Thematic Instruction

Diana Sanchez, M.Ed., volunteer partner
Created for: Partners for A Greater Voice, Post Office Box 734, Ipswich, Massachusetts 01938 U.S.A.
978-312-1200 / www.greatervoice.com

Definition
Thematic instruction is the organization of a curriculum around macro “themes.” Thematic instruction integrates basic disciplines like reading, math, and science with the exploration of a broad subject, such as communities, rain forests, the use of energy, and so on.

Basic Elements
Thematic instruction is based on the idea that people acquire knowledge best when learning in the context of a coherent “whole,” and when they can connect what they’re learning to the real world. Thematic instruction seeks to put the teaching of cognitive skills such as reading, mathematics, science, and writing in the context of a real-world subject that is both specific enough to be practical, and broad enough to allow creative exploration.

Teachers teach all of the different subjects taught in that grade around a pre-selected theme. Typical steps include:

1. Choosing a theme — the theme does not have to be complicated, but it has to be something practical that the student is exposed too in real life or that is in their immediate environment. For example, with younger students you can use thematic instruction to talk about the lifecycle of a butterfly, farm animals, or weather.
2. Designing the integrated curriculum — The teacher must organize the learning objectives of the core curriculum (both process skills and content knowledge) around the theme. In the study weather, for instance, math might involve charting weather patterns, social studies could look at how drastic weather has affected communities and whole countries, science might study drastic weather like hurricanes and tornados; and literature could study books and novels that focus on weather. The initial design requires considerable work on the part of the teacher.

Using thematic instruction is hard work but it is the best way to teach a child who is hearing impaired. Thematic instruction is another way of using a natural approach to communication both to learn language and to learn concepts taught in school.