Big Shift

Big Shift

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about finding separate details, then using them to explain the main idea of the text.
Read Big Shift by Jacqui Brown (pages 2-8, School Journal Part 3, Number 2, 2006). 
 
In this text there are lots of details about these supporting ideas:
  1. When your life changes, it's hard.
  2. You will learn to get used to your new life.
a) First, find details in the text about: When your life changes, it's hard. Quote, or give a brief description of the details. Quote means to rewrite what you read in a piece of writing, exactly as it was written. We use quote marks to show that the words have been taken from a piece of writing without being changed. For example, ""It was real stink leaving Dad behind…". 
 

Page: ____

 
 

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b) Second, find details in the text that are about: You will learn to get used to your new life. Quote, or give a brief description of the details:

 

Page: ____

 
 

Page: ____

 
 

Page: ____

 
 

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c) Tick  the box next to the main idea of the text.

  Moving house means finding new friends. It takes some people ages.
  It's tough, but you will get used to change.
  Family break-ups are hard on everyone – especially the kids.
  There's a big difference between living on a farm and living in town.
Task administration: 

This task can be completed with pencil and paper.

Equipment: 

"Big Shift" written by Jacqui Brown, illustrations by Donovan Bixley. School Journal, Part 3, Number 2, Learning Media, 2006.

  • Remind students that the main idea is what the author wants readers to understand as important and valued in the text as a whole.
  • You may wish to explain to students that finding the main idea is hard, but that it can be found if they first work out which information is important to the text. You may also wish to explain that important information will be mentioned more than unimportant information.
  • Ensure that students understand what is meant by "giving a quote" (e.g., you copy the exact words from the text), and by "giving a description" (e.g., you explain a part of the text in your own words).
  • Explain that as long as they can justify their responses, their ideas will be accepted.
  • This task can be done individually or in groups. Responses can be discussed by a teacher and a student only, or within larger groups.
  • "Big Shift" might be read by students independently, be read to students as a shared text, or be read with students in a guided manner (either as a whole class or in small groups).
 
Copyright: 
"Big Shift" written by Jacqui Brown, illustrations by Donovan Bixley. School Journal, Part 3, Number 2, Learning Media, 2006.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
comprehension, main idea, evaluating, synthesis. SJ-3-2-2006
Description of task: 
Students are assessed on their ability to find and synthesise details to explain the main idea of a text. The text is focused on adjusting to life as a separated family. SJ-3-2-2006. Text provided.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies
  • evaluate and integrate ideas and information
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, set 5
Reading for literary experience, set 5
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
a) Possible details that support:  When your life changes, it's hard.
Page 2
Paragraph 2		 "It was real stink leaving Dad behind…"
Page 3
Paragraph 3		 "I thought I might cry, but I didn't.  Instead, I yelled at the little kids."
Page 4
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 6
"…I started to miss everything at once…"
"I felt really miserable…"
"It's the city," I told her.  "It's like there's no room to breathe."
"Mum reached for me and held me close, and I cried heaps.  I knew she understood.  Things weren't easy for her, either.  Sometimes, at night, I'd hear her crying, too"
Page 5
Paragraph 1		 "…but it didn't stop me being miserable.  I hated our fenced-in courtyard and being able to see everyone else's washing from our kitchen window."
Page 8
Paragraph 1		 "It was the dream that helped…He looked so sad."
b) Possible details that support:  You will learn to get used to your new life.
Page 4
Paragraph 2		 "I even got used to the rubbish truck waking us at 6.30 in the morning…"
Page 5
Paragraph 2		 "There was one thing I did quite like about living in the units, though. I liked hearing all the different languages around us and smelling the different cooking smells.  I even started walking around the complex at twilight just enjoying being nosy."
Page 7
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 4
"Anyway, from that time on, the three of us stuck together. Wednesday was our favourite afternoon to hang out."
"From up there on the third floor we got a brilliant view of the southern side of the city, all the way to the Basin Reserve."
"I don't remember exactly when it happened but, slowly, I stopped feeling so bad about living in the city."
Page 8
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 4
"After I'd had the dream a few times, I knew that there was no way Dad could ever live in the city. He'd hate it."
"So home was with Mum in the city, and holidays were with Dad in the country."
"Not everyone can handle both, but I reckon I can"
Answer to c)
The correct main idea is: It's tough, but you will get used to change.

NOTE on the possible responses listed above:
The difference between two categories, such as When your life changes, it's hard and You will learn to get used to your new life, may not always be clear cut. For example, "after I'd had the dream a few times, I knew that there was no way Dad could ever live in the city. He'd hate it", can be justified as belonging to either category because it can be used to show that the main character's father would find living in the city extremely hard, and also that the main character was adjusting to the realities of his new life. The categories above should not be read as absolute or complete; they are a guide only.

Diagnostic and formative information: 
This resource was trialled by 30 students. The trial involved small groups of Year 7 & 8 students from 4 primary schools.

a) Finding details relating to: "When your life changes, it's hard."
Most students were able to find a range of evidence to support this statement. However, a small number chose details that at first appeared to be only vaguely relevant or irrelevant but which were able to be partially justified during discussion. For example one student wrote I broke up the fight, intending to comment on how changes to the main character's life meant he had to deal with some very unpleasant people. More relevant quotes noted on this topic were "I came across two boys beating up…" and "the boys went off, showing me their fists and threatening to get a big brother to deal with me."

b) Finding details relating to: "You will learn to get used to your new life."
Most students were able to find some details to support this statement but, in general, found it more difficult than finding details about When your life changes, it's hard. Again, some students noted details that at first appeared to be only vaguely relevant or irrelevant e.g., from p.6, "he was the tallest, darkest, thinnest twelve-year-old I've ever seen". Here the student intended to comment on the main character having made friends. A more relevant quote noted on this topic was "anyway, from that time on, the three of us stuck together".

c) Finding the main idea: "It's tough, but you will get used to change."
Most students were able to identify the main idea correctly. Of those who did not, most chose: "Family break-ups are hard on everyone – especially the kids". Most of those who chose this incorrect main idea however, were still able to select relevant quotes to support: "You will learn to get used to your new life" and "When your life changes it's hard."

Next steps: 
Students having difficulty finding relevant details
The small number of students who found details that appeared to be only vaguely relevant or irrelevant, but which could be partially justified through discussion, need support in differentiating between key words and those that are secondary or irrelevant. For example, the key words in When your life changes, it's hard are "changes" and "hard", and finding relevant details is a matter of finding small sections of text which relate directly to these words. Where student responses seem only vaguely relevant or irrelevant, it is necessary for them to work through a process of identifying key words and eliminating any words that are secondary or irrelevant, and justifying these decisions.

Students having difficulty finding the main idea
Students who found evidence to support When your life changes, it's hard and You will learn to get used to your new life sometimes expereinced difficulty combining these two groups of details to form the main idea in c). These students could be supported by seeing their teacher model the thinking involved in combining supporting ideas. For example, "so far, we've got quite a few details about how hard the changes were for this boy after his parents split up, and quite a few about the things he's come to like in his new home... How might those two groups go together to make the main idea? Might the main idea be something about both of them together?".

Self-assessment
Involve students in the process of working out areas of success and need (i.e., next steps) as identified in this assessment task. To do this, plan and encourage periods of reflection on exactly what learning is taking place, e.g., looking for key words, and how it is taking place, e.g., by working out what kinds of words are relevant, justifying why they are relevant.

 

Duffy, G. (2003). Explaining reading: A resource for teaching concepts, skills, and strategies. NewYork, NY: The Guilford Press.
Ministry of Education. (2006). Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5-8. Wellington: Learning Media.