Summarizing and Note Taking
Summarizing is restating the essence of text or an experience in as few words as possible in a new, yet concise form.Summarizing and note taking requires the ability to synthesize information. Students must be able to analyze information and organize it in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details that is stated in their own words. Students can summarize information in different ways, including deleting information that isn't important to the overall meaning of the text, substituting some information, and keeping some information. As students practice these strategies, it enhances their ability to understand specific content for learning.
Sticky Notes
Strategy #: 7
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 2.8, 3.5, 3.6, 4.4, 4.5, 5.5, 5.6
Overview of the strategy
Sticky notes are used to mark sections in a text that students would like to return to, difficult sections for which they require clarification, for instance, or powerful or clear passages they would like to share with others. These stopping places can be used to foster discussion and inspire writing.
Strategy procedure
For fiction or narrative texts:
1. Have students read a text independently, placing sticky notes in spots about which they want to talk. These
may be parts they have questions about or parts they really enjoy, such as humorous sections and interesting
or vivid descriptions.
2. Begin discussion by having students share those places they have marked, explaining the places and why they
were chosen.
For informational/expository texts:
1. Have students read content area text independently, marking with sticky notes any sections they want to discuss. These may be sections they understand and can explain, sections that need further clarification (write
out specifics), or places for creating their own explanations, pictures, and diagrams. Students may add to the text, using sticky notes. They may add, for example, additional illustrations and diagrams, examples from their own backgrounds, or restatements of the author’s ideas.
2. Begin discussion by having students share the sections they have marked, including their questions
and additions to the text. Ask students to give their reasons for choosing these sections.
Source
· C. M. Santa, L. T. Havens, and E. M. Maycumber, Project CRISS (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1996).
Two Column Notes
Strategy #: 8
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 3.5, 3.6, 4.4, 4.5, 5.5, 5.6
Overview of the strategy:
Two-column notes help students think critically about text. There are several variations.
Strategy procedure:
1. Ask students to divide their papers into two columns.
2. They should label the left column Main Idea and the right column Details.
3. As students take notes, they should write the main idea on the left and the details of that main idea to the immediate right of the main idea.
4. As a new subtopic is discussed, students should add new main ideas and place those details next to that main idea.
Variations:
1. Opinion-Proof. The left column should be labeled Opinion and the right column Proof. Students write an opinion about the topic of study, character, or plot of a story and look for proof of their opinion in the text.
They write their proof next to the opinion that it supports. This can be used with both narrative and expository text.2. Question-Answer. Label the left column Question and the right column Answer(s). Write four questions in the left column to help identify and study the problem. Read in the text to find the answer(s) to the questions and write each answer in the Answer(s) column.
Source:
Write Source 2000 ( pp.362-365) and Step Up to Writing (9-1 to 9-21).
Questioning the Author
Strategy #: 9
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 3.5, 3.6, 4.4, 4.5, 5.5, 5.6
Overview of the strategy
Questioning the Author is a comprehension strategy that enables students to construct meaning from texts. It is grounded in the fact that many textbooks lack coherence and explanation and assume
unrealistic levels of background knowledge. This strategy asks readers to engage with text in a meaningful way.
Strategy procedure
1. Begin by discussing with students the idea that textbooks are written by ordinary people and that authors have
varying styles which may be unclear or even confusing to some readers. Alert students to the fact that they
may have to work at figuring out what an author is trying to say.
3. Read passages from selected texts.
4. Prompt students by asking
· “What is the author trying to tell you?”
· “Why is the author trying to tell you that?”
· “Is that expressed clearly?”
5. As students discover problems and confusions in the text, prompt them to revise those ideas in clearer
language by asking questions, such as
· “How could the author have expressed the ideas more clearly?”
· “What would you want to say instead?”
6. By transforming an author’s ideas into their own, students successfully comprehend text.
Source
· M. G. McKeown, I. L. Beck, and M. J. Worthy, “Grappling with Text Ideas: Questioning the Author,” The Reading Teacher 46 (1993): 560–566.
Selective Underlining
Strategy #:10
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning 3.6, 4.5, 5.6
Overview of the strategy
Selective underlining is a study strategy that enables students to understand what the author is trying to say and to organize information in texts.
Strategy procedure
1. Explain to students that, when used selectively, underlining sections of text and taking notes in the margins are helpful comprehension strategies. Explain that underlining is one way to organize information in texts.
2. Using a transparency of an assignment, model how you underline. First, read through the selection, then reread and begin underlining, not whole sentences, but words and phrases that get at key ideas. Note main
ideas with numbers or other notations. For key ideas, come up with short topic names, and write them in the margins.
3. Underline main ideas and details with different colored markers. For example, main ideas may be in blue while details are in red.
