Strategy #8
then
Summarize
Connect to the Text
What do we already
know?
1.What do you know about
summarizing? What words come
to mind?
2. How do you summarize?
Summarize - to present the substance
or general idea in brief form;
 to create a concise, condensed
account of the original;
 to cover the main points
Discuss -Why is
summarizing
important in your
content area?
What are the challenges in
teaching it?
Why summarize?
“Practice in summarizing
improves students’ reading
comprehension of fiction and
nonfiction alike, helping
them construct an overall
understanding of a text,
story, chapter, or article.”
(Rinehart, Stahl & Erickson, 1986)
How Can I Teach My
Students to Summarize?
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Newspaper Articles
Short Text
Internet Source
Passage from Content Text
Picture Books
Be a News Reporter
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How?
Why?
Reciprocal Teaching
 The
most important ideas in this
text are…
 This book was about…
 First… Next… Then… Finally…
 This story takes place…
 The main characters are…
 The problem occurs when…
Steps to identify the topic ~
Look at the title.
Look at the first and
last paragraph.
Ask yourself: “What is discussed through the
whole section?”
Look at captions, pictures, words in bold, and
headings for clues to the topic.
What do they all have in common?
Identify All Details/Major Events
Authors often plant important ideas in:
 Details that reflect the title
 Details at the beginning of text
 Details at the end
 Surprises or revelations
 Repetitions
 Lots of attention given to a detail
 Subheads and italicized text
 Changes in character, tone, mood, setting,
plot
 A question near the beginning or end
Students Evaluate Summaries
1. If you have not read the text yourself,
would you be able to understand
what it was about from the
summary? Why or why not?
2. Is there anything important that
should be added? What is it?
3. Is there anything unimportant
that should be be left out of
the summary? What is it?
Key word (s)
Summarizing
Key word (s)
Summarizing
First text
chunk
Fourth text
chunk
Title
of Text
to be
Summarized
Key word (s)
Summarizing
Key word (s)
Summarizing
Third text
chunk
Second text
chunk
Somebody/Wanted/But/So Then
Reading Skills Important
to Summarization
• Conflict/Resolution
• Character Differences, Goals,
and Motivations
• Main Ideas and Details
• Making Generalizations
Excerpt from The Necklace
Mrs. Loisel wanted to be rich and wanted to
go to the dance. BUT she didn’t have the
right clothes and jewelry. SO she shamed
her husband into buying her a dress and
she borrowed a necklace. THEN Mrs. Loisel
wanted to give back the necklace after she
wore it. BUT she had lost it. SO she and
her husband had to find a new one and
THEN borrow money to buy it so she could
return the replacement to her friend.
Sum It Up!
“She put on two woolen suits,
one on top of the other. Then
she put on two leather suits
and covered her bulky outfit
with a skirt.”
Excerpt from Ruth Law Thrills a Nation (Brown, 1993)
3 – 2 – 1 Strategy
3
Things You Found Out
2
Interesting Facts
1
Question You Still Have
Synthesize
Connect to the Text
Synthesis is…
“The process of ordering, recalling,
retelling, and recreating into a
coherent whole the information with
which our minds are bombarded
every day. It is the uniquely human
trait that permits us to sift through a
myriad of details and focus on those
pieces we need to know and
remember.”
(Keene/Zimmerman)
SYNTHESIZE – Beyond Summary
together
The putting
of parts or
elements
so as to
form a whole
Kids
say…
“Synthesizing is
like inferring, only
super-sized!”
“When you
“When I
synthesize you say
synthesize, my
in your head, I used
mind is changing, my
to think this, but
ideas are changing, my
now I’m
thinking is
thinking this.”
changing.”
Bringing
It home…
“As families gather and share the
events of the day, they are
synthesizing, sorting out the
unimportant, and creating individual
interpretations of the day.”
Keene, Zimmerman
Synthesizing
How is
synthesizing
important to
your content
area?
2. What are the
challenges in
teaching it?
1.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Cues for Synthesis
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Combine
Integrate
Modify
Rearrange
Substitute
Plan
Create
Design
Invent
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Compose
Construct
Develop
Organize
Perform
Produce
Propose
Rewrite
Two-Word Strategy

Read a thought-provoking
article.

Ask students to be silent and
then to write only two different
words that reflect their thinking
about a passage.

After selections, students should
tell others the words, why they
chose them, and how they
relate to their lives.
Strip Poem
 Each
person writes
one item that he/she
knows about the subject studied.
 The
strips of paper are read aloud in a
small group.
 The
group organizes itself in some
coherent form.
 The
group reads the “poem” to the class.
Save the Last Word for Me
Directions for Students:
1. Select a quote from the article
you’ve read. Write your thought/
idea/question about the quote.
2. In a small group, give your quote
and allow all others to respond.
3. At the end, share your
comments.
Character Hot Seat
 Ask
student to sit in a chair in front of
the room and assume a character from
their book.
 Ask
student various questions about
his/her character’s life.
 Move
to a higher level and ask his/her
opinion on different subjects clearly
important to that character.
Reformulations ~
You can turn…
…Poems into stories or letters
…Expository text into narrative text
…Diaries or memoirs into plays,
newspaper articles, or television
scripts
…Texts into comic books, letters, or
interviews
Power Notes contribute to students’
awareness of text structure as they
read and write. In addition ~
 Students learn to read actively and to
prioritize main ideas from details as they study.
 Power Notes can be integrated into a number
of other activities to help students perceive how
information is interconnected.
Power 1 ~
main point or category
Power 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s ~
corresponding details and
examples
An example of Power Notes
1. Penalties in Football
2. On Offense
3. Holding
3. Clipping
2. On Defense
3. Off Sides
3. Pass Interference
3. Grabbing Face Mask
2. On Special Teams
Power 1
Power 2
Power 3
Power 3
Power 2
Power 3
Power 3
Don’t Forget to Model
I do,
you
watch.
I do,
you
help.
You do,
I watch.
You do,
I help.
Proficient Readers Are…
 Aware
of changes in their conclusions about
text; actively revising meaning
 Monitoring the overall meaning and themes
in text
 Aware of text elements in fiction: character,
setting, and conflict/resolution
 Aware of text patterns in nonfiction
 Employing cause/effect, time order, and
problem/solution
 Using their knowledge to make decisions
about the overall knowledge
Proficient Readers
(After Reading)
 Can
express, in a variety of means, ideas
and themes relevant to the overall
meaning of the text
 Create in an original way a sum of
information from the text, from other
texts, and their own ideas and opinions
 Use it to share, recommend, and
CRITICALLY REVIEW the book
“A mind stretched to
a new idea never
goes back to its
original dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes