Reflection: Building Main Idea

The objectives for this lesson were as follows:

Identify the main idea and supporting detail of an informational text at

their independent reading level.

Comprehend and read fluently an informational text at their

independent reading level.

Write a paragraph summarizing the informational text using the main

idea and the supporting details.

Answer multiple choice questions based on an informational text at
their independent reading level.

Student Learning:
16 out of 19 students were able to accurately identify the main idea of an
informational text passage and find at least 3 supporting details. The
students were assessed on their main idea graphic organizers, as well as the
reading passage with comprehension questions at the end of the lesson.
During the lesson, students also completed a short cycle assessment on the
website NewsELA where they had to read an article online and answer 3-4
comprehension questions on the main idea. 15 out of 19 students completed
the online questions with at least 75% accuracy. As a culminating activity,
students wrote summaries of informational articles highlighting the main
ideas of the texts they read. 12 out of 19 students accurately summarized
the text discussing main ideas in a coherent, well-organized manner.
Teacher Reflection:
This lesson went very well, and many students demonstrated understanding
of main idea by the end. This year we worked very hard on main idea, and it
was a challenge for many students. The Main Idea house graphic organizer
was beneficial in my instruction because the students could visually see how
the concept of main idea is built within a text. During this lesson, students
learned valuable reading comprehension strategies such as, skimming,
rereading, highlighting key phrases, and reading for information.

I believe the best part of the lesson was when the students completed their
independent assignments on NewsELA, which is an interactive website that
provides students with online, current events articles. I love to use this
website with my students because it is a great way to differentiate my
instruction for all of their reading levels. NewsELA gives students the same
article, based on their own individual reading abilities. This is such an
important component of the lesson because it helps students grasp main
idea with texts they can read on their own independent levels. Many of my
students read far below 6th grade level and a few of them read beyond sixth
grade. Using NewsELA, the majority of my students could identify the main
idea of a text, and this skill will continued to be developed as their reading
comprehension skills continue to increase.