Before getting into our in-depth discussion, I asked Josh to recount the details of "The Ashen Guy," the story we read last week. I was pleasantly surprised by Josh's recall, and there were only small, minute details that needed to be clarified with Josh. Afterwards, we reviewed the definition of a Narrative, paying particular attention to how narratives are not just stories about events, but stories that use language to convey particular truths or beliefs about society, the world, etc. With this in mind, I had Josh give me a tentative definition of the word "theme." Josh answered that "theme" meant something along the lines of "genre," which was true in a sense, but not the definition used in literature. I clarified that "theme" is a prominent topic or idea of a story, and then I gave him example of themes like death, friendship, sadness, etc. Pushing Josh a bit out of his comfort zone, I asked him not only to define the theme of the story, but to give me specific, textual instances where this theme occurs and to articulate what "bigger message" the text is communicating about that theme. Josh and I were able to have a great discussion, and while not every piece of textual evidence fit his argument, Josh was able to articulate some really insightful arguments about this story.