How To: Teaching Theme In The Upper Elementary Classroom (...So that students actually get it!)
Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute podcast
I'll be the first to admit that I've made a lot of teaching mistakes.
I've stood in front of the classroom DESPERATELY trying to teach my students a skill or strategy, only to see blank stares looking back at me.
And likewise, we've all been there when we have resorted to spoon-feeding our students the answers just to trick ourselves into thinking that our students understood a concept, when really...they didn't.
Oh, I've been there!
One of those times was when I was trying to teach theme to my students. They didn't get it. Not even a little bit.
Theme is hard to teach because it's an abstract concept that isn't found directly in the text. In addition, students often confuse the main idea of the text as the theme.
After pulling my hair out one too many times trying to teach this skill to my students, I finally decided to do some research both online and in my own school to see what other teachers were doing to teach this tricky concept to their students.
And I finally started to get some answers....and some results from my students.
I shared my discoveries in the Facebook LIVE video below in hopes to help other teachers find success in teaching theme to their students.
In the video I talk about:
two common mistakes students AND teachers make when it comes to teaching theme
a simply strategy you can start using RIGHT NOW to help students finally understand how to identify theme in literature
how to grab a set of FREE resources that I use to teach theme
free theme starter kit
Teaching students to identify theme in literature is an often hard concept for students to master at the elementary level.
The resources provided in this starter kit take a different approach to theme by helping students take an abstract concept and turn it into something that students can tackle and master.