Day 47: Emerging Themes in Literature Lesson and Active vs. Passive Voice
Today’s class blends reading, grammar, and literary thinking in a way that helps students build strong habits as readers and writers. We begin with time to immerse ourselves in our novels, then shift into a brief introduction to active vs. passive voice. Finally, we move into a theme hunt—a guided activity that teaches students how to spot early thematic threads in a story.
By the end of the period, students will practice gathering text evidence, making early predictions, and building the analytical muscles needed for deeper reading later in the unit.
Silent Reading (20 minutes)
Students read independently for twenty minutes.
Your reminder to them: Choose a reading pace that lets you notice patterns—characters, repeated ideas, emotional shifts, or anything that feels bigger than the plot itself.
Introduction to Active vs. Passive Voice
Explain that strong writing depends on clarity, and one of the quickest ways to improve clarity is understanding the difference between active and passive voice.
Provide a couple simple examples:
Active: The character faces their fear.
Passive: The fear is faced by the character.
Tell students they’ll learn the full rules and strategies in an upcoming linked lesson, but for now, you want them to notice these constructions in their own writing.
Click here for the full active vs passive voice lesson.
Theme Hunt: Recognizing Emerging Themes (30 minutes)
Explain that a theme is an insight or message the author explores—not a topic, but a takeaway. In the early chapters of any text, themes aren’t obvious yet… but they are forming in the background. Today, we practice spotting those early signals.
Individual Questions / Tasks
Students respond to the following prompts in their notebooks:
Identify three ideas that seem important so far in your novel. These can include:
friendship, justice, power, fear, belonging, courage, identity, or anything else that appears in scenes, dialogue, or character decisions.Choose one idea and write a short explanation of why you think it might be part of an emerging theme.
What made you notice it? What patterns or repeated moments stand out?Find one piece of text evidence (a quotation or paraphrase) that supports this emerging theme.
In 3–5 sentences, explain:
What lesson or message might the author be hinting at through this theme?
Encourage students to avoid rushing—theme work is subtle, and “I’m not sure yet, but…” is a perfectly acceptable starting point.
Optional Share-Out (If Time Allows)
Invite a few students to share their working theme ideas.
Highlight that themes evolve as a story develops, so changing one’s mind later is not only acceptable but expected.
Conclusion
Wrap up by reminding students that reading deeply means watching for meaning beyond the plot. Early themes act like threads—you don’t see the full picture yet, but you start noticing the pattern as those threads repeat.
Encourage them to keep tracking ideas, especially during silent reading, and note when their theme predictions shift or deepen. Tomorrow, they’ll build on this work as part of their ongoing reading practice.
