Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
John Munro
Summarizing is key aspect of reading. It helps readers abstract the main ideas of a text. This is the
knowledge that they add to what they already know. In the process of reading a text, we retain in
short term memory a summary of what we have read earlier while processing a later portion of the
text and cross-reference them.
After reading a paragraph aloud, ask readers:
How could you say the main ideas in
the paragraph in one sentence ?"
This procedure directs readers to identify the main ideas in each sentence, to evaluate them to see
how they are related to one another, select the more general ideas and to integrate them into a
statement. They restate the gist of a text in as few words as possible. It involves both
generalize,
remove redundancy,
what you expect to happen, what you know about the topic
Because we are using several sources of knowledge at once, we can recognize when the meanings
suggested by different sources clash. This tells us that everything 'doesn't add up' and that we may
need to re-read what we have just read.
1
As we read, we summarize or prcis the sentences and paragraphs we have read. We dont
remember in detail what each sentence said but just the main ideas. We abstract from what we read
the main ideas or summary. We continue to compile this as we read the text.
Practise summarizing : What knowledge and skills do you use ?
The following text is taken from Humanities alive 1 published by John Wiley & Sons Australia,
Ltd in 2005. As you read each paragraph, summarize it. As you do so, keep track of the
knowledge you use and the actions you take.
Pyramid builders
After you have read each paragraph, summarize it.
Summary
BUILT ABOUT 4500 years ago, the 80 or so pyramids in Egypt are the oldest
human made structures in the world. Of these, the famous three at Giza, near
Cairo, are the most impressive. Their construction is an amazing feat of
technology. Yet no-one knows for sure how they were built. The ancient
Egyptians had only simple tools made of stone, wood and bronze. They had no
cranes, computers, rock cutters or heavy earthmoving equipment.
Pyramids and rock tunnels
Pyramid mysteries
From about 2500 BC, the mummies
Some say that the technology of the
and treasures of important people such pyramids is so astonishing that they must
as pharaohs were usually entombed in have been built by an alien intelligence.
pyramids. This practice lasted only
Another view is that those who built the
about 500 years, though, because
pyramids at Giza, and the Great Sphinx
robbers were a major problem.
that guards them, used knowledge and
Thereafter, tombs for such people
skills passed down from a very old, but
were dug into mounds and cliffs in
highly advanced civilization that existed
the Valley of the Kings. But even
way before the Old Kingdom in Egypt.
these were not completely safe. Over
time, they were all raided, except one Heavenly sails
the tomb of the pharaoh
One treasure the robbers missed in the
Tutankhamen.
Great Pyramid was a 43-metrelong boat,
The Great Pyramid at Giza, built
built to carry Chufa to the afterlife. It
around 2550 BC, was the tomb of the was not found until 1954. It had been
pharaoh Khufu. The other two were
broken into 1224 pieces before being
built for his son Khafre and grandson
packed into a rock cavity near the base of
Menkure. The Great Pyramid, the
the pyramid. The cavity was so tightly
biggest of the three, is close to 150
sealed that when archaeologists broke into
metres high and contains around 2
it they could still smell the cedar oil in
300 000 granite blocks, each of which the wood after 4500 years!
weighs around 2.5 tonnes.
Step 1
Preview :
What is
the text
about ? I
may need
to read
the
paragraph
twice.
Step 5 How
can I say it
best ? The
readers say
the summary
in a complete
sentence in
their own
words and
clean it up.
These are the steps you need to teach readers to use to summarize a paragraph:
teach them first how to identify the details and then to select the key ideas in a paragraph.
They can underline each word they think is a detail and then select the key ideas.
they ask themselves : Which key words are included in other key words. They can
eliminate the repeated key words from their list.
A summary
sentence
A headline
A topic sentence
Summarizing at GKR
Readers prepare themselves to summarize. They say how they will do this as they read each
paragraph. They can say:
their purpose or goal for summarizing; to pick out and remember the key ideas in the text
the types of clues they will look for to comprehend the text and to summarize it, for
example, they say they will note and paraphrase the topic sentence, underline the key
ideas, note the last sentence of the paragraph.
Having read a paragraph of 2-3 sentences ask the readers to reread the text and
marking the text. Readers can underline or highlight the details in a paragraph and read it
again to classify them as either main ideas (MI) or supporting ideas (SI).
MI
MI
Ancient Egypt did not need to import its
SI
food. At first the only items imported were
SI
those wanted by the pharaohs household
SI
honey and cedar oil, for example, which
Look back over the text and identify the main ideas and consolidate these in sentences.
Students say what they know now that they didnt know earlier.
