Too often, it is easy to bypass some basic concepts or standards in the secondary classroom. Answering the question What Does Central Idea Mean? might possibly seem like a major waste of class time because this question is practically asked and answered from day one of kindergarten. Unfortunately, this question requires more than just responding with “Well, it’s the Main Idea.”
Your students have heard the phrase “Main Idea” before, but how can we make it more simple to digest and apply to ANY text we read? That is the real question we need to answer!
So, let’s take the time to review this concept in our middle and high school classrooms. Keep reading for What Does Central Idea Mean? in 3 Simple Steps!
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What Does Central Idea Mean?
At its most basic, the central idea is what a text is mostly about. It doesn’t necessarily summarize everything, but it does give an overview of how a topic, story, person, event, etc. is relayed in a passage, text, film, short story, play, article, etc.
Here are several examples to help answer the question: What does the central idea mean?
- Ex. Romeo and Juliet tells the story of two young people from rival families who fall in love, marry, and ultimately kill themselves.
- Ex. “The Tell-Tale Heart” depicts a mad person who plots an old man’s death, murders him, and reveals what he did to investigators.
- Ex. Poe’s “Annabel Lee” illustrates a man who is mourning the death of a girl he loved who once lived by the sea.
We don’t need to summarize EVERYTHING, but we do need to cover the main topic and what the author intended to tell us.
1. Identify the Topic
The main topic/subject should be evident from start to finish within a passage. If it is not, it is most likely not the central idea!
What does central idea mean in this excerpt from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain?
1 The Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable. Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest river in the world—four thousand three hundred miles. It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five. It discharges three times as much water as the St. Lawrence, twenty-five times as much as the Rhine, and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames.
No other river has so vast a drainage-basin: it draws its water supply from twenty-eight States and Territories; from Delaware, on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope—a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude. The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats, and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels. The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile; the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so.
TOPIC: Mississippi River
Super simple, right?
2. Locate Important Details About the Topic
So now, let’s go back to the previous excerpt. What do we know about the Mississippi?
Ex. “No other river has so vast a drainage-basin”
Ex. “it is the longest river in the world”
Ex. “The Mississippi is well worth reading about.”
Ex. “It is not a commonplace river”
Notice that all of these details directly relate to the river and support the answer to the question: What does central idea mean?
3. Combine the Topic/Details into a Single Sentence
We have the topic and the details of the Mark Twain excerpt! That’s it, right? Nope, we need to put it all together!
What Does Central Idea Mean? Topic + Details => Complete Sentence
Ex. The Mississippi River is an important river because of its unique traits.
If you were given a multiple-choice question based on what we have already read and created, it would be super easy to answer.
What is the central idea of the passage?
A. The Mississippi River should be saved for future generations.
B. Many aspects of the Mississippi River are extraordinary.
C. The simplicity of the Mississippi River is unmatched.
D. Everyone should travel on the Mississippi River.
What does Central Idea mean in this question? Well, the topic is mainly about the Mississippi River and its attributes. B is the answer!
If your students need practice answering What Does Central Idea Mean? when practicing for state tests? Click here!
Want strategies to teach inferences? Check out the post below!
Additional Practice: What Does Central Idea Mean?
This fictional passage pairs with another nonfiction passage about sailing. It tells the story of a lighthouse keeper and his perspective of the ocean and its various elements.
The White Ship by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
1 I am Basil Elton, keeper of the North Point light that my father and grandfather kept before me. Far from the shore stands the gray lighthouse, above sunken slimy rocks that are seen when the tide is low, but unseen when the tide is high. Past that beacon for a century have swept the majestic barques of the seven seas. In the days of my grandfather there were many; in the days of my father not so many; and now there are so few that I sometimes feel strangely alone, as though I were the last man on our planet.
TOPIC:
Ex. Basil Elton Introduction
DETAILS:
Ex. “I am Basil Elton, keeper of the North Point light that my father and grandfather kept before me.”
Ex. “Past that beacon for a century have swept the majestic barques of the seven seas.”
CENTRAL IDEA:
Ex. Basil Elton is the keeper of North Point lighthouse and takes pleasure in seeing and reflecting on the ships passing by.
As students get older, they need more and more practice with diverse, complex texts to truly master answering this question: What does central idea mean?
Central Idea Resource
Want help answering the question, WHAT DOES CENTRAL IDEA MEAN? This CENTRAL IDEA & THEME Lesson Digital Resource BUNDLE includes High School Reading Comprehension Passages and Questions to prepare upper middle and high school students for state reading comprehension exams and assessments! You will see informational texts, literary texts, and paired passages!
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