CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2
The Standard
Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text
What This Standard Means
Students need to identify more than one central idea in an informational text, then track how each idea grows from beginning to end. They also need to explain how the ideas connect, overlap, or create tension. A summary should stay neutral, use the main points, and leave out personal reactions and small details.
Mastery looks like a student naming two clear central ideas, citing where each one appears, and explaining how the author builds a larger argument through their relationship. Students often get stuck by choosing topics instead of central ideas, summarizing every paragraph, or adding opinions into the summary.
Ways to Teach It
- Give students a printed article and two colors of highlighters to mark evidence for two central ideas, then label how the ideas connect.
- Ask students to write: How does the second central idea change or deepen your understanding of the first?
- Use an exit ticket asking students to state two central ideas and one sentence explaining their relationship.
- Have students compare two themes in a news analysis piece, such as economic impact and public health, and explain how they shape the article’s point.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2
Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.2
Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective...