Lesson 1.

Topic: Theme – Deepening our understanding of what a theme is.

Class: Year 8 Time: 60 min.

Outcomes
Outcome 5:

• Thinks imaginatively, creatively, interpretively and critically about

information, ideas and arguments to respond to and compose texts (EN4-5C)

Content:

Engage personally with texts:

• Share, reflect on, clarify and evaluate opinions and arguments about aspects
of literary texts (ACELT1627)

Materials
• Interactive whiteboard or projector
• Whiteboard
• PowerPoint slides
• Where the wild things are class set

Procedures
Time Organisation Teaching/ learning activities
0-5 Welcome Students to settle into the class. Brief introduction to
students in, theme.
mark roll once Allow students to be seated and once they have been, mark
they have the roll. Briefly introduce that the next three lessons will
been seated. revolve around theme’s and how they are represented
within various texts.
5-15 Brainstorm Theme Brainstorm. ‘What is a theme’.
using the To reinforce their understanding of what a theme is
word ‘theme’ conduct a brainstorming activity in which ‘theme’ is written
to reintroduce on the board. Students are to share ideas of what they
what it means understand constitutes a theme.
and what is
consists of. Students are to copy down the mind map into their books
once it has been completed.

After this activity, the students:

 • Should begin to see what some examples of a
theme might be.
• Begin to see what constitutes a theme in a text.
• Be able to begin formulating how might these
themes be represented within a given text
15-25 Display the Analogy of theme as an iceberg.
PowerPoint Now that the students have shared their understanding of
on the board what a theme is within a text, share the analogy of an
to help the iceberg. This may help the student gain a deeper
students gain understanding of what a theme is.
an
understanding On the whiteboard, draw an iceberg with only a section of
that a texts it shown being above the water. Ask the students:
theme is what ‘If this iceberg is a text, what do you think the section
lies under the above water is?’ List their responses on the board.
surface of the
elements on After leading the discussion about aspects of the texts that
the page. are apparent on the page, ask: ‘If the obvious aspects of the
text are visible on the surface, what do you think the
section below water represents?’

After this activity, the students should:

• Understand the need to infer information from the
text. Most texts will not say explicitly what the
theme of the story is.
• Begin to see how what is on the texts surface
dictates what the texts theme may be.
25-40 Distribute Introduction of: ‘Where the wild things are’
‘Where the Now that the students understand what a theme is and
wild things how it is shown through texts we will look at it within a
are’, inform text. Distribute a book to each student, or share one
students to between two if needed. At first get the students to read the
read through text from beginning to end. For the first reading, they will
first and then just focus on reading the text itself, not worrying about its
identify some themes just yet.
themes on
their second After the students have read the text, display the
reading. PowerPoint slide which has some guided questions. Instruct
them that they are now to look through the text again,
using the guiding questions to help identify some possible
themes within the text. These guiding questions will be
expanded upon in a scaffold in the upcoming lesson.
Instruct them that once they have read through it again,
with the guiding questions in mind they must take time to
reflect upon the narrative and what it means.

Once they have finished reading it a second time, conduct a

 brainstorm to help the students identify some of the
themes present within. Some of the themes they may
identify may include:
• Adventure
• The power of imagination
• Childhood wonder
• ‘There is no place better than home’

Extension
If the students find the themes present in the text easily
then ask them to identify some evidence they found to
support their claims. This will be explored in greater detail
in the upcoming lessons.

After this activity, the students:

• Should be able to identify themes in a simple text
• Use some forms of evidence to support their claim,
this will be built upon further in upcoming lessons
40-55 Instruct Think pair share activity
students to After they have identified the themes in ‘Where the wild
reflect on ones are’ the students will then move onto identifying
their text of themes in a text they know personally.
choice first Think
and then For this the students will think of a text they enjoy: It can
move into a be a film, television show or a book. They are to then
pair to discuss reflect on any themes that may be present within it, given
it with our discussion previously.
someone else. Pair
After the students have considered some themes present in
a text they know themselves they are to pair with someone
else that has seen the same text they chose.
Share
They are now to share any similarities and differences that
may be present between the two texts. By sharing they can
hopefully see that there are common themes throughout
most texts.

