JB YOUNG's Instructional Focus: Main Idea Lesson 1
A bunch of teachers were checking into a hotel where a conference on closing the gap (the achievement gap) was being held. One of the teachers asked the desk clerk where the conference on Closing the Gap was meeting. The horrified desk clerk replied, “They’re closing the GAP? Oh no! When?” What seems to mean one thing to one group does not necessarily mean the same thing to another group. Keeping that in mind, we’re going to talk about the concept of main idea, our instructional focus for the next seven days.
In English class, main idea usually means theme. However, when you take your ITBS tests, main idea is talked about differently because the test creators are sneaky. To do well on the tests, you need to understand how the reading test is sneaky.
You might come across a question about a reading prompt, the BORING selection you HAVE TO READ, which asks any of the following questions:
To do well on the reading test, you need to know that these exact questions are
really asking you to find the main
idea.
The more difficult main idea questions ask you to figure out what
the point
of the main idea
is, and you may have to go beyond a simple explanation of what the main idea is.
You’re
going to learn the HAND,
a strategy that can be used to summarize information, to find the main
idea in the reading prompts of the reading
test.
Let’s try the HAND STRATEGY with an easy story. You all know the story of Cinderella. On your scratch paper, practice finding the main idea by using the HAND. This is what you should have come up with:
1. Cinderella
2. wanted to go to the ball,
3. but her wicked stepmother wouldn’t let her…
4. so her fairy godmother came
5. then Cinderella was found by her Prince.
Now, find the main idea in the following question:
a. Don’t turn into a pumpkin.
b. If you have big feet, you won’t get a date.
c. A Prince likes a beautiful woman.
d. Good things come to good people—goodness “wins.”
Hopefully, you all figured out that the main idea is best illustrated by “d.” Easy, huh! You should also have noticed that two of the possible answers are just plain wrong and maybe silly. One is close to a correct answer. One answer is better than the other. Now, let’s read a prompt that’s more like the real reading test.
Summarize the article using the HAND STRATEGY on scratch paper or in your head. NOW, answer the questions about main idea. The hand strategy won’t always directly provide the answers, but it will help you summarize as a starting point.
NAME__________________________
What has one foot and sprays water at its enemies? Well, it’s a clam. You may be fortunate enough one day to actually find a live clam in its shell on the beach. However, the clam notices danger very quickly and will pull its one foot inside its shell and just lie there. You can try as hard as you can to open the shell with your hands, but it won’t open. The clam’s soft body lives in the shell, and it travels on land with the one foot it has. When danger seems to be near, the clam can spray water toward the area of danger. This is its way of protecting itself.
Sea gulls like to eat clams. Many times you may find empty clamshells on the shore. Those clams were probably eaten by a sea gull. Often times the clam can even escape from the sea gull’s watchful eye. If a clam senses danger and the predator does not leave after being sprayed with water, the clam can bury itself in the sand; all you may see is a bubble in the sand. The bubbles are often hard to see, and many times clams remain safe from hunters that way.
Clam digging is the way most fishermen harvest their clams. Just at the edge of the surf on the beach, one can dig up the sand and often find clams hidden. They are attempting to hide until they choose to go back out the sea. In restaurants, clams are a popular seafood item often served steamed in their shells.
1. What does this story tell the most about?
a. where clams live
b. how clams move
c. how clams protect themselves
d. how clams are cooked
2. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?
a. Clams have two ways to escape predators.
b. Sea gulls like to eat clams.
c. Clams bury themselves.
d. All of the above.
3. What best describes the first paragraph?
a. It’s a history of the clam.
b. It tells where clams come from.
c. It tells what clams do to protect themselves from danger.
d. It describes how clams move.
4. What does the main idea tell you?
a. Clams are good to eat in restaurants.
b. Even though clams try to protect themselves, they’re still vulnerable.
c. An empty clamshell means the clam failed.
d. Clams have backup plans.
Now, listen while we talk through how you should have arrived at the correct answers. I’ll tell you how I thought through each question.
We’re going to talk about main idea for seven days. On the 5th day, you’ll take an assessment like the one we just worked through. This assessment will prove whether you understand main idea or not. You will need to get three of the four answers correct to prove you get the concept of main idea.
We’ll be coming back to main idea for two days before you actually take the ITBS Reading Comprehension Test.