Out A Summary
Rationale: It is important for students to be able to remember what they read. In order to do this, they must be able to delete unnecessary information and attain the main idea of the text. This strategy must be taught to students so that they can summarize well and in turn remember and understand what they are reading.
1. Begin with a review of silent reading. "We are going to start today by reviewing silent reading. Who can tell me why we read silently? We read silently so we can understand what we are reading. By doing this, we can learn a lot of new information at a time. Today we are going to learn a new way to make sure we understand what we are reading. Can anyone tell me what a summary is? You write a summary by picking out the main points in a story or passage.
5. "Now you know the main points of these two chapters because all of the information is on your maps. Now I want you to take what you have written in your story maps and use it to write one to two sentences about each chapter to summarize the main points. Keep the summarization rules in mind while you do this."
6. "Now that you have practiced with two chapters, I want you to read and summarize the next chapter of the book on your own. When you are done, we will go over them together and make sure everyone was able to pick out the main idea of the story."
7. Assessment: Take up the students' maps and the chapter summaries and read over them to make sure they understand how to summarize. Have a checklist so that you will know if the students understand summarizing and what areas they still need help in.
Pressley, Micheal, et al. (1989). "Strategies that Improve Children's Memory and Comprehension of Text." The Elementary Journal. Volume 90, Number 1.
Dr. Bruce Murray's Reading Genie website: www.auburn.edu/rdggenie: Carmon Thrower
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