After this activity, students should:

• Begin to see that themes are present in most texts
that they have seen, though they might not have
considered this previously.
• Begin to formulate an idea of how themes are
highlighted through given texts, whether it be
through individual techniques or the texts theme.
55-60 Lead a Take away messages
discussion on Lead a quick discussion to get students to highlight the
the take away takeaway messages from this lesson. The students should
 messages be able to recognise the following important aspects:
from this • That theme is often present ‘under the surface’ of a
lesson. text, and the elements on the page are used to
represent it
Homework For this opening lesson students are to identify some
potential themes in another television show or video game
of their choice. This is a simple task aimed at getting the
students to think openly about themes in a medium they
may not have explicitly imagined them in previously. This
will be briefly discussed in the following lesson.

Evaluation/ Extension
[What you have planned to do to evaluate the outcomes of the lesson or what you
set as extension (‘follow up’) tasks]

As this lesson is just the opening in a sequence of three, evaluation of outcomes will
mainly be done through informal observation. Students will be observed through the
learning activities to ensure they understand what is being taught. This will mainly
take place through the activity where they identify themes within the picture book
‘Where the wild things are’, as this discussion will allow me to see how

The outcomes assessed in the lesson will also be present in the ‘Think, pair, share’
activity as the students are actively engaging with texts they already know. During
this activity, they are working with others to compare and contrast the different
themes they see are present within their given text.

In retrospect
[Your own commentary on how the lesson went. Obviously this cannot be planned in
advance]

This lesson was successful in establishing what a theme is to the students. The use of
the picture book to establish theme was a key aspect of the lesson. It was used as a
simple text that can be quickly read, whilst still representing how themes are
displayed throughout a narrative. The students were able to locate a few themes
with the help of the guiding questions and this task will help them to build an
understanding of how to locate themes in a more complex text.

I feel the analogy of theme as an iceberg was also another useful aspect within the
lesson. It gives the students an idea that there is more underneath the surface of any
given text. This analogy is a useful basis for the following two lessons, as it highlights
that students need to infer a texts theme from what is present on its surface (the
techniques and style that is used).

The think pair share activity was useful in getting the students to think about themes
in a medium they are already familiar with, though it could have been structured
better.
References:

Iceberg Theory. (n.d). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_Theory

Sendak, M. (1963). Where the wild things are.

Retrieved from
https://archive.org/details/WhereTheWildThingsAreByMauriceSendak
Resources

Appendix 1: PowerPoint Slides

Appendix 2: ‘Where the wild things are’ by Maurice Sendak.
 Lesson 2.

Topic: Theme – How do you identify a theme?

Class: Year 8 Time: 60 min.

Outcomes
Outcome 1:

• Responds to and composes texts for understanding, interpretation, critical

analysis, imaginative expression and pleasure.

Content:

Engage personally with texts:

• Explore and appreciate the aesthetic qualities in their own and other texts
and the power of language to communicate information, ideas, feelings and
viewpoints.

Materials

• Interactive whiteboard or projector

• ‘The boy that cried wolf’ text sheet
• ‘The fun they had’ text sheet
• Identifying theme’s scaffold

Procedures
Time Organisation Teaching/ learning activities
0-5 Allow Students settle into the class.
students to Allow students to be seated and then once they have been
settle into mark the roll.
the class
and mark
the roll.
5-10 Briefly check Check Homework.
homework Ask a few students to share some of the themes they can see
that was set in the text they chose. As an introduction to the lesson ask
in the them how they identified the theme within the show.
previous
lesson.
10-15 Conduct a Kahoot quiz to recap the previous lesson.
Kahoot quiz To start the lesson the students are to complete the Kahoot
to recap quiz which will serve to recap the previous lessons content.
 content
from the By the end of this activity, students should:
previous • Have a deeper understanding of the content that was
lesson. covered in the previous lesson.
10-25 Instruct the Using evidence to support theme in ‘The boy that cried
students to wolf’.
identify
evidence To move onto a critical understanding of how to identify a
from the theme within a text we will look at the famous fable of ‘The
text using boy that cried wolf’. Students are to first read the text. They
the are then to locate any pieces of evidence they believe
provided portrays the theme of the text.
guided
questions. Students will be aided by the PowerPoint slide, which holds
some guided questions to assist. After they have tried to
identify the theme using the guided questions, a break down
will be provided to give them a clearer understanding, which
will lead into the following activity.

To conclude the activity, inform the students that unlike

fables like ‘The boy that cried wolf’, most texts will not
explicitly state their theme. They will have to infer what the
theme is, given evidence from the text itself. This will be
explained further in the following activity.

