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An Essay
Prewriting Day 1
Periods 4, 6, and 9 Spring 2012
Ms. Marshall-Krauss

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 Warm up: What are the parts of the writing
process?
 Today’s objective is to identify key terms to
be used in writing an essay on theme, read
an example essay and discuss it, and

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Copy the following terms and explanations
 Theme
 The lesson or statement about life that the story
expresses to the reader.
 Writing Process
 Prewriting
 Selecting a theme
 Gathering Details
 Writing a thesis statement
 Writing
 Revising
 Editing
 Publishing

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Read the example essay on page 289 and 290.
Next, Answer the questions on page 290 in
your spiral in complete sentences.
1. The final sentence “Our life would be what we
made of it—nothing more, nothing less,” means
the same thing as the underlined theme.
2. John understands the theme.
3. The steps in the theme’s development are in
time order.
4. Yes, the author seems knowledgeable about the
book because he or she discusses John and
Lorrain’s differences and similarities. The
writer also using direct quotes from the book
to develop his or her answer.

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 After reading the “Pigman’s Lesson” in our
text, think about the term “theme song.”
Choose your favorite theme song from a
movie or TV and explain whether it really
shows the theme from that movie or TV
show.