, say a good friend, using examples from all of the unit readings and the students' personal experiences.

A variety of essential questions would work well to keep the students' focused on character.

What makes a good parent, friend, teacher, hero, or leader?
What makes a person mature?
What is loyalty, courage, self-government, etc.?
What makes me me?



Using Autobiographical Writing Before Reading

Transfer (one of our goals) is fostered by having students write about relevant autobiographical experiences before they read, taking up issues that are relevant to stories without cueing particular readings of those stories. (Our classmates Amber and Abbie did just this in their lesson plan for Walk On. Way to go Ladies!) “Allowing students to write or discuss relevant, autobiographical experiences before reading helps students to make abstract rather than describing responses to characters” (internal vs external). "In addition, this type of writing assignment activates students' prior knowledge and teaches them that it is powerful and necessary to apply that prior knowledge.”

Personal reflection : I wonder... While these above assignments do help students to focus while they read, don't these assignments cause them to focus on what I see as important in the story and not what they might see as important? Won't these types of activities cause the student to think, “This book must be about friendship because the teacher is asking us to look at that idea and write about our friendships.” How does this fit in with what we have learned about reader response?

Using Character Response Sheets

Since story specific questions are unlikely to prepare student to understand more than the particular story they are reading, a set of questions that can be applied across stories is likely to be more useful. Character response sheets are not very complex, but they capture the heuristics for understanding character and can be used in lieu of reading check quizzes for assigned reading (helping us get away from the efferent type of questions we often ask for the sole purpose of making sure students are reading the assigned chapters.)

Response sheets depart from traditional instruction in important ways. Because they explicitly reinforce activities that precede their use, and because they can be used across stories, they foster transfer. To use them students must be alert for inference cues rather than waiting for teachers to highlight those cues through their questions. It assists students in internalizing the kinds of questions necessary to a sophisticated interpretation of character in literature and life.

Character response sheets ask students to give their preliminary impression of characters and to give specific instances of actions, language, thoughts, body language, and looks from the text which have triggered their initial impression. In subsequent days, weeks etc. students are to explain how their impression of the character has changed or been confirmed, again based on specific support from the actions, language, etc. in the text.

Using Drama

Short, scriptless dramas allow students to participate as actors rather than as an audience. Two types that support understanding of character follow:

In-Role Writing – By writing a diary entry as a particular character students make the character come alive using inference cues based on the character's thoughts and language. Be sure that prompts let students know who they are, what their situation is, what they will create, and how they will share it.

Press Conferences – Students play the role of a character while classmate reporters question them. Be sure to debrief the class focusing on what the students learned about the characters that made them respond the way they did and how they learned what they learned.

Preparing Students to Understand Character

Putting Theory Into Practice


Here it is!! Finally an applicable, usable blog full of lesson ideas you can put right into use. What follows are Wilhelm and Smith's ideas for lessons designed to help students get the big picture of characterization. These lessons are designed to help students to focus on internal character since they tend to often focus on external traits. Enjoy.

1) Using personality tests – a literacy practice many students have already developed

This activity helps students focus on the type of information we want to know about ourselves and others, because that's just what we want to know about characters in novels. Teenage students have seen many of these from the silly to the serious, from Your Inner Fashonista to Myers-Briggs.

This online test helps students determine which Percy Jackson character they are most like.



www.quizrocket.com/percy-jackson-quiz

Students can fill out tests on themselves and move toward filling out the tests from the perspective of characters in their novel. Completing tests also provides the opportunity for students to think about what characteristics matter the most to our understanding of people. Students could even rank traits in order of importance. This is in line with one of our goals in teaching characterization: that students realize that some characteristics matter more than others.

2) A second goal in our lessons was to ensure that students are able to transfer what they learn to novel situations. One way to do that is to present them with targeted practice using texts designed to focus on the skills you are trying to teach. This is called simulated instruction. One kind of text that provides the targeted practice is ads and portraits, both for print and TV. Many ads call for viewers to make inferences about the products based on characters who sell them.



www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1jfofjPtEY&NR=1"

Show the ad, have students make a list of three to five important traits of each character. Tally the class lists. Next, have students explain how they came to their decisions. Where their inferences derived from group membership or individual relationship?

3) Personals – drawing on students' understanding of nonacademic texts to help develop strategies they can apply to reading literature.

Smith and Wilhelm use examples such as using student profiles to select the summer camp or dorm roommates that students would most prefer.

Important tips to keep in mind when using ranking activities:

- students do ranking independently before assigned to small groups to work out group ranking
- watch groups for disagreements because they foster elaborated explanations
- help students to make comments like, “I disagree. I see ...”
- items being ranked need to be problematic – causing discussion
- tally class responses somewhere the entire class can see
- begin discussion with the item with the widest array of responses
- make sure to ask students why they thought what they thought
- after discussion debrief, highlight the strategies students used to come to their judgments and the criteria they applied to make them.

Students may come to see that characterizations are made based on a character's actions, language, thoughts, body language, physical description, and how the character relates to other characters.


4) Media – more practice with media texts – using movie trailers, easily found on the internet – can be a fun way for students to practice getting impressions of characters and figuring out what they based their impressions on.

After practicing with each of these venues students should be ready to take on the duplicit Long John Silver, George the curious monkey, or the evil White Witch.