Many students can read fluently, but they struggle with understanding what the point of a piece is in literature. As a result, students have difficulty with higher order thinking questions and can't move beyond the literal level. They can tell you what a character did but not why he did it. By grouping works thematically, teachers reinforce a basic theme for students. Once the first work is read and discussed, students will recognize similarities once the next piece is presented. Literature often deals with universal themes such as isolation or social commentary; by exposing students to these themes, their understanding will improve.
Units within the curriculum have core pieces of literature that are required to be read and constitute the backbone for the unit. Teachers should look for complementary pieces of reading to help strengthen the concepts being taught. Short stories and poetry can be paired with the core piece of literature. By presenting different genres to students, their ability to handle different styles and devices improves. In addition, they can get different perspectives on the same concept or issue. A thematic approach does not have to be stories that seem exactly the same; rather, teachers can present works that deal with the same topic but from varying angles.
Oftentimes, pieces written about the same time period deal with similar themes. For example, when teaching Puritan literature, a teacher can pair together similar works such as "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller and "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. These two pieces deal with similar themes of intolerance and punishment but differ in various ways. By teaching them together, the lifestyle of the Puritans enhances the understanding of both works. Cross-curricular instruction can also be arranged, where history and English teachers work together to teach the students about the time period.
A goal of education is to have students relate what they have learned to themselves. Students need to be able to relate to what happens within a book and apply the conflicts the characters experience to their own lives. When reading is presented without a thematic approach, students can miss the main idea, and they might fail to establish these personal connections. Through pairing by theme, teachers can plan units according to enduring understandings, anticipating what message students should grasp after reading has been completed.