Why do I blush?

Why do I blush?

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about identifying important information to help you get the main idea of a text.

Read "Why Do I Blush?", pages 8 and 9 of School Journal Part 4, Number 1, 2006.

a) Tick  two of the boxes below to show which information is most important to this text.

  Our ancestors were frightened of mammoths.
  When you blush, blood carries extra body heat into the capillaries which pass it on to tissue nearby.
  You can stop blushing by thinking about the capillaries in your face.
  Some feelings make your face turn red – this is known as blushing.
  Blushing does not give you a permanently red face – your face will return to its normal colour.
  Your brain tells your heart to beat faster when something is wrong.

b) Now you've chosen the two most important pieces of information, write them in the order they appear in the text.

First:

 
 
 
Second:

 
 
 

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

  Blushing is really embarrassing for some people.
  People can't help blushing – it just happens.
  Blushing is a physical response to uncomfortable feelings.
  Fight or flight responses kept our ancestors safe from danger. Blushing ensures our bodies cool down.
Task administration: 

This task can be completed with pen and paper.

Equipment: School Journal Part 4, Number 1, Learning Media Limited, 2006. 

How do you work out what the main idea is?

  1. Remind students that the main idea is what the author wants readers to understand is important and valued in the text as a whole.
  2. Explain to students that finding the main idea is hard, but that it can be found if they first work out what information is important to the text. Explain that important information will be mentioned more than unimportant information.
  3. Explain that a) assesses if they understand which information is important. Tell students that first they need to read the article "Why Do I Blush?", pages 8 and 9, then tick the boxes next to each of the two pieces of information they think are most important.
  4. Explain that b) assesses if they understand where the important information occurs in the text. Students will need to go back to the text to establish the sequence of their two pieces of important information.
  5. Explain that c) assesses if they understand what the main idea is. Tell students that they need to think about the two pieces of important information they identified at a), then put a tick next to the main idea that combines this information.
  6. The task can be done individually or in groups.
  7. Responses can be discussed by teacher and student only, or within a larger group. Group discussion has the advantage of giving students opportunities to consider others' ideas and to practise justifying their own.
  8. To modify this resources cut and paste student task into word processing program. See Changing an assessment resource.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
comprehension, main idea, explanations, School Journal, evaluating, SJ-4-1-2006
Description of task: 
This comprehension task assesses student ability to identify important information to establish the main idea of a transactional text about blushing. SJ-4-1-2006. Text provided.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies

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: 
  Y8 (04/2007)
a) Student identifies the two most important pieces of information:

  • When you blush, blood carries extra heat into the capillaries which pass it on to tissue nearby.
  • Some feelings make your face turn red – this is known as blushing.
 
very easy
difficult
b) Student correctly orders the two important pieces of information:

  • First: Some feelings make your face turn red – this is known as blushing.
  • Second: When you blush, blood carries extra body heat into the capillaries which pass it on to tissue nearby.
 
very easy (for students who got all of a) correct)
c) Student identifies the main idea of the article:

  • Blushing is a physical response to uncomfortable feelings.
easy
 
This resource was trialled by 224 Year 8 students across a range of New Zealand schools.
Diagnostic and formative information: 
a) Distinguishing between important and relatively unimportant information

Important information identified by students:
The majority of trial students correctly identified the second piece of information as important: When you blush, blood carries extra heat into the capillaries which pass it on to tissue nearby. Only 35% went on to correctly identify the fourth piece as important: Some feelings make your face turn red – this is known as blushing. Overall, 31% of trial students identified both pieces of important information correctly.


Unimportant information identified by students:

37% of trial students incorrectly identified Your brain tells your heart to beat faster when something is wrong as important. 27% incorrectly identified Blushing does not give you a permanently red face – your face will return to its normal colour as important.

The remaining two pieces of information were correctly judged to be minor details by the majority of trial students.

b) Sequencing the important information identified in a) with a particular part of the text

This task checks the responses given in a) and, in separating out the important information from a), should also assist students with combining this information for task c). Of the 31% of students who got the two pieces of important information at a), most went on to correctly sequence them at b).

c) Identifying the main idea

  • 63% of trial students correctly identified the main idea Blushing is a physical response to uncomfortable feelings. The majority of this group had already correctly identified at least one piece of important information at a).
  • 21% of students chose the option People can't help blushing – it just happens as the main idea. These students perhaps chose this because they personally found it to be important information about blushing. However, they need to learn that the main idea of a text cannot simply be based on a personal response to text.

Although most students correctly identified the main idea, it cannot be assumed that they can do this independently because this resource provides considerable scaffolding. For example, in a) students only have to choose between six pieces of information, whereas if they were independently finding the main idea they would need to choose between all the information a text presents.

Next steps: 
Students having difficulty identifying important information

If students identify information as important when it is relatively unimportant, it may be necessary for them to go through the text to find the details that relate to each piece of information. In this text, students also need to think about each piece in relation to the title of the article, which, in this case, is related to the main idea and so is helpful for the process of identifying it. In many texts, however, particularly in narrative texts, the title will not be helpful for this process. Once students have found the details that relate to each piece of information, they will see that information that is relatively unimportant is not mentioned often in the text. They will then have evidence showing them to reject it as unimportant.
For students who believe information is important because they know it to be true or because it has happened to them, taking a step back from the text is necessary to establish what the author is emphasising, not simply how they as readers are personally responding to the text.

Students having difficulty identifying the main idea
About a fifth of trial students made a personal response when choosing a main idea. While a personal response is always a part of reading, it should not dominate when establishing the main idea of a text. Going back to a) to establish the two pieces of important information will help make a decision based on hard evidence rather than one based on a personal response.

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 to 8. Wellington: Learning Media Limited.

 
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