Theme: Working with texts

Strategy 7: Identifying Main Ideas in a Text

Experienced readers can identify key ideas and important information while reading. This is an essential reading strategy, especially regarding the purpose for which they are reading.
Task: Identifying main ideas at several text levels. In a think-aloud process, the teacher could model how, why, and when he or she determines the main ideas in a text. Working in pairs or small groups, students may follow this model by identi- fying the main ideas in a text and explaining why they think so. They could begin by identifying the most important words, then sentences, and finally larger text chunks. Using texts that contain the same themes may enhance practicing this strategy. To identify the main ideas in a text, students may ask various questions: “What parts of the story are most important?” “Why do you think they are the most important?” “Do you notice any important themes?” “What did you learn from the story?” “What are some key words from the story?” Students may begin their responses with phrases such as “I think this is really important because . . . ,” “This is an important word/sentence/paragraph because . . . ,” and “I learned something new.”

Strategy 8: Monitoring Text Comprehension

My study revealed that students monitor their text comprehension by asking questions about the vocabulary, main ideas, and overall meaning of the text and its author’s message.
Task: Using guided monitoring of text comprehension. The teacher could begin by modeling each of the previously mentioned questioning techniques. Then, working in small groups, students may share their interpretations of words, text messages, and author intentions. As they do this, they may circle key words and underline main points and important passages while writing their observations in the margins. They may ask these questions: “What does this word mean?” “What does this story mean?” “What is the author’s intention?” “Why did the author write this story?” Their guided responses follow the same cues as in the previous task in which they identified main ideas in a text.