Activities

1. Define theme.
   
   
2. Identify the most important events in the story, drama, or poem.
   
   
3. Tell how characters react to a challenge in a story or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic.

4. Determine the theme of a story, drama, or poem.
   
   
5. Summarize the main events in a text.
   
   
6. Analyze a character’s perspective in a text through interaction with other characters.
   
   
7. Show why details in the text contribute to the stated theme.

8. Explain characters’ growth or static nature as a result of challenges in the story and explain how that affects other characters or the overall text.
   
   
9. Explain how the theme emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details in the text.
   
   
10. Assess if all supporting details in the story support the proposed theme.
    
    
11. Describe the relationship between central ideas and details.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student provides a definition of the literary term “theme.”  A theme is an idea that the writer repeats throughout his/her work in multiple ways.  It is not the same as the subject of a story. A subject is a topic that is a foundation of a story. For example the subject may be “crime” while the theme is “crimes cannot be hidden.” It is most often up to the reader to discover the theme of the story; it is rarely explicitly stated.
   
   
2. Student reads and states the most important events in the story, drama, or poem. He/she is able to successfully determine what is most important in the reading.
   
   
3. Student retells how a character reacts to a challenge in a story or how the speaker in a poem reflects on the topic of the poem. This retelling allows the student to start to think about how the character or speaker thinks and acts throughout the writing. The character’s or speaker’s thoughts and actions often directly point to the theme of the story or poem.
   
   
4. Student states the theme of the story, drama, or poem being read. The theme stated is an idea that the writer has repeated throughout his/her story in multiple ways. This recurring idea throughout the story, drama, or poem is seen through characters words, thoughts, actions, and dialogue. It may be seen through characters’ interactions with one and other. It might be seen through narration provided by the author.
   
   
5. Student is able to summarize the main events of the story, drama, or poem. The summary mentions only important aspects of the story.  It omits insignificant details. It is brief in scope.
   
   
6. Student analyzes a character’s perspective and how the character interacts with other characters. Information is taken explicitly from the text as well as inferred and generalized from the text.
    
7. Using the identified theme, the student shows why details found in the text support the theme.  If details don’t support the theme, the student revises the previously stated theme or considers if details have been used accurately.
   
   
8. Using the evidence from the text, the student shares how the characters have grown or remained the same throughout the challenges introduced in the text. The impact of the challenges on characters on other characters or the overall text is explained.
   
   
9. Student explains how the stated theme was evident throughout the story. Student considers such questions as: When was the theme first evident?  How did it recur?  What specific details or events placed throughout the text supported the theme?
   
   
10. Student assesses if the supporting details found throughout the story contribute to the suggested theme. The theme should be evident throughout the story; as a result, details should also be evident consistently throughout the story.
    
    
11. Student finds central ideas and details and describes the relationship between and among them and the theme. Details should provide backing and evidence for the central ideas. Central ideas should demonstrate the theme.