Introduction to Summarizing

Activities Before Reading

• Ask students to:
• Review the headings and key words, as well as any pictures, graphs or maps within the text.
• Use these clues to brainstorm what the text is about.
• Think about what tools and strategies they'll use to help them build summaries -- note taking, highlighting, or using graphic organizers. This is a great opportunity to use digital text!

Activities During Reading

• Ask students to do the following on their own, in pairs, and in groups:
• Read and reread text as needed.
• Use planned/selected strategies and tools for marking text and taking notes.
• Pause at set intervals to jot down ideas, talk to a peer, or speak into a recording device.

Activities After Reading

• Ask students to:
• Collect their ideas.
• Review and organize their notes.
• Discuss their plans for their summaries with others.
• Draft their summaries and get feedback.
• Revise their summaries.
• Digital tools for outlining, drafting, and sharing are great for these activities! Consider allowing students to create visual summaries as well.

Discussion Questions

• How do you vary instruction if students are reading literature or informational texts?
• What strategies help students to dig more deeply when they reread the text?
• Which technology tools could help students after reading to draft their summaries?

Disclaimer

• Awarded through a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Grant #H327G090004-10, PowerUp What Works was developed by a team of experts in education, technology, differentiated instruction/UDL, and special education at the Center for Technology Implementation, operated by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in collaboration with the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST).
• This document contains information from other public and private organizations that may be useful to the reader; these materials are merely examples of resources that may be available. Inclusion of this information does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any products or services offered or views expressed. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs created and maintained by outside organizations and provided for the reader's convenience. The Department is not responsible for the accuracy if this information. Further, the programs/models/resources featured on this site have not been extensively evaluated by CTI. This website was created and is maintained by American Institutes for Research (AIR) through funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Award # H327G090004. For more information, send an e-mail to [e-mail].