Ready, Set, Summarize!!
Reading to Learn (Summarizing)
Rationale:
The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension. Readers need to be able to
comprehend text well enough that they can retell the main idea of the story to
someone else. This technique is called summarizing,. This lesson is designed to
provide a model of how to better comprehend text by reading a text, choosing the
important words in the passage and summing the main idea up into a few words.
Materials:
copy of the article “Godzilla” Fossils Reveals Real-Life Sea Monster for each
student
black marker
highlighter
pencil
paper
a passage on the smartboard to use as an example
Procedure:
1.
Today we are going to learn about how to summarize. Who knows what a “summary”
is? (allow the students time to answer) That’s right! A summary tells us the
important information from text we have read.
2.
Let’s look at the passage that I have shown on the Smartboard. I want you to
split up into groups of three or four and read this passage. As a group you will
create a web about the passage you have read. A web is a great way to help you
summarize. When you create a web, you start with a circle in the middle. In this
circle you write the main idea or the topic of the story. Next, you draw lines
coming out of the main idea circle and draw new circles at the end of these
lines. These circles represent supporting details of the story. (Allow the
students time to read the passage and work together to create a web summarizing
the passage. When they are done, draw a web on the board and fill it in using
what the students wrote down. Call on multiple students to give the main ideas
of the story and the supporting details. As you go through the passage, have
them cross out the nonsense information.)
3.
When we summarize text, there are 3 important rules we need to remember. First,
we get rid of any unnecessary information. Second, we classify items and events.
And finally, we construct a topic sentence. Whether you realized it or not, we
actually used all three of these steps when we were summarizing the passage that
was on the board.
4.
Now we are going to look at an article about a sea monster named Godzilla. Part
of Godzilla’s body was found and discovered to be very old. To find out more
about Godzilla we have to read the article that I am handing out. I want
everyone to take out a highlighter, a black marker, a pencil and a piece of
paper. I want you to read this article and as you are reading I want you to
highlight information you think is important and cross out stuff that you think
is nonsense information by using your black marker. Once you have read through
the article completely, I want you to make a web filling in the main idea and
important information. After you have organized your thoughts using a web, I
want you to turn your details into complete sentences. When you finish, I want
you to turn in your article, web and summary for a grade.
Assessment:
The teacher will grade the students assignment to assess their knowledge of
summarization. The students will be
assessed on their ability to highlight important information, cross out nonsense
information, create a web and write a summary using complete sentences.
References:
1.
"Godzilla" Fossils Reveals
Real-Life Sea Monster. Stefan Lovgren. National Geographic Kids News.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1110_051110_sea_monster.html
2.
Holly Kilgore.
Simon Says Summarize.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/kilgorerl.html
3.
Whitney Patterson.
Sum, Sum, Sum It Up!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/pattersonrl.html