4. When main points are not explicit, generate your own main points, jot them in the margins, and color appropriately.
Source
· C. M. Santa, L. T. Havens, and E. M. Maycumber, Project CRISS (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1996).
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning 3.6, 4.5, 5.6
Overview of the strategy
Selective underlining is a study strategy that enables students to understand what the author is trying to say and to organize information in texts.
Strategy procedure
1. Explain to students that, when used selectively, underlining sections of text and taking notes in the margins are helpful comprehension strategies. Explain that underlining is one way to organize information in texts.
2. Using a transparency of an assignment, model how you underline. First, read through the selection, then reread and begin underlining, not whole sentences, but words and phrases that get at key ideas. Note main
ideas with numbers or other notations. For key ideas, come up with short topic names, and write them in the margins.
3. Underline main ideas and details with different colored markers. For example, main ideas may be in blue while details are in red.
4. When main points are not explicit, generate your own main points, jot them in the margins, and color appropriately.
Source
· C. M. Santa, L. T. Havens, and E. M. Maycumber, Project CRISS (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1996).
Summarizing Based on Rules
Strategy #: 11
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 6.5, 7.6, 8.6
Overview of the strategy
Summarizing is difficult, and students need to be shown a variety of ways to perfect their skill at this. Rules, models, graphic organizers, and collaboration are all effective. The Summarizing Based on Rules
strategy, based on the work of A. L. Brown and J. D. Day, allows students to follow a set of concrete guidelines while developing skill at summarizing.
Strategy procedure
1. Display and/or distribute the rules for summarizing. Then read and clarify the rules with the students.
2. Choose or write an informational text on the independent reading level of students, and distribute it. Have students read part or all of the text.
3. Choose a portion of the text that contains some trivia and some redundancies as well as several ideas, and display the text portion on the overhead. Read it aloud to students, and demonstrate deleting the trivia and redundancies by marking over them with a washable marker.
4. Continue reading, and pause to demonstrate how to superordinate; then, continue reading, and pause to allow the students to superordinate. Demonstrate finding or creating a main idea statement for the portion of text read. Demonstrate summarizing across paragraphs, if appropriate. Finally, demonstrate writing a summary,
using the main idea statement and including the superordination and the text left after trivia and redundancies have been deleted.
5. Choose or write another informational text on the independent reading level of students. Instruct students to read the text in its entirety individually or with partners. Instruct students to reread the text and apply the rules of summarizing, individually or with partners.
6. Repeat often with texts of increasing difficulties.
Source:
A. L. Brown and J. D. Day, The Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 22 (1983): 1–14.
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 6.5, 7.6, 8.6
Overview of the strategy
Summarizing is difficult, and students need to be shown a variety of ways to perfect their skill at this. Rules, models, graphic organizers, and collaboration are all effective. The Summarizing Based on Rules
strategy, based on the work of A. L. Brown and J. D. Day, allows students to follow a set of concrete guidelines while developing skill at summarizing.
Strategy procedure
1. Display and/or distribute the rules for summarizing. Then read and clarify the rules with the students.
2. Choose or write an informational text on the independent reading level of students, and distribute it. Have students read part or all of the text.
3. Choose a portion of the text that contains some trivia and some redundancies as well as several ideas, and display the text portion on the overhead. Read it aloud to students, and demonstrate deleting the trivia and redundancies by marking over them with a washable marker.
4. Continue reading, and pause to demonstrate how to superordinate; then, continue reading, and pause to allow the students to superordinate. Demonstrate finding or creating a main idea statement for the portion of text read. Demonstrate summarizing across paragraphs, if appropriate. Finally, demonstrate writing a summary,
using the main idea statement and including the superordination and the text left after trivia and redundancies have been deleted.
5. Choose or write another informational text on the independent reading level of students. Instruct students to read the text in its entirety individually or with partners. Instruct students to reread the text and apply the rules of summarizing, individually or with partners.
6. Repeat often with texts of increasing difficulties.
Source:
A. L. Brown and J. D. Day, The Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 22 (1983): 1–14.
Group Summarizing
Strategy #: 12
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 6.5, 7.6, 8.6
Overview of the strategy
Summarizing is difficult, and students need to be shown a variety of ways to perfect their skill at this. Rules, models, graphic organizers, and collaboration are all effective. The Group Summarizing strategy,
based on the work of M. W. Olson and T. C. Gee, allows students to divide a text into manageable portions and to learn from each other during and after the summarizing process.
Strategy procedure
1. Choose or write an informational text on the instructional level of students that has four subheadings in it.
Distribute the text, and instruct the students to read it.
2. Instruct the students to divide a piece of paper into four parts; do the same with a piece of chart paper for modeling and for posting student work.
