To Sum it all Up…
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 comprehend text is to summarize. To be able to
read and recall information from
an expository text, children need instruction in summarization.
By
deleting trivial information, deleting 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:
Chalk board
Chalk
Dry Erase Board
Dry Erase Markers
Paper
Pens
Copies of “Freaky Frog” article from National Geographic Online for
each student
Copies of “Life Is Serious
Mission for Rescue Dogs” article from National Geographic Online for
each student
Summarization Rubric
Procedures:
1.) Start by reviewing how to read silently and introduce the article.
“Who
likes frogs? Today we are going to read an article about frogs and the
freaky
things that are happening to them. First before we start reading, I
would like
to review how to read silently. Watch me as I read silently.” The
teacher should model holding a book and reading. The students should be
able to see the teachers eyes moving along the page and maybe even see
her moving her mouth without making sounds. "I
will read
the first paragraph of the article to myself. Now I am going to
pass out
the article and I want everyone to read silently. I should see
everyone’s eyes
moving as they read."
2.) “Ok, great! Everyone did a good job reading silently. I want
you to
raise your hand if you know what a summary is.” Students will respond
with
different answers. “Well a summary can be written by picking out the
main
points in a story or passage. When you write a summary, you are trying
to get
the point of the story across, in fewer sentences. There are six
different steps to keep in mind when you are summarizing.” Write these
steps
on the chalk board.
1. Delete unimportant information
2. Delete repeated information
3. Substitute easy terms for lists of items
4. Add a series of events with an easy action term
5. Select a topic
6. Invent a topic sentence if there is none
3.) Next, break the class into groups. “A great way to summarize a piece of literature is to make a map. When we map a reading we put the main idea or topic in a middle circle and the supporting details around the outside in other circles.” Now, in your group use these six steps to make a map of our article. Put the map on your dry erase board. “The middle circle will be what? The topic, very good. What is the topic of our article? Yes! Frogs are the topic in our article so this will be our center circle. Now we will make antennas coming out from our circle, which will describe something important about the frogs. What is something described in the article about frogs? Some frogs are becoming extinct. You may also include what kinds of environments frogs live in. In order to keep adding on to the web you will need to come up with some more important information from the article describing the freaky frogs.” At this time allow the students’ some time to finish their web or at least write down some more key points from the article. Explain that after they have finished the web, they should write complete sentences for each idea and that this will be their summary of the article. Tell students that they should have a topic sentence that will let readers know what the article is about. “Everyone should have a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a sentence that lets readers know exactly what the article is about. All of the other sentences in your paragraph should support and relate to the topic sentence.” When students are done, they should have a complete paragraph.
4.) Give
children the article “Life Is Serious Mission for Rescue
Dogs.” Instruct
students to make a summarization map of the passage and write a
summarization
paragraph, using their map. Check each map and summary making
sure that
the students are using all six steps of summarization. Use thes
ummarization rubric below and include these items:
1. Deleted unimportant information: yes or no
2. Deleted repeated information: yes or no
3. Substituted easy terms for lists of items: yes or no
4. Added a series of events with an easy action term: yes or no
5. Selected a topic: yes or no
6. Invented a topic sentence if there was none: yes or no
References:
Brian Handwork. “Life
is Serious
“Freaky Frog” National Geographic News Online. http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0403/articles/mainarticle.html
Pressley, M. Johnson, CJ Symons, McGoldrick, JA. (1989) Strategies that Improve Children’s Memory and Comprehension of Text. “The Elementary School Journal.” 90, 3-32.
“Slimming Down to the Good Stuff” by Anna Ludlum.
Fall 2003.
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insp/ludlumrl.html
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