After this activity, the students should:

• Should be able to identify some forms of evidence
that are used by the composer to represent theme
through a text.
• Understand that unlike most fables, other texts will
not explicitly state the theme they hold. As a
responder, they will have to infer the information.
25-40 Students are Identifying themes in ‘The fun they had’ without a scaffold
to read To introduce aim of the lesson which is ‘Identifying a theme
through the within a text’, the students are given the short story: ‘The fun
text first, they had’. Inform them that they must identify two themes
highlighting from within the text and they are to support these claims
two theme with evidence from within.
if they can
find them. Students are to complete this task on their own. This is done
firstly to test their knowledge up to this point. In the next
activity, a clear scaffold with be used to assist. As students
are reading the text, walk around and answer any questions
they may have.

After this activity, the students should:

• Begin to identify evidence of theme in a more
 complex text.
40-60 Distribute Identifying themes in ‘The fun they had’ with a guided
the guided scaffold.
scaffold Now that the students have begun to formulate some
which will themes that may be present within the text, we will now
assist move to a guided scaffold. Introduce this scaffold to assist in
students in located themes that are present within any given text.
identifying
evidence of After this activity, the students should:
theme in • Be able to identify themes in a text and use
the text. supporting evidence to support their claim.
Homework Now that students have a clearer understanding of how to
identify a theme within a text they are to find another fable
and highlight its theme. They are to use the questions from
the scaffold to find evidence to support their claim. This is
another simple task to help students begin to think critically
about how themes are portrayed within a given text.

Evaluation/ Extension
[What you have planned to do to evaluate the outcomes of the lesson or what you
set as extension (‘follow up’) tasks]

The outcomes of this lesson can be measured through observation of its core
activities. The scaffold used could also be collected after their completion in the class
and be marked to see if students are forming an understanding of what has been
taught so far. The outcome has been met in this lesson as the students are engaging
critically in how the composer portrays the theme. They are taking a closer look at
what is used to represent theme on the surface of the text.

In terms of extension activities, the students could look at another short story and
complete the scaffold once again. Or they could begin to formulate a response to
combine their evidence with the theme they are arguing is present within the text.
This will be covered explicitly in the upcoming lesson, but it could be used as an
extension activity if the students have completed the task quickly.

In retrospect

This lesson was conducted to give students an understanding of how to identify

themes present within a text, with supporting evidence. It was chosen to use the
fable of ‘The boy that cried wolf’, as this is a story that most people know the moral
(or basic theme) of prior to reading it. The students can therefore focus only on
identifying evidence from that text that can be used to support this theme that is
already known. Whilst the task in the previous lesson was getting students to
identify the theme only, this is now moving towards providing evidence.

In terms of what could be changed within the lesson, it might be useful to use a text
that has more imagery or obvious techniques within it to highlight theme. Whilst
‘The boy that cried wolf’ was useful in that most people already know its moral,
there were not too many obvious techniques that could be pointed out to students.

Resources

Appendix A: Kahoot quiz.

Appendix B: ‘The Boy that Cried Wolf’.

There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the
village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, "Wolf! Wolf!
The Wolf is chasing the sheep!"

The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when
they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of
their angry faces.

"Don't cry 'wolf', shepherd boy," said the villagers, "when there's no wolf!" They
went grumbling back down the hill.
Later, the boy sang out again, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!" To his
naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf
away.

When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, "Save your frightened song for
when there is really something wrong! Don't cry 'wolf' when there is NO wolf!"
But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.

Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet
and sang out as loudly as he could, "Wolf! Wolf!"

But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn't come.
At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village
with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.
"There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, "Wolf!" Why
didn't you come?"

An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.
"We'll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm
around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"

Retrieved from https://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/boy.html

Appendix C: PowerPoint Slide.
Appendix D: ‘The Fun they had’.

Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed May 17,
2157, she wrote, "Today, Tommy found a real book!"
It was a very old book. Margie's grandfather once said that when he was a little boy
his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on
paper.

They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to
read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to--on a
screen, you know. And then, when they turned back to the page before, it had the
same words on it that it had had when they read it the first time.

"Gee," said Tommy, "what a waste. When you're through with the book, you just
throw it away, I guess. Our television screen must have had a million books on it and
it's good for plenty more. I wouldn't throw it away."

