Teaching Texts - All Aspects of Texts Lead to the MAIN IDEA.
- Susan de Lautour
- 11 hours ago
- 5 min read
Theme vs Main Idea
I’ve discussed this many times. The theme of a text is the general ‘topic’ – what the text is about. What our students must discuss, however, is what the text creator (author, poet, director) is telling us about that theme. See the table below.
Other common themes include:
Love
Power
Identity
Conflict
Justice and injustice
These labels tell us nothing about what the text creator wants us to learn. The theme is love. Okay, so what does this author want us to know about love? That is, what’s the main idea?
The main idea is illustrated through elements of literature.
The creator illustrates or ‘shows’ us their message. (They don’t tell us what they want us to learn.) This is done via the other four elements of literature – that is:
Plot – events.
Characters – conflicts (internal and external), relationships (positive and negative), development (ie, change).
Setting – physical and political settings and, in particular, how these setting affect the characters.
Symbolism – the visual representation of an idea – usually an object or colour.
First, teach the elements of literature.
Break your text into the elements of literature when putting together that unit of work and teach it like this, one element at a time.
Before you begin your text study, take students through what the elements of literature are (don’t assume they know – even your seniors). Here’s how:
Use a very short story that you write yourself (or use the one we have below) and, as a class, identify the four key elements of literature in it. (This is also a great opportunity to practice those annotation skills! (See an annotation cheat sheet in our freebies bank.)) Students probably won’t identify as much detail as we have below, so don’t panic when they don’t. You can point out more as part of your class discussion about the main idea later, though.
Next, discuss the theme and main idea of the story. Using our example below, you could say:
The theme is greed.
The main idea is THAT greed is a parasitic evil, feeding on others until they are destroyed.
Finally, ask students to tell you how they know this. Now, they must find specific evidence from their annotations as well as further things identified through your class discussion.
Adding on (language and structure)
Once students understand the basic elements of literature, move into your class text study.
You’ll spot quite quickly the need to add two more things to your repertoire – language and structure!
Language
In our previous example we could pull out:
“Season of Sacrifice” which juxtaposes the idea of celebration (“season of”) and death (“sacrifice”) – note also, the abbreviated form would be SOS!
“Stark” – the name of the town – which illustrates what it looks and feels like to live here with nothing.
Remember, in film studies, language features are cinematic features such as lighting, camera work and sound. For example, in Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca we see:
Blue filtered light suggesting the cold and clinical society in which our characters live.
Magnified close-ups (or ‘macro shots’) and booming sound effects as hairs fall to the ground as though they are tree trunks illustrate the massive impact of a single hair in deciding what you’ll become (DNA).
The infinity symbol used on the identification of genetically engineered superior beings shows their unlimited potential.
Structure
Look, in particular, for:
Turning points – events that change everything!
Similarities and differences between the beginning and the end of the text.
For more about structure, see our blog post, What the Heck is Structure in English?
Note well: When we’re talking about ‘all the things’ in a text – that is, our key elements of literature AS WELL AS language and structural elements, we often switch to the term ‘ASPECTS of literature’.
Charting the illustration of your main idea
Let’s assume that you’ve completed your class text study, all nicely structured around your aspects of literature. To complete the unit, have students create a one-pager to:
Pull it all together.
Form a concise set of study notes.
Better understand how aspects illustrate a main idea.
Something like the chart on the left is great, or students could design their own. Ensure students include the main idea in the centre – written as a sentence (I get mine to include the word ‘that’ to force this) – then around that you should find:
Plot
Characters
Symbolism
Setting – political
Setting – physical
Language
Structure
Quotations – Yes, I add this separately as, even though they might be included in notes about the other elements listed above, I like a few standouts listed on their own.
For a free template and our mind map, too, click here or the image below!
Writing about the main idea
Here are some useful starters/frames to help your students write about the main idea in those paragraph answers and essays.
Describing the main idea:
One important theme in this text is [theme], and the [author/poet/director] shows that [main idea]. Eg:
One important theme in Macbeth is power, and Shakespeare shows that the desire for power can corrupt a person.
Through an exploration of [theme], [author/poet/director] helps the reader understand that [main idea]. Eg:
Through an exploration of guilt, Chidgey helps the reader understand that guilt can shape a person’s identity and the choices they make.
This story teaches us that [main idea].
Discussing specific evidence:
When [event] we better understand the idea that [main idea].
Through [character’s decision/relationship/change] we learn more about the idea that [main idea].
[Object/colour] clearly represents _____, providing a visual illustration of the idea that [main idea].
The [something about the setting] helps us understand that [main idea].
[Evidence] reinforces the idea that [main idea].
[Evidence] helps illustrate the idea that [main idea].
[Evidence] is important because it helps show that [main idea].
[Evidence] is significant because it shows the audience that [main idea].
[Author/poet/director] uses [evidence] to help us realise that [main idea].
The theme of [theme] is shown when [evidence], which suggests that [main idea].
How aspects work together to illustrate the main idea
Once your students have their one-pager complete, you can move into a deeper level of critical thinking by discussing how aspects work together to illustrate and ideas. Not only does it provide a visual reminder of the main idea, it also gives students the bank of evidence they need to move into discussion. Eg:
All roads lead to Rome just as our aspects lead to the main idea! Enjoy!
Click the images below for helpful (and editable) resources!
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