Summarizing in the Elementary Grades

1. Summarizing in the Elementary Grades Suzanne Whisler ESU 4 March 2, 2012

2. Learning Targets • Understand the purpose and importance of summarizing. • Identify ways to implement summarizing in the classroom. • Review examples of summarizing activities.

3. Category Ave. Effect Size Percentile gain 1.61 45 Identifying similarities and differences Summarizing and note taking 1.00 34 Reinforcing effort and providing recognition .80 29 Homework and Practice .77 28 Nonlinguistic representations .75 27 Cooperative learning .73 27 Setting objectives/providing feedback .61 23 Generating and testing hypotheses .61 23 Questions, cues, and advance organizers .59 22

4. WHY do we ask kids to summarize?

5. How do you currently teach your students to summarize information?

6. Students & Summarizing • When you ask your students to summarize, what usually happens? • What do you want them to do? • Pull out the main idea • Focus on key details • Use key words and phrases • Get the “gist”

7. The time to begin teaching students how to summarize is on the first day of kindergarten. ~Elaine K. McEwan

8. One of the greatest gifts we can give our students… Rick Wormli, Summarization in Any Subject, 2005 The ability to identify important information, and Processes to structure that information for meaning and successful application Summarizing!

9. Kids Aren’t Born Knowing How To Summarize… • We have to teach our students to summarize. • Many teachers say: “Summarize what we’ve learned today.” But they don’t do direct instruction (that means teaching) on summarizing. • Use direct, explicit instruction to teach summarizing.

10. Summarizing is Procedural Summarizing is“procedural knowledge”. If students are expected to become proficient in procedural knowledge, they need to be able to“practice.” Mastering a skill or process requires a fair amount of focused practice. Practice sessions initially should be spaced very closely together. Over time, the intervals between sessions can be increased. Students also need feedback on their efforts. While practicing, students should adapt and shape what they have learned.

11. Gradual Release of Responsibility

13. Think Alouds • Name a strategy, a skill, or a task. • State the purpose of the strategy, the skill, or the task. • Use “I” statements. • Demonstrate how the strategy, the skill, or the task is used. • Alert learners about errors to avoid. • Assess the usefulness of the strategy or the skill.

14. Summarizing Think Aloud • So what it’s saying is . . . • The big idea here is . . . • I think the point is . . .

15. Modeling is key!

16. 10-2 Strategy • For every ten minutes of new learning provide students two minutes to process the new learning. • Time to process is essential to transfer learning to long term memory. • Take 2 minutes and reflect on summarizing, gradual release of responsibility, and think alouds.

17. Summarizing Strategies

18. Fiction Strategies

19. Narrative Framework • Elements commonly found in fiction • Use the framework to help students summarize stories. • Introduce the framework questions to students. • Ask students to think about the questions as you read the story aloud. • Read the story again stopping to let the students answer the questions. • Finally, use the answers to the questions to write a summary.

20. Marzano, 2001

22. Visualize a Video • Explain to students that as you read a story to them, you want them to make pictures in their minds, about 4 very important things that they will hear during the read aloud. • Main character – which person or animal is most described in the story • Setting – looking at the pictures and noticing what is in the background • Problem/Solution – takes more thinking and you have to look and listen for clues in the story

23. Visualize a Video

25. Setting Characters Title Problem Solution

27. Story Maps • Read Write Think Story Cube • http://bit.ly/xijYFx • Scholastic Interactive Story Train • http://bit.ly/ybVvC4 • Education Place • http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ • Enchanted Learning • http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/storymap/ • Have Fun Teaching • http://bit.ly/ylSWTp

28. What about DIBELS Retell? • In addition to having students summarize a story, provide them with opportunities to retell everything they can remember about a story. Elbow Partners Tell your neighbor everything you can about the story we just read.

29. Take Seven Steps • What have you heard so far that makes sense? • What strategy are you going to try with your students? • What are you still wondering about?

30. More Strategies

31. Model for Summarizing Steps in Rule-Based Summarizing for Younger Students Take out material that is not important to understanding. Take out words that repeat information. Replace a list of things with a word that describes the things in the list (e.g. use trees for elm, oak and maple.) Find a topic sentence. If you cannot find a topic sentence, make one up.