Students can write the review the main ideas in each paragraph by writing them in speech balloons
on the text. They can discuss the value of looking at the text in this way.
BUILT ABOUT 4500 years ago, the 80 or so pyramids in Egypt are the oldest human made structures in the world.
Of these, the famous three at Giza, near Cairo, are the most impressive. Their construction is an amazing feat of
technology. Yet no-one knows for sure how they were built. The ancient Egyptians had only simple tools made of
stone, wood and bronze. They had no cranes, computers, rock cutters or heavy earthmoving equipment.
Pyramids and rock tunnels
From about 2500 BC, the mummies and treasures of
important people such as pharaohs were usually
entombed in pyramids. This practice lasted only about
500 years, though, because robbers were a major
problem. Thereafter, tombs for such people were dug
Pyramid mysteries
Some say that the technology of the pyramids is so
astonishing that they must have been built by an alien
intelligence. Another view is that those who built the
pyramids at Giza, and the Great Sphinx that guards them,
used knowledge and skills passed down from a very old, but
Begin by having readers summarize two sentences and then three or more sentences. You can
develop the notion of the topic sentence and ask students to find the topic sentence in a text. They
can also have activities in which they match each sentence with its head-line.
These include the following :
1.
After reading a paragraph aloud, ask readers What is the main idea in this paragraph ?
2.
Have readers summarize two sentences initially and then three or more sentences.
Van Gogh knew that colours can produce moods, emotions and feelings in those
looking at paintings. Night Life in Arles by van Gogh has colours that lead to strong
feelings.
He referred to these colours are blood red and pale sulphur. He used them to form
an atmosphere that he said was like a devils furnace to express the powers of
darkness in a low bar. His paintings were strong through this use of colours.
3.
Develop the notion of the topic sentence. Find the topic sentence in the following.
Its state at any time depends on its temperature. Water can also be ice and steam. Ice is the solid form of water and
steam is its gas form. Water turns into ice at 0o Celsius and into steam at 100o Celsius. You can smell petrol when
your parents are filling up the car because some of the liquid petrol evaporates into a gas. Clothes dry in a drier because
the water evaporates from them. A particular chemical can be in different states at different times. Butter melts when it
is spread on warm toast but not on bread.
4.
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Letter Sentence
I feel pain, enormous pain, Kolesnikov's widow, Olga, said on the NTV
television channel after news of her husband's dying words emerged.
The five week trial heard that Smith was obsessed with an American, Donna
Wilkinson and wanted to 'delete' his family so he could flee to Florida.
The motive behind the break-in is not known but experts think it could be the
early phase of a 'data hostage' case.
Women who do not work spend about 180 minutes each day playing with ,
reading to or taking care of their children
"It's high time the advertising industry woke up to itself and starting watching
what its members do", he said.
People in the bush will pay less to get medical advice.
"If you have strong local governments in the regions then you find you are
responsible to the local problems " she said.
He said he could think of no better place for Australia to start to celebrate the
centenary.
In June, DJ to his friends went to Pyongyang for an historic meeting with Kim.
5.
"One decent bushfire could wipe out the entire population in the wild" she said.
main idea
topic sentence
supporting details
summarize
Ask students to suggest what summarizing means and the key actions it involves.
6.
Have students review the actions they use to summarize, for example, to
7.
Ask students to suggest the topic word for a set of words, to example
Cake,
presents,
decorations,
party hats
Ruler,
pencil,
scissors,
books
Egg salad,
peanut butter
ham,
roast beef
Computer,
television,
VCR,
radio,
telephone
Lion,
bear,
giraffe,
emu,
possum
Topic
word
8.
Find the topic sentence. Ask readers to read one or more paragraphs and select the topic
sentences and the supporting ideas. The readers can discuss this is small groups, use the
symbols mentioned earlier and record their analysis as shown below. They can also say
how they decide whether a sentence is a topic sentence. Practice Worksheet to practice
finding topic sentences and supporting ideas: (These could be redone to include graphics,
7
9.
Topic sentence
Supporting ideas
Draw a map of the text. Drawing a map of the text by summarizing it and identifying the
key and subordinate ideas can help students to understand it.
Pyramid builders
Review and consolidate what has been read by reading silently a summary text.
There are two purposes here: for students
(1)
to identify what they have learnt by reading and to link the new knowledge with what they
already know and
(2)
say as briefly as they can what they have learnt, record it in writing, in pictures or in
distinctive gestures,
say the questions they can now answer,
say how the new ideas are similar to and different from what they knew
work on cloze activities in which they complete a written retelling or summary of text they
read
answer written questions about the topic,
write questions they can now answer, work in a small group to make up 5 difficult
questions that are answered another group,
write a summary of the knowledge they have gained and (8) draw network of semantic
maps showing the ideas learnt and the links between them.
