Themes in Short Stories - Lesson

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Rachel Lewis, Phillip Gillis, Wendy Staskiewicz, Allison Dacus

Unit Assessment

In the interest of backward design, teachers and students need to be aware that this is the unit assessment, which will help guide the teaching and learning throughout the unit.  The overall unit is "Themes and Central Ideas in Short Stories and Informational Texts" and includes multiple concepts and lessons. 

Unit Assessment Prompt:

Themes exist in real life as well as in literature. Interview an older adult about their life experiences when they were your age. Ask them in-depth questions about their daily activities, memorable events, feelings, and beliefs at that point in their lives. Then conduct research on the place and time in which they were teenagers. Use at least three resources to conduct this research and follow MLA guidelines for citing your sources. Use the results of your interview and research to write an informative essay that (a) conveys a theme in the young life of your interview subject, and (b) explains how the context of time and place contributed to the development of this theme in their lives. Be sure to support your ideas using specific evidence from your interview and research. Present the major ideas from your essay to the class, using digital media to enhance your presentation. 

Optional Reflection Piece: 

Students will look back at the texts they have read for the unit and their respective themes/central ideas. Students will select a theme or central idea from one of the texts that is reflective of something in their own lives or the lives of someone they know.  Students will reflect on how the events and details of the text led to that specific theme or central idea and how the events and details in their own experiences (whether themselves or person in their life) led to the same idea. They will then turn this into a short reflection piece in which they track these events and explain how the events connect to this theme or central idea. Students will use a compare/contrast graphic organizer to help guide their thoughts in this process. They will compare/contrast the events/details of the story that led to the theme and do the same for their own lives or life of someone they know.

Can use or adapt this rubric from Delaware Dept. of Education:  http://www.doe.k12.de.us/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=734&dataid=1275&FileName=Gr9-10_InfoExp_2-13.pdf


Key Concepts and Vocabulary in the Unit

Concept: Development of Themes and Central Ideas

  • theme 
  • central idea 
  • analyze
  • emerge
  • objective summary

Concept: Impact of Language

  • tone 
  • mood
  • diction
  • setting
  • formal and informal tone
  • impact
  • figurative and literal language
  • connotation and denotation

Concept: Finding and Citing Information Sources for Research

  • cite/citation 
  • bibliography
  • research ethics
  • paraphrase
  • primary and secondary sources
  • plagiarism
  • URL (Uniform Resource Locator)  

Concept: Using Digital Media to Enhance Presentations

  • multimedia
  • digital media
  • audio
  • visual
  • text
  • interactive elements

Lesson 1-Interpreting Theme in Literary Works

Lesson Essential Question:  How do themes emerge and develop in literary works?

Formative Assessment Point 1: Understand the concept of literary themes. 

Formative Assessment Point 2: Recognize the elements of fiction and their contribution to theme. 

Formative Assessment Point 3: Interpret theme in assorted literary works.

Activating Strategy:  Draw a picture or diagram of a popular folk tale, fairy tale, etc. and describe the theme of the story.

Instruction for AP 1:Understand the concept of literary themes. Students will discuss their illustrations with the class and explain how they determined what the central idea or theme was. This will help them make the connection that characters, plot, and setting all contribute to the development of theme. The teacher will then supply the students with guided notes to follow as they view the theme PowerPoint (attached). When the presentation prompts for feedback and understanding, students will work in their collaborative pairs to come to conclusions. 

Assessment Prompt #1:Students complete the review activity at the end of the presentation which requires that they determine the theme of a story that impacted them by identifying how characters changed, how conflict was resolved, and what the title suggests. They will discuss their findings in their pairs before the teacher chooses some to share with the class to check for understanding. 

Instruction for AP #2: Recognize the elements of fiction and their contribution to theme. To further break down how theme is presented in a text, students will review the elements of fiction and their role in developing the central idea. The teacher will give the students the guided notes for the elements of fiction and have the students work in collaborative pairs to identify any they are already familiar with. As the teacher reviews the elements of fiction PowerPoint, the students will volunteer to share the elements they already know, demonstrating prior knowledge and allowing clarification for any confusion. The teacher will discuss popular examples of the elements and have students discuss how these elements contribute to theme.

AP#2:In class, students will read a brief short story and, in pairs, outline the plot on their story maps or plot diagrams, which highlights various elements of fiction (protagonist, climax, setting, etc.) On the same paper, they should give at least two other examples of elements of fiction from the story. Students will use information from the plot diagram to write an objective summary on the stories.

Instruction for AP #3:Interpret theme in assorted literary works.  The teacher will review the "Identifying Theme" notes with the students, which goes into more detail about what theme is and is not and how best to identify it. The teacher will ask students for examples of popular titles (novels, movies, folk tales, etc.) and have students discuss how theme is developed and identified in these titles. 

AP#3:Using their knowledge of theme and the elements of fiction, students will read assorted short texts as a class and in collaborative pairs. As they read, they should complete the theme graphic organizer to demonstrate their understanding of how theme is developed in a text.

Lesson 1- Independent Assignment

Have students conduct further reading (offering choices when possible) to identify theme and elements of fiction using a graphic organizer and story map.  (Examples here: http://syoder.weebly.com/story-map.html and http://www.dailyteachingtools.com/free-graphic-organizers.html)  Suggested texts:"The Story of an Hour," "The Gift of the Magi," "The Necklace," "The Most Dangerous Game,""The Scarlet Ibis," "The Falcon," "The Cask of Amontillado."

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