Frayer Model -- Theme

POST BY TINA MORRIS

The lesson was on Theme. I decided to try the Frayer Model to review/teach theme. It is a concept that is especially difficult because there are a lot of non-examples.

Before beginning the lesson on theme, I introduced the Frayer Model to the students, using an easy example, such as a food, so the students would know first how to use the tool. Next I set them loose to fill in a frayer model first by themselves. After about 10 minutes, I let them work in groups to pool their information together for about 20 minutes. During this time, I walked around to make sure they were all understanding the assignment. Lastly, we as a class, worked to fill in the chart together.

While going around the room and checking on the students, as well as working on the big model as a class I realized a few things. First, I realized that they had a very difficult time coming up with useful non-essential characteristics. Non-examples were not quite as hard, but in no way easy. The students also thought in the beginning that they were to pick their own theme to do the model on, not that they were modeling theme. Tricky. While this was a tough thing to model, I believe it was useful to begin to think of theme in literature as different from a theme, such as a Casino themed party. The concept is hard, but I think this way of teaching it began to give them a way to think about it instead of just a straight definition.