Useful activities to achieve this include students reading silently a relevant sample of text,
showing comprehension, reviewing and consolidating what has been read in a range of activities:
cloze activities in which students complete a written retelling or summary of text they read.
activities in which students answer written questions about the topic or write questions that
they can now answer. Each group of students can make up 5 difficult questions that can be
answered by thinking about the text. These are given to another group that frames up a
response.
activities in which they match questions with relevant text or match topic sentence with text.
students in small groups write a summary of the knowledge they have gained.
students draw network of semantic maps showing the ideas learnt and the links between
them.
1
2
3
4
The framework provides a useful means for keeping track of the ideas mentioned in the text and
assists students to direct their thinking. As well, it provides a means for gathering information as
one reads. It can become part of the student's knowledge of how to read and learn.
Example : VCE English Issue Children Overboard. To assist them to work on each article use the
following grid. It is shown for Democracy's a leaking boat by Tessa Morris - Suzuki ( Age
39/1/02, p 13)
Par
a
1
Key concepts
Paraphrase
age-old cautionary
tale of democracy
ignore human rights
erosion of civil
liberties
current wave of boat
people
taking a hard line
10
Question it
answers
What is a key
warning to a
democracy ?
Summary
When governments
ignore the rights of a
group, the culture
risks losing civil
liberties
Taking a severe
approach to boat
people was seen as
vote winner by both
parties
migrant detention
centres
subsidiary of foreign
multinational
corporation
Tampa
John Howard's
'pacific solution'
policy
ever thickening
secrecy
media access
troubling questions
11
What questions
can we ask
about how are
migrant
detention
centres are run
?
What other
events
prevented us
from answering
the questions
above ?
How has the
government
hidden its
policy from
citizens ?
Before we could
answer these
questions, other
events occurred.
What events
didn't receive
much media
attention ?
Events, such as
bashed detainees
settling didn't receive
attention.
Allow students to build ideas in each code' You can use a template to design activities to develop
the idea in each code; begin with episodic and action code and re-code it .
Code ideas culturally, socially,
historically
How has prejudice been used /
described in history ?
How does it occur in different
communities ?
What problems does it cause ?
How can communities control it?
get their knowledge ready for learning by organising and recoding what they know to a
verbal linguistic form.
use the word level procedures to add unfamiliar verbal concepts to their vocabulary.
paraphrase or say in their own words each sentence in the text read.
review and consolidate their comprehension of what has been learnt, linking it with what
they already knew.
The teaching procedures initially cue students to use them. Gradually students learn to talk about
what they do when they use the strategies, to evaluate their usefulness and decide when to use
them. This helps them build self instruction strategies that
These procedures can gradually be learnt by students as 'self dialogue' or 'self instruction'
statements that students can learn to use to convert information to knowledge and to enhance the
knowledge. They can use the self talk to manage and direct their learning by reading. As an
intermediate step students can write the strategies on small cards and use these to self cue.
Teachers cue
students to
use them
explicitly
Students can learn to use the strategies in a self diagnostic way. Each strategy leads to a particular
type of knowledge about a text. When they have difficulty comprehending a text they can use the
sequence to identify which strategies they have used effectively and which ones they may need to
re-apply. Do they, for example, believe they understand a sufficient portion of the key concepts
in the text ? Can they say in their own words enough of the sentences ?
Teachers can also use the sequence in a diagnostic way. When students have difficulty learning
from a particular text, teachers can identify which aspects have not been sufficiently well
understood and re-implement activities for those procedures.
Teachers learn to implement the high reliability literacy teaching procedures
This work aims to assist teachers, subject area faculties and departments and schools to implement
the procedures systematically by learning to embed them in regular teaching. Several professional
development procedures are relevant. Teachers need to
(1)
see the teaching procedures modelled and implemented in their classes for content they are
teaching,
(2)
develop action plans that gradually incorporate each procedure into their teaching,
(3)
explore and trial particular HRLTPs in small scale action research projects as part of their
regular teaching (Calhoun, 2002),
(4)
be coached in the implementation of the procedures and
(5)
to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedures, discuss them with colleagues (Routman,
2002) and to report the outcomes of the evaluation to their department or faculty group, for
example, in the form of a poster.
Part of this has involved learning to embed the procedures in regular teaching. One of the
materials that has assisted here is the following planning and review sheet.
13
Planning and review sheet for mapping literacy teaching strategies into lessons in week
Content
for
session
paraphrase
text
say questions
the text read
answers
Evaluate
each
activity
14
summarise
text
work on key
words
15