Identifying the theme of a story is a higher order skill and requires the reader to make an inference. Consequently, some students have a difficult time identifying themes. Because this skill is frequently evaluated on state reading tests, it is important that your students identify themes with reasonable reliability. I find that properly teaching students how to identify themes goes a long way toward meeting this goal.
1. Properly Define Theme: students need to know that theme is the life lesson of a story or the author’s message.
2. Prepare Students To Infer: students need to understand that in most stories (with the exception of fables), the author will not tell readers what the theme or lesson of the story is. Readers will have to think about what the characters did wrong or right and what they can learn from the character’s experience.
3. Teach Students To Extract The “Big Idea”: One common mistake that students make when attempting to identify the theme is that they get hung up on the characters or events in the story. They cannot think beyond the small world elements of the story to extract the big world lesson of the theme. I will use the following short story as an example:
A student who understands the concept of theme is likely to give a response like, “The lesson of the story is that if you want something, you should work for it.” A response like this shows that the student is processing the events of the story and extracting a larger idea, one which can be directly applied to someone’s life. A student who doesn’t understand theme will fixate on story level events. For example, “Tim shouldn’t steal.” While this response demonstrates comprehension of the text, it doesn’t show higher order thinking. The student is stuck in the small world of the story and needs to take the mental jump to the big world idea. Teaching students to distinguish between the small world of the story and the big world idea will help them to more accurately express their understanding of story themes.
4. Give Students Practice Identifying Themes: While I encourage you to study and discuss themes in each story that you read as a class, immediately after learning about theme, students need a variety of examples with which they can practice. I have created worksheets and activities where students identify themes in a variety of very short stories. Also, I have uploaded the PowerPoint slide show I used to teach theme to my students this year.
I hope these resources will help your students better understand theme and more consistently identify themes texts.
Common Core State Standards Related to Theme
View All CCSS Standards Related to ThemeCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2 – Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
ELA Standards: Literature
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.2 – Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.2 – Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2 – Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2 – Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2 – Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 – Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
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Common Core Lesson and Unit Plans
Understanding Common Core State Standards
carla
/ March 6, 2022extremely simple to understand
thank you very much
definitely helpful
Autumn
/ April 29, 2021thanks this helped me alot
D G
/ July 20, 2020In this world of Teacher Pay Teacher (for bad materials sometimes), you are a LIFE SAVER!!! What GREAT quality you have presented here for our use and for free. THANKS is NOT enough!
Lorena Gallardo
/ March 13, 2019Sometimes, we – teachers – do not have enough time to prepare activities, or we are simply burnt out and run out of ideas…
Finding such a complete and elaborated material is a gift. I found it more than useful, and I will certainly use it to practice with my kiddos.
Make them love reading, lead them through the pleasure of understanding what they read while challenging their intellectual world is of the essence! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Davis
/ January 14, 2019I really appreciate the FREE practice worksheets.
Thank you as this helps young learners to enhance their abilities.
Esmeralda
/ October 11, 2017Wow! Fantastic resources! Thank you!!!
SAIFULLAH
/ September 6, 2017This site is really helpful for me. as a student I’m very much interested to know the unknown & this is the way.
inji
/ September 6, 2017Absolutely awesome! Thank you!
Kathy
/ July 18, 2017The worksheets and explanations are a great resource. We will be using them this week in our adult literacy classes. Thank you!
Doug
/ June 12, 2017Hi this was great
Morneault
/ January 29, 2017The way you explained and defined theme really helped my students.
M.s john
/ October 18, 2016I used your story if you don’t mind please reply if its ok
M.s john
/ October 18, 2016Theme is a lesson learned in the story as simple as that.
N. Eren
/ June 6, 2016Hi
I use your reading comprehension passages in literacy classroom in the UK and I can say they are very useful and effective.
Mr. Morton
/ June 13, 2016Thank you. I’m so happy to hear it.
Deshina Elizabeth
/ March 4, 2016Am sorry for asking this question because am a student but what is the difference between the main idea and the theme of a passage. It is somehow confusing.
