South Dakota ELA 11-12.RH.2.b

ELAGrades 11–12Reading: History/Social Studies

The Standard

11-12.RH.2: Determine the central ideas or information of primary or secondary sources.

Summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students read a history or civics passage and identify its main idea and key supporting details. They put those points into a brief summary in their own words.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can state the main point and choose the events or evidence that best explain it. Their summary leaves out minor facts and personal opinions.
Common Misconceptions: Students may retell every event in order instead of choosing what matters most. They may copy long lines, include vivid but minor facts, or add their own judgment.
How to Assess It: Give students a one-page textbook account of the Dust Bowl. Ask them to summarize it in two sentences using the main idea and two key details, without adding an opinion.

Lesson moves

Give pairs sentence strips from a Dust Bowl passage and have them sort the main idea, key details, and minor facts into three piles.
Ask students to write which two details best explain why families left the Plains, then compare their choices with a partner.
Play Detail Draft: teams select details from the passage and defend which ones belong in a two-sentence summary.
Give students a local news report on a city council vote and have them write a two-sentence update with the decision and supporting reasons.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 11-12.RH.2.b, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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