32. Traditional Rules-Based Summaries T - Trivia (Remove trivial material.) R - Redundancies (Remove redundant or repetitive information.) G - Generalize (Replace specifics or lists with general terms and phrases.) TS - Topic Sentence ( Determine the topic sentence, which is the subject plus the author’s claim about the subject. You might have to make one up if there isn’t one.) T - RG - TS (TARGETS)

33. Traditional Rules-Based Summaries • Use regularly, but don’t exclude alternative formats • Provide models for students • Provide opportunities for practice • Do think-alouds to model the process

34. Practice with Summarizing • With your elbow partner, review the rules-based summary directions. (TARGETS) • Apply the strategy to the “Penguin” paragraph and write a summary. • Practice doing it as a “Think Aloud” with your elbow partners. Google Docs & Word Documents

35. Paragraph Shrinking A strategy designed to develop comprehension through main idea identification. • Steps: • Name the who or what. (The main person, animal or thing) • Tell the most important thing about the who or what. • Say the main idea in 10 words or less. • (Fuchs, Mathes, and Fuchs)

36. Question Card Paragraph Shrinking Card Questions to Ask Name the Who or What Tell the most important thing about the who or what. Say the main idea in 10 words or less. privilege.

37. One Word Summaries • Ask students to write one word that summarizes the lesson’s topic. • Ask them to explain why they chose that word. ABCYahttp://bit.ly/w2XqdQ Wordlehttp://www.wordle.net/ Tagxedohttp://www.tagxedo.com/

38. One Sentence Paraphrase • Requires students to synthesize information • Puts focus on bigger picture learning rather than specific details • Steps in the process • Model the process • After reading, put away or hide passage • Students write one sentence that reflects their understanding • Share sentences, looking for similarities & differences

39. Inner/Outer Circle • Form two circles with equal numbers of people, one inside the other • Inside faces outside, speaking distance apart • Pose a summarizing question, allow time for discussion, one minute for each • Rotate the outer or inner circle to change pairings, pose additional summarizing questions

40. Partners A and B In pairs: One person A, other person B A- talk non-stop about what we’ve read about so far today for one minute B- talk non-stop for one minute (B can’t repeat anything)

41. Carousel Brainstorming Place topics on chart paper around the room Divide students into small groups Each group has a different color marker and goes to a different chart Students write ideas/facts about the concept on the chart Call time and rotate to next chart Each time students arrive at new chart, they review what is already there and add to the list

42. Ask students to reflect on what they have learned about the topic. Use the Final Countdown strategy. First Tier - Write the three most important facts that the student learned. Second Tier - Write two questions that the student still has about the topic. Top Tier - Write one way in which the student can connect the topic to material previously learned. from Instructional Strategies for Engaging Learners Guilford County Schools TF, 2002 Summarizing with the Final Countdown

44. Use the 3-2-1 strategy to summarize a topic. Write 3 things you found out Write 2 interesting things you learned Write 1 question you still have Summarizing with 3 - 2 - 1 www.readingquest.org Penny Juggins of Fairfax County, VA

46. Charades • Divide the class into 2 teams. • Then have the students within each team form a small group of three or four. • Hand out slips of paper naming concepts, facts, people or skills you’ve been teaching. • Ask small groups to discuss what they know about the topics and determine how to act out the words. • When everyone is ready, reassemble the two teams and have the small groups present their pantomimes to the other small group on their team.

47. The Frayer Model Essential Characteristics Nonessential Characteristics Topic Nonexamples Examples

48. Share One; Get One • Give the students a note card or sticky note. • Ask the students to record 1 to 3 different concepts, facts, or skills they learned from a lesson. • Ask students to walk around the room, share their card with another student, and then trade cards with that student. • Continue the process. • Share out as a whole class or in small groups.

49. Sum It Up Directions • Get a “Sum It Up” sheet. • Read the entire selection (chapter, article, handout, primary source, etc.) and as you read list the main idea words on the “Sum It Up” sheet. • Write a summary of the selection using as many of the main idea words as possible. Put one word in each blank. Imagine you have only $2.00 and that each word you use is worth ten cents. • You’ll “sum it up” in 20 words!

50. Sum It Up