The War Between the Classes Final Assessments for

The War Between the Classes: Final Assessments for this unit MYP Criterion C (Producing Text): Journal Entries (should already be complete) MYP Criterion B (Organizing) and MYP Criterion D (Using Language): Theme Paragraph (this week) – to go in your journal MYP Criterion A (Analysing): Reading Quiz (next week)

So, what’s a theme paragraph? A theme paragraph is a paragraph that discusses one theme of a novel (or short story, play, etc. ) It starts with a theme statement and gives a number of examples of ways that theme is developed throughout the book. Before we write a theme paragraph, we need to be clear on a few things: 1. What is a theme? 2. What is a theme statement? 3. What are some themes of The War Between the Classes?

Writing a Theme Paragraph Step 1: Pick a theme developed in The War Between the Classes, and write it out as a theme statement (full sentence). You can pick one of the statements below, or come up with your own! Children can help their parents to break free of engrained prejudices. People need to look beyond stereotypes in order to have healthy relationships. It takes courage to stand up against discrimination. All human beings deserve equal treatment, regardless of class, gender, or skin colour. Social change can only happen if those who have power care enough to help those who do not.

Step 2: Write a Topic Sentence for your paragraph. Your topic sentence should include the title of the novel (The War Between the Classes) and your theme statement. It can be as simple as this: The War Between the Classes shows that it takes courage to stand up to discrimination. Or a little more complicated, like this: Through Papa Sumoto’s character development in The War Between the Classes, we see that children can help their parents to break free from engrained prejudices.

Step 3: Find examples from the novel, and fill in the rest of your graphic organizer. If you have picked a strong theme, it should be easy to find at least three examples from the beginning/middle/end of the book. For example: Theme Statement: Through Papa Sumoto’s character development in The War Between the Classes, we see that children can help their parents to break free from engrained prejudices. Point Evidence (Quotation) Explanation Early in the novel, Papa Sumoto expresses prejudice against white people. “They are all the same, these hakujin. I work with them every day” (13). Papa Sumoto’s prejudice comes from his family’s experience in the Japanese internment camps during World War II.