Seminar: what does this text actually say?
The class establishes literal meaning of a shared text before interpretation, and separates the two explicitly.
- Close Reading Seminar move: Shared literal reading held apart from interpretation
- Evidence it produces: An agreed statement of what the text says, not what it means
Route status: the learning intentions and mini-lesson scaffold are shared with the workshop route; the Do Now, activities, adjudication, evidence and exit below are this route’s own. The difference is how ākonga work — one shared text, competing claims settled on the words, and a collective record — not which strategies are taught.
Lesson 3: Literal Comprehension: Identifying Main Ideas & Supporting Details
Building confident, active readers through Te Ao Māori perspectives, comprehension strategies, and rich Aotearoa texts.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
The difference between topic, main idea (what the author wants you to understand), and supporting details (facts, examples, statistics), and paragraph topic sentences.
Identify the central main idea of non-fiction passages, extract 3+ supporting evidence details, and summarise paragraphs in 1-2 concise sentences.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Finding Main Ideas & Supporting Evidence
Video: kaiako to select — guidance below.
🎬 Kaiako: Select and embed a video here
Suggested search: "Finding Main Ideas & Supporting Evidence"
Search YouTube for a short clip (5–10 min) on this topic. Verify it is age-appropriate and plays correctly before embedding.
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
How do you separate the most important 'big idea' of an article from all the small background details?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Early in the clip: Locate topic sentences at the beginning or end of informational paragraphs.
- Midway: Distinguish main ideas (stools) from supporting detail legs (evidence, facts, stats).
- Later in the clip: Draft 20-word summary 'gist' statements capturing main ideas without copying text verbatim.
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Use highlighters with two colours: yellow for main ideas and green for supporting details in shared reading texts.
Immediate Task: Complete Section 3 of your Reading Journal: Main Idea Stool & Summary Paragraph.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Ten words or fewer (8 mins)
One paragraph of the shared text is displayed. In ten words or fewer, write what you think it is mostly about. Silent, committed in writing — the spread of answers is the lesson’s raw material.
🗣️ Activity 1: Test the candidates (20 mins)
Candidate main-idea statements go on the board. The class tests each against the paragraph with one question per sentence: does this sentence lean on the candidate? A true main idea has every sentence leaning on it; a topic collects the sentences without carrying them; a detail is leaned on by nothing. Candidates are argued, merged and eliminated on that test — not on who proposed them.
⚖️ Adjudication: settle the paragraph (12 mins)
- The class settles one statement of the paragraph’s main idea, in the class’s own words.
- Each rejected candidate is recorded with the reason it lost: too broad (topic), too narrow (detail), or unsupported.
- Then the supporting details are listed under the accepted idea — each with the sentence it came from.
The rejected candidates are as valuable as the winner: they are the class’s working definition of topic vs idea vs detail.
📋 Activity 2: The class record (10 mins)
Record on the class chart: paragraph → rejected candidates and why each lost → accepted main idea → supporting details with line references. Each learner then writes their own one-minute journal entry: the accepted idea, and one candidate they initially preferred with the reason it fell.
🚪 Exit (5 mins)
One line: a rejected candidate from today’s board and the test it failed — too broad, too narrow, or unsupported.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Years 7–8 Curriculum Alignment: Te Mātaiaho English Phase 3 — Reading and Viewing for meaning. Builds core comprehension, critical literacy, and cultural connectedness through Aotearoa literature and pūrākau.