Reading to Learn

Smooth Sailing into Summarization

Reading to Learn design

Ashton Barnes

Rationale: Summarization is an important part of comprehending text. In order to become better skillful readers, students must be able to find key points and main ideas throughout a story. This lesson will help students learn how to find the key points and separate the main ideas in a story in order to summarize a text after observing how the teacher models how to delete trivial information and pick out the important points.

Materials:

Whiteboard
Highlighter for each student.
Pen/pencil for each student.
Copies of the article “Oceans of Trash” for each student.
Copies of the article “Funny-looking Fish” for each student.

Procedures:

“Today we are going to learn how to summarize what we read. Does anyone know what it means to summarize? That’s right! It means to take the main ideas of a story and shorten it into something easier to explain. Summarizing can help us understand what we read. This is also called comprehension.”
“We are going to look at an article we have never read before called “Oceans of Trash”. This article addressed the problem of littering and the effects it has on our oceans. Do you think littering is effecting our oceans in a good or bad way?”
“Before we begin reading, we need to look at an important vocabulary word. Let’s look at the word biodegrade. We will use the article and look for a definition. The sentence says “Plastic can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, or break down into smaller parts, once it's thrown away.” In this sentence, biodegrade means “to break down into smaller parts”. The article is saying the plastic trash can’t break down into smaller parts and is continuing to effect our oceans. Let’s try to make up our own sentence using biodegrade. For example, if plastic could biodegrade, litter might not would be such a big problem.” Call on a few students to share example sentences.
Prior to reading the article, explain and model the steps to summarization. Using a whiteboard at the front of the class, read the first few lines of the article. We will mark out unimportant or repeated details, highlight important points, and form a main idea or topic sentence. “Before we read the article, we are going to learn the steps of summarizing. After reading a passage, we must delete any information that is not important to the main idea of this article or repeated. Second, we have to identify important information and details that will help us form a main idea or topic sentence. A topic sentence is the same thing as the main idea. Let’s look at the first few lines of “Oceans of Trash” on the board. [Litter isn’t just a problem in local parks and on sidewalks. It’s also threatening the health of the Earth’s oceans. According to a report released earlier this month by the United Nations (UN), our oceans are filling up with trash. The garbage gets into the oceans when people litter. Some boaters and beachgoers throw their trash directly into the water.] Do you see any information that is not important? Litter being a problem in local parks and sidewalks isn’t really important to litter being in the oceans, so let’s mark that first part out. What details do you see that you think are important? Garbage getting into our oceans by boaters and beachgoers is important, so let’s highlight that with our highlighter. Now let’s try to form a main idea about these first few sentences. The main idea would be that “garbage is being thrown into the ocean, effecting the health of our oceans”.
“I want each of you to pay close attention as you read the rest of this article on your own. As you read, remember to cross out any unimportant or repeating information with your pen/pencil. Use your highlighter to show important information in the article. This will be help you to write a summary after you’re finished reading. After you have finished reading the article, I want you to summarize what you’ve read in 5 sentences and remember to use complete sentences. Remember to use the information you highlight and not the information you mark out with your pen/pencil. Write the summary in your own words.” Have students work in groups of 2-3, pass out copies of “Oceans of Trash” and give 10-15 minutes to read and summarize.
Write comprehension questions on the board in the front of the class. “After you finish your summary, I want you in your groups to answer the 5 questions I have written on the board. I will use your answers to make sure each group understood what you read.”

What is most of the trash effecting our oceans made of?
What is the trash called that gets caught up in the ocean currents?
Name one effect the trash in the ocean has on land.
What is one way you can help this issue of trash in our oceans?
What is the name of the volunteer group that picks up trash from the beach?

“Now that everyone has had some time to read and summarize the article, I will call on a few of you to read your summaries. I will write some of the main ideas and key points on the board as you read them.” Call up to 7 students to read their summaries, taking volunteers first.
“Now that you have had practice summarizing a text, I want you to practice on your own. I am going to pass out a different article called “Funny-looking Fish” by Laura Davidson. This article talks about a bizarre looking fish that has been researched. I want you to dissect the article just like you did in groups. What is something we need to remember when summarizing? That’s right! Cross out information that isn’t needed and highlight the most important points. After you have finished, I want you to answer the questions I have written on the board. I will come around and collect your summaries and your answers to the questions.” Use the checklist below to assess summarizing and answers to questions to assess comprehension of the article.

What part of the ocean does this fish live in?
Where did researchers observe the fish?
What do the shape of the fish’s fins help it do?
Describe the fish’s eyes.
Why couldn’t researches examine the clear membrane on the fish’s head?

Checklist:

student name:
Did the student….
- Read the article thoroughly? YES/NO
- Pick out the most important ideas? YES/NO
- Delete unimportant/redundant information? YES/NO
- Comprehend the article? YES/NO
- Write a 5 sentence, short paragraph summarizing the main points that they highlighted? YES/NO

References:

Liz Messina, “Striking Summaries”. http://eam0040.wixsite.com/missmessina/reading-to-learn

“Oceans of Trash”. http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752034

“Funny-looking Fish”. http://kidsahead.com/external/article/827

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/horizons.html