Reflect on Note Taking
On a post-it on your table…
Write one note taking strategy you
have tried with your students
Place it on the closest chart paper to
you
Instructional Strategies:
Summarizing
CITW PLC
2/17/2012
Laurie Bonja
Shannon Marasco
Sonal Patel
Christina Spiezio
Today’s Agenda
•Reflection
•Introduction
•Instruction
•Implementation
•Closure
Discussion Startup
Are
your students good
summarizers?
Do they need to be?
If so, how can or how do
we help them?
Are these students good
summarizers?

With the members of your group…
– Read the three summary
examples
– Answer these questions:
•What did these students do well?
•How can each student improve?
Personal Reflections

In what situations is it important for
my students to summarize?

What do I do to help students
understand and use the process of
summarizing?
CITW Strategy: Summarizing
Summarizing is beyond pulling out
information
 It includes…

– Synthesizing
– Analyzing
– Distilling
What are the skills?

To synthesize information
– Higher level critical thinking
– Reaches mastery level of many of our
content standards
To distill info into a concise new form
 To separate the important from
extraneous
 To put information into their own
words

Summarizing is Procedural
Summarizing is “procedural knowledge.” If
students are expected to become proficient
in procedural knowledge, they need to be
able to “practice.”
Mastering a skill or process requires a fair amount of
focused practice. Practice sessions initially should be
spaced very closely together. Over time, the intervals
between sessions can be increased. Students also need
feedback on their efforts.
While practicing, students should adapt and shape
what they have learned.
Generalizations on
Summarizing

To effectively summarize
– Students must decide what
information to delete, substitute,
and/or keep
– Must be able to draw conclusions
from the information in the text
– Students can use the text structure to
aid them in identifying important
information
Based on research by McREL
When & Why We
Summarize
To establish background knowledge
or offer an overview of a topic
 To develop understanding about a
topic after reading several sources
 To determine the main ideas of a
single source

BREAK!
Take five minutes to yourself!
Please peruse the post-it note
strategies!
Classroom Applications
Rule-based
Strategy
Summary Frames
Reciprocal Teaching
Strategy
Rule-Based Strategy
Include important ideas
Delete trivial information
Delete repeated ideas
Collapse lists
Choose or create a topic
sentence
Let’s Try It!

On the Rule-Based Strategy
handout,
– Read the procedure
– Apply the strategy to the sample
passage
– Read the example
• How did this teacher use this strategy in her
classroom?
One Sentence Paraphrase
Requires students to synthesize
information
 Puts focus on bigger picture learning
rather than specific details


Steps in the process
– Model the process
– After reading, put away or hide passage
– Students write one sentence that reflects their
understanding
– Share sentences, looking for similarities & differences
One Word Summary



Push students into the habit of picking out
important concepts & main ideas
The WORD doesn’t lead to learning – the student
rationale reinforces & expands learning
Steps in the process:
– Following a lesson or reading, direct students to write one
word that best summarizes the topic
– Then students will write a brief explanation that explains the
word choice
– Students share their choices and rationale
– Encourage or require students to support or refute choices
Reciprocal Teaching
–
–
–
–
Summarize
– What was taught?
Question
– What was understood or not
understood?
– What questions did you have?
Clarify
– What words did you not understand?
Predict
– What do you think will be taught
next?
– How does this concept connect to
the real or future world?
Reciprocal Teaching in Action
Group Activity Explanation
You need to be in a “group” of 5.
 Each person will focus on 1 of the 5
frames, then “turn-key” the other
group members.
 Each reading has the associated
frame questions on the back.
 “Report out” to follow

6 Types of Summary Frames

Choose the frame that fits the
information type
–
–
–
–
–
–
Narrative
TRI (topic-restriction-illustration)
Definition
Argumentation
Problem/solution
Conversation
Narrative Frame
• Who are the main characters and
what distinguishes them from others?
• When and where did the story take
place?
•What were the circumstances?
• What prompted the action in the story?
• How did the characters express their
feelings?
• What did the main characters decide
to do?
• Did they set a goal? If so, what was it?
• How did the main characters try to
accomplish their goals?
• What were the consequences?
Argumentation Frame
Evidence: Information that leads to
a claim
 Claim: The assertion that something
is true
 Support: Examples that support the
claim or explanations that support
the claim
 Qualifier: A restriction on the claim
or evidence for the claim

T-R-I Frame
• T- What is the general
statement or topic?
• R- What information
narrows or restricts the
general statement or topic?
• I- What examples illustrate
the topic or restriction?
Problem/Solution Frame
What is the problem?
 What is a possible solution?
 What is another possible solution?
 Which solution has the best chance
of succeeding and why?

Definition Frame
• What is being defined?
• To which general
category does the item
belong?
• What characteristics
separate the item from
other things in the
general category?
• What are some different
types or classes of the
item being defined?
Conversation Frame
• How did the members of the conversation
greet each other?
• What question or topic was insinuated,
revealed, or referred to?
• How did their discussion progress?
• Did either person state facts?
•Did either person make a request of the
other?
• Did either person demand a specific action
of the other?
• Did either person threaten specific
consequences if a demand was not met?
• Did either person indicate that he/she
valued something that the other had done?
• How did the conversation conclude?
Additional Strategies

Journalism Questions
– 5 W’s & the H

Gist
– Refine and reduce to 20 words
Small Group Break Out!

Meet your content area in your
designated location…With these
additions!
– World Language: 122
– Art/Music/Speech/Tech Ed./
FCS/Nurse/Librarian: 102
– Phys. Ed: 218
Your Task
What summarization
techniques/skills would you like to try
in your classroom?
 Come up with an activity/lesson that
will use this strategy.
