Rationale:
Comprehension is one of the most important things to teach to children
while they are learning how to read. A good way to help children
better comprehend text is by teaching them to summarize. To be
able to read and recall information from an expository text, children
need instruction in summarization. By deleting trivial and
redundant information, substituting superordinate terms for a list of
items and creating a topic sentence, students will be able to remember
factual information better.
Materials:
Card #12 “Do a Cat’s Eyes Glow?” of Noting Details cards from Reading
for Comprehension Series by Educational Insights,
various other cards from Noting Details (one per student), Steps
for summarization written on poster or large paper, chalkboard, chalk,
paper, pencil
Procedures:
1. Begin by
reviewing how to read silently and introduce the card, “Do a Cat’s Eyes
Glow?” from the Noting Details card box. Say, “Have you ever seen
cat’s eyes at night time? If so, what did they look like?
Many people think they glow. This passage is going to tell us the
truth about cat’s eyes. We are going to read this passage
silently. Remember, when we read silently we think the words in
our head without saying them out loud. We do not talk or look
around while we are reading silently. I want to see all eyes
moving on your page as you read. When you are finished I want you
to think about the most important parts you read.”
2. “You did a
wonderful job reading silently! Now that we have read about cat’s
eyes, let’s summarize what we have read. Does anyone know what a
summary is? A summary is a shortened version of the whole
story. It includes the most important parts of the story.
We find a summary writing the main points of the story. There are
three main tips to remember when making a summary of a passage (written
on large poster in room):
1. Remove unimportant or repeated information
2. Classify items
3. Write a topic sentence
3. Say,
“A great way to summarize is by using a skill called mapping.
When we map a reading we put the main idea or topic in the middle of
the page and draw a circle around it (model on board). Then, we
write all the details or supporting information around the topic in
smaller individual circles (model on board). We connect each
detail to the topic by drawing a line, or a road between the two
circles just like on a regular map (model on board). For our cat
passage what could we write in our topic circle? (cat’s eyes)
What are some details we could include outside our topic circle? (pick
up light, has specials surfaces in back, catch a lot of light, have a
green glow, see well in dark). Now we have to connect our details
to the topic with our roads so we can get from our topic to our
details. Now that we have our map, we can write a few sentences
the summarize our passage. Cat’s eyes seem to glow bright green,
but they are not really glowing. Cat’s have special surfaces in
their eyes that allows them to catch a lot of light. This helps
them see well at night.”
4. “Now that we have made our maps and summaries, let’s talk
about how you made them.” Generate discussion on what helped them
find the topic and details in order to create the map and
summary. Have students share their maps. Display them in
the room after the lesson.
5. Give each student a different card from the Noting Details
card box. Have each student read his/her card silently and create
a map of the information. Have the students write a summarization
from his/her map. Check each map and summary paragraph to make
sure the students understand and are using all three steps. Use
rubric:
Deleted trivial and redundant information: Yes
No
Used classifications: Yes No
Wrote appropriate topic sentence: Yes No
Reference:
Anna Ludlum. Slim Down to the Good Stuff by
Summarizing. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insp/ludlumrl.html
