Abstract
According to the Common Core State Standards, third-grade students are to be able to compare and contrast themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters. Fourth graders are to be able to compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics and patterns of events in stories. Middle school students are expected to determine a theme of a text, how the theme is conveyed through the story detail, and how the theme develops over the course of a story.
Patricia (Trisha) Polacco’s memoirs of several of her teachers can be particularly useful in helping students meet these standards for thematic understanding. Patricia was a shy student with learning difficulties. Her teacher memoires describe the ways in which inspirational teachers recognized both her learning difficulties and her strengths, and contributed to her development as a respected author and artist. The memoires also describe the ways she coped with and overcame her challenges.
These memoires depict two types of themes: (a) the ways that inspirational teachers effect the future potential of their students and those students’ beliefs in themselves, and (b) the ways students respond to challenges.
In several issues of Word of Mouth, I have summarized research articles on autobiographical memory, reminiscing, and life stories, and in Idea Swaps, suggestions for promoting autobiographical memory, personal event stories, and life stories. These memoires by Polacco can also serve as mentor texts, that is, they can serve as models for students to use in writing personal narratives of experiences they have had with teachers.
Brief Summaries of Polacco’s Teacher Memoires
(1998). Thank you, Mr. Falker. New York: Philomel.
This is the first story in Polacco’s memoir series. In this narrative, she shares her difficulties learning to read. She enters school eager to read, but as her elementary years pass, she becomes increasingly discouraged and withdrawn. Words and numbers are a jumble. Classmates taunt her, calling her “dumb.” Mr. Falker, her fifth-grade teacher, recognizes the nature of her difficulties, and through his efforts, Trisha begins to blossom, learning to read and developing her talents.
(2012). The Art of Miss Chew. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Trish has learned to read, but because she is a slow reader, she is performing poorly in school. Her teacher Mr. Donovan recognizes that Trisha knows the content, but needs extra time to read and write. With this accommodation, Trisha passes her tests. Mr. Donovan also recognized Trisha’s artistic talent and arranged for her to join Miss Chew’s art class. Emotionally and artistically, Trisha connects with Miss Chew the woman. Miss Chew also pinpoints the cause of Trisha’s reading troubles. When Mr. Donovan is called to Ireland on the death of his father, the substitute will not allow Trisha extra time on exams. She tries to keep Trisha from art class because she believes Trisha should spend her time working on her reading and not be distracted by drawing.
Right prevails—and Trisha gets to have a painting in the high-school art fair, even though she is only in elementary school.
(2014). Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece. G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Trisha has become a good story writer, but she is terrified to speak in class or read her stories. Her classroom English teacher introduces Trisha to Mr. Wayne, the drama teacher. Taking a drama class is the last thing Trisha wants, but Mr. Wayne gives her a backstage role painting scenery for the winter play. As she paints, she listens to the cast rehearse, memorizing their lines without even realizing it. Soon she is acting as prompter, as she holds the entire play in her head. Then, days before opening night, the lead actress suddenly moves away, and Trisha is the only other person who knows her part. When Trisha tries to recite the lines in front of the cast, nothing comes out! Mr. Wayne gives Patricia the tools she needs on stage: breathe, move, “let the play take you.” And she does! On the last page, Polacco tells how Mr. Wayne helped her overcome her deep shyness, allowing her now to speak too many with joy and energy—to become one of Mr. Wayne’s masterpieces.
(2010). Junkyard Wonders. New York: Philomel.
Trisha has been in a special education class. She asks her mother whether she can live with her grandparents the next school year. Her mother agrees. Trisha intends to enter a general education class in her new school. Instead, she is crestfallen when she is assigned to a special class with children who are different. The other children in the school refer to them as the “junkyard class.” Their teacher, Mrs. Peterson, proudly calls them the junkyard and takes them to an actual junkyard, which she describes as a place of wondrous possibilities . . . amazing things waiting to be made into something new. It’s clear that she sees her class the same way as she divides them into tribes and urges their creativity. Reclaiming and rebuilding an old model plane they intend to send to the moon, Trisha’s tribe manages a triumphant launch. Trisha went on to become one of our foremost children’s authors. One of the boys in the class became the artistic director of the American Ballet Company in New York, another girl became a fashion designer who was invited to Paris to design for the fashion industry, and another boy became an aeronautical engineer for NASA involved in the design of the lunar modules for the Apollo missions.
(2015). An A From Miss Keller. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Son.
Trisha is nervous about taking Miss Keller’s advanced writing class because she is known to be a very tough teacher. Trisha does not seem to be able to produce a story that is acceptable to Miss Keller. Miss Keller criticizes Trisha, saying that her writing just doesn’t have an emotional connection to her reader. Trisha visits with her neighbor Pop for encouragement, and he shares stories about his beloved wife and sons, who also took Killer Keller’s writing class. After learning of Pop’s death by sudden heart attack, Trisha writes down her feelings without worrying about her grade, and Miss Keller tells Trisha she has given her words wings, finally earning an “A.”
Strategies for Teaching Theme
Themes in stories typically come from the way that the characters—usually the main character—change and grow throughout the story. Looking at how the main character(s) responds to various situations can give clues to the theme of the story. In the case of the Polacco stories, consider both the teachers and Trisha. Following are suggestions for helping students discover the theme in stories:
Give background for the specific story and suggest the story’s relevance to the students’ personal experiences. Students with language/learning disabilities may be able to relate to Trisha’s experiences. Encourage the students to think of teachers who they have liked and who have been particularly helpful to them. Why have they liked certain teachers? In what ways did those teachers help them?
General questions to determine theme: How did the characters react to obstacles? What important decisions did the characters make? How did the characters grow and change over the course of the story? What did the characters learn?
Discuss with the students how each teacher contributed to Polacco’s life and career.
Figure 1 displays a graphic organizer for discovering story theme, based on Junkyard Wonders.
Graphic organizer for determining story theme