CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2
The Standard
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; 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 find the main idea an author builds across an informational text, not just name the topic. They should track how the idea starts, changes, and becomes clearer through examples, facts, word choice, and section structure. They also need to write a neutral summary that leaves out opinions and minor details.
Mastery looks like a student pointing to specific lines and explaining how each one develops the central idea. Common trouble spots are choosing a topic instead of an idea, listing details without explaining their purpose, and adding personal reactions in the summary.
Ways to Teach It
- Give students a printed article and three colors to mark the first hint of the idea, key supporting details, and the refined idea at the end.
- Ask students to answer, “How does paragraph 1’s idea change by the final paragraph, and which detail causes the biggest shift?”
- Use an exit ticket with a short passage, one central idea sentence, two supporting details, and a two-sentence objective summary.
- Have students analyze a school policy memo or news explainer and trace how the writer builds one main claim with selected details.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2
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What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
- 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.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refine...