LAFS.8.RI.1.2

The student will complete a graphic organizer to determine the central idea of an informational text and analyze its development over the course of the text. The student will also write an objective summary of the text.

Type: Formative Assessment

The student will read an informational text and complete a graphic organizer to record the central idea of the text and its supporting ideas. The student will analyze the development of the central idea throughout the course of the text. Finally, the student will write an objective summary of the text.

Type: Formative Assessment

The student will take the “Lights Out” text he or she has previously marked to organize his or her ideas into an objective summary that expresses the central idea and supporting details.

Type: Formative Assessment

The student will read “The Lost River Civilization” and complete a graphic organizer to identify relevant key details, identify relevant main ideas, and accurately summarize the text. Students will use the graphic organizer to determine the central idea and analyze its development over the course of the text.

Type: Formative Assessment

The Purpose of the lesson is to teach the students about five major atomic theories using inquiry-based learning. By allowing the students to be introduced to the historical backgrounds and having each group to create a three dimensional figure and a poster, it allows the learning process to be student-driven, inductive and interactive.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn about a subject as they read and analyze multiple text types before writing a business letter explaining a decision they will be asked to make. This lesson incorporates poetry, authentic non-fiction, photography, and writing.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is based on Letter XII: Distresses of a Frontier Man by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. This "letter" is one of a collection of essays in an epistolary format from the collection, Letters from an American Farmer (1782). In this lesson, students will focus on using various vocabulary strategies to decode challenging vocabulary words from the text. To assist in comprehension, students will read and analyze the text through a chunking strategy where they will participate in text-marking, summarizing, and answering text-dependent questions. The culminating assignment will allow students to develop an argumentative written response that is supported by the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this close reading lesson, students will be asked to use multiple strategies to respond to informational text in way that is aligned to the state standards, requiring that they respond with explicit details drawn from the passage. With this short, free-standing article, teachers can incorporate this mini-lesson into their already set curriculum to reinforce the standards and skills being taught. This lesson would also make an excellent small group resource. Attachments needed for this lesson are all provided and include text-dependent questions, graphic organizers, and an objective summary writing prompt with rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a close reading lesson based on the article "Remembering the D-Day Invasion with Salutes, Tears and Friendship." This article focuses on the anniversary of D-Day and the effect it had on soldiers and civilians who experienced the attack. This lesson provides an opportunity for close reading, vocabulary acquisition, and writing a summary. A vocabulary organizer and key, text-dependent questions and keys, and a writing rubric have been included.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this one to two day exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students the opportunity to observe the dynamic nature of the Constitution through the practice of close reading and writing habits. By reading and re-reading the passage closely, and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will explore the questions Monk raises and perhaps even pursue additional avenues of inquiry. When combined with writing about the passage, not only will students form a deeper appreciation of Monk’s argument and the value of struggling with complex text, but of the Preamble of the Constitution itself.

Type: Lesson Plan

Based on a student-focused scenario encouraging healthier lifestyles, students will perform a close and careful reading of an article encouraging active and healthy lifestyles. During the lesson, students will analyze data from Consumer Reports comparing and contrasting treadmills and elliptical exercisers. Using information gathered, students will compile data and persuade administrators to buy equipment that will align with the provided budget and fit in the given space.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a Teaching Tolerance lesson centering on Mary Church Terrell. The text shows the role of Mary Church Terrell and the NACW in working for civil rights in the decades before the modern civil rights movement. This lesson is very strong in vocabulary development (including using both context clues and word parts to determine meaning), summarizing, and author's purpose and perspective. The lesson could be used in either Language Arts or Social Studies classrooms and lends itself well to further research.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read chapters 1-7 of Ismael Beah's memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier while learning how to analyze the chapters using a reader response journal, create an oral argument through a Seed Discussion, and in writing a central idea statement.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will independently read, outside of class, chapters 8-14 of Ismael Beah's memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. In class, students will learn how to create position statements as they read several informational articles and speeches about a variety of topics. Students will also participate in a Philosophical Chairs discussion and use a SOAPTone strategy to help them with their creation of position statements. 

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this two to three day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to explore the point of view of a man who survived slavery. By reading and rereading the passage closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the various beliefs and points of view Douglass experienced as he became increasingly aware of the unfairness of his life. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author's message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of how slavery affected those involved.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze a rich literary nonfiction text illustrating the rescue of British soldiers at Dunkirk in 1940. Through use of repeated readings, text dependent questions, class discussion, and two writing tasks, students will examine the miraculous nature of what happened at Dunkirk and how shared human values played a part in the outcome of this event. This lesson was designed originally for use in a middle school Social Studies curriculum, where teaching students to go beneath a surface understanding of historical events is at a premium. Although this exemplar was designed to be used in a middle school Social Studies curriculum, it is appropriate for use in an ELA class as well.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity emphasizes the importance of teaching reading and writing strategies for students to use with informational text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students learn to set a purpose for reading informational text before reading by turning the title and subtitles into questions.

Type: Lesson Plan

Before reading, create a graphic organizer that uses the titles and subtitles of an informational text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Explore excerpts from the nonfiction book George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spies Who Saved America in this interactive tutorial. This tutorial is the final part of a four-part series. In this tutorial, you’ll read two more passages from the book about Washington’s spies. You’ll also determine the central ideas of the passages, identify key details, and practice writing a summary of a text. 

You should complete the previous tutorials in this series before beginning Part Four. 

Click HERE to launch Part One. 

Click HERE to launch Part Two. 

Click HERE to launch Part Three. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore excerpts from the nonfiction book George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spies Who Saved America in this interactive tutorial. This tutorial is Part Three of a four-part series. In this tutorial, you'll read another passage from the book, identify the topic, and determine the central idea. Then, you'll review the central ideas from all the passages you've read throughout this series and examine how each central idea helps develop an overarching central idea of all the passages. 

Make sure to complete the other tutorials in this series.

Click HERE to launch Part One. 

Click HERE to launch Part Two. 

Click HERE to launch Part Four.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore excerpts from the nonfiction book George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spies Who Saved America with this interactive tutorial. In this four-part series, you'll analyze several passages from the book and learn how to extract key information along the way. In Part Two, you'll read another passage from the book, identify the topic, determine the central idea, and examine how key details help develop the central idea.

Make sure to complete the other tutorials in this series.

Click HERE to launch Part One. 

Click HERE to launch Part Three. 

Click HERE to launch Part Four.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore excerpts from the nonfiction book George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spies Who Saved America with this interactive tutorial. In this four-part series, you'll analyze several passages from the book and learn how to extract key information along the way. By the end of Part One, you should be able to distinguish topics from central ideas and identify central ideas and key details in the text. 

Make sure to complete the other tutorials in this series.

Click HERE to launch Part Two. 

Click HERE to launch Part Three. 

Click HERE to launch Part Four.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Analyze multiple texts in which authors disagree about the harmfulness of sugar in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to find the central ideas of informational texts that are all about train travel! "Ride the rails" and learn about topics, central ideas, supporting details, and summaries.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This is a lesson from Teaching Tolerance that centers on Mary McLeod Bethune. Students will read an interview excerpt and focus on vocabulary and connections within the text.

Type: Teaching Idea