Mr. Morton
/ March 15, 2016Main idea pertains more to nonfiction texts, whereas themes are found in works of fiction.
Mrs. Kessler
/ April 4, 2016Theme has more to do with the message the author is trying to convey. What does the author have to say in his or her writing about a topic? What do you believe the author believes about the topic? That is where you will find theme.
Main idea (sometimes called central message, central idea) is what the passage or piece of writing is mainly or mostly about. The broad subject of a piece of writing.
K. Williams
/ January 13, 2016Thank you for these resources, I have used your website for many years. I think it is critical to point out that theme is NOT 1-2 words. That is topic, according to most state standards and CCSS. Thanks!
Geneva Chapman
/ August 23, 2015I appreciate this website tremendously. Working on elementary and middle school curricula development, my nearly forty years of experience teaching elementary, junior high, and special ed high school students, as well as none-degreed adults has taught me to keep learning simple and accessible, regardless of ability. Teaching higher order thinking is always the ultimate goal, but children from low-income neighborhoods often have not been exposed to literature and may have difficulty with the abstractions in the concept of themes. Therefore, for the lesson I’m developing for eighth graders using CCSS, I’m using short videos and written summaries of themes in fables, fairy tales, and other well known stories themes that are obvious to introduce the topic and to prepare eighth grade students to read classic literature with themes in mind. I think we fail children when we either expect too little or too much from them, overwhelmingly them and causing them to fail. I agree with the teaches praising your approach because it provides access to information that is complicated in ways that teachers can communicate and students can understand. I’m an award winning journalist and playwright, and have published over thirty short volumes, including some of my plays and screenplays, a novella, several children books, and two short story collections. However, despite my life-long love of reading and writing and an undergrad degree in English, I find trying to explain the complexity of literary themes to students who often have limited vocabulary and no experience with classical or even current literature daunting. You provide teachers with tools that make it less so. Thank you.
Mr. Morton
/ August 23, 2015Thank you for your thoughtful comment, reflections, suggestions, and praise.
It is well-received and I wish you the best.
Michelle Hayward
/ July 3, 2015Wow! Great site – really useful. Thank you!!
Jessica
/ November 19, 2014This is amazing! It really helped students practice independently. Thank you for sharing!!!
Tianna Rhooms
/ November 12, 2014This page was extremely helpful and insightful! thank you!
Peter W.
/ October 30, 2014I have noticed that a lot of time in middle-school and sometimes High School English classes, the definition of “Theme” changes, often for reasons similar to the ones described above (i.e., to prepare the students for a test). There is an issue with the Middle School concept of theme (as the author’s message or life lesson), however – it becomes highly problematic when students begin to read texts that don’t have a singular message and were not written to convey a “life lesson.” Books like Beloved or Heart of Darkness or Absalom! Absalom! are simply too complex to be condensed into singular messages, and certainly fall outside the fable-ish territory of “life lessons,” and yet to explore any of those books productively without being able to discuss their themes (they all do have themes, after all) seems nearly impossible to me.
I think it’s okay to use the definition here, as long as you’re honest with the students about its being a definition that is really only used in lower-secondary English classes. In the outside world, a literary theme is a universal subject around which an author may focus a narrative (or several) to the point of demonstrating an argument, but in my opinion, the most essential component of theme is that multiple authors may take on the same theme and yield entirely different – and possibly contentious – readings. (For example, consider race in the previous three novels).
Mr. Morton
/ October 30, 2014I no longer argue this point but I thank you for your thoughtful contribution to the discussion.
ms.mannce
/ September 12, 2014this really helped me and my students
Mr. Morton
/ September 18, 2014I’m so happy to hear it.
Destini Seals
/ May 29, 2014This is a great website. I needed research for school and this just has my mind blasting with IDEAS ! Thankyou.
