Teachers' Corner Main Idea Reading Services Center

SUBJECT:	Comprehension - Main Idea
COURSE OR GRADE:	K-12
GOALS:	Supports this Learner Characteristic: Has reading skills consistent with reading tasks required
WHO:	Teachers K-12 Students who have these characteristics: prerequisite knowledge necessary to succeed in school listening skills required in the learning environment language conventions, vocabulary, and syntax to support learning Students who are unable to recognize and understand the relationship of passage details and how these details support a main idea.
WHEN:	Main Idea should be modeled and taught in all subjects. This skill is ongoing and should be practiced throughout the year.
TEACHING PROCEDURES/ STUDENT PRACTICE	What is Main Idea? Topic Topic Sentence Mostly About Main Idea (Multiple Choice) Main Idea (Unstated) Content Text Structure Expository Organizational Patterns
CHECK-UP:	Monitor the students' ability to: State a main idea after reading an expository passage. Write cohesively, with a clear main idea and supporting details. Orally tell the main idea of a passage read.
FOLLOW-UP:	If students are having difficulty with main idea: Model your thought processes again using very simple expository material, identifying details and main idea. Give further experience in locating details that support a given main idea. Have students recall details from illustrations and state what is common to the picture. Have students locate specific details in the selection and write them on a sheet of paper. Then discuss what the details have in common. Call attention to the usual location of topic sentence (beginning or ending). In longer selections, the main idea can be found in the first or last paragraph. Finally, in expository texts such as social studies or science, there is usually a summary section that explains the main idea of the chapter. Review the strategies from the Comprehension-Literal page.
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