Only the Facts
Facts

Reading to Learn Design
Ashley Biggee

Rationale:

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction, however, this task is complicated and requires practice.  There are various strategies that can be used to gain meaning and knowledge from a text.  One strategy is summarization.  To be able to read and recall information from an expository text, children need direct instruction in how to appropriately summarize material.  There are three steps to summarizing successfully; delete trivial and redundant material, replacing superordinate terms with a list or action term, and finally invent a topic sentence.  By implementing these skills students will be better prepared to recall and discuss information from an assigned reading.
 

Materials:

Article: The Great Quake(1 copy per student, and one printed on a transparency), Article: What is an Earthquake? (1 copy per student), post-it squares (1 per student), highlighter (1 per student), paper, pencil, rubric/checklist for summary, overhead, overhead markers, chalk board, chalk


Procedure:

   1. Review the purpose of reading.  I AM GOING TO PASS OUT AN ARTICLE ENTITLED WHAT IS AN EARTHQUAKE? TO EACH OF YOU; DO NOT BEGIN READING IT JUST YET   FIRST, WHY DO WE READ ARTICLES FROM PUBLICATIONS LIKE THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC?  Desired response: to learn new information.  THAT IS RIGHT WE READ TO LEARN NEW THINGS, THEY MAY BE THINGS THAT INTEREST US OR THEY MAY BE THINGS WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT, LIKE A READING IN OUR HISTORY BOOK.  IN EITHER CASE WE READ A LARGE CHUNK OF MATERIAL THAT CONTAINS A LOT OF FACTS.  DO YOU THINK ALL THE INFORMATION IN AN ARTICLE IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT, OR DO YOU THINK SOME INFORMATION IS MORE RELEVANT THAN ANOTHER?  Desired response: no it is not all equal, in some cases we need to remember a general idea or person, or event.  THAT IS RIGHT, WE DO NOT NEED TO REMEMBER ALL OF LITTLE DETAILS IN A READING.  WE NEED TO REMEMBER THINGS THAT SEEM MOST IMPORTANT IN A READING, AND WE CAN TELL OTHERS WHAT THOSE BITS OF INFORMATION ARE BY SUMMARIZING.
   2. Model silent reading, REMEMBER WHEN WE READ SILENTLY OUR EYES MOVE INTENTLY ACROSS THE PAGE AND WE READ QUIETLY TO OURSELVES.  WE CAN MOVE OUR MOUTHS, BUT NO SOUNDS COME OUT.
   3. AS WE READ SILENTLY I WANT YOU TO USE YOUR HIGHLIGHTER AS A TOOL TO MARK THE MAIN IDEAS IN THE TEXT.  THERE ARE THREE THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN LOOKING FOR THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN A BODY OF TEXT.
                     1. DELETE OR IGNORE TRIVIAL OR REDUNDANT INFORMATION
                     2. REPLACE SUPERORDINATE TERMS WITH ACTION TERMS OR A LIST, AND FINALLY
                     3. DEVELOP A TOPIC SENTENCE OR MAIN IDEA. List these steps on the board so that all students can refer to them while reading.
   4.  HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN AN EARTHQUAKE? IF YOU READ THIS ARTICLE YOU WILL FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE!  I WANT YOU ALL TO LOOK AT THIS ARTICLE, WHAT IS AN EARTHQUAKE? AND READ IT SILENTLY TO YOURSELF, AND I AM GOING TO DO THE SAME.  REMEMBER TO USE YOUR HIGHLIGHTER AND FOLLOW THE RULES FOR SUMMARIZATION.  While the students are reading, work on the same reading and underline important information on overhead.
   5. Once all students have finished reading compare teachers marks with students highlights, discuss similarities and differences.
   6. Pass out article: The Great Quake, and give each student one post-it. THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO ABOUT EARTHQUAKES, BUT IT HAS A LOT OF INFORMATION THAT IS NOT IMPORTANT.  READ CAREFULLY AND DETERIME WHICH INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT AND NOT TRIVIAL. THIS ARTICLE IS A BIT LONGER, BUT I WANT YOU TO USE THE SAME STRATEGIES FOR SUMMARIZATION THAT WE JUST PRACTICED.  THIS TIME I AM ALSO GOING TO GIVE EACH OF YOU 1 POST-IT AND I WANT YOU TO USE THIS TO WRITE YOUR TOPIC SENTENCE ON.  YOUR TOPIC SENTENCE SHOULD BE NO LONGER THAN WHAT COULD FIT ON THIS SQUARE.  Review summarization strategies as written on board.  REMEMBER TO READ SILENTLY TO YOURSELF,  AND USE THE HIGHLIGHTER TO IDENTIFY THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN THE ARTICLE.  
   7. Have the students take out a pencil and piece of paper and summarize the reading in about 5 sentences.  Walk around the room and assist if necessary.
   8. Collect articles with highlighted marks, post-its and summary paragraph for assessment.



CATEGORY
3                          
2
1
0
Heading
All of the heading information is present.
Most of the heading information is present.
Some of the heading information is present.
Little or none of the heading information is present.
Summary
The summary is complete and to the point.
The summary tells some of what happened in the reading.
The summary tells little of what happened in the reading.
The summary is missing or incomplete
Key Points
The key points are present and all relate to the summary
The key points are present and some relate to the summary
The key points are present but do not relate to the summary.
The key points are missing. 
Neatness
The paper is neatly done in pencil.
The paper is somewhat  neatly done in pencil.
The paper is sloppy and hard to read.
The paper is unreadable.


References:
Wanted Only the Facts,  Jennifer Ruschhaupt
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/ruschhauptrl.html

The Great Quake
 http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0604/articles/mainarticle.html

What is an Earthquake?
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/interactive/?section=e