CurriculumGrade 12English Language Arts

Themes That Build on One Another

Aligned to RL.11-12.2 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

What this lesson teaches

Sophisticated texts develop two or more themes that interact, building meaning across the whole work.

Worked example

A novel weaving 'ambition' and 'isolation' shows them reinforce each other: as the character's ambition grows, so does their loneliness.

Practice questions

  1. Identify two themes in a work and how they connect.
  2. How does one theme deepen another?
  3. Trace a theme's development from start to finish.

Watch the lesson

Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.

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En español

Temas que se Complementan Entre Sí

Los textos sofisticados desarrollan dos o más temas que interactúan y construyen significado a lo largo de toda la obra.

Ejemplo: Una novela que entrelaza la 'ambición' y el 'aislamiento' muestra cómo se refuerzan mutuamente: conforme crece la ambición del personaje, también crece su soledad.

More Reading: Literature lessons

Evidence Where a Text Stays UncertainRL.11-12.1How an Author's Choices Shape a StoryRL.11-12.3Word Choice, Connotation, and ToneRL.11-12.4Structure and the Manipulation of TimeRL.11-12.5Reading Satire, Irony, and UnderstatementRL.11-12.6Comparing Interpretations of a SourceRL.11-12.7

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