"Same with mine," said Margie. She was eleven and hadn't seen as many telebooks
as Tommy had. He was thirteen. She said, "Where did you find it?"

"In my house." He pointed without looking, because he was busy reading. "In the
attic." "What's it about?" "School."

Margie was scornful. "School? What's there to write about school? I hate school."
Margie always hated school, but now she hated it more than ever. The mechanical
teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing
worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the
County Inspector.

He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and
wires. He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart.
Margie had hoped he wouldn't know how to put it together again, but he knew how
all right, and, after an hour or so, there it was again, large and black and ugly, with a
big screen on which all the lessons were shown and the questions were asked. That
wasn't so bad. The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put
homework and test papers. She always had to write them out in a punch code they
made her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated
the mark in no time.

The Inspector had smiled after he was finished and patted Margie's head. He said to
her mother, "It's not the little girl's fault, Mrs. Jones. I think the geography sector
was geared a little too quick. Those things happen sometimes. I've slowed it up to an
average ten-year level. Actually, the over-all pattern of her progress is quite
satisfactory." And he patted Margie's head again.
Margie was disappointed. She had been hoping they would take the teacher away
altogether. They had once taken Tommy's teacher away for nearly a month because
the history sector had blanked out completely.

So she said to Tommy, "Why would anyone write about school?"

Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes. "Because it's not our kind of school,
stupid. This is the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years
ago." He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, "Centuries ago."

Margie was hurt. "Well, I don't know what kind of school they had all that time ago."
She read the book over his shoulder for a while, then said, "Anyway, they had a
teacher."

"Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn't a regular teacher. It was a man." "A man?
How could a man be a teacher?" "Well, he just told the boys and girls things and
gave them homework and asked them questions." "A man isn't smart enough." "Sure
he is. My father knows as much as my teacher." "He can't. A man can't know as
much as a teacher." "He knows almost as much, I betcha."

Margie wasn't prepared to dispute that. She said, "1 wouldn't want a strange man in
my house to teach me."

Tommy screamed with laughter. "You don't know much, Margie. The teachers didn't
live in the house. They had a special building and all the kids went there." "And all
the kids learned the same thing?" "Sure, if they were the same age."

"But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl
it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently."

"Just the same they didn't do it that way then. If you don't like it, you don't have to
read the book."

"I didn't say I didn't like it," Margie said quickly. She wanted to read about those
funny schools.

They weren't even half-finished when Margie's mother called, "Margie! School!"
Margie looked up. "Not yet, Mamma."

"Now!" said Mrs. Jones. "And it's probably time for Tommy, too."
Margie said to Tommy, "Can I read the book some more with you after school?"
"Maybe," he said nonchalantly. He walked away whistling, the dusty old book tucked
beneath his arm.

Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right next to her bedroom, and the
mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the same time
every day except Saturday and Sunday, because her mother said little girls learned
better if they learned at regular hours.
The screen was lit up, and it said: "Today's arithmetic lesson is on the addition of
proper fractions. Please insert yesterday's homework in the proper slot."

Margie did so with a sigh. She was thinking about the old schools they had when her
grandfather's grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the whole neighborhood
came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom,
going home together at the end of the day. They learned the same things, so they
could help one another on the homework and talk about it.
And the teachers were people...

The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen: "When we add the fractions 1/2
and 1/4..."

Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was
thinking about the fun they had.

Asimov, I. 1951. ‘The Fun they had’. Retrieved from

http://transformingclassrooms.pbworks.com/f/thefuntheyhad.pdf
Appendix E: Identifying theme scaffold.

Identifying theme in ‘The fun they had’.

Instructions:
1. Read the text first.
2. After reading, select two themes you believe to be in the text.
3. Complete the two tables below.
Lesson plan 3 – Writing about theme with supporting evidence.

Class: Year 8 Time: 60 min.

Outcomes
Outcome 1:

• Responds to and composes texts for understanding, interpretation, critical

analysis, imaginative expression and pleasure.

Content:

Respond to and compose texts:

• Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and settings are
combined in narratives, and discuss the purposes and appeal of different
approaches.

