Informational Text
6 Gist: Identify a main idea or theme, examining how the author introduces and develops this idea or theme through specific details, and summarizing the text without commenting on or evaluating it.What key idea and theme does the author introduce and develop?What specific details does the author use to convey this idea?What details and facts must a summary of the text include (that offer no opinion or judgment)?
7 Gist: Identify two or more big ideas in the text, analyzing how the author introduces and develops them throughout the text, and summarizing the text with objectivity.What central ideas does the author introduce and develop throughout?How does the author develop this theme or central idea throughout the text?What details and facts must an objective summary of the text include?
8 Gist: Identify a main idea or theme, examining how the author develops it throughout, focusing on the connection between the main idea and the supporting ideas, then summarizing the text with objectivity.What key idea and theme does the author introduce and develop throughout?How does the author use supporting ideas to develop the main idea or theme?What details and facts must an objective summary of the text include?
Reading Standards: Key Ideas and Details
Reading 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
History/Social Studies
6 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
7 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
8 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Science/Technical Subjects
6 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
7 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
8 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Source: Copyright © 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Common Core Reading Standard 2: What the Student Does
History/Social Studies
6 Gist: Identify the main ideas or information in a primary or secondary source, summarizing the text accurately and without bias.What type of source is this: primary or secondary?What key ideas or information does the author introduce and develop throughout?What details and information must an objective summary of the text include?
7 Gist: Identify the main ideas or information in a primary or secondary source, summarizing the text accurately and without bias.What type of source is this: primary or secondary?What key ideas or information does the author introduce and develop throughout?What details and information must an objective summary of the text include?
8 Gist: Identify the main ideas or information in a primary or secondary source, summarizing the text accurately and without bias.What type of source is this: primary or secondary?What key ideas or information does the author introduce and develop throughout?What details and information must an objective summary of the text include?
Science/Technical Subjects
6 Gist: Identify the main ideas or findings in the text, summarizing the text accurately and without bias.What is the subject of this text?What key ideas or conclusions does the author discuss in this text?What details and information must a summary of the text include (that suggest no opinion or bias)?
7 Gist: Identify the main ideas or findings in the text, summarizing the text accurately and without bias.What is the subject of this text?What key ideas or conclusions does the author discuss in this text?What details and information must a summary of the text include (that suggest no opinion or bias)?
8 Gist: Identify the main ideas or findings in the text, summarizing the text accurately and without bias.What is the subject of this text?What key ideas or conclusions does the author discuss in this text?What details and information must a summary of the text include (that suggest no opinion or bias)?
Common Core Reading Standard 2: What the Teacher Does
To have students “determine the central ideas and themes of a text,” do the following:
Ask students to generate all possible ideas and themes after skimming and scanning the text; then determine which of them the text most fully develops.
Tell students to figure out which words, phrases, or images recur throughout the text that might signal they are the central idea?
Have students consider what hints the title, subheadings, bold words, graphics, images, or captions offer to the central ideas.
Complete a think-aloud with students when working with new or complex texts to model the questions you ask and mental moves you make as an experienced reader of this type of text to make sense of it.
To have students “analyze the development” of central ideas or themes, do the following:
Direct students to underline, label, or somehow code all the words, images, or other details related to the central ideas or themes throughout the text; then examine how their use evolves over the course of the text.
Provide students with sentence frames (“Early on the author says X about __________, then suggests Y, finally arguing Z about _________ by the end.”) or graphic organizers that help them map an idea from the beginning to the end of the text to better see how it develops (through word choice, imagery, figurative speech).
Ask how one set of images, allusions, or ideas builds on or is otherwise related to those that precede it.
Use a graphic organizer (e.g., one with two or more columns) to jot down the details related to each key theme, looking for patterns across the columns as you go.
Have students monitor the author’s diction and tone as they are applied to the central idea(s) over the course of the text to note when, how, and why they change.
To have students “provide an objective summary of the text,” do the following:
Create for (or with) your students an objectivity continuum (i.e., that goes from objective at one end to subjective at the other end, with gradations and descriptors in between); then ask them to put a word, phrase, or idea on there to measure its objectivity, taking time to discuss how they might increase objectivity by rephrasing it.
Develop with students a continuum of importance to help them learn to evaluate which