Let's Sum It Up
By: Yolanda Routh
Rationale: 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: Dare to Dream: Four True Life Stories About Imagination by Edgar, Kathleen; Edgar, Susan; and Rinaldo, Denise, Thompson Publishingö copies of pages 13-17 (the chapter on Dr. Seuss) ö copies of pages 7-11 (Amanda Dunbar chapter) with summary missing.
Procedures:
Introduce the lesson by explaining that
sometimes we do not need to always read a whole article. Sometimes
people summarize articles so we get the main idea without reading trivial
information.
"Students, sometimes
we get articles to read that are really long and filled with information
we do not need. Today, we are going to find
a way to delete all this information and sum up the main points."
To start out with, have the children read
the Amanda Dunbar article with the missing summary.
"Now that youâve
read the article, do you think there is any information we could have deleted?
There are three things that we need to do in order to summarize this article.
First of all, we need to delete all the information that we do not need.
Next, we will substitute the basic terms for a list of items. Finally,
we will come up with a topic sentence."
"In the article, it
says that Dr. Seussâ father worked at the zoo. Do you think
that this is important or not? why is that? Yes, I agree that
it is important, because he liked writing about animals. Do you think
we need to include when he was born and where? Yes, I agree because
we need to learn the basic information. What kind of topic sentence
should we write?"
Continue to model which sentences we could delete, etc.
Read the summary and ask the children which one they prefer.
Next, have the children divide into groups. Each child reads the Dr. Seuss article. As a group, they pick a topic sentence, etc. and come up with a summary. Each group will have to come to an agreement on their summary. Then, I will read my summary and they will make sure theirs includes important information. I will also explain how summaries are not supposed to be the exact same. The children will also be told before starting the practice that summarization is NOT copying ö itâs putting it in your own words. Remind them that silent reading is to yourself and NOT out loud.
To assess the students, check the group summaries. Also, listen in on the groups and check that they are hitting all three points of summarization.
References: Pressley, Michael, et. Al. The Elementary School Journal, "Strategies that Improve Childrenâs Memory and Comprehension of Text." Volume 90, Number 1. 1989; Chicago.
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