This formula will help you develop your ideas and start you off writing about a connection
Concept + Example + Explanation
1) Start off by using a concept frame to develop your thinking on an idea. (Note: you can come back to this later when you have thought about the topic more and add more ideas and insights).
2) Next, choose one example from the story to show one aspect of the idea (taken from the concept frame).
The girl in Witi Ihimaera's 'Truth of the Matter' did not choose to step up in the story and failed to contact the police about the incident near Courtenay Place.
3) Explain why your example shows your idea.
Example from Stepping Up Theme using 3 ideas: taking responsibility, associated risks and putting you in the limelight.
The girl planned to 'step up', but did not actually, contact the police to tell them that she had seen men fighting violently in the street. From her point of view, she would have risked her own privacy by volunteering information that would have helped the injured man or the other men in the story. She was worried that the police might discover her own illegal drug taking habit or that the court case would put her in the limelight and create unwanted focus on herself. The consequence was that the men went to jail unnecessarily because from her point of view, the taxi driver had injured himself by falling onto the bottle.