Comprehending & Responding

Overview

Good readers can restate the gist of the text in their own words. They can also analyze the text to differentiate between the important ideas and events and supporting details.

Graphic Organizers

Instructional Strategies

Look for a pattern. Is there information that repeats itself more than once? Does the same information appear in titles, captions, images and in the text? Use these patterns to help identify the main idea.

Paraphrase chunks, then put it together. Stop after every paragraph or short section. Think, “How can I say what I learned in my own words?” Jot a note in the margin. At the end of the article, read back over your margin notes and think, “So, what is this whole article mostly about?”

Find a sentence that seems to sum up what the whole page (or part or section) is mostly about. This may be at the beginning, end, or even hidden somewhere in the middle. When you think you’ve found it, check the other facts to make sure those facts support the main idea.