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Compare two or more themes and their development throughout a literary text.
Standard #: ELA.7.R.1.2
Standard Information
Standard Clarifications
Clarification 1: For the purposes of this benchmark, theme is not a one- or two-word topic, but a complete thought that communicates the author’s message. 
Clarification 2: Students should continue to work with the concept of universal themes, although mastery isn’t expected until 9th grade. A universal theme is an idea that applies to anyone, anywhere, regardless of cultural differences. Examples include but are not limited to an individual’s or a community’s confrontation with nature; an individual’s struggle toward understanding, awareness, and/or spiritual enlightenment; the tension between the ideal and the real; the conflict between human beings and advancements in technology/science; the impact of the past on the present; the inevitability of fate; the struggle for equality; and the loss of innocence. 
General Information
Subject Area: English Language Arts (B.E.S.T.)
Grade: 7
Strand: Reading
Standard: Reading Prose and Poetry
Date Adopted or Revised: 08/20
Status: State Board Approved
Related Courses
Related Access Points
  • ELA.7.R.1.AP.2 # Find the similarities between two themes and their development throughout a literary text.
Related Resources
Lesson Plans
  • A Long Walk to Water: Culminating Activity # This is the final lesson, which is a culminating activity, and will focus on a combination of parts from the unit series. This lesson will assist students in determining the two main themes of A Long Walk to Water by analyzing important symbols and events related to the United States’ involvement in international conflicts. This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.
  • "A Retrieved Reformation" by O. Henry -Comparing Themes # Students will read O. Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation" and an additional O. Henry selection to compare the themes of love and redemption. They will identify supporting details of the themes in each text and use them to support their analysis in a short written response.
  • Charge of the Light Brigade: Can a Poem Tell a Story? # Students will be studying the narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and discussing how a "poem can tell a story." Students will focus upon citing evidence to support meaning found in the poem and then using those inferences to complete a comparison/contrast essay. Part of this study will include watching a 4 minute clip from the movie The Blind Side in which Tim McGraw's character explains the meaning of the poem in terms of a football game between rivals LSU and Ole Miss. Students will be asked to compare and contrast the poem's meaning in terms of battle in war and battle on the football field, determine how these two situations are similar and different, and finally be asked to explain if the football analogy was helpful in aiding the understanding of the story the poem tells.
  • Comparing Themes in "A Christmas Memory" # In this lesson, students will read the autobiographical story "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote and view a teacher-approved film version of the same story to compare the themes of “nostalgia fosters self-reflection,” and “the love between two friends cannot be easily forgotten.” Students will then write an extended paragraph comparing how the two themes interact within each of the modes.
Original Student Tutorial
Text Resources
  • Graphic Novel: From Clean Room to Consumer # Enter a clean room to see the process behind semiconductor manufacturing in this Science-ELA integrated graphic novel.
  • CARMEn # Consider the potential for human/AI collaboration to solve engineering problems in this S.T.E.M. digital graphic novel.
Original Student Tutorials for Language Arts - Grades 6-12
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