Sum
It Up
Hilary
Shell
Rationale: When students
are learning to read, reading
comprehension is one of the most important components in their learning
experience. Summarization is one way students can work on this skill.
When
putting this skill to practice, students are not only able to read the
words on
the page, but are able to understand what they are reading. During
this
lesson the children will learn the steps of summarization as well as
practice
summarizing the first chapter of a book.
Materials:
Procedure:
1 Prior to this
lesson,
students will have read the book, Esperanza
Rising. Esperanza Rising is a story of a young girl,
Esperanza, which faces many hardships during her life. Esperanza
jumps
from the life of riches to a life of rags in a matter of a few days.
The story
tells of how she copes with these new changes in her life.
2
To
begin the lesson I will ask students, Has everyone finished
reading Esperanza Rising? Did everyone like
it? Next I will
tell the students that since we have all finished reading we are going
to
practice writing a summary. Does anyone know what a summary is? If
students do not know I will give them a definition. A summary is a
basic
description of the plot and characters in a story. Writing
summaries is a
great way to help you remember things about what you have read. It is
hard to
remember every little detail of a story, but a summary helps you
remember all
the most important facts.
3 First, I will review
story structure with the children by
writing it on the chalkboard. Then, I will ask them to take out their Esperanza
Rising books, and re-read chapter one silently. Next, I will tell
them to write down some things that they think
are the most important facts about what is going on in the story as
they read. Tell
them, For example, I might write down who the main character is, where
the
story takes place, some of the problems Esperanza faces, etc. Also
tell them
when they are finished sit quietly until everyone is finished reading
so they
do not interrupt others.
4 While the students
are
reading, hang the butcher paper on
the wall in front of them. Make sure it is on a flat surface so that
you can
draw out the story map on it. Draw one large circle with five smaller
circles
attached to the large one. In the middle circle, write Esperanza
Rising :
Chapter One. When the children have finished reading the first chapter
of Esperanza
Rising, start the explanation of the concept of story mapping. Tell
students, Now we are going to start
summing up chapter one of our book. We are going to use what is
called a
story summary chart to help us do this. Tell students to take out
their main
ideas that they wrote down while reading, and two new pieces of paper.
Tell
students that that the large circle in the middle of the chart explain
the book
and chapter we are going to summarize. Explain that the five smaller
circles
are where we are going to write facts that we have about chapter one
(ones that
they wrote on their paper). Start out by telling students, For
example, I
might right write down the main character’s name, Esperanza, in one
circle. Now I want you to give me some of your important facts and as a
class
we are
going to pick out the most important ones to write in our circles. I
also
want each of you to copy the map down on your paper to keep.
5 After the class
picks out
the most important facts, make
sure that what you wrote on the butcher paper, the children wrote on
their
paper. This is important so that the teacher can make sure that the
children
are following the lesson. It is also important because students will be
able to
look back at the one done together as a model for when they create a
story map
on their own. Next, tell students, We are going to
sum up chapter one in a few sentences using the ideas
that we wrote down in our circles. Write down the
summary
the students have in their circles on the chalkboard, and tell them to
do the
same on their paper. Ask, Does anyone
have any questions about summarizing? Does everyone see how easy
it is to
summarize your reading?
6 After modeling these
steps with the students, have them
re-read the second chapter of the book silently. Ask them to
individually
make up a story chart of the second chapter. Once they have
finished ask
for a volunteer to come up to the chalkboard and write down everyone’s
interesting
facts on a clean sheet of butcher paper. Then ask for another
volunteer
to take the interesting facts and make them into a three to five
sentence
summary and write it up on the chalkboard.
7 Tell students that
since we have
completed two chapter summaries together, I want them to break into
groups.
After breaking them into groups of three or four, assign a different
chapter to
each group and ask one person in the group to draw their group’s story
chart on
a piece of paper. Also, ask another group member to write three to five sentence summaries on another
sheet of paper. Walk around the room to make sure all students are
participating. Tell students, When your group is finished bring them
to my
desk so that I can look at them. Once I have approved your
summary, then
you can go back to your desk and draw a picture from the story using
the
markers and paper I have provided. After everyone has finished, every
group is
going to show and explain their story chart to the class. Does anyone
have any
questions?
8 After
completion of the maps, call each group of students to the front of the
room
and let them discuss their maps and sentences with the class. Also, let
them
show their pictures if desired.
Assessment: I
will assess the students by observing them to see how well they are
working in
their groups creating their summaries, and making sure all students are
participating. I will also assess them by looking at their group
summaries to
see if they covered all of the necessary points of the story.
References:
"Sum it Up" By: Ann Mathews
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/explor/mathewsrl.html