Summarizing Passages:
An Overlapping and
Essential Literacy Skill
Vicki Estrem, Minneapolis AE
Stacy Hannigan, Metro North ABE
Marn Frank, ATLAS
Session Objectives
1. Briefly report on the evidence base for
teaching summarizing
2. Model and guide a systematic and explicit
strategy
3. Provide participant application of the strategy
4. Share summarizing experiences, extensions,
and materials
JUST WRITE! GUIDE
Teaching Excellence in Adult Literacy (2012)
http://www.project-read.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/TEAL_JustWriteGuide.pdf
“ The activity of writing a summary exemplifies the readingwriting synergy. Writing a summary of a text not only
helps learners comprehend what they read by focusing
on and connecting the important ideas, it also helps
them process those thoughts by rephrasing them in their
own words” (page 44).
“Summarization skills are critical to student success in
postsecondary education. Writing summaries of
information is an important part of producing college
papers” (page 44).
Developing READING and WRITING
National Research Council (2012)
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13468
“Develop an integrated system of skills using approaches
that capitalize on the relationships between reading and
writing. [They] depend on similar knowledge and
cognitive processes, so insights in one area can lead to
insights in the other” (page 15).
Key teaching practice #2: “Teach learners to summarize in
writing the passages they have read” (page 16).
Summary of the Skills and Content Needed
to Prepare for the 2014 GED© Test
Minnesota Department of Education (2013)
http://abe.mpls.k12.mn.us/ged_2014_2
“In alignment with career and college readiness
standards, the Reasoning through Language
Arts assessment focuses on the skills of reading
closely, writing clearly, and editing and
understanding standard written English in
context” (page 8).
• Reading Assessment Target #1: Determine
central ideas or themes of texts and analyze
their development; summarize the key
supporting details and ideas” (page 9).
• Writing Assessment Target #3: “Write clearly
and demonstrate sufficient command of
Standard English conventions” (page 9).
Teach Summarizing Systematically:
One sub-skill at a time!
1. Find topics: What is each paragraph mostly about?
What words (or “relatives”) are repeated or important?
2. Identify main idea sentences: What is the most
important point of each paragraph? Is it explicit (clearly
stated)? Or is it implicit (not clearly stated)?
3. Write a summary: How do I combine my main idea
sentences into a summary? What transition words do I
add? What revisions do I make?
Teach Summarizing Explicitly:
One step at a time!
1. Explanation: teacher briefly explains the skill to be
taught and learned, the purpose of the skill, and the
process of instruction
2. Modeling: teacher proficiently models the skill, talks
aloud his/her use of the steps, and demonstrates “how
to do it right”
3. Guided practice: students practice using the new skill;
teacher guides, supports, and corrects
4. Application: students use the new skill or process
independently; teacher monitors progress
Explanation of Summarizing Purpose:
• It integrates reading and writing skills, which
are highly related.
• Reading helps to improve writing; writing
helps to improve reading.
• It is a key skill for the GED 2014 Reading
through Language Arts and Writing tests.
• It is a critical skill for college writing and postsecondary success.
Explanation of Summarizing Process:
I will model using a step-by-step, READ-WRITE-READ
strategy:
1. find topic words from paragraphs
2. identify main idea sentences from paragraphs
3. combine main ideas sentences into a summary
and revise as needed
We will practice each step together.
You will apply each step on your own.
Model Finding Topics
See No Moisture Here! (pages 2-3)
1. Teacher reads the entire passage aloud
2. Teacher re-reads each paragraph aloud
3. Teacher talks aloud how to find topics: what words are
repeated, related, or important?
4. Teacher models writing topic words in a graphic
organizer
Guide/Apply Finding Topics
See No Moisture Here! (pages 2-3)
1. If using new text, ask/assign students to read the entire
passage
2. Ask/assign students to re-read each paragraph aloud
3. Ask/assign students to find topics: what words are
repeated, related, or important?
4. Have students write topic words in a graphic organizer
Model Identifying Main Idea Sentences
See No Moisture Here! (pages 2-3)
1. If needed, teacher re-reads the entire passage aloud
2. Teacher re-reads each paragraph aloud
3. Teacher talks aloud how to identify main idea
sentences: What is the paragraph mostly about?
What is most important?
4. Teacher models writing main idea sentences in a
graphic organizer
Guide/Apply Identifying Main Idea Sentences
See No Moisture Here! (pages 2-3)
1. If using new text, ask/assign students to read the entire
passage
2. Ask/assign students to re-read each paragraph
2. Ask/assign students to identify each main idea
sentence: What is the paragraph mostly about?
What is most important?
3. Have students write main idea sentences in a graphic
organizer
Model Summarizing
See No Moisture Here! (pages 3-4)
1. Teacher reads aloud the main idea sentences
2. Teacher talks aloud how to combine them into a
summary
3. Teacher talks aloud how to add transition words and
make revisions
4. Teacher models a final check of the summary: Is it
short? Is it accurate? In my own words?
Guide/Apply Summarizing
See No Moisture Here! (pages 3-4)
1. Ask/assign students to read aloud the main idea
sentences
2. Ask/assign students to combine them into a summary
3. Ask/assign students to read the summary, add
transition words, and make revisions
4. Have students do a final check of the summary: Is it
short? Is it accurate? In my own words?
Participant Application
See Oldest, Youngest, or in the Middle? (page 5)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Work in pairs or trios
READ the entire passage silently
WRITE the topic of each paragraph
WRITE a main idea sentence for each
paragraph
5. WRITE the main idea sentences into summary
6. READ, revise, and check your summary
7. Share your summary with the “class”
Note: Students will need application step-by-step
Summarizing Recommendations
•
Select non-fiction passages at least one level below
students’ TABE or CASAS Reading GLE
•
See page 6 for recommended text materials
•
Also consider students’ writing abilities
•
Choose passage topics that integrate with other
classroom learning or activities; extend if appropriate
REFLECTION: How will this work
in my ABE classroom?
THANK YOU!