10/17/17 Blog #2 Themes and Topics

Yesterday in class, we learned the differences between topics and themes. A theme is a particular assertion (claim) about a topic. A topic is an idea or subject that occurs in a text. For example, our class analyzed the poem, "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer", and picked out different topics and themes of the poem. Some of the topics of the poem were stars, math, astronomers, and boredom. There are two different types of topics which are either abstract or concrete. An abstract topic is a topic that has a more depth analysis where as a concrete topic is more explicitly stated in the text. So, the topics stars and astronomers are concrete topics because they are explicitly stated throughout the text and the title. Lastly, math and boredom would be considered abstract topics because as a reader, you can interpret these two topics from the text. At the end of class, we were able to take these topics and turn them into themes. Each group posted on Google Classroom and abstract theme and a concrete them. An example for a concrete theme that Anna wrote was , "Nature is an alternative place for students to learn," whereas the topic of this theme is nature. An example for an abstract theme that Luke wrote was, "When an independent person is bored, it unlocks the door to creativity because boredom causes the mind to wander," where the topic in this theme is boredom.

After learning about the different aspects that goes into themes and topics, we can now develop more complex themes and topics throughout each paragraph. Each paragraph should include a topic sentence, evidence, analysis (connecting to the evidence), and a conclusion/transitions. Also, now we can break up different ideas in our essays by using both abstract and concrete topics in each different paragraph.