Text Structures Teacher Resources

A reference article for students to learn about how to determine the main idea and supporting details from the text. Click on the Model for an example with explanation and then click on Practice for a practice exercise.

An example to guide students in choosing the main idea and supporting details. Click Practice for a practice quiz.

Explore Alaska Native culture and learn how to use and create recipes, a type of informational text, in the 11-minute animated story "New Nivagi" from the PBS Kids series Molly of Denali. Support materials provided.

This eleven-part Blendspace is designed to be used while teaching students how to analyze cause and effect. Links include reference sheets, a SMART Notebook Lesson, posters, practice worksheets, and guided practice opportunities.

This instructional activity focuses on the organization of your paper including how to write a thesis statement, the elements of an effective paragraph, patterns of organization, transitions, and conclusions. It also provides a video of...

In this learning module, students will learn how to identify the main ideas in individual pararaphs. Worksheets, PowerPoint lessons, and activities are provided to reinforce the concept of main idea. This module is designed to support...

Organizing information questions ask you to understand and analyze how a passage works to make an argument. What is the progression of ideas in the passage? or What is the purpose of a specific paragraph?

See how to pick out the main ideas and supporting details on this site. Click on Model at the bottom right.

See an example of how to determine the main ideas and supporting details of a story.

Notes introducing various forms of frame stories, or stories that provide a framework for additional stories within. Examples of different frameworks are provided with classical texts including The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel...

Learn how word relationships affect the meaning of text, and then practice this skill.

An automated lesson will engage student's learning how to describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text. An introduction to the concept precedes a...

Take this five question self-correcting quiz to test your understanding of the implied main idea.

Take this five-question self-correcting quiz to test your understanding of the implied main idea.

The important thing about this activity is that it connects literature and science. The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown provides a model for original student poems about a content area topic. Web-based bookmarks guide students to...

Contains plans for four lessons that ask students to change the action in the turning point of a tragedy in order to see the effect on the rest of the play. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links...

This resource goes extensively into the importance of establishing an audience when writing. It also defines types, how to choose, and how to write for an audience.

Slideshow investigates how to find the main idea and key details of a story.

In this lesson, you will learn how to reconsider the order of your paragraphs by determining a logical and connected journey of thought. [5:45]

This is an example of how to analyze how an author unfolds an argument. It provides an example and links to use for practice. RI.9-10.3 author unfolds

Links to 99 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard W.3.4: With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

This video presents a "poetic concert" featuring the words of three African-American writers: Sojourner Truth, Naomi Long Madgett, and Nikki Giovanni. Included are teaching tips and additional background information. [8:10]

Writers use an introduction to organize the ideas that follow. Let's practice organizing the ideas within a paragraph according to the paragraph's introduction. [7:46]

This interactive assessment features 9 matching questions and eight multiple-choice questions over 17 terms having to do with main ideas and supporting details including types of writing and the writing process with their definitions.