3. Model putting each of the subheadings into a quadrant of the chart paper, and have the students do the same on their paper.
4. Divide the class into four groups, and assign each group one portion of the text to reread and summarize, using the back of the divided paper for drafting. The students should be encouraged to collaborate for summarizing and to use rules.
5. Instruct students to record their group summary in the appropriate quadrant on their personal divided paper. Post the four group summaries in the appropriate quadrants on the chart paper, and have each group present their summary to the rest of the class. Have the students write the summaries presented by each group on their
divided papers.
Source
· W. M. Olson and T. C. Gee, “Content Reading Instruction in Primary Grades: Perceptions and Strategies,” The Reading Teacher 45 (1991): 298–307.
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 6.5, 7.6, 8.6
Overview of the strategy
Summarizing is difficult, and students need to be shown a variety of ways to perfect their skill at this. Rules, models, graphic organizers, and collaboration are all effective. The Group Summarizing strategy,
based on the work of M. W. Olson and T. C. Gee, allows students to divide a text into manageable portions and to learn from each other during and after the summarizing process.
Strategy procedure
1. Choose or write an informational text on the instructional level of students that has four subheadings in it.
Distribute the text, and instruct the students to read it.
2. Instruct the students to divide a piece of paper into four parts; do the same with a piece of chart paper for modeling and for posting student work.
3. Model putting each of the subheadings into a quadrant of the chart paper, and have the students do the same on their paper.
4. Divide the class into four groups, and assign each group one portion of the text to reread and summarize, using the back of the divided paper for drafting. The students should be encouraged to collaborate for summarizing and to use rules.
5. Instruct students to record their group summary in the appropriate quadrant on their personal divided paper. Post the four group summaries in the appropriate quadrants on the chart paper, and have each group present their summary to the rest of the class. Have the students write the summaries presented by each group on their
divided papers.
Source
· W. M. Olson and T. C. Gee, “Content Reading Instruction in Primary Grades: Perceptions and Strategies,” The Reading Teacher 45 (1991): 298–307.
Collaborative Summarizing
Strategy #: 13
Reading component: Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 6.5, 7.6, 8.6
Overview of the strategy
Summarizing is difficult, and students need to be shown a variety of ways to perfect their skill at this. Rules, models, graphic organizers, and collaboration are all effective. The Collaborative Summarizing
strategy allows students to share and learn from each other while developing skill at summarizing.
Strategy procedure
1. Choose a text on the independent reading level of students, and ask them to read and summarize it. If appropriate, limit the number of sentences students may use.
2. Assign students to groups of four or five students, and instruct each member of the group to read his or her
summary aloud while the other group members highlight the parts of their own summary that are similar to the read summary. Continue until each member of every group has read his or her summary.
3. Instruct each student to examine any item in his/her summary not highlighted to see if it too is a key point.
4. Instruct each group to make a collaborative list of the key points highlighted in the summaries.
5. Instruct each student to rewrite his or her summary based on the collaborative list. If appropriate, limit the number of sentences students may use.
6. Allow students time to share their rewritten summaries and to discuss the improvements based on collaboration.
Source
· J. M. Hashey and D. J. Conners, “Learn from Our Journey: Reciprocal Teaching Action Research,” The Reading Teacher 57 (2003): 224–232.
About/Point
Strategy #: 14
Reading component:Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 6.5, 7.6, 8.6
Overview of the strategy
The About/Point strategy, developed by Morgan, Meeks, Schollaert, and Paul, is a versatile strategy for informational, persuasive, and expository text. With it, readers need to find the subject of the text and
state it succinctly; they must enumerate the points made, as well. With such a chart, students can find and record the main idea as well as the supporting details. They can also recognize the author’s
viewpoint or bias. Teacher modeling is essential.
Strategy procedure
1. Choose and distribute a short expository or persuasive text on the instructional reading level of students. Read the text to the students, or assign them to read it with partners.
2. Distribute and display the About/Point Chart (shown below), and model its use. Demonstrate, using ThinkAloud, how to find and record the main idea in as few words as possible in the space next to ABOUT. Demonstrate, using Think-Aloud, how to find and record the supporting details in the bulleted space next to POINT. In this space, the author’s viewpoint can be highlighted as well.
3. Choose and distribute another short text on the independent reading level of students. Assign the students to read the text, individually or with partners.
4. Instruct the students to complete an About/Point Chart for this text. Discuss the student answers with the class, listing all the points made on a group About/Point Chart. There should be a fair amount of agreement about the main idea and a fair amount of variation in the points list.
5. Repeat often with increasingly complex texts.
Source
· R. F. Morgan, J. W. Meeks, A. Schollaert, and J. Paul, Critical Reading/Thinking Skills for the College Student (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1986).