Materials

• Roll
• PowerPoint
• Writing task scaffold
• Whiteboard, interactive projector

Procedures
Time Organisation Teaching/ learning activities
0-5 Welcome Allow students to be seated and then once they have been
students in mark the roll.
and mark the
roll once they
have been
seated.
5-10 Get students Addressing homework.
to share Students are to share other themes they uncovered from
their selected fable. As the students:
• How were the themes or morals portrayed in the
text?
• Were they stated obviously?
• Did you need to infer what the theme was?
 • If so, what in the text gave it away?

By the end of this discussion, students should:

• Have a clearer understanding of how themes are
represented within a text.
• Be able to locate evidence to support their
argument.
10-35 Instruct ‘The fun they had’ writing task.
students to
complete the Now that the students completed the scaffold in the
writing task. previous lesson, they will now use this information to write
Handing out a response to the given question:
the scaffold if • How does Isaac Asimov represent theme in the
needed. short story ‘The fun they had’?

The students will be given the PEEL scaffold to base their

response off. They are to use the information outlined in
the previous two lessons to compose their response.

This formative assessment task will assess how students

have understood the content, and if there is a need to

By the end of this activity, students should:

• Be able to write a paragraph about a theme that is
present within a text, along with supporting
evidence.
35-45 Instruct ‘Where the wild ones are reflection’
students to
collaborate Students are to now collaborate with someone else and
with someone consider the following questions:
and discuss • What themes do I see in the text?
the given • Are these different from my partner?
questions. • Why may there be differences in understanding?

Once they have discussed these questions with their

partner they are to answer the following question
collaboratively:
• How does personal experience impact upon an
understanding of theme?

By the end of this activity, students should:

• Be able to see how their own experiences have an
influence upon how they recognise theme in a text.
• See that sometimes texts are subjective, they can
be changed depending on your beliefs and
attitudes. Some people may be more responsive to
certain themes over other.
45-50 Take away messages

Display a PowerPoint which outlined the key messages

from the past three lessons. Students are to take note of
these and ask any questions if needed. This will serve to
recap the most important aspects of the concept of theme.
50-60 Display the Video resource to consolidate understanding.
YouTube video
to consolidate End the three lessons with the following video resource to
understanding. consolidate students understanding of what a theme is and
how it is represented in a given text. Whilst this video is
mainly referring to themes in the context of movies, it still
holds value in helping students to understand. This is
especially relevant given the activity in which they had to
identify a theme in a movie or television show previously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIuKNVny9cM

By the end of this task, students should:

• Have a concrete understanding of what a theme is
and how it is represented within a text.

Homework Students are to reflect upon the three lessons. They are to
come up with 2-3 questions they may have about what has
been taught so far. These questions will be discussed in the
following lesson to hopefully consolidate their
understanding and help those that may not feel as
comfortable with the content covered.

Evaluation/ Extension

This lesson achieved the outcome stated as students were engaging critically with
the content that has been discussed over the previous two lessons. By identifying
themes within the text, and providing supporting evidence, they are analysing the
text and uncovering how different elements are used to portray what the composer
wants.

In terms of checking if the students have met the syllabus points, the PEEL scaffold
will be collected after the lesson. Feedback will be provided to the students so they
can begin to see how they have developed an understanding of theme throughout
the progression of the lessons.

As a follow up task, students could be asked to compose a text in which a theme of

these choice is depicted. This would provide them with a creative way to see how
themes are shown.
In retrospect

In terms of this lesson, getting students to think about how their own beliefs and
values has an influence on their idea of theme was quite effective. This higher order
task gets the students to put things into perspective, relating the content that has
been taught to their own experience. One thing that could be changed in retrospect
is including a creative task, in which the students create a short piece of writing that
depicts a theme of their choice.

Resources:

Appendix A: Scaffold.

Appendix B: Take away messages.

 Rationale

The concept to be used as the focus of the three-lesson sequence was chosen to be

theme. The aim of the sequence was to give students a deeper understanding of

how a stories theme (or themes) have an impact upon the way they perceive, as well

as understand the story. It was also a consideration to ensure that the students had

the tools to be able to identify how themes are represented in a text. Theme can be

defined as: ‘…a statement about life, arising from the interplay of key elements of

the text such as plot, character, setting and language’ (English Textual Concepts,

n.d.). Looking at the interplay of elements in a text was a key concern of this lesson

sequence, and building upon this skill was essential to improving the students

understanding.

