Now I'm getting confused! I think, Nancy, that you and I are on the same page here. I'm saying that looking at main idea/detail as a text STRUCTURE is a totally different thing than looking at it as "find the main idea". I'm thinking that we should teach kids that writers use different structures, simply as a way to organize their writing. Especially in textbooks, where one paragraph might be written in a sequence structure and the next 3 paragraphs are organized according to cause and effect and then the final paragraph presents the main idea and some details. When I think of main idea/detail, I think of structure - or how the text is organized. I think, then, what you are discussing is more of a determining importance kind of thing. Reading the text to "find" the important idea (which is, indeed, what test maker often ask of our students). And, yes, authors can put this "main idea" in any of the above mentioned formats and yes, it can be very difficult for a reader to "guess" at what the author intended. So..... structure and meaning..... 2 totally different ballparks, yes? Dana
>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ---- From: Nancy Hagerty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: understand@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 8:20:35 PM Subject: Re: [Understand] Main Idea So, Dana if you are looking at the structure of the text are you really looking at the main idea? I am a voracious reader and writer and I have always struggled with the concept of main idea on a test. I can justify my answers orally until the cows come home, but on a test...problems. I remember reading Shakespeare in high school and my teacher telling me that I was not understanding it the way that Shakespeare meant it to be. My question was how did she know how he meant it to be understood? Obviuosly there is usually a surface main idea, but upon further readings comprehension grows, which often clouds the "exact" main idea. I find it easier to identify in non-fiction informational text, but then it depends on the way the author writes. So, when we don't neccessarily agree with the author's main idea (or what the test claims that to be) what are we to do? Will teaching text structure help people like me? There seems to be many ways that an author can write the main idea. I am not sure how to best teach my kiddos. I still maintain that they have to be flexible in their thinking. Nancy _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
