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366 Reading Strategies and Activities: A Resource Book for Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Including Dyslexia

COMPREHENSION
V. Main Idea -Lesson 1:
Initial Instructional Strategy—Defining
Introduction
In this three-lesson strategy set, students learn a strategy to identify the main idea of a passage. Students begin by learning the definition of main idea and applying this definition to short passages. Students are also taught how to identify the main idea of a passage using a facilitative questioning strategy. To build mastery in identifying main idea, students engage in daily guided practice with sentences, short passages, and multiple-choice response selections.

L e s s o n O b j e c t i ve
Students will define main idea and identify the main idea from sentences and short, decodable passages.

Co r r e s p o n d i n g T E K S O b j e c t i ve s :
1.12 & 2.9: The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend selections read aloud and selections read independently. 1.12. F & 2.9 F: The student is expected to make and explain inferences from texts such as determining important ideas and causes and effects, making predictions, and drawing conclusions (1-3).

Rationale and Purpose
• This strategy is designed to teach students the concept of main idea and how to identify the main idea in short passages. • It may be used with students in first and second grades or with older students who have difficulty with identifying the main idea from passages read to them and from passages they are able to read independently. • In this activity, students learn the definitions of main idea and detail and apply these definitions to several examples to gain practice in identifying main idea. The ability to identify the main idea from passages is critical for students to gain meaning from passage reading.

N e ce s s a r y P r e s k i l l s
For students to be successful, they need to be able to: • Literally comprehend texts • Retell stories • Categorize information

Instructional Design Criteria
To ensure success, the instructional examples and sequence of instruction used to teach main idea include: • Identify several short passages on a familiar topic that students can read with independence. • Select a passage with familiar vocabulary.
COMPREHENSION—V. Main Idea -Lesson 1: Initial Instructional Strategy—Defining ©2002 University of Texas System/Texas Education Agency

367 Reading Strategies and Activities: A Resource Book for Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Including Dyslexia

Materials and Examples
• Teacher-selected sentences or passages are needed for this lesson. Example sentences are provided for the purpose of demonstration. Assume that the vocabulary and concepts in these examples are familiar to the students. • Teacher and student copies of the following sentences: Example 1: The dog was wet and full of soap. The dog wiggled in the bathtub. Water splashed out of the tub. Example 2: Tom ran fast. Bob chased Tom. Bob tapped Tom. It was Tom’s turn to be “it.” Example 3: Sandy emptied a pack of flower seeds in a pot. She put dirt in the pot. Sandy watered it and put it in the sun.

I n s t r u c t i o n a l S e q u e n ce
I n s t r u c t i o n a l Fe a t u r e
Provide explicit instructions and assess students’ understanding of the concept.

W h a t To D o
Introduce main idea and details by providing definitions.

W h a t To S ay
Today, we are going to learn how to identify the main idea. What are we going to do? Identify the main idea.

Write the definitions and post in a location that students can easily reference. Test students on these concepts. Confirm students’ responses.

The main idea tells about all the parts of a story in just a few words. What is the main idea? It tells all the parts of a story in just a few words. Let’s write that down. Every story has a main idea and details. Details tell about the parts of the story. What are details? They tell about parts of the story. Let’s write that down. Let’s read these sentences and pick out the details and then the main idea. What are we going to do? Read examples and pick out the details, and then the main idea. The dog was wet and full of soap. The dog wiggled in the bathtub. Water splashed out of the tub.

Apply the definitions to several examples. Examples can be on the overhead or students can have their own copies.

Conduct passage reading while continually assessing students’ understanding of the passage. Provide students with opportunities to respond to the passage.

Read the entire example aloud to the students. Students should follow along on their copy. Ask clarifying questions to ensure that students are listening and able to successfully respond to the passage. Confirm students’ responses.

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COMPREHENSION—V. Main Idea -Lesson 1: Initial Instructional Strategy—Defining ©2002 University of Texas System/Texas Education Agency

368 Reading Strategies and Activities: A Resource Book for Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Including Dyslexia

I n s t r u c t i o n a l Fe a t u r e
Model how to identify details in a passage. Conduct passage reading a second time. Provide students with opportunities to respond to the passage.

W h a t To D o
Display the definition of a detail. Read the example again, but one sentence at a time. Require students to read along. Stop to identify that each sentence is a detail. Refer to the written definition of detail. Ask yes/no questions and check for students’ conceptual understanding of details. Confirm students’ correct responses.

W h a t To S ay
Details tell about parts of the story. What do details do? Tell about parts of the story. Read this first sentence with me. The dog was wet and full of soap. “The dog was wet and full of soap” is a detail. It tells only part of the story. Let’s read the next sentence. The dog wiggled in the bathtub. The dog wiggled in the bathtub only tells part of the story. Is this a detail? Yes. Why? It tells only part of the story. Let’s read the last sentence. Water splashed out of the tub. Does Water splashed out of the tub tell part of the story? Yes. Is it a detail? Yes.

Provide feedback to students.

Correct all errors students make when providing responses to the questions.

If students make an error, tell them the answer. Reread the sentence from which the answer came.Teacher and students should state the sentence in unison. Ask the question again. All of these sentences are details.The main idea is not given. When the main idea is not given, I have to tell you about all the parts of the story in just a few words. I will tell you the main idea. Let’s read the passage again. The dog was wet and full of soap.The dog wiggled in the bathtub.Water splashed out of the tub. Tell me one detail that happened. The dog was wet and full of soap.

Model how to determine the main idea in a passage. Conduct passage reading a third time. Provide students with opportunities to respond to the passage.

Display the definition of main idea. Refer to the written definition of main idea. Read the passage again all the way through. Require students to chorally read the passage with the teacher.

Assess students’ conceptual understanding of main idea. Confirm students’ responses.

Tell me another detail that happened. The dog wiggled in the bathtub. Tell me one more detail that happened. Water splashed out of the tub. All of the sentences or parts of the story tell about a dog getting a bath. What do the sentences tell about? A dog getting a bath. So, the main idea is The dog is getting a bath. What is the main idea? The dog is getting a bath.
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COMPREHENSION—V. Main Idea -Lesson 1: Initial Instructional Strategy—Defining ©2002 University of Texas System/Texas Education Agency

369 Reading Strategies and Activities: A Resource Book for Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Including Dyslexia

I n s t r u c t i o n a l Fe a t u r e
Provide feedback to students.

W h a t To D o
Correct all errors students make when providing responses to the questions. Repeat the process with remaining passages.

W h a t To S ay
If students make an error, tell them the answer. Teacher and students should state the main idea in unison. Ask the question again.

Review sequence.

H o w t o Eva l u a t e Le a r n i n g
Students’ learning is evaluated in terms of their abilities to correctly respond to teacher questions, to provide definitions for details and main idea, and to identify the main idea in the presented examples.

References Kame'enui, E. J. (1986). Main idea instruction for low performers: A direct instruction analysis. In J. F. Baumann (Ed.), Teaching main idea comprehension (pp. 239-276). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Shefelbine, J. (1993). Suggestions for teaching the main idea. Lecture given at California State University, Sacramento.
COMPREHENSION—V. Main Idea -Lesson 1: Initial Instructional Strategy—Defining ©2002 University of Texas System/Texas Education Agency