Overview
After students took the pre- and post-survey online, I conducted a thematic analysis of the data to locate major trends and patterns in responses. Students wrote short answers for definition and strategy-usage questions and completed Likert scales for attitudinal questions. I used the data to determine if main idea instruction helped students learn the academic language and strategies to comprehend the main idea of expository articles.
Analysis
The pre-survey gave me varied information about student attitudes and current knowledge of topics relating to main idea instruction. The vast majority of my students have been taught how to identify the main idea of a text, but with myriad strategies. The most common strategy was using organizational features in the text, but students also read, used intuition, looked for keywords, or simply did not know. When asked about their comfort with finding main idea, most respondents indicated that they felt comfortable or neutral. When looking at the thematic analysis, it is interesting to note that although many students knew that main idea and theme relate to the main points in a text, they used the language of "stories" in their responses. This indicated that students did not know that main idea is always found in nonfiction texts while theme is found in fiction ones.
Therefore, when looking at the post-survey, I noticed that students did show signs of improvement. Approximately 80% of respondents felt that the MAIN-I strategy either did or might have helped them identify the main idea of a text. The number of students who initially felt uncomfortable finding the main idea dropped from 15% to 8%. When students were again asked to define main idea and theme, many more were capable of matching main idea with nonfiction articles and theme with fictional stories. Once again, strategies used were varied, but many more students were utilizing steps in the MAIN-I process.
The question about the importance of finding the main idea did not see many changes from pre- to post-survey. Most students indicated that the main idea identification process was essential to understanding a piece on a deeper level.
After students took the pre- and post-survey online, I conducted a thematic analysis of the data to locate major trends and patterns in responses. Students wrote short answers for definition and strategy-usage questions and completed Likert scales for attitudinal questions. I used the data to determine if main idea instruction helped students learn the academic language and strategies to comprehend the main idea of expository articles.
Analysis
The pre-survey gave me varied information about student attitudes and current knowledge of topics relating to main idea instruction. The vast majority of my students have been taught how to identify the main idea of a text, but with myriad strategies. The most common strategy was using organizational features in the text, but students also read, used intuition, looked for keywords, or simply did not know. When asked about their comfort with finding main idea, most respondents indicated that they felt comfortable or neutral. When looking at the thematic analysis, it is interesting to note that although many students knew that main idea and theme relate to the main points in a text, they used the language of "stories" in their responses. This indicated that students did not know that main idea is always found in nonfiction texts while theme is found in fiction ones.
Therefore, when looking at the post-survey, I noticed that students did show signs of improvement. Approximately 80% of respondents felt that the MAIN-I strategy either did or might have helped them identify the main idea of a text. The number of students who initially felt uncomfortable finding the main idea dropped from 15% to 8%. When students were again asked to define main idea and theme, many more were capable of matching main idea with nonfiction articles and theme with fictional stories. Once again, strategies used were varied, but many more students were utilizing steps in the MAIN-I process.
The question about the importance of finding the main idea did not see many changes from pre- to post-survey. Most students indicated that the main idea identification process was essential to understanding a piece on a deeper level.
Instructional Decisions
Based on the pre-survey data, I knew that I would need to explicitly teach my students when and where to find the main idea. I needed to differentiate between nonfiction and fiction texts and clarify the strategies that were most efficacious for locating the main idea. Because my students already understood the purpose of identifying the main idea, I recognized that I would need to spend less time on the function of the strategy and more time actually practicing.
Connections
Most students felt like they were already fairly comfortable with locating the main idea of a text, but their MAP and pre-test data show that their perceptions were not always correct. However, the students who identified that they used text features and organization to help them locate the main point typically scored higher on the exit tickets and post-test when answering the question about organization.
Based on the pre-survey data, I knew that I would need to explicitly teach my students when and where to find the main idea. I needed to differentiate between nonfiction and fiction texts and clarify the strategies that were most efficacious for locating the main idea. Because my students already understood the purpose of identifying the main idea, I recognized that I would need to spend less time on the function of the strategy and more time actually practicing.
Connections
Most students felt like they were already fairly comfortable with locating the main idea of a text, but their MAP and pre-test data show that their perceptions were not always correct. However, the students who identified that they used text features and organization to help them locate the main point typically scored higher on the exit tickets and post-test when answering the question about organization.
Pre-Survey
Define "main idea"
Define "theme"
What strategies do you use to identify the main idea of a text?
Why is it important to be able to identify the main idea of a text?
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Post-Survey
Define "main idea"
Define "theme"
What strategies do you use to identify the main idea of a text?
Why is it important to be able to identify the main idea of a text?
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