Bradbury’s Little Philosophies: Enhancing Middle and High School Literacy with the Thematic Analysis Model

Authors

  • Mark Jaynes Valley View School District, Illinois

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18060/27571

Keywords:

Ray Bradbury, Characterization, Educational technology, Literacy, Narratology , Reading instruction, Storytelling, Thematic Analysis

Abstract

In its measurement of American students over the last thirty years, the National Assessment of Educational Progress has shown that performance related to reading comprehension and literacy continues to decline, with nearly a third of students now failing to meet basic literacy proficiency. This article proposes a new model for thematic analysis to improve literacy-based outcomes amongst intermediate and secondary students. Through an examination of five Ray Bradbury short stories, the author shows how this model can be used to move students beyond literal comprehension while enhancing their ability to skillfully analyze and interpret the subtextual elements of stories in order to create thematic statements that reveal the hidden meaning of a text.

Author Biography

Mark Jaynes, Valley View School District, Illinois

Mark is an instructional coach and curriculum writer at the intermediate and secondary level in one of the largest and most diverse school districts in Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from North Central College, a master’s degree in Education from Benedictine University, and a master’s degree in Educational Administration from Concordia University. He is interested in Bradbury studies, modern and contemporary American literature, and creative writing. A lifelong Bradbury fan, he lives outside of Chicago, not too far from Greentown.

Cover of issue 7 of NRBR, depicting a timepiece, a dinosaur, a dandelion and a jack-a-lantern

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Published

2023-08-27

How to Cite

Jaynes, M. (2023). Bradbury’s Little Philosophies: Enhancing Middle and High School Literacy with the Thematic Analysis Model. The New Ray Bradbury Review, (7), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.18060/27571

Issue

No. 7 (2023)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Mark Jaynes

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The New Ray Bradbury Review is published under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Creative Commons License. All content is freely available without charge. Readers are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author(s).