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Have you ever been
given one of those being reading assignments in school
when you sat down and began to read only to stop about halfway through the
first page asking yourself the question
what is the writer talking about. In this first step
we're going to be looking at how writer makes their main point.
Let's take a few moments however a look at a simple example
and ask yourself the question what's the point the writer is trying to make?
Let's take a look at the note. I will be home at six o'clock.
Please put the casserole in the oven at 5:30. Love Mom.
The point is that the casserole needs to go in the oven before the writer
will get home. Let's take a few moments now
and look at another example. Let's take a look at a paragraph about
Jamie Escalante and see if we can understand
what the authors point is. Read with me as I read the paragraph.
Escalante's classroom challenges and successes
where the topic of much public discussion in 1988.
That year his story was the subject of a book entitled Jamie Escalante
the best teacher in America and a film called stand and deliver starring James
Edward Olmos. Both educators and students have found
Escalante's work at Garfield inspiring
notice the first sentence. It tells us that
Escalante's classroom challenges and successes where the topic of much public
discussion in 1988.
In other words, the point the writer wants us to know
is that what Escalante was doing in the classroom
had become a much-discussed subject. So the main idea is right here in the first
sentence.
The other's sentences in the paragraph
provide supporting details that help us better understand the main point
look at it this way. Think I've the main idea as an umbrella
that covers all the other information that supports.
the point this graphic help those picture the relationship between the
main idea
and the supporting details the main idea is
what Escalante was doing in the classroom had become a much-discussed
subject the author then gives us three examples that come under the main idea
to support the main point the three
supporting details are number one a book was written about
Escalante number two appeal was produced
about his experiences and number three
students and educators were inspired by what he did
the main idea usually comes in the first sentence of the paragraph
as you can see in this graphic but sometimes
sometimes it appears in the second and even in the last sentence of the
paragraph
one other thing we must mention here before we move on
if we look at the main idea we can see that
it is a general statement what is going on he was doing in the classroom had
become a much-discussed
subject there are not many details in this statement
it is the supporting details that have more information
about the main point let's look at
one more paragraph and see if we can find the main idea
in recent years people who text have grown in numbers
especially among teens there are several reasons why this form of communication
has become so popular
one is that cell phones with texting capabilities are convenient to carry
another reason is teens have found that through texting they can stay connected
to each other the third and final reason is important information can be
communicated directly and quickly
it is easy to understand then why texting has grown
and become so popular so what's the point
the authors trying to make in this passage the author is saying that
more and more people are texting today than before
there is his or her point no notice the passage in the passage there are three
words
that the author uses to help the reader understand the supporting details
we call these words signal words
as I read the passage again see if you can find
3 sing the words the author uses
in recent years people who taxed have grown in numbers especially among teens
there are several reasons why this form of communication has become so popular
one is that cell phones with texting capabilities are convenient to carry
another reason is teams have found that through texting they can stay connected
to each other the third and final reason is important information can be
communicated directly and quickly
it is easy to understand than white texting has grown
and become so popular the first one is
in in the sense that begins with one one is
that cell phones with texting capabilities are convenient to carry
the next one is a min exceptions another reason
is teams have found that through texting they can stay connected to each other
and the last one is in the next sentence the third and
final reason is important information
can be communicated directly in quickly
in this lesson we've been talking about improving your reading efficiency by
understanding the riders
main idea what point the writer is trying to make
this is especially important when we are taking standardized test
such as the toll if we understand the main idea into reading passage
it could be the difference between a low score and a higher score
your next lesson we'll be talking more about how the writer uses supporting
details
to provide examples fax reasons or causes
but for now this has been Richard carrion and I hope to see you next time
as we take another step
in improving reading scores