The Importance of Summarizing as a Comprehension StrategySome Key Ideas

The process of summarizing occurs during reading: Proficient readers maintain a cognitive summary or synthesis as they read. They

monitor the overall meaning, important concepts, and themes in the text as they read and are aware of ways text elements fit together to create that overall meaning and theme.

Proficient readers are aware of text elements and patterns in fiction and nonfiction and understand that being aware of them as they read helps them predict and understand the overall meanings or themes.

As they read, proficient readers attend more directly to character, setting, conflict, sequence of events, resolution, and theme in fiction and to text patterns such as description, chronological order, cause and effect, comparison/contrast, and problem/solution in nonfiction. They use their knowledge of these elements to make decisions about the overall meaning of a passage, chapter, or book.

Proficient readers actively revise their cognitive syntheses or summaries as they read. New information is assimilated into the reader’s evolving ideas about the text, rendering some earlier decisions about the text obsolete.

The process of summarizing occurs after the reading: Proficient readers are able to express, through a variety of means, a synthesis or

summary of what they have read. It includes ideas and themes relevant to the overall meaning from the text and is cogently presented.

Proficient readers use synthesis or summary to share, recommend, and critically review books they have read.

Proficient readers purposefully use summaries and syntheses to better understand what they have read. Syntheses are frequently an amalgam of all comprehension strategies used by proficient readers.

ConclusionIf you have students who are not yet proficient, the above points can be modeled in a comprehension Strategy Study focused on the ability to summarize.

Ideas from: Mosaic of Thought. 1997. Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann. Heinemann.

1. Read the passage.

2. Record important words or phrases.

3. Use the important points to write a one or two sentence summary of the passage.

4. Underline the key points in your summary.

Important idea

Important idea

Important idea

Summary: Make it clear, concise, and complete

How To Write A Summary

1. Look for the most important ideas. (What helps us know about the problem or solution?

2. State important ideas in your own words.

3. Combine ideas into one or two sentences.

4. Leave out anything that repeats information, explains important ideas, or seems unimportant.

Created by Team 4 Hollifield Station Elementary

Read-Cover-Remember-Retell

When children use Jan Ellison’s Read-Cover-Remember-Retell, the objective is to read a fairly small portion of text, an amount that they think they could probably cover with one hand. then they stop reading, actually cover the text, and focus on trying to remember what they have just read. It’s really helpful if they have a partner who is agreeing to read the same amount of text because then, after each chunk, each can tell the other what he/she remembers. The partners work together to create a more complete understanding of that text. As children gain experience, they are able to let go of the “retell” portion of the strategy.

This strategy addresses two issues common to struggling readers: the tendency to read all text at the same speed and the belief that as long as you’re reading the words, you’re doing find. Read-Cover-Remember-Retell slows down the reading process and forces children to focus on remembering the content of the passage. This strategy transfers nicely to reading informational text, textbooks, or standardized tests.

READ COVER REMEMBER RETELL

READRead only as much as your hand can cover.

COVERUse your hand to cover up the part of the story that you just read.

REMEMBERTake time to think about what you just read.

RETELLTell your partner what you just read.

SurveyO

rganize

1.

2.

3.

4.

Summ

arize

Survey * Organize * Summarize

Helping Your At-Risk Students Be More Successful Readers, Mary Howard, Bureau of Education and Research

Two Word Strategy

In Two Word Strategy children stop at the end of a reading selection and reflect on everything they know about that selection. They may think about events, facts, personal connections . . . . any aspects of the text. Then they must generate just two words that reflect their understanding.

This strategy, created by Linda Hoyt, requires recall but then moves children into inferential reasoning. It works very well with narrative text because it pushes children to express themes, personal connections, and description of the mood of the text.

the wait time between the question and the expected response gives children time to process their recollection, explore their own understanding, choose their words, and then be ready to engage in conversation. Struggling students need this wait time in order to be able to participate in discussions, and high-achieving readers benefit from the quiet pause, often using the time to evaluate and refine their contributions.

You may choose to have students write their words on a small piece of paper, turn to someone sitting close to them, and share what they’ve chosen and why. The “why” is an important part because that question engages children in justifying their opinions, describing how they made the connection to the words they selected. This partner sharing can be extended to include sharing with the group as well.

Choosing two words is not threatening to most young readers. Doing so takes their comprehension beyond recall to a higher level of understanding of the text.

Narrative Summary

__________________________________________________________ is about(title)

___________________________________________________________________ who(character)

_________________________________________________________________________(problem)

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

In the beginning _____________________________________________________

Then ______________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

At the end __________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

After reading this I feel________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Expository Summary

The main idea is_____________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

One important fact is__________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Another fact is ______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

The third fact is ______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Based on what I read_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Story Frame

Title: ________________________________________________________

Author: ______________________________________________________

The main character in this story is _____________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_________________________ who ______________________________

A problem develops when _______________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

This is a problem because _______________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

The problem is solved when ______________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

And then, at the end of the story, __________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Setting

Problem

Outcome

Outcome

Story Map

From Soar to Success, Houghton Mifflin Company

Title

Characters