Biblioscopic Dialogue 16 - Short Answer Exercise: Explain General Theme of Current Title
Literary Core Skill:
Consider various titles with respect to a specific universal idea.
Resources: Story Chart; Socratic List (entire). As with all other facets of literary reading, students apply the techniques they have learned on children’s stories to works at their own reading level, putting the general and specific themes of the current title in the context of an ongoing human conversation about universal ideas.
Elements of Fiction:
Biblioscopic Dialogue
Theme
Worldview
Assignment Type:
Description:
This worksheet asks for a paragraph- or page-length explanation of the general theme of the current title that relates the theme to a discussion of a specific universal idea.
As with all other facets of literary reading, students apply the techniques they have previously learned on children’s stories to works at their own reading level, putting the general and specific themes of the current title in the context of an ongoing human conversation about universal ideas.
The “general theme” of a story is the universal idea, topic, or question that the story addresses; the subject toward which the author wishes to turn the conversation. It is distinct from the “specific theme” of a story, which is the case, point, or argument that the author is making about that topic.
Grading Rubric:
Equal parts credit for a) clean grammar/syntax/punctuation, b) plausibility, and c) reference to the text. Paragraph- and page-length answers may also be graded on the 5-fold rubric.
Completed Example Assignments:
