Thread by @EvidentlyR

@ksirach asked this question today so I thought I'd elaborate on how I've scaffolded this strategy for my striving readers, supporting them to identify that most elusive of creatures ... the main idea. (1/9)

@SoRclassroom @goyenfoundation

I have had so many teachers tell me kids struggle with "main idea." This strategy provides scaffolds so kids can be successful. Below, I lay out how I use gradual release to teach this strategy. (2/x)

(It's called "paragraph shrinking" in peer-assisted learning strategies - PALS; "get the gist" in collaborative strategic reading - CSR. They are very similar. I usually call it "get the gist." ) (3/x)

The first part of the strategy is to identify "the most important who or what" in a paragraph or section of text. I usually begin this orally, modeling with think-alouds and giving feedback as kids try it. (4/x)

Paragraph shrinking is often done orally, but I have students write it out, as a simple way to take notes across a knowledge-building unit or longer text.

The second aspect of the strategy is to identify "what's most important about the who or what?"). (5x)

I begin by providing a 3-column table - sometimes with the "who or what" provided, so students can focus on what's important about it. At this phase, students often riff on info from other parts of the text. Feedback and modeling can help them focus, (6/x)

I then have students independently identify the "important who or what" and "what's most important about it" in the 3-column table. (7/x)

At this point, I find that students often spontaneously begin writing main idea sentences in the third column of the table. But if they do not, I add an intermediate scaffold to transfer their work in the table to a sentence. (8/x)

The final step? Students write a main idea sentence without the scaffold of the 3-column table.

If you want to know more about this strategy, check out this link:


(/fin) readingrockets.org/classroom/clas…