CCSS R2 Development of Central Ideas in a Text

This week, LiteracyTA examined College and Career Anchor standard R2.

The purpose of analyzing the Common Core literacy standards is to distill them down to a workable list of skills that classroom teachers can teach. Our process can empower teachers with a practical way to break down additional state and local standards/learning outcomes.

This week, we are focusing on R2. Since this is the anchor standard, it is the same for both fiction and non-fiction texts.

Marking the Standard

To break down a standard, start with the Marking a Text analytical reading skill. Circle the directive verbs in the standard and underlined what those verbs say our students need to know and do. 

Breaking the Standard into Skills

Once we have isolated the key literacy skills that make up the standard, we can organize them in a simple three column table.

Here is another way to visually represent the key literacy skills in the standard.

The College and Career Anchor Standard R2 asks students to identify central ideas in a text and explain how those ideas develop from beginning to end. We hope that when we break the standard into manageable parts, it becomes easier to understand and teach.

Common Core Tools

To learn more about teaching standard R2, go to our Common Core Reading section. You can also use our Skill-Based Lesson Planner to plan a lesson that explicitly teaches this standard.

Let us know what you think about our Common Core standard break down. Join the conversation and share this page with others.