Judi Van Erden
/ January 9, 2014An important point that is missing from this explanation is that conflict is an important element to examine for evidence of theme. It’s true that students can get fixated on the more elementary literary elements of character and setting. By expanding their focus to conflict, you can direct them to finding evidence of theme and help them make and discuss the inferences necessary for identifying–and defending–theme.
Mr. Morton
/ January 11, 2014That’s great information. I’d like to include it in a future rewrite.
Jason Payne
/ September 26, 2013I’m with you on this definition of theme, Mr. Morton. That’s the way I teach it.
Thanks for all the great resources.
Nicole
/ March 6, 2013We appreciate your resources, but unfortunately they are incorrect. Author’s Message and Theme get confused very often. The theme is not the author’s message, but the theme is inferred from the author’s message. For example the author’s message for The Tortoise & The Hare could be “Slow and steady wins the race” and the theme could then be inferred as “Patience.” Check your literary definitions please teachers before presenting this confusion. Themes are universal (can cross culture and time) broad topics stated in 1 to words. When defining theme, I encourage students to think of birthday parties. Birthday parties usually have a theme, which everything gives reference.
Mr. Morton
/ March 6, 2013Thank you for your input. This is often a point of contention. As you can see from the Wikipedia page about literary theme, there are two conflicting definitions for theme, one of which you list. I respect your views and encourage you to use my materials anyway they assist you.
In my personal case, however, I go by the definition of theme as listed in the ISAT glossary. The ISAT is the test that Illinois students are required to take, and as a teacher in Illinois, I design many of my materials to prepare my students for this test. According to the ISAT glossary,
So, since I function under the terminology put in place under our state framework, perhaps my resources aren’t “incorrect,” but rather different from the framework under which you function.
Thanks for visiting.
Suzie
/ January 12, 2021Literary theme is not one word; theme is always a statement. “Slow and steady wins the race” is a theme – the lesson, moral or message. The word “patience” is the topic word used from which the theme, moral, or message will be created. Your test – there is no lesson, moral, or message in the single word “patience.” However, there is a lesson in the statement, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Ms. N Clark
/ February 19, 2013How do I access the PowerPoint?
Mr. Morton
/ February 21, 2013Click the link to download the file. Then, open it up. Email me if you need more help.
Bgregoire
/ January 27, 2013Great site – and resources! Can’t wait to use these in my class!
daliegh watts
/ November 12, 2015I feel the same way.
suzanne
/ September 25, 2012This is a terrific resource. The powerpoint is simple, clear, and so understandable for my middle school students. Thank you.
Rudylen Anino-dela Torre
/ April 26, 2012Thanks for this Mr. Morton! Extracting Theme from a Narrative would be my topic for my class demonstration. This is indeed a BIG HELP! I hope I would be able to give my best in my demonstration so that I would be hired. Blessings! 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ May 3, 2012I hope so too. 😀 Thanks for visiting!
slong
/ March 21, 2012This is exactly how I teach this lesson, but it gives EXCELLENT examples!! Thanks!!
Mr. Morton
/ March 30, 2012Great minds think alike. 😀
janet hill
/ March 8, 2012really like this website… great worksheets for my sophomore english class!!
C. Carroll
/ March 3, 2012Thanks for wonderful worksheet covering the subjects that I need. These are the best that I have found!
patrick T
/ February 23, 2012This gave me the perspective I needed to revive my students “higher thinking!”
Thanks, very helpful!
Rachel W
/ February 20, 2012Great website!! It really helped my kids with the idea of theme and how it differentiates with main idea! 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ February 23, 2012I’m so pleased to hear it.
Teresa S.
/ January 27, 2012Thanks for the website. The power point really helped my lesson today teaching theme.
Thenisha Carter
/ January 9, 2012Thank you for your suggestions. This site is VERY helpful. My students enjoyed every passage written on the worksheet. Your resources made the lesson on themes and main ideas interesting. You did a phenomenal job and I hope to see more worksheets and PowerPoints available.
Mr. Morton
/ January 14, 2012Thanks so much for saying so. I am dedicated to the continual improvement of this website.