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Summarising
Summarising is about finding the key ideas of the text. Duke and Pearson (2002) state that research shows
"…instruction and practice in summarizing not only improve students’ ability to summarize texts, but also their overall comprehension of text content” (p.221). A proven activity in summarising is the GIST procedure where students create 15 word summaries of increasingly larger texts. (Cunningham,1982 as cited in Duke and Pearson).
Summarising provides an opportunity for a student to verbalise, write or type their understanding of the text. An extension could be drawing or creating a visual display or performance of the summary. By summarising and sharing, students can discover any gaps in their understanding or misconceptions as well as validate their key understandings.
The NSW centre for Effective Reading (2013) states there are 6 steps for creating a summary:
1.List the main ideas;
2.Underline the most important;
3. Combine any you can;
4. Number in order;
5. Write the summary;
6. Edit the summary. (p.106)
"…instruction and practice in summarizing not only improve students’ ability to summarize texts, but also their overall comprehension of text content” (p.221). A proven activity in summarising is the GIST procedure where students create 15 word summaries of increasingly larger texts. (Cunningham,1982 as cited in Duke and Pearson).
Summarising provides an opportunity for a student to verbalise, write or type their understanding of the text. An extension could be drawing or creating a visual display or performance of the summary. By summarising and sharing, students can discover any gaps in their understanding or misconceptions as well as validate their key understandings.
The NSW centre for Effective Reading (2013) states there are 6 steps for creating a summary:
1.List the main ideas;
2.Underline the most important;
3. Combine any you can;
4. Number in order;
5. Write the summary;
6. Edit the summary. (p.106)
Summarising Activities
Headline: (From Visible Thinking)
This routine draws on the idea of newspaper-type headlines as a vehicle for summing up and capturing the essence of an event, idea, concept, topic, etc. The routine asks one core question: 1. If you were to write a headline for this topic or issue right now that captured the most important aspect that should be remembered, what would that headline be? A second question involves probing how students' ideas of what is most important and central to the topic being explored have changed over time: 2. How has your headline changed based on today's discussion? How does it differ from what you would have said yesterday? (http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_ files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines /Headlines/Headlines_Routine.html) Make a book square: (from: http://www.education.com/activity/article/make _a_book_square/) This is a like a graphic organiser created by the student with folds in the paper. It is in individual activity and can only be used with basic texts so is probably best as an introductory lesson to summarising. This can be done after or during reading. Give the students a square of paper and have them fold it into four. Open out the paper and have the students fold each point into the middle then number each point so it looks like the image below: Image from: http://www.education.com/activity/article/make_a_book_square/
Students can now open out the page a write the text title in the middle followed by a sentence summarising the main idea of the text. Students label the flaps 1. Introduction, 2. Middle, 3. Middle, 4. End/Conclusion. Under each flap, the student write an important or key idea from the text-- one from the beginning/introduction, two from the middle of the text, and one from the end. Students can illustrate and decorate their books square and share with the class. |
GIST:
This can be done as a whole group, small group or individual. As mentioned above, this involves students making a summary using a limited amount of words. The complexity of the text increases as students improve their summarising abilities. The Western Australia Department of Education (2013) extends this idea into a group setting thus: Students are challenged to read a text and summarise it in 66 words using a grid with 66 boxes. Students then write their summary in sentences. Students then form small groups and combine their summary sentences to create a group summary of 66 words. Groups then share their summary with the class followed by discussion of what was included and what was excluded and why. (p.168) Which is a good summary? The NSW Centre for Effective Reading (2013) suggests that after teaching students what a good summary is (ie. a shortened version of the text that picks out the main ideas and important details) to read a text together and present the students with a set of summaries of the texts. The students determine which summary is the best and why. This can be done in whole or small group and is an introductory activity. Summary Ball: (From Into the Book http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/pdfs/lessons /sum_lp_SummaryBall.pdf) This is a whole group activity done after reading a narrative. Students toss around a beach ball with the question starters Who, What, Why, How, When, Where written on it in permanent marker. When a student catches the ball, they generate a question from the word closet to their right thumb. The entire class generate a summary of the narrative by answering the questions. |