Acquisition Lesson
Plan for the Concept, Topic or Skill---Not for the Day
Acquisition Lesson Plan Concept: Development of Central Idea
Acquisition Lessons need to be differentiated; use multiple methods of presentation, strategic instruction and assessment to
differentiate learning. Differentiation is italicized within the lesson.
Author Name(s): Lara Crowley, Kathleen Devine, Amy Kalafut
Grade: 8
Time Frame: 3 days
Pre-requisite(s): Students need to know the difference between central idea and main ideas within topics.
Common Core Standard(s): RI.8.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
Essential Question:
How can readers summarize informational text by determining the central idea and analyzing its development
through the writer’s use of supporting elements, ideas and details?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What do students need to learn to be able to answer the Essential Question?
Assessment Prompt(AP) #1: How do readers locate the central idea in informational text?
Assessment Prompt
#2: How does the central idea develop over time?
Assessment Prompt
#3: How do readers evaluate which supporting details are essential to an objective
summary?
Activating Strategy:
Key Vocabulary Words to Preview:
Model Lesson on Summarizing:
Have the word Summarize on the board or on large screen.
Have students work in pairs to come up with a list of essential
elements of a summary.
Create a large list of key elements of a summary and then
create a class definition of what a summary is- similar to this.
A summary is a brief version of a text that includes only the
main points.
Work through model lesson activity with entire class.
Distribute copies of Anthropology article. Ask for students to
share what they know about the term anthropology or
anthropologist. Either electronically or on text, take a text
preview to look for any clues to main idea of text. Inform
students that the purpose of this lesson will be to write a solid
summary of the text.
Have students read the text to themselves and in pairs.
Share with students that they will be using a Star to indicate
Main Idea sections and they will highlight or underline key
details to support each main idea.
In section one- tell students they will find one Star statementone main idea. Then they get to have one key detail on that
page. Reread the text together and help students identify
sentence 7 as the main idea and sentence 8 as the crucial detail
on that page. Help them to see that the other details help make
the text interesting, but just those two are the “Main Points.”
Follow the same model with students working in pairs to
determine the key idea in section 2- one main idea and 4 details
on this one. Discuss together in group following the activity.
If you can’t find one sentence, show students how to find words
Informative text
Research
Biography
Summary
Character Traits
Graphic Organizer for Visualizing and
Personal Definitions1. Distribute the graphic organizer to students.
2. Have them work in partners to share their
knowledge of the presented vocabulary
words.
3. Use the organizer to record their personal
definitions and create a visual to represent
the word.
Lesson plan format adapted from Learning-Focused Strategies. Thompson, M., Thompson, J. (2011).
or phrases that are key details too.
Continue with the rest of the text and then discuss the rest of
the article together.
The next step in this process is to work together to paraphrase
from these main idea statements to create a summary. Model
for students how to take the main ideas and key details to
format a new paragraph summarizing the entire text.
On another day or for homework, give students a second text to
summarize and share. Have students discuss the process of
determining the key details as they share the summaries and
help clarify for them when there are misconceptions.
Teaching Strategies:
Jigsaw
Collaborative groups
It is important that the groups are mixed ability to ensure that struggling learners will be provided with “good”
models, as well as being supported by more capable students during the research phase of the lesson.
Another accommodation that has been considered is to have additional resources set aside for struggling learners
that provide information for them to access at their reading level. Keep this in mind when assigning resources to
your students.
Graphic Organizer:
See Attachment 1
Materials Needed:
 http://www.timeforkids.com/news/goodbye-bullies/14866
 Graphic organizer
 Post-it notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Instruction:
1. Teacher will display article “Goodbye, Bullies!”
2. Teacher will model how to locate the central ideas using the first section of the article:
 Refer to title and subtitle of article and model making predictions and posing questions about the topic.
Write comments on article.
 While reading the section aloud, stop frequently to point out main ideas. Ex. New bullying law starts
when kids return to school and New Jersey has one of the toughest laws against bullying in the nation.
 Teacher will make her thinking visible by speaking and writing notes on article as he/she points out what
he/she did to find the main ideas: “The first paragraph has information about the start of the school year
and the problem of bullying and that the school is going to stop this behavior for the new school year.
So then I decide that the most important part of this paragraph is bullying needs to stop. The second
paragraph tells about teacher responsibilities and how bullying will be targeted. The third and fourth
paragraph point out states that have laws against bullying. So the most important idea about these
paragraphs is that New Jersey will no longer tolerate bullying in their schools.”
3. Working with a partner, students will read the next section Bullying Basics and take notes on each
paragraph. From their notes, they will write one comment that summarizes the main idea of that paragraph.
4. As a whole group, teacher will lead a discussion about the students’ findings and clarify any misconceptions.
Students will share with the group the steps they took to find the most important idea.
Assessment Prompt (AP) #1:
A’s tell B’s: How do readers determine the central idea in informational text?
B’s tell A’s:
How do readers determine the central idea in informational text?
Lesson plan format adapted from Learning-Focused Strategies. Thompson, M., Thompson, J. (2011).
Instruction:
1.
Have students return to the graphic organizer they completed while reading “Good Bye, Bullies!”.
2.
Display three different central ideas. Have students work in partners and choose the central idea that
they think best describes the article and provide support of their answer in their discussion.
 Schools are cracking down on bullying nationwide.
 New Jersey schools are toughest on bullying.
 Bullying occurs when someone says or does something to intentionally hurt another.
3.
Distribute one post-it note to each group and have one representative from each group place the note
next to the choice they think best demonstrates the central idea.
4.
Solicit a discussion as to why A is the correct answer. Through your discussion, guide your students to
their graphic organizer to see how the answer is supported by details throughout the text.
AP #2: Exit ticket: How does the central idea develop over time?
Instruction:
1.
Return to graphic organizer.
2.
Model for students how to use the graphic organizer to create a $2.00 summary of the article using the
article’s central idea and details.
AP #3: How do I write an objective summary using essential supporting details and the central idea of a text?
Have students participate in a snowball activity. (Each student answers the prompt on a piece of paper and then
crumbles it into a snowball and throws it to a central location. Have each student pick a snowball from the pile
and respond/ comment/ question the original answer. Repeat a third time.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Assignment:
To extend student understanding of the process of summarizing they will complete the Self-Reflection Sheet
which will be used in a classroom discussion.
1. Students will read the article New Beginnings at http://www.timeforkids.com/news/new-beginnings/9676
2. As the students read they will complete the central idea graphic organizer.
3. After the reading and the organizer are completed, students will generate the central idea of the piece as they
write a summary of the article including key details. The format of the summary will be a Dear Teacher
letter explaining the important parts of the article they have read.
Summarizing Strategy:
How can readers summarize informational text by determining the central idea and analyzing its development
through the writer’s use of supporting elements, ideas and details?
3- 3 key features of a good summary
2- 2 ways to determine a central idea
1- 1 way key details can help you determine a central idea
Resources/Citations: Articles are available for retrieval from timeforkids.com at the URLs listed within the
lesson.
Lesson plan format adapted from Learning-Focused Strategies. Thompson, M., Thompson, J. (2011).
Attachment 1
CENTRAL IDEA
Supporting Detail
Supporting Detail
Lesson plan format adapted from Learning-Focused Strategies. Thompson, M., Thompson, J. (2011).
Supporting Detail
Supporting Detail