If you have been struggling to teach theme, you are not alone, teacher friend.
Typically, my students think the theme is a one-word topic. Or worse, they think the cliche, you can’t judge a book by its cover, is the theme of every single book, story, poem, film, and text message ever written.
I struggled with this for a long time.
Meaning I bit my nails to the quick.
Then I came up with a technique that works like a charm. And I think this easy-peasy method of teaching kids to find the theme of ANY work of literature will work for you too!
5 Steps for Teaching Theme
1. Establish what theme is NOT, in addition to what it is.
- Theme is NOT one word. (Such as friendship or love.)
- Theme is NOT a command. (Such as you must…or you should.)
- Theme is not a cliche. (You can’t judge a book by its cover. Grrr...)
What IS theme?
Then, teach the acronym SLIME to help kids remember the steps for determining literary themes.
2. S: Stands for subject or topic.
3. L: Stands for lesson.
4. IM: Stand for idea or message.
5. E: Stands for evidence.
Kids should be able to prove their idea by providing at least 2 pieces of textual evidence to support the theme. It is important to remind them that if they cannot find evidence to support this new found theme, they might have to start over and identify a different one.
I think the SLIME method works because kids are forced to break the process down into small, manageable tasks.
Try it with your own middle school students!
I guarantee your nails will appreciate it.
And if you have any tips for me, please do share! Everything helps!
Do you need complete LESSON PLANS and oodles of material for teaching theme to mastery?! Check out these step-by-step resources!
