English Language Arts and Reading.7.7.A

The student is expected to

infer multiple themes within and across texts using text evidence;

multiple genres TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements. The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts.

Provide small groups of students with short stories or excerpts with related themes to read. Then, task students with reading the texts and determining an appropriate theme of each. Once each group has decided on the themes, elicit a class discussion in which students use text evidence to discuss the themes of the text they read.
 

Further Explanation

For this assessment, students are expected to infer themes presented in texts that speak to a common human experience and understand that themes are often focused on abstract concepts and the author’s thoughts about them. Students should be able to determine the implied theme represented in a literary work.

Themes are universal ideas presented in a text that speak to a common human experience. Themes are often focused on abstract concepts and the author’s thoughts about those concepts. Examples of themes presented in a text include “love can make you brave” or “friendships make difficult times easier to get through.” Students are expected to determine the implied theme represented by a character, a group of characters, and/or an event in a literary work.
paraphrased or directly quoted information from a source that supports an inference, thesis, claim, or analysis
Students are expected to idenitfy examine themes between and among texts of the same genre (e.g., between two poems) as well as across different genres (e.g., informational vs. argumentative text).

Research

VanDerHeide, J., & Juzwik, M.M. (2018). Argument as conversation: Students responding through writing to significant conversations across time and place. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(1), 67–77. doi: 10.1002/jaal.754

Summary: The authors illustrate how secondary students become more invested in the writing process when the topic is relevant to their lives. The authors examine how students can make connections from different aspects of their lives, whether through personal experiences, something they have read previously, or knowledge of history and society. The conversation is ongoing and students participate in the discussion or topic. The authors also connect this method with social participation.