Technology Integration Activity

Savannah R. Brasher
CAT 531
Activity Title: Something catchy: Exploring Themes in Stories from Around
the World
Grade Level Range: 8th-10th/ESL classes
Purpose/Objectives:
Students will:
Analyze a text to identify its themes.
Understand and discuss the nature of the idea of universal themes.
Collaborate in groups to choose a particular universal theme and identify its
expression in two stories.
In pairs, conduct research via the internet to discover stories and folktales
that revolve around a particular theme.
Working in their groups, students will publish their thoughts on their theme
and its importance in the two stories through any digital medium of their
choice such as a visual presentation through Prezi or PowerPoint, a video
created and uploaded to sites such as YouTube, a wiki page, etc.
This activity addresses the following the 2012 World-class Instructional Design and
Assessment Consortiums English Language Proficiency Standards (WIDA ELP
Standards) found on page 3 of the WIDA booklet, downloadable at
https://www.wida.us/standards/eld.aspx:
Standard 1: Communicating for social and instructional purposes
Standard 2: communicating for success in language arts
This activity addresses, among others, the following Alabama English Language Arts
Course of Study Standards which can be found on pages 63 and 66 of the
downloadable Alabama English Language Arts Course of Study document at
http://alex.state.al.us/browseEnglish.php:
[RL.8.1] Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
[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.
[RL.8.9] Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of
events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works
such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.
[W.8.6] Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing
and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as
well as to interact and collaborate with others.
This activity addresses the following National Educational Technology Standards for
Students (http://www.iste.org/standards/ISTE-standards/standards-for-students):
Creativity and information: a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new
ideas, products, or processes.

Communication and collaboration: a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with

peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and
media. c. Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging
with learners of other cultures. d. Contribute to project teams to produce
original works or solve problems.
Research and information fluency: b. Locate, organize, evaluate, synthesize,
and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media. c. Evaluate
and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness
to specific tasks.
Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making: b. Plan and manage
activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

Description: In this activity, as a class, students will analyze an assigned text to

identify specific themes. After a brief discussion of the idea of universal themes,
students will do a group activity to test their ability to recognize themes and
support their observations. They will then from groups of four to choose a particular
theme and conduct research in pairs to discover stories from around the world that
revolve around the chosen theme. Finally, in groups, they will create a digital project
to display their analysis of two texts in relation to their chosen theme.
Activity Preparation:
Students will have read a fictional text and analyzed such elements as its
setting, time, cultural context, characters, and plot. After having read and
analyzed elements of a text, students should be prepared to talk about the
big ideas or themes expressed in the story.
Students have access to laptops, at least enough for one for every two
students, and a wireless connection as well as free video editing software
(see Tools and Resources).
The teacher has located an online collection of fairytales/folk tales. See Tools
and Resources.
Activity Procedure:
Classroom discussion: The teacher will review the elements of the assigned reading
that the students have already analyzed and introduce the idea of analyzing a
storys theme. The discussion will be conducted through answers and questions
among the students and teacher. The discussion should prepare students for the
Theme Finder activity by introducing brief examples from both the assigned text
and from other texts. Familiar childrens stories, movies, and folklore are excellent
ways to quickly present themes for analysis. See suggested videos under Tools and
Resources.
Theme Finder: This activity will give the students an opportunity to put what they
have just learned into practice.
The students will divide into groups (preferably small groups of no more than
four). Each individual will receive a colored marker and a piece of paper.
Each group will decide on a story, film, or even song that is familiar to them
and will be fun or easy to analyze for themes.
After each group has decided on a story, the teacher should write the titles of
each groups story on the board.

Then the teacher will instruct each group to write one theme they feel the
story expresses at the top of the paper. The theme should be in sentence
form which will help students distinguish between topics (which can be
expressed in one word ex. love) and themes (which can be expressed only
in sentences ex. Selfish, possessive love is destructive. or True love is
proven through selfless acts.).
After everyone has written their theme, they should pass their papers to the
student to their right. The student to their right will write supporting evidence
under the theme and then pass the paper again until every student has
written supporting evidence for each theme in the group. An example of
supporting evidence: Disneys Beauty and the Beast expresses the theme
Someone or something must be loved to become lovable. Evidence: Belle
treats the Beast with more kindness after he saves her from the wolves or
The Beast treats Belle more kindly after she cares for his wound.

