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Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
Standard #: LAFS.7.RI.1.2Archived Standard
Standard Information
General Information
Subject Area: English Language Arts
Grade: 7
Strand: Reading Standards for Informational Text
Idea: Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts
Cluster: Key Ideas and Details
Date Adopted or Revised: 12/10
Content Complexity Rating: Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts - More Information
Date of Last Rating: 02/14
Status: State Board Approved - Archived
Assessed: Yes
Related Courses
Related Resources
Lesson Plans
  • Balance of Power: Comparing Two Central Ideas # In this lesson, students will read Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech “The Destructive Male,” delivered at the Women’s Suffrage Convention in 1868. Students will analyze the two distinct central ideas that emerge in the speech. They will also examine the textual evidence within the speech that supports each central idea. This ELA lesson will also make connections to civics by exploring an example of citizen activism: When Stanton delivered this speech, she was an individual who was speaking/petitioning in an effort to influence her government’s policy, specifically regarding suffrage and a new amendment.
  • Brochures: A Creative Format for the Study of Informational Texts # In this lesson, students will work with two informational texts in the form of brochures, texts about Burmese pythons and lionfish. With the lionfish brochure, students will identify the text features used, determine the central ideas and key supporting details, and work with selected vocabulary. Students will then be provided with informational text on a different animal and they will put their skills to use to create a brochure of their own. Various graphic organizers and teacher resources have been included as attachments. Additional resources have also been provided in the Further Recommendations section to help teachers gather resources for students to use to create their own brochure.
  • Child Soldiers Lesson 2: The Music of a War Child # This is the second lesson of a three-part unit that will build towards having the students research child soldiers. In this lesson, students will listen to a song, watch a video, and read a biography from a former child soldier from the Sudan and current international hip-hop star Emmanuel Jal. Students will examine and analyze the information presented in each of the formats by completing two column notes and participating in a whole group discussion.
  • Freak the Mighty: Morquio Mini Research # This lesson plan is a short research project designed to help students learn more about Kevin’s disease in Freak the Mighty.  Students will research Morquio syndrome using provided sources as well as reliable sources they have chosen on their own. Students will use digital media in addition to speaking and listening skills to present their findings to the class. Throughout the lesson, students will have ample opportunity to develop and refine reading, writing and speaking and listening skills to work towards mastery of the lesson objectives. Checklists and a project/presentation rubric have been provided with the lesson, as well as several sites that students can use to begin their research.  
  • O' Oysters! The Opposite of Hero is not a Villain; It's a Bystander! # This is lesson three in a three-part series on "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll. In this final lesson, the poem's lessons are used to introduce an informational text on bullying and the bystander effect. Students will determine the purpose of the informational text, and will demonstrate through a short response how the article’s purpose is illustrated through the plot and characterization in the poem.
  • Close Reading Exemplar: The Secrets Behind What You Eat # This close reading exemplar uses an excerpt from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat. The goal of this two day exemplar from Student Achievement Partners web resources is to give students the opportunity to use reading and writing habits to unpack Pollan's investigative journalism of industrial farms. By reading and rereading the passage closely combined with classroom discussion about it, students will identify why and how farming practices have changed, as well as identify Pollan's point of view on the subject. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will begin to appreciate investigative journalism, as well as question from where their food is coming.
  • Close Reading Exemplar: My Mother, the Scientist # The goal of this three day exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students the opportunity to use reading and writing habits to absorb deep lessons from Charles Hirshberg's recollections of his mother. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussions about the text, students will identify how much his mother's struggles and accomplishments meant to both Hirshberg and the wider world. When combined with writing about the passage, and possibly pairing this exemplar study with Richard Feynman's memoir "The Making of a Scientist," students will discover how much they can learn from this mixed genre memoir/biography about what inspires life choices.
  • Graphic Organizers For Science Reading/Writing # This activity emphasizes the importance of teaching reading and writing strategies for students to use with informational text.
  • Setting A Purpose For Reading Using Informational Text # Students learn to set a purpose for reading informational text before reading by turning the title and subtitles into questions.
  • Using a Before-Reading Organizer with Informational Text # Before reading, create a graphic organizer that uses the titles and subtitles of an informational text.
Original Student Tutorial
  • Game On: Finding the Central Idea # Learn how to identify the central idea within a text. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read an article about video games to practice identifying and explaining the central idea of a passage or text.
Teaching Idea
  • Peer Summarizing Activity # In this hands-on activity, students explore the skill of summarizing through peer writings as they travel the classroom a la musical chairs.
Original Student Tutorials for Language Arts - Grades 6-12
  • Game On: Finding the Central Idea # Learn how to identify the central idea within a text. In this interactive tutorial, you'll read an article about video games to practice identifying and explaining the central idea of a passage or text.
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