The concept of theme was chosen as being the central idea around the three lessons

as it is a key aspect of the stage 4 syllabus. If students can build an understanding for

what themes are and how they are represented they can begin to build a better

understanding of how they may influence the work being studied in general. One of

the main considerations when planning the three lessons was to give students an

understanding of the ‘top-down’ approach to reading a text. This is outlined by

Watson (2009, p. 77) as focussing on: ‘…the extraction of meaning from the text as

the essence of reading rather than the decoding of words into sound.’ This idea is

central to the concept of theme, as you are referring to the larger elements present

in a text, rather than individual aspects.

There were two main guiding principles for the sequencing of the three lessons.

These were:

• themes are statements about the ideas, explicit or implied, in a text

• themes are reinforced by choice of language and imagery

(English Textual Concepts, n.d.).

These two concepts formed the basis of how the three lessons were to be organised

as well as dictating the flow of what was to be covered within them. The first lesson

was focussed at giving students an idea of what a theme is. It opened with the

analogy of an iceberg, which gave the students an understanding that to identify the

theme of a text, you may need to infer from elements on the page (Iceberg Theory,

n.d.). This is important to note at the beginning, as it allows students to see that an

uncovering of theme can be quite complex.

Within the first lesson it was chosen to use the picture book ‘Where the wild ones

are’. This was chosen to introduce the exploration of theme that most students

could identify with and understand. Jo Lampert shares the sentiment that picture

books are often used in the secondary classroom to accommodate reluctant readers

(Lampert, 2009). Introducing a picture book in the beginning lesson was specifically

chosen to provide a simplistic introduction to theme, whilst still being complex

enough that the students could come to their own conclusions.

The complexities of using picture books is also highlighted by Hunt (2001), who

states that: ‘Like all texts, they transmit values and ideologies while constructing for

their readers ideas about the world.’ This is an important consideration when using
picture books in the classroom, as it strengthens the idea that they are quite

complex and useful in portraying difficult concepts.

The second lesson was designed to build upon the first, this time focussing on

locating evidence that is present within a text. It was chosen to use the fable of ‘The

boy that cried wolf’ in the second lesson as for the most part, most of the students

would already understand what the theme of this text was. This allows the focus of

the lesson to be directed at locating points of evidence, instead of focussing on its

theme.

The English textual concepts website (n.d.) states that: ‘At its most basic level a

theme may be regarded as the message or even the moral of a text. Themes may be

used for a didactic purpose or may add a philosophical dimension, inviting us to think

about our place in the world. A theme is a statement about human experience…’.

This was one of the reasons it was chosen to use the fable: ‘The boy that cried wolf’

in the second lesson. This was chosen to be a starting point for identifying aspects of

a text that show theme as its theme is widely known, and most students will already

know its moral prior to actually looking at it closely.

The third in the sequence of lessons ultimately end with students combining the

skills that were gained in the previous two lessons. For this they had to write a

paragraph about what theme they see present within a text and support their claim

with evidence.

They also have to re-conceptualise their understanding of the text ‘Where the wild

things are’ that was covered in the first lesson and think about how their context has

an influence upon an understanding of the texts theme’s. This is highlighting the idea
that: ‘thematic interpretations arise from personal experience and culture’ (English

Textual Concepts, n.d.). It is also supported by the ideas of Reader Response theory

and the use of picture books, as: ‘…teachers can use picture books to prompt older

readers to reflect on themes, relationships, social issues, moral values or even

politics’ (Lampert, 2009, p. 106).

The choice to make the three-lesson sequence based on the concept of theme was

chosen to help students gain a critical understanding of what it constitutes, as well

as how it is represented. The structure of the lessons was set out in a way to build

logically from one to another, to begin with a simple recognition, to an

understanding of how it is represented within a text and ultimately to a

consideration of how personal context has an influence upon its understanding.

 References

New South Wales Department of Education. (n.d.). English textual concepts.

Retrieved from

http://englishtextualconcepts.nsw.edu.au/content/theme

Iceberg Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_Theory

Hunt, P. 2001, Children’s literature. Oxford: Blackwell.

Lampert, J. (2009). Using Picture Books in the Secondary English Classroom. In

Gannon, S., Howie, M., Sawyer, W. Charged with Meaning. Re-viewing

English: Third Edition (pp. 105-112). Phoenix Education.

Watson, K. (2009). Reading/Reader Response Theory. In Gannon, S., Howie, M.,

Sawyer, W. Charged with Meaning. Re-viewing English: Third Edition (pp. 77-

85). Phoenix Education.