mimosa22
Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:48:41 -0800
I do think there is a difference, although students should be taught both, of course. For example, we are reading RULES by Cynthia Lord right now. She says that her theme was acceptance. My papers about it are at school right now, but I do think she did call it her theme, not her message.We are using the book in our thematic unit about growing up. I can clearly see how there are many "life messages" in this book. The main character struggles through the challenges of leaving childhood joys behind, as she thrills at the new world of adolescence. The conversations about this book bring out the idea that rich literature will usually have multiple themes, messages that resonate with different people for different reasons. As long as the reader can use the text to justify their opinion, I think a theme can be jaccepted, whether it was the author's original intent or not. This inquiry was perfectly timed for me. Next week we will be focusing on the author's purpose and then finishing up the book and learning about theme. I am interested on hearing what others think about these topics! Maura 5/NJ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelly Andrews-Babcock" <kandrews-babc...@killinglyschools.org> To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Sent: Sunday, November 8, 2009 7:45:51 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [MOSAIC] Theme/author's message Perhaps you can help me with a question that has come up with our staff. We were discussing theme (fiction) and at one grade level author's message came up as being used interchangeably with theme. In our conversation that followed some people thought theme was a more global or overarching idea and the author's message was more specific to the lesson the author was teaching through the text. But in realizing there can be multiple themes in books, the confusion continues. I'd love to hear from you more on this topic. Thanks, Kelly AB _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.