Reading: Theme Introduction & Web Extras

• Sunday night I was on my way out the door when I caught the introduction to Hard Times Generation playing in the background as I said goodbye to my dad. It grabbed both of our attention. "Well, I can't leave now." I said to him and we both took a seat at the kitchen table. 

Neither of said a word through out the story but when it was done the comment he made resonated deeply. "That's not supposed to happen in this country." He remarked in the most somber tone I'd ever heard him use.

"I'm showing that to my students."

Identifying themes in literature can be one of the most complex skills to teach. I liked this piece because many of the themes are so transparent that it would be more challenging to not identify them.

Here's how we went about it:

Prior Knowledge

• First, I asked students what the word "theme" meant to them. They were quick to relate it to a birthday party, "Like, if you have a Harry Potter birthday party." Others brought up the notion that it's the "main idea" of a story. 
• It's clear that most were familiar with the word in one form or another but pinning down an exact definition took some discussion. After looking at the commonalities of their input, we differentiated it from the "main idea" to the "big idea or message that's stitched through the story." 

Process of Identification

• As we watched the story, the students and I jotted down observations about what we saw as we watched. 
• Even though we were watching a documentary students were able to identify that while some of our observations were factual others involved the basic story elements and skills we have been discussing.
• Settings: living in a truck, getting ready for school at gas stations
• Character Traits: courageousness, perseverance
• Plot: meals went from 3 down to 2 down to...
• Cause and Effect: Painting the motel in exchange for the room

Inferencing and Interpreting:

• After the story, students used these observations to write their thoughts about what they watched.

• The kids had a lot of great ideas and thoughts
• "I complain about getting up for school and brushing my hair but I really have it easy."
• "I think about what I fight with my parents about."
• "Ariel is really caring to worry about other homeless people when she's homeless herself."
• "I'm impressed with how positive they're able to be about their situation." 
• "If you get stuck in an elevator or a tree, the longer you're there the more hopeless you feel. It's that feeling multiplied."  And yes, I loved this "thinking in metaphor"
• After they contributed, we went back over the observations to make sure we had at least one thought for each of the notes. 

Organizing our Thinking:

• I re-read the student thoughts and asked if they noticed any similarities that we could categorize a few of the thoughts under. A few of the thoughts lept right out and we quickly color coded them. 
• It was important to relate the process of categorization of thoughts back to something more concrete and observable to build proficiency with this skill. I pointed out their millions projects hanging in the back of the room. For some it's easy, the green poster board can go with the green poster boards. But for others it takes more observation: coming up with a dessert category took more time. The same can be said for thoughts.
• Now that we had that relationship, I read through the uncategorized thoughts one by one pausing to ask if it fit with our other categories or if it needed its own. 
• We ended up with only one thought that didn't go along with the others. That will be important in a moment. I asked the students if they thought we should eliminate it because it didn't fit and they all agreed that it was too important to cut out. 

From Categorizing Thoughts to Identifying Theme:

• With our thoughts in categories we embarked on the final step: creating a category heading that would encompass all of the thoughts in that category.
• The importance of staying strong through the worst of times. 
• Making the best of your situation. 
• Appreciate how lucky you have it. 
• We're unaware of a lot of problems

I want to pause here before I share the last category because this is the trickiest part of theme. The last category came from a stand alone thought. "Watching this story makes me want to help." Here's where we paused for a minute. If we hadn't observed that after the initial story over 4 million dollars was donated, we might have missed that thought. 

The same thinking can be applied to theme. If you don't look carefully, you could end up missing something. When I asked the students why they thought that 60 Minutes chose to work on that story everyone agreed that motivating people to help was a major motivator. Yet, one missed observation and we could have excluded it. 

So now that we made our observations, organized and categorized our thoughts, we were left with our big ideas- or themes- or messages. Some were so crystal clear that it was an obvious conclusion that most would draw but, others took some time and some closer observation. 

Again, I couldn't have been more impressed with the quality of thought today. One student in particular came up to me afterwards and asked if I'd show her how to make a website. I was a little confused but agreed nonetheless. After I asked her a few more questions, I discovered that it was borne out of the desire to help these people. I'm on board. 

Here's how the board looked when we were said and done:

Conclusion:

I want to end on an interview I listened to with Norton Juster, author of the Phantom Tollbooth which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. 

Listen to the Interview Here

Towards the end of the interview Juster says,

"Children surprise you, he says. When they read a book, they may experience it or appreciate it in a way that's totally different than what the author intended. But that's OK, he says. Sometimes writers feel like their job is to communicate a specific idea or a finite point of view. "I think the idea rather is to open up a piece of the world to a more creative encounter," 

We often feel the desire to hold students accountable for our own interpretation of the themes in a particular book. It seems natural, we want them to appreciate for what we've seen it as. What Norton Juster says here, and what I've heard from many other authors, is the beauty of putting their ideas into the world lies directly in the interpretation of others. 

I whole heartedly agree with Juster. If we hold students to a finite interpretation of a story, there would be no need to inferencing, no need for thinking, and no need for the story. And, it would save a lot of time and energy- we could skip the whole story thing and just give them the message. 

Themes are intertwined with the way we see the world, resulting from our own experiences. Take our 60 Minute lesson, do I need to be concerned with the students who missed the message about helping? Here's a hypothetical: A student watches the story. A grandparent is sick and they're visiting them everyday, having a hard time with the situation. They watch that piece and all they can think about is that grandparent. That student then misses several of the themes. They didn't even realize the messages about helping, about appreciating what they have. That student just hung on to the idea of staying positive and making the best of a bad situation. That afternoon, instead of sitting idle with their grandparent in the hospital, they brought up some of the fun times they shared: Birthday parties, and fishing trips.

Did that student miss out? 

As always, the importance lies in the process. Did they make observations? Are their thoughts derivative of those observations? Can they stich together their thoughts to form big ideas? I'll take that any day over arriving at the "right" ideas.