Group discussion: After the activity is complete, students should discuss their work
within their groups and answer such questions as
Does all supporting evidence truly express these themes?
Could they express other themes as well?
Which themes are the most evident or most integral to the story?
Class discussion: Each group should present to their class, in a brief talk, their
themes and evidence. Afterwards the class can break from their groups and should
discuss which themes, if any, were found in several stories. The teacher should then
introduce the idea of universal themes. The teacher should emphasize the
similarities found among the groups stories and then introduce the idea that some
themes are found in many different stories in different cultures from around the
world. Fairytales and folklore are the most accessible examples of universal themes.
For example, a version of the Cinderella story is found in many different cultures.
For further evidence, teachers can even retell such childrens stories as The Rough
Faced Girl, Mufaros Beautiful Daughters, and The Korean Cinderella. However, this
would be an opportunity, especially in a diverse ESL classroom, to let students take
the lead in discussion and suggest stories from their own cultures themselves.
Group Project Preparation: Students will again divide into groups of four but this
time with different classmates. The groups will then choose a theme to illustrate
through at least two texts. Each group of four will contain two pairs and each pair is
responsible for finding one text which illustrates the chosen theme. The teacher
should direct the students to the online page of helpful links which has been
prepared to aid their research. See the online collection of folktales under Tools and
Resources.
Group Project: After each pair has found a suitable text, each group should
reconvene and spend class time discussing ways to present their analysis of their
chosen theme and texts. These presentations should be digitally created and can
include PowerPoint presentations, original videos, or original wiki pages. Each group
should locate the rubric and keep it as a reference as they plan and create their
projects.

Presentations: After the teacher feels the students have been given adequate time
in and out of classes to satisfactorily complete their presentations, the teacher will
have each group present their projects to the class. Projects can then be uploaded
to a classroom wiki.
Tools and Resources:
http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html --A free downloadable video
editing program which allows students to use webcams to record clips directly into
the program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9s8vqztKUk and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4qME64SkxM Two instructional videos about
finding themes that may prove useful in class discussions
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html#l An online collection of folk and fairy
tales from around the world sometimes organized by topic or theme.
Assessment:
Did students understand the concept of themes and universal themes?
(Comprehension questions during class discussion)
Did students recognize themes and successfully offer supporting evidence? (Theme
Finder activity results)
Did students work together to choose a theme and successfully research suitable
stories which express their theme? (Final group project presentations)
Did students present convincing supporting evidence from the texts? (Final group
project presentations)
Did students successfully incorporate digital tools to create original, organized,
logical presentations? (Final group project presentations)
Rubric: This rubric was created at http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Digital Storytelling : Theme Analysis Group Presentations

Teacher Name: s Brasher

Student Name:
CATEGORY
Theme
Explication

________________________________________
4
Theme is
expressed in a
full sentence
and audience
understands
the importance
of the theme to
the

3
Theme is
expressed in a
full sentence
and audience
has some idea
of its
importance.

2
Theme is
expressed but
not necessarily
as a complete
idea in a full
sentence.
Audience may
not understand

1
Theme is not
expressed.

story/human
experience.

Supporting
Evidence

Organization

Visual
Explication

Oral Explication

Convincing
supporting
evidence from
both stories is
thoroughly
detailed and
correctly cited.
The
organization of
the full
presentation is
logical. Each
portion of the
presentation
flowed
smoothly to the
next. Each
group member
contributed.
The digital
presentation/vi
deo is relevant
and presents
the analysis of
the themes and
the supporting
evidence in a
logical, unique,
and interesting
way.
The oral
explications of
the
presentation
were loud and
clear and
detailed the
most basic and
important
information.

it\'s relevance.

Convincing
supporting
evidence is
cited from both
stories.

Supporting
evidence is
cited from both
stories but is
weak or
incorrectly
cited.
The
organization is
somewhat
logical. Each
member
contributed at
least a little.

Supporting
evidence is
absent or
irrelevant.

The digital
presentation is
relevant and
presents the
analysis in a
logical way.

The digital
presentation
presents the
analysis but is
confusing or
irrelevant.

The
presentation
did not
incorporate a
digital element
such as a
PowerPoint,
wiki page, or
original video.

The oral
explications of
the
presentation
were loud and
clear and
relevant.

The oral
explications
were loud and
clear but
somewhat
irrelevant.

The oral
explications
were inaudible
or hard to
follow.

The
organization of
the full
presentation is
logical.
Transitions are
somewhat
smooth. Each
member
contributed.

Date Created: Nov 28, 2015 08:03 pm (CST)

The
organization is
illogical. Not
every member
contributed to
the
presentation.

Comments:
This activity can follow the completion of any required text as the focus is on
the ability to recognize and analyze themes within literature and not on a
particular category of content.
It is not important which text has been studied before this activity but rather
that the text is quality literature, suitable for their students reading levels
and to facilitate rich and varied discussions of themes.
This activity should be recognized as an opportunity for students to share
about their own cultures and values to answer specific questions about the
nature of universal ideas and the role literature plays in shaping and
reflecting both specific cultural experiences and the human experience in
general.