I have been working with my third grade teachers and their students on determining theme when reading stories. The reason we picked this concept was because our sample tests in preparing for state testing showed that the kids had very little understanding of this. Also, I've found that this is a skill that many teachers have said is a really difficult thing for kids to understand, and I wanted to see if the kids were really capable of it. I figured, it was sort of like determining importance when reading fiction. So, that was the approach I took when figuring out how I determine theme in a story. It was clear that re-reading was key because I had to re-read many times in order to think about it myself. I told the kids that theme can be thought of as what the story is REALLY about. Theme can also be thought of as the author's message. After speaking with the kids about the importance of re-reading, I began by doing just that. I re-read Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats and modeled my own thinking in terms of my connection(s). I told the kids that when I first read the book, I thought of how I can't whistle at all. But the more I read it, I realized that the story wasn't about whistling... I started thinking of other things that I couldn't do but, just like Peter, I tried for a long time and finally, when I least expected it, I got it! I told them about my own experience trying to do step aerobics at my gym. We discussed how our connections to stories are sometimes SIMILAR but not EXACTLY like the character in the story and that those connections might help us to figure out the theme of the story. (this is a struggle for our kids...they make simplistic connections and don't typically dig deeper. I think our teachers struggle with teaching this as well so I thought it was important to make this part of the lesson) We began a chart that said, Ways to Determine THEME in a story: 1. Think about what the story is REALLY about 2. Ask yourself, Do I have any similar connections to a character or a situation in the story? I sent the kids off to try it in their own books (they had independent "just right" books. As we conferenced many kids were getting it and had decent ideas about the themes in the stories they were reading. Many had Junie B. Jones books that were easier to connect to. One kid actually was reading Teammates (I forget the author) and made a text-to-world connection to Martin Luther King and thought that the theme of the story had something to do with black people and white people getting along. Through our conference I had him thinking about and using the word equality. It was pretty amazing stuff! I had the kids share a few examples and thoughts and began another chart: THEMES IN BOOKS WE HAVE READ: 1. Perseverance (don't give up) (From Whistle for Willie) 2. Equality (treat everyone the same) I also included some other themes, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. We continued to add to this list after each lesson. But the kids who REALLY helped me were the kids who WEREN'T getting it. For Day 2, I did more strategy instruction. My mini-lesson was to think about how a character in a story changes over time. I re-read Little Toot to the kids and I modeled for them how to make a character timeline to show how both Little Toot and the other boats in the story changed their feelings and opinions throughout the story. That helped me to decide that a major theme of this story was: Don't judge someone by the way they look. Other kids chimed in with their opinions and thoughts about other themes that were implied by the story, like: "It's never too late to make changes in your life" because the boat goes from silly little tugboat to a good helper in the end. Other kids thought the theme was to "help others and to never give up" It was eye-opening to me that they were thinking and that it was beginning to work! No one was saying it was a story about a tugboat anymore! The kids went out to do their own character timelines and when we shared they helped one another see how the new strategy COULD really help themselves to think about theme. We also realized that it was so crucial for them to have read the book they were using beforehand. It was difficult for most kids who were reading new books to apply the skill. We added to the strategy chart: 3. Think about how the character(s) change throughout the story In my conferences on this day, one kid was reading Junie B. Jones and she said that at first Junie B. was sad that her graduation gown was ruined with purple spots, but at the end of the story, all of the kids wanted their gowns to have purple spots too. In our discussion she came to realize that that change was essential to her understanding the theme! She said, "I think the theme is about how not to be upset when things are bad but to make them better in a creative way" My jaw dropped! We talked about the phrase, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" It was a great moment for this kid and for me!
On Day 3, I wanted the kids to really focus on which characters they were thinking about when doing their timelines. In retrospect, this lesson may have been better if I had done this as lesson 2 rather than lesson 3, but we live and learn, right?! We re-read Lyle Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber. The mini-lesson was to think about the major problem in the story. and to think about which character(s) were essential to the theme of the story. Since we had multiple copies of the book, the classroom teacher put the kids into groups and we had them identify the major problem of the story and which character(s) learned something new by the end of the story. This was really informative! Most of their answers were different in each group! So we learned that the kids still really weren't 100% there! During the share, I did 2 timelines with them on chart paper, which showed them clearly, which characters CHANGED in someway in the story. We added to the chart: 4. Think about the BIG problem in the story and who learned a lesson from that problem. Although every kid wasn't 100% by the time I was done, I felt the teachers were ready to continue with the concept. I also felt as though the kids were on their way to digging deeper and finding greater meaning in the simplest of stories. After all, that was the whole point, right!? I also felt that this REALLY helped the kids in their writing. Now, I'm doing a lot of last minute test prep for NJ ASK. They seemed to understand more about having themes and messages in their own writing. This really helped some of the kids to develop their writing skills and improve their short stories when they were writing for the 25 minute "picture prompt" that we have on our state test. Sorry for the length! I'd been meaning to share what I've been working on. I'd love to hear some feedback and additional suggestions from all of you! -Kristin NJ Kristin Gristina Language Arts Coordinator Livingston Park Elementary School _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
