The Weevil's Last Stand

The Weevil's Last Stand

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about finding details to support the main idea of the text.

A teacher said to his class that he thought the main idea in "The Weevil's Last Stand" Connected 3, 2001was: "Rare plants and animals need to be saved, no matter how small they are." Here are some details from the text that support his thinking.

  1. Dr Thinkmore is leading the discussion, and she said: "That's how I see biodiversity: the continuing existence and well-being of all living things, whether they're big or small." (Page 12, paragraph 4).
  2. The pygmy button daisy.  It's rare and small. (Page 12, last  paragraph).

a)  Read "The Weevil's Last Stand" and look for more details that support the teacher's thinking about the main idea.

     Give the page number and a brief quote or description of each detail.

Page: ____

 
 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

b)  Do you think the teacher is right about the main idea? Why/why not?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper.
 
Equipment:
"The Weevil's Last Stand" by Alan Bagnall, Connected 3, Learning Media, 2001.
  • Remind students that the main idea is what the author wants readers to understand is 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.
  • Explain that a) assesses if they understand which details in the text support the teacher's main idea.
  • Explain that b) assesses if they can justify why they think the teacher is right or wrong about the main idea. You may wish to explain that when you justify you give a reason/s to support your thinking.
  • You may need to explain that when you give a "quote" you copy the exact words from the text, and when you give a "description" 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 teacher and student only, or within larger groups.
Copyright: 
"The Weevil's Last Stand" by Alan Bagnall, Connected 3, Learning Media, 2001
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
comprehension, main idea, evaluating, connected, think critically, information text, environmental issues, endangered species, native species
Description of task: 
Assessment focus: finding details to support the main idea of an informational text, and justifying why they agree or disagree with the main idea presented. The text used is about environmental issues to do with endangered native species.
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
Acquiring and using information and ideas in informational texts, set 4
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
Part a)
Details that support the teacher's thinking about the main idea, i.e., "Rare plants and animals need to be saved, no matter how small they are" are listed below. All details listed relate, either explicitly or implicitly, to one or more of the key words of the main idea: rare, save and small.		 Y8 (08/2006)
  • p11. "We're going to such a lot of trouble because now the only speargrass weevils on our whole planet live in a few small patches of grass in NZ"
  • p12. "…the goats were eating the speargrass that the weevils feed on. With goats eating the speargrass and rats and mice eating the weevils the poor insects didn't stand a chance"
  • p12. "The speargrass weevil lived here for millions of years before humans arrived. And this unique species is going to disappear for ever…"
  • p13. "I'm studying the katipö spider. It's becoming really rare too because…"
  • p13. "Those are very interesting examples of small but nevertheless important organisms."
  • p13. "We are now planting some of our most endangered plants in the middle of busy motorways. You see, snails and other pests usually get squashed if they try to cross over, so rare plants thrive on traffic islands."

1 correct detail

2 correct details

3 correct details

4 correct details

very easy

easy

moderate

very difficult
Part b)
Justifying why they think the teacher is right or wrong about the main idea		 very difficult

Results based on a trial of 122 students

NOTE: on Possible responses to a)

  • The two details already stated on the first student page were not counted as correct.
  • If a student split one of the details above into two, only one part was counted as a correct response.
  • Any response about the traffic islands needed to include something about rare plants before it was counted as correct.
  • The list of possible responses above is not complete. Your students are likely to note justifiable details not listed here, and if they choose to describe, rather than quote details, they will do so in a variety of unpredictable ways. The list is intended as a guide only.
Diagnostic and formative information: 
a) Finding details relating to the teacher's main idea: "Rare plants and animals need to be saved, no matter how small they are."
Some students identified details that did not clearly contribute to the main idea, for example, "now I'll declare the formal part of this section over" (p.13).

Several students picked up on the centrality of the weevil to the article, rather than focussing on the main idea identified, and quoted the poem about the weevil as a supporting detail.

Other students made responses that were counted as wrong even though they did have tenuous connections to the main idea. For example:

  • "I've been out this morning putting poisonous bait inside stations like this so that rats and mice can get at it, but not other animals that we want to keep safe" (p.11).
  • "It's really our responsibility for introducing these damaging animals from overseas" (p.12).

b) Justifying why they think the teacher is right or wrong about the main idea.
An example of a beginning attempt at this is: I think the main idea is right because the story is mostly about them being endangered.

A more sophisticated and complete response is: I think the main idea is right because of this example: "small but nevertheless important organisms" (p.13, 1st paragraph). Also, a lot of the story talks about small, endangered plants and animals.

Next steps: 
Students having difficulty finding details relating to the teacher's main idea.
Students will only be able to find details relating to the teacher's main idea if they have identified the key words in it: rare; save; small. If students have not found details relating to these three key elements, it may be because they do not understand that main ideas are formed by first gathering and grouping details, then combining those groups in order to find one overarching, or main, idea. These students will need to be supported to find details relating to one element of the main idea at a time. (See resource at the end of this page.)

If students have identified details that do not relate to the teacher's main idea, it may be necessary to support them through checking each unrelated detail to assess its contribution to the development of the main idea.

Students having difficulty justifying why they think the teacher is right or wrong about the main idea.
These students may be having difficulty actually finding the details in the text which relate to the teacher's view of the main idea. This point is addressed above.

Some students clearly did not know the meaning of "justify"; their responses revealed they thought they were being asked for their personal opinion rather than being asked to take a stand that is supported by evidence from the text. Although it is important to encourage students to form opinions, in this case, the students were asked to say why they agreed or disagreed with the teacher's main idea, and to do so required exploring the text – not using their background knowledge alone. Encourage a discussion around the main idea being what the author believes is most important and valued in the text. Emphasise that, while reading will always involve using background knowledge, this kind of knowledge is not the most important to use when finding the main idea.

Another possibility is that students are not sure how to justify. Support them by providing sentence starters such as, "I agree with the teacher because…". It is important to note however, that it should not be assumed that all children understand the function of conjunctions such as "because", with non-native speakers, in particular, often needing explicit instruction in this area.

Other students may not understand that the details they have collected are used as evidence when justifying. Suggest that they refer to the examples they have gathered in Part a) and include these details to support their opinion as to whether or not the teacher's idea is correct. This could be done either as direct quotes or by describing short passages of text.

Main idea: "Rare plants and animals need to be saved, no matter how small they are."
Key words in the main idea: Rare, Save, Small
Find details relating to the key words in the main idea. Some details may relate to more than one key word.
 
Rare
page__
 
 
 
page__
 
 
 
Save
page__
 
 
 
page__
 
 
 
Small
page__
 
 

page__
 
 
 
 
Duffy, G. (2003). Explaining reading: A resource for teaching concepts, skills, and strategies. New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
Ministry of Education. (2006). Effective literacy practice in years 5 to 8.  Wellington: Learning Media.