Reading Comprehension Strategy Series: How To Teach Determining Importance in the Upper Elementary Classroom

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As with many things that students learn in school, there are several fundamental skills that are needed in order to develop newer, more complex skills.  Determining importance is one of those fundamental skills that will lead to greater success in mastering other concepts and skills. 

For example, in order to summarize a text, a student needs to be able to determine the important information first before crafting a summary.  In order to infer something about a text, students first need to have the ability to pick out important information that informs their inferences.

Young readers tend to think that everything that they read is essential.  However, students can’t read effectively if they try balance every detail as equally important in their minds. 


 

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what you need to know before teaching the Determining Importance reading strategy:

In short, determining importance means that the reader focuses on what’s most important in the text so that he/she can develop deeper meaning and overall understanding of the text. Proficient readers are able to decide, from everything on the page, what is most important to remember.

Additional details provided by the author make the text more interesting, but being able to extract the most important details will lead to true comprehension and retention of new information. 

Determining importance also means that readers have to monitor their thinking as they read in order to notice when something important has been shared within a text.  In a sense, readers “file” these important details away in their mind and pull them out later in order to see how they all fit together as main ideas and themes.  When readers can sort out the big ideas from the text, they are able to filter and organize all other information gained from the text around those ideas.

To determine importance in fictional text, students need to hone in on important things a character says and does, and how those words and actions effect the events of the story.  They also need to notice how settings can play an important role in the story.  When reading fiction, students should determine which events and characters make the biggest impact on the story as a whole.  Students should pay attention to a character’s development overtime and how that development impacts the outcome of the story.  They also pay attention to character relationships as well as problems and solutions. Finally, students use all of these importance details from the text to determine major themes from the story

In nonfiction texts, students determine the main facts, details, and vocabulary about a topic by noticing text features such as headings illustrations, graphs, bold words, photographs, and others.  These text features are often included to draw the reader’s attention to the most important information that the author wants to share.  As texts become more complex and dense with information, sorting through important and nonimportant facts becomes even more essential.

In both fiction and nonfiction, teaching students to determine importance allows them to move through a text coherently, leaving behind details that clog our retention, keeping only the critical pieces of information needed for concise comprehension.

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INTRODUCE THE DETERMINING IMPORTANCE READING STRATEGY TO STUDENTS

Determining Importance Anchor Chart: Going to a Baseball Game - Which 3 items are most important

As with any new concept, you’ll want to introduce this reading strategy with concrete examples that are simple for students to understand.  To begin, play a fun game of “Pick 3.”.  In this game, present students with several scenarios where they are required to pick the 3 most important things related to that topic.  Take a baseball game for example (see anchor chart on the left).  Provide students with several items that are related to going to a baseball and have them identify and justify the 3 most important items. 

Ask students to choose the three most essentials items needed to play in a baseball game.  Require students to justify their answer.  Students most likely will decide that the mitt, bat, and baseball are the 3 most essential items because you need all 3 of those to play.  The hat and shirt are nice to help you identify which team someone is playing on, but aren’t essential to actually playing the game.  Likewise, popcorn might be a fun snack to have while watching a baseball game, but is certainly not essential. 

To extend this activity even further, you may even want to break students up into groups, giving each group a different scenario to talk though.

To prepare for the activity, write the scenario on the front of an envelop (ex: going bowling) and write several item on index cards to be placed in the envelop.  Provide each small group with an envelop and have groups decide on the 3 most important items as they relate to the scenario.  When groups have had a chance to discuss, have each group share out their thinking.  Possible scenarios might include:

  • going bowling: bowling ball, pizza, bowling shoes, bowling pins, soda, music

  • making an ice cream sundae: ice cream, bowl, sprinkles, ice cream scoop, hot fudge, cherry

  • going camping: tent, sleeping bag, frisbee, firewood, s’mores, matches

  • things to bring to school: bookbag, homework, lunch, pencils, paper, iPad

Depending on the age of your students, your item choices may be more or less obvious as to which 3 items makes the most sense.  For older students, choose items for each scenario that will spark a greater debate, while with younger student, you might want to make it more obvious as to which 3 items are the most important.

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MODELING HOW TO DETERMINE IMPORTANCE WHILE READING

To help students understand the concept of determining importance, it might be helpful to use a visual.  For example, describe determining importance like draining a pot of boiling water and spaghetti into a strainer.  When you pour the hot water and spaghetti into the strainer, the water slips through the holes, leaving only the noodles behind.  You don’t need the water anymore, only the noodles.  In the same way, when we read, our brain is like that strainer.  We keep only the important things, and let everything else strain out.  Choose a read aloud text to show this strategy in action. Ahead of time, create an anchor chart with two columns:  Important Information and Interesting Details.

Determining Importance Anchor Chart: Importance Information vs. Interesting Details

Prepare several sentence strips that you can tape up on your anchor chart as you read.  On each sentence strip, write an importance piece of information OR an interesting detail from the read-aloud text that you plan to share. You will need several of each. 

When it’s time to share your read-aloud, explain that as you read, you will stop often to record the information that is important to remember on one side, and record interesting details on the other side.  As you come across the information that you wrote on each sentence strip, model how you decide if that piece of information is important or interesting.  Be sure to justify your thinking.

Over the course of several days as you initially introduce this strategy with several read-aloud texts, gradually release more responsibility to your students.  Allow them to begin adding to your anchor chart with their own thoughts about what they consider to be important/interesting.  You might want to provide your students with several Post-it notes, stopping often for them to record a piece of information to be put up on either side of the chart Require students to justify their responses.