Reading component:Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning: 6.5, 7.6, 8.6
Overview of the strategy
The About/Point strategy, developed by Morgan, Meeks, Schollaert, and Paul, is a versatile strategy for informational, persuasive, and expository text. With it, readers need to find the subject of the text and
state it succinctly; they must enumerate the points made, as well. With such a chart, students can find and record the main idea as well as the supporting details. They can also recognize the author’s
viewpoint or bias. Teacher modeling is essential.
Strategy procedure
1. Choose and distribute a short expository or persuasive text on the instructional reading level of students. Read the text to the students, or assign them to read it with partners.
2. Distribute and display the About/Point Chart (shown below), and model its use. Demonstrate, using ThinkAloud, how to find and record the main idea in as few words as possible in the space next to ABOUT. Demonstrate, using Think-Aloud, how to find and record the supporting details in the bulleted space next to POINT. In this space, the author’s viewpoint can be highlighted as well.
3. Choose and distribute another short text on the independent reading level of students. Assign the students to read the text, individually or with partners.
4. Instruct the students to complete an About/Point Chart for this text. Discuss the student answers with the class, listing all the points made on a group About/Point Chart. There should be a fair amount of agreement about the main idea and a fair amount of variation in the points list.
5. Repeat often with increasingly complex texts.
Source
· R. F. Morgan, J. W. Meeks, A. Schollaert, and J. Paul, Critical Reading/Thinking Skills for the College Student (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1986).
Five W's
Strategy #: 15
Basics:
- This strategy can be adapted many different ways
- It is best for grades 1-3
Process:
- Once you have introduced the 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, and Why, have the students create their own chart with those 5. This can get as creative as wanted. One example is let the students look in old magazines and look for those words and then cut them out and glue them to paper.
- Once the students have each created their own person chart, assign the reading. This reading can also be individual to meet the specific levels of the student or it can be one story the whole class reads together.
- After they have done the selected reading, have them spend some time filling out their chart. Who were the characters in the story? What did they do? Where did the story take place? When did the story take place? Why did what happened, happen?
- After they have finished their charts, have them share it with a partner.
When:
- I would use this when students are reading their own books. Then I would have them come up and present it so that everyone can hear about each other’s books.
Source:
Morgan, M.F., Moni, K.B., & Joblin, A. (2009). Who? Where? What? When? Why? Question words-What do they mean? British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37 (3), 178-185.
Power Notes
Strategy #: 16
Purpose: To assist students in organizing information while differentiating between hierarchies of importance
Description: Power notetaking is a strategy used to record essential information while denoting its level of importance. Students who use Power Notes will be differentiating between levels of importance by designating a Power level to each information bit recorded in their Power Notes.
Procedure:
- Model the Power Notes strategy with a common example like animals: Power 1: Animals
- Select an appropriate, information rich reading, video, or other source of information to share with the students.
- Pass out a Power Notes structure with Power 1's and 2's already filled out
- Allow students to use the Power Notes organizing structure to take notes, filling in the remaining levels of Power with information from your primary source of material.
Power 2: Domestic
Power 3: Dogs
Power 4: German Shepherd
Power 4: Dalmatian
Power 4: Cocker Spaniel
Power 3: Cats
Power 4: Calico
Power 4: Siamese
Power 2: Wild
Power 3: Indigenous to Africa
Power 4: Giraffe
Power 4: Hippopotamus
Power 3: Indigenous to India
Power 4: Elephant
Source: Instructional Strategies for Engaging Learners http://its.guilford.k12.nc.us/act/strategies/Power_notes.htm
See Lesson 3, Click here
Fishbowl
Strategy #: 17
Basics:
Process:
When:
Source:
Green, T. (200). Responding and sharing: Techniques for energizing classroom discussions. The Clearing House, 73, 331-334.
Basics:
- Minimally need 6 participants
- Enough room to have and inner circle and an outer circle
- Approximately 15-30 minutes or more of time
Process:
- Have a small group of students arrange themselves in a circle in the center of the room. This group will be conducting a discussion or some kind of activity while the rest of the students watch, take notes, and come up with questions.
- Ground rules need to be set for the inside circle of what they are supposed to do and what is expected of them.
- Ground rules need to be set for the outside circle such as they need to listen quietly.
- After a set amount of time of the inside circle conducting their discussion or activity, have them stop and then discuss with the outside circle what they observed or any questions they may have.
When:
- I would most likely use this strategy to explain centers. I would have students sit down at a center and actually do the lesson planned for that activity while the other students watched and learned how to do it.
Source:
Green, T. (200). Responding and sharing: Techniques for energizing classroom discussions. The Clearing House, 73, 331-334.