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Determine Central Ideas and Themes
CCR Anchor Standard 2
❖“Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.”
❖To understand the author’s message, readers must be able to determine the point of the text- the main idea.
❖“Identify clear main ideas or purposes of complex passages or their paragraphs.”
➢Get to the main point, and summarize the supporting key details.
Focuses on three reading skills:
1)The ability to determine the central idea or theme of a text.
2)The ability to analyze the development of ideas or themes in a text.
3)The ability to summarize the key details and ideas in a text.
Central Ideas in Informational Text
❖Examples: Magazine articles, newspapers, textbooks, websites.
❖Understanding the message that the author is trying to convey.
❖Being able to analyze the developmental ideas in a text is a component of logical thinking.
➢Explanation of details (main idea) --------> Organized answer.
Themes in Literature
❖Theme of a literary text: the author’s message to the reader.
➢Infer.
■Value of judgement about aspects of life.
❖Short stories vs. novels.
❖Expression of themes:
1)Title of the text.
2)How the characters feel.
1)What the characters learn.
2)The conflict, events, actions in the story.
3)Allusions to history.
Archetypes and motifs.
❖Archetype: A character, action, or situation with fairly stereotypical traits.
➢Helps the reader understand how he/she is supposed to feel.
❖Motif: Any element that is repeated throughout the literary work, and can be an image, sound, phrase, or idea.
➢Repetition.
Summarizing Key Supporting Details and Ideas
❖Summarizing: Extracting the most important ideas from a text.
➢Content area classes= brief synopsis.
How do the CCS Build on CCR Anchor Standard 2?
❖Reading Literature Standard 2: Early primary students learn to retell stories (key details and central message) by the end of first.
➢1st: Retell, and understand the central message.
➢2nd and 3rd: Determine lesson/moral of fables, folktales, simple myths from diverse cultures.
➢4th and 5th: Determine themes and summarize texts.
What Literacy Skills/Strategies Support Reading Anchor Standard 2?
❖Teachers need to use a variety of materials (stories, drama, poetry).
❖Younger: Obvious theme Intermediate: Subtle theme
Ex) Friendship, love, honesty/deception, family, prejudice, growing up, the environment, good/evil, the long journey home.
❖Integrated with content area instruction.
How Can We Teach Reading Standard 2?
❖Engage students at the appropriate grade level.
❖Informational Texts: Lessons focused on story structure, retelling, determining the themes, determining main ideas/details.
Lesson showing connections to CCSS Standard 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FRGNWm7wUY
Story Structures: S-T-O-R-Y
❖Narrative Texts: The story structure involves the 5 elements of story grammar.
➢Characters, setting, problem, attempts to resolve, resolution.
Ex) Picture It!
➢Focuses on the 5 elements. Acronym to help students focus on the visualization of the story.
➢Read and discuss the story while focusing on the elements.
➢Create an illustration (specific details/vocab added).
S- setting.
T- talking to characters.
O- oops, a problem!
R- attempts to resolve the problem.
Y- yes, the problem is solved.
Who? Characters
Where? Setting
What happened? Problem
How did it end? Resolution
❖Retelling: summarizing the narrative elements (flexible).
➢Completed: Orally, in writing, by sketching, or through dramatization.
Determining Message, Lesson, or Moral
Grade 2 expectation: The ability to retell fables or folktales and determine the central message, lesson, or moral.
How:
Share Aesop’s fables → Very short stories about animals that learn a lesson
Read Aesop’s fables that are appropriate for the class. Hold up a large card with the moral of that particular story. Lead a discussion.
Divide students into small groups and give each group an Aesop’s fable written in student-friendly language, but with the moral missing.
Provide each group with three strips of paper, each with a moral written on it. Students read the fable and determine which moral matches the fable. Discuss.
The Main Idea Table is designed to provide students with opportunities to record the main idea and three supporting details from a text.
The Bio-Pyramid is an alternative way to summarize facts about a person’s life. It contains eight lines to be filled in with specific detail. The pyramid begins with one word and expands to eight.
Technology Connections
We can use Digital Storytelling to integrate technology into technology into teaching narrative text structure at the elementary level.
❖Digital stories are digitally recorded pictures with a soundtrack of the narration
❖Students can use digital cameras to take pictures of their artwork and import them into a technology tool to make digital stories.
❖Use digital storytelling to show the main idea and key details of a text → Students create illustrations or take photographs that represent the main idea and key details of an informational text, import them into a digital storytelling tool, and add narration.
(Great for struggling writers and ELL’s)
Integrating Other ELA Standards With Reading Literature Standard 1?
❖Focuses on reading a narrative text closely (Reading Lit. standard 1)
➢During a close reading, encourage students to ask and answer questions about key details, refer to the text, and draw inferences to determine the central theme.
❖Focuses on being able to describe characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text. (Reading Lit. standard 3)
➢Encourage students to describe story elements.
❖Refers to the terms specific to literary texts (Reading Lit. standard 5)
➢Chapter, Scene, Stanza
❖Focuses on how the illustrations in a text can help establish the mood, tone, and meaning. (Reading Lit. standard 7)
❖Focuses on comparing and contrasting aspects of literary text (Reading lit. standard 9)
➢Adventures of characters, two or more versions of the same story, similar themes and topics.