DETERMINING IMPORTANCE IN FICTIONAL TEXTS

Of course, the process of determining importance will vary depending on whether you’re reading fiction or nonfiction.  With fiction, it’s important that students understand the overall structure of most fictional texts.  This text structure will often help them to determine what’s important.  Here’s what a typical fictional text looks like as a “story mountain:”

A story mountain visual can help students determine importance in fictional texts

Help students to identify where on the story mountain their “important information” falls into.  If it doesn’t fall easily onto the story mountain, it is likely not considered important information, but rather an interesting detail.

DETERMINING IMPORTANCE IN NONFICTION TEXTS

In nonfiction, however, the text structures can vary greatly. Nonfiction text structures include: descriptive, sequential, compare/contrast, cause/effect, and problem/solution. ).  You might choose to use a graphic organizer unique to each structure to help students keep track of important information. (See following page for graphic organizer examples)

These graphic organizers will help students keep only the most important information top of mind.

Of course, determining importance is more than just remembering the important details so that students can summarize the text.  Although this is where most teachers start their instruction on the determining importance reading strategy, it is not where it should stop.  Once students understand the concept of determining important details, we want to teach students to determine other important pieces of information such as:

  • determine when and why a character begins to change

  • determine the importance of something a character says or does (and why it is important)

  • determine the importance of a story’s setting

  • determine the significance of an event in a story and how it will impact the rest of the story

  • determine the importance of a nonfiction text feature that an author includes (what is it trying to teach the reader?)

  • determine the most important theme in a story

  • determine the most important lesson learned in a story

  • determine important vocabulary introduced in a text

Each of the bullets above could potentially be individual mini-lessons or learning targets touched on in small guided reading groups.

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CHOOSE TEXTS THAT ASSIST IN DETERMINING IMPORTANCE:

Of course we want students to be able to determine importance regardless or what book they are reading. However, as students have their first experiences working this this strategy, choosing books that provide obvious opportunities for students to pull out important information. This will help set students up for success and will train their brains to distinguish between important and interesting.

Here are some of my favorites: (affiliate links)

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PRACTICING DETERMINING IMPORTANCE

CREATE SIMPLE VISUALS TO REMIND STUDENTS TO DETERMINE IMPORTANCE

When first using a new reading strategy, students need constant reminders. Visuals such as bookmark to use while reading, or a classroom poster that is displayed on a reading strategy bulletin board work wonderfully to nudge students to focus on the important details while reading.

Continue to create anchor charts displaying important vs. interesting details that you find during read-alouds.

bookmark-collage.png

8 FREE Reading Strategy Bookmarks

Grab these FREE student bookmarks to help your students use reading comprehension strategies while reading.

There are a total of 8 bookmarks that explain reading strategy in kid-friendly language and is the perfect reference for students to use during independent or small-group reading time.

 

USE LINKtivity DIGITAL LEARNING GUIDES

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OF COURSE I have a LINKtivity for you to help teach determining importance. Of course! What else? Watch the video below for a sneak peek:

Here’s how it works:

In the Determining Importance LINKtivity, students first watch a short animated video clip that quickly catches their attention with fun doodles and images. The clip introduces what the strategy is and how readers use it.

From there they read alongside their “virtual reading buddy” to see the strategy applied to a text. While clicking through the digital book, each time the student comes across a thought bubble, they click on it and are brought to a new slide in the LINKtivity guide to see what their reading buddy is thinking!

Then, to take their learning to the next level, students read 3 additional high-interest reading passages to practice the strategy on their own. In a similar fashion as they did with their reading buddy, students click through the digital storybook and stop to determine importance along the way. The students can record their thinking on a recording sheet that goes along with the LINKtivity.

HAVE STUDENTS KEEP TRACK OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION VS. INTERESTING DETAILS WHILE READING

determining-importance-recording-sheet.jpg

Having students write down the pieces of information that they deem important is key when it comes to informing you of their understanding of the strategy. From their written details you can see if they can sort out importance information from interesting details.

Writing down their thoughts also keeps them accountable for their learning and gives you an informal assessment.

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ASSESSING YOUR STUDENTS ON DETERMINING IMPORTANCE

Assessment, whether it be formal or informal, drives instruction. For more informal assessments, take notes about a students use of the determining importance reading strategy during reading conferences or in small groups. Considering the following when observing the students’ use of the strategy:

  • Are students able to identify when something significant has happened in the story that they are reading?

  • Can students summarize the text using only important details?

  • Can students identify important characters and settings?

  • Do students pay attention to nonfiction text features and draw out important information found in those features?

  • Can students determine new and important vocabulary in the text?

  • Can students justify why something is important?

  • Can students determine important details from a text to identify themes and lessons learned from a story?

Finally, having a rubric written in kid-friendly language is especially helpful when providing feedback to a student on their ability to determine importance. The rubric can provide clear guidelines on how to determine importance while reading.

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Resources for Determining Importance

I’ve created a resource specifically for teaching students to how to determine importance while they read. Picture of teacher guide, reading strategy poster and bookmark, assessment resources, student recording sheet, and tablet used for viewing the…

Want to get your hands on the Determining Importance LINKtivity®?

Join the LINKtivity® Learning Membership and start using this ready-to-go resource for determining importance that includes:

  • a teacher guide

  • a student LINKtivity

  • a student recording sheet

  • a student-friendly rubric

Get access to the Determining Importance LINKtivity® PLUS all the other reading comprehension strategies inside of LINKtivity® Learning - an ALL-ACCESS pass to every single LINKtivity® created (INCLUDING all 7 reading strategy LINKtivities!)

Check out the other posts in this series

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Reading Comprehension Strategy Series: How to Teach Students to Infer While Reading

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Reading Comprehension Strategy Series: How To Teach Students to Make Predictions While They Read