Finding Main Ideas: A Red Record

Finding Main Ideas

In their first essays, most students had difficulty introducing the main ideas of a full text before discussing it and using quotation. To improve upon this skill, students will practice locating, defining, and summarizing the main ideas (so far) from A Red Record. One dependable strategy is finding the author's keywords, defining them, and writing down why they're important to the text.

On their own, students will find (or create) one keyword from the reading this past weekend. When they have found it, students should note the page number, the keyword, and a brief definition. When this task is complete, students will Tweet that information in ONLY 140 characters.

After the entire class has Tweeted, students will observe what other students Tweeted and note each unique keyword that the class posts. Students should remember to write down the page numbers associated with those keywords.

When they have concluded this step, students will compose a "main ideas" context paragraph that introduces the text and its main ideas. They will then post this paragraph to their blog, and Tweet their blog to their fellow students.