Design for Learning

Instructor: Chandler McAlister

Lesson Title: Theme
Curriculum Area: Reading

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: 4th/Watkins

Date: 4/14/15
Estimated Time: 1 hour

Standards Connection:

2.) Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the
text.
Learning Objective(s):
When given a multiple choice worksheet with five passages the student will have to determine the
theme of the passages with 3/5 correct.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
I will be able to determine the theme and explain the theme by providing details for the story.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
Students will be given a worksheet with five short passages. They will read the passage and select
the correct theme. Students should get at least three correct to be considered at mastery level. If
students are below 3/5 correct, re-teaching or extra practice may be necessary.
Engagement:
Lets review what we learned yesterday. What story element did we cover yesterday? Turn and
talk to your partner about what you learned about main idea. Allow students a moment to talk. I
am going to assign you a partner to work with today throughout our lesson. When I say turn and
talk to your partner or say you are to work with your partner this is who you should be working
with. You should not be talking across the room during this time. If you are then you will lose
your partner and work on your own for the rest of the lesson. Give me thumbs up if you
understand. Great! Assign students to their partners.
Teacher will review theme with the students. Today we are going to review what theme is in a
story. Can anyone tell me what theme is? Theme is the heart of the story or a lesson that the
author wanted the reader to learn. The reason I brought up main idea again is because readers
often get main idea and theme confused. Make sure that we are not getting these two confused.
Repeat after me; main idea is what the story is mainly about. Repeat. Repeat after me; theme is
the message or lesson the story is trying to teach.
Learning Design:

I. Teaching:
After we review theme we are going to practice together and then work on our own. Sometimes
the theme is something the reader will learn. Sometimes the main character in a story will learn
something new. For example, all of you know the story of Cinderella right? If you were to tell me
the main idea or topic of the story you may say that Cinderella is about a poor girl that marries a
prince. However, this is not the theme. Turn and talk to your partner about what you think the
theme of the story Cinderella would be. Teacher will walk around the room listening to student
response. She will write some anecdotal notes on a sticky note. I really liked what David said.
David would you share with the class? Did everyone here what David said? He said that they
underlying message of Cinderella is good things happen to good people. We are going to read

a story together and try to determine the theme. The story I am going to read today is called Tikki
Tikki Tembo. Have any of you read this story before? Allow for some response. Look at the cover
of the story and the title. What do you notice about the title and cover of this story? Allow for
some response. You are correct. This story takes place in China. Its an old fairy tale about
Chinese names actually. Think about your own name. How did you get your name? Do you like
your name? Do you ever wish that you had another name? Why? Well Tikki Tembo is going to get
into some trouble because of his name. Lets read to find out what happens. Read Tikki Tikki
Tembo. Do you think Tikki Tembo liked his name? How did his name get him into trouble? Turn
and talk to your partner about what you can learn from this story. Allow for response. Walk
around the room listening to student response. Take notes on sticky notes. Bailey, will you share
with me what your partner said you can learn from this story? Thats right. This story taught us
that all people are important. The story starts off with the view that the first born son being all
important, while Chang, the second son is cast aside. Yet, after the heroic actions of the secondborn son, Chang becomes appreciated and both children are loved and finally seen as important.
However, in the end Chang is the hero and both children are important and loved. You just told
me the theme of this story. That was not that difficult was it?

II. Opportunity for Practice:

Now that we have practiced all together I am going to give you time to work with a
partner. You may only work with one other person to help you. I am going to assign you
your partner. If you cannot work with the partner I assign you to without talking across
the classroom or to other groups I am going to take this privilege away from you and you
will have to work quietly on your own. I will give you 20 minutes to work. You are going
to have the choice between three different stories. The first story is called the Shortcut.
The second story is about a surfer girl. The final story is about a boy who runs. When I
come to your group you need to have decided which story you want to read. Once you
have read the story I want you to talk to your partner about what you think the theme of
the story is. Once you have determined the theme write it down in your writing journal.
Raise your hand because I want to come by and check it before we move on. Allow the
students time to work with their partner. While you are walking around check for
comprehension using the teacher guiding questions. Make sure to discuss the theme and
main idea. Make sure that the students understand the difference. Take anecdotal notes on
each childs understanding. You all have done a wonderful job working on the stories
together. Please pass in your story and return to your seat.
III. Assessment
This final activity will be quick. I am going to give you a worksheet with five passages on
it. Just like yesterday you are going to read the passage and then answer the question.
Today, we are working on theme. Remember this is the moral message or lesson the
author wants the reader to understand. Theme is NOT main idea. DO NOT tell me what
the passage is about. Tell me what the passage teaches you. If you have any questions
please raise your hand. This is for a grade. If you get confused ask yourselfWhat did I
learn from the story? OR What did the characters in the story learn? This should help
you identify the theme.
IV. Closure:
We are going to take a quick look over the passages we just worked on. Teacher will reread each passage to the class and go over the answer. Some answers may vary. However,
if the child tells you the main idea they need to be correct and reminded what theme is.
Materials and Resources:

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Writing Journal
Pencil
Surfer Girl Passage (10)
Running Man Passage (10)
Shortcut Passage (10)
5 Passage Assessment worksheet

Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):

Extend: Students will be given a themed prompt to write a story with. The prompt is: Write a
story that conveys the theme: Everyone makes mistakes.
Reteach: Students will be pulled into a small group and given more examples. The worksheet
gives them three passages with a word bank of themes that belong to each story. They will match
the passage to the theme.
Data Analysis:
The students really struggled with this. Only 8 of the students out of 22 were considered
proficient after this lesson. I knew going in that the students were going to struggle with this;
however, if I taught at least one student then I knew I did my job. I know my teacher had taught
this lesson many times in different ways throughout the school year before I came, so I dont
know exactly how I would go about re-teaching this lesson, but the students need additional
instruction.
Reflection:
I show my students respect and meet them at their level. I know that my students learn differently.
Some work was done whole group, in partners, individually. Some work was done orally, and
some was written. This met students learning needs. I could try to find a way to make the lesson
more hands on. I finished my lesson by reviewing the assessment so that students were able to
share their thinking and think about their own thinking. The students were interacting in the
lesson through turn and talk activities. Students were given the goals at the beginning of the
lesson, therefore the lesson is focused. The lesson was geared to my students knowledge and
challenged them through their practice activity. I know that all of my students are different and
they learn in different ways. I tried to incorporate different culturally appropriate stories for the
students to use during the lesson. I should not have assumed that the students would have known
the story of Cinderella in my engagement. I could read a short passage as an engagement and
example in the beginning instead. I could use more intentional praise while teaching. Some is
incorporated but not a lot. Materials are student friendly and are written with proper grammar and
spelling. I speak loudly enough for all the students to hear. The students were given a lot of
practice opportunities. The concept of theme was shown in different ways and they were to
determine the theme in a variety of ways. I gave the students examples and non-examples. The
students were given time to think and discuss in different ways. Sometimes they would answer
out orally and sometimes they would answer by writing in their journal. I used equity sticks to
make sure that all students were participating. I rarely pulled them though. I gave the students
more time to talk to each other when asking questions rather than having one student share their
answer. Then I would have one or two students share back out. The students were paired together
before the lesson began so that they could turn and talk. The students were strategically paired
together. Next time I would use an anchor chart so that the students are able to easily visualize the
difference between main idea and theme. I also should have asked more thought provoking
questions. Finally, I want to see if there is another way I can teach theme rather than through text.
Everything was very repetitive.

Samford University

Design for Learning