❖Describes expectations for young children to tell or retell stories. (Writing standard 3)
❖Describes expectations that students engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. (Speaking and listening standard 1)
❖Creating audio recordings, visual displays, or multimedia presentations of main ideas or themes. (Speaking and listening standard 5)
❖Describes the use of descriptive use of language (Language standard 5)
Integrating Other ELA Standards With Reading Informational Text Standard 2
❖Refers to closely reading an informational text (Reading informational text standard 1)
➢Guide students to refer to the text while asking and answering questions about key details to determine the central idea and supporting details.
❖Focuses on describing the connections and relationships among people, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. (Reading informational text standard 3)
❖Focuses on how the illustrations in a text can help establish the key ideas. (Reading informational text standard 7)
❖Describes expectations for informative/explanatory writing. (Writing standard 2)
➢K-2 students introduce the topic, supply some facts, and provide closure
➢Students in grades 3-5 write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas information clearly.
❖Describes the expectation that students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions using academic conversation. (Speaking and listening standard 1)
❖Creating audio recordings, visual displays, or multimedia presentations of main ideas or themes. (Speaking and listening standard 5)
❖Vocabulary standard that refers to general academic and domain specific words and phrases. (Language standard 6)
The Common Core in Action
❖Jerome
❖2nd grade teacher
❖Planning to teach about determining an author’s central message in a literary text.
❖Jerome knows he needs to emphasize complex texts.
Common Core Literacy Task: Determining the Central Idea in a Literary Text (Cont.)
❖CCSS Appendix B → Emphasis on fables and folktales from diverse cultures (grades 2 & 3)
❖Tops and Bottoms (recommended text)
➢Relatable to diverse students before moving onto more traditional fables and folktales
❖2nd graders need scaffolding:
➢Read-aloud with discussion on the carpet
❖Daily small group comprehension instruction: Integrating specific standards:
➢Who, what, where, why, and how questions about key details (RL.2.1)
➢How characters respond to events and challenges in a story (RL.2.3)
➢Structure of a folktale (RL.2.5)
➢Differences in point of view of the characters (RL.2.6)
➢Using the illustrations to help understand the story (RL.2.7)
❖Jerome writes “What’s the big idea? on chart paper.
➢During the read aloud, he stopped for students to react to the story and illustrations. He asked questions:
■What’s the big idea of the story?
■What happened first? Next?
■What did Hare do? Why?
➢What does the author want you to learn?
➢What’s the big idea?
❖Jerome guides his students to understand what the author expects the reader to learn the lesson that everyone must do his part. He emphasizes that every story has a big idea.
Early Elementary (2nd grade) Activity: Fables, Folktales - Instructional Strategies
❖Retell fables or folktales and determine the central message, lesson, or moral
❖Mixed Ability small groups
➢Give each group a chapter from Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Happy Kids written in student-friendly language, but with the moral missing.
❖7 Habits for Happy Kids
❖Each group will receive three strips of paper, each with a moral written on it. The students will read the fable and decide together which moral matches the fable.
Differentiation for ELL’s
Content
Mixed Ability Grouping (packets)
Level appropriate text in native language (if necessary)
All packets should be prepared in advance of the lesson being taught
Explain what is going to be taught to gain background knowledge
Process
Have the story (given in the packet) be written in their native language.
Product
Writing Prompt: Explain a time you have seen your moral in action.
Students can orally present their story with questions given to scaffold.
Differentiation for Struggling Students
Content
Mixed Ability Grouping (packets)
Level appropriate text
All packets should be prepared in advance of the lesson being taught
Explain what is going to be taught to gain background knowledge
Process
Provide sentence starters for students to elaborate on.
Product
Writing Prompt: Explain a time you have seen your moral in action.
Allow students to provide illustrations to explain details.
Differentiation for Advanced Students
Content
Mixed Ability Grouping (packets)
Level appropriate text (Advanced level and deeper resources)- Text straight from book
All packets should be prepared in advance of the lesson being taught
Explain what is going to be taught to gain background knowledge
Process
Brainstorming-Creative thinking to write their own story/fable.
Product
Writing Prompt: Create your own fable based off the moral of your group’s story.
Technology integration-
Students will use digital cameras and take pictures to create their own story. The pictures will be put into words through a the CCSS Main Idea Chart and Graphic Organizer. On the computer, students will be able to use a digital storytelling app to create their own stories.
Differentiation for ELL’s
Content:
The students will take pictures and create their own story based on previous background knowledge
Process:
They will then create a graphic organizer (main idea chart).
Pair students to encourage social conversations
Product:.
The students will be able to write at least three sentences for each of the elements/boxes in their L1. They will use a digital storytelling app.
Allow students to verbally present their story or use a graphic organizer.
Differentiation for Struggling Students
Content:
The students will take pictures, and create their own story based on previous background knowledge.
Digital cameras and materials should be prepared before the lesson.
Process:
They will then create a graphic organizer (main idea chart).
Product:
The students will need to use a least two sentences for each element/box. They will use a digital storytelling app.
Differentiation for Advanced Students
Content:
The students will take pictures and create their own story.
Process:
They will then create a graphic organizer (main idea chart).
Product:
They will need to write at least five sentences for each of the elements/boxes. Instead of using the app, the students will create a presentation.
Resources
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/2/