1. Strategy #8
Summarize
then
Synthesize

2. Summarize Connect to the Text
Summarizing aids text comprehension and the reader’s ability to “Connect to the text.”
Connect to the Text

3. What do we already know? What do you know about
summarizing? What words come to mind?
2. How do you summarize?
Please take some time to think about these two sets of questions and begin to formulate your own answers.
Now find some people near you and share your two lists: what you know about summarizing and how to summarize.

4. Summarize -- to present the substance or general idea in brief form;
to create a concise, condensed
account of the original;
Webster defines the word in this way (Read slide). We need to break content into manageable succinct pieces. The word “sum” comes from Latin, meaning “highest or super.” In some ways, summarizing is giving a higher level response.
to cover the main points

5. Discuss -- Why is summarizing important in your content area?
Please respond to these questions. (Give time.) Now discuss your thoughts with those around you.
Direction to the Presenter:
Ask for the group members’ responses --- use an easel up front to record some of the answers, if desired.
Share with participants ~ Some possible challenges to summarizing may be: 1) Students write down everything, 2) Write nothing, 3) They copy word for word, 4) Write way too much, or 5) Do not write enough.
Our goal would be to have students: 1) pull out main ideas, 2) focus on key details, 3) use key words and phrases, 4) break down the larger ideas, 5) write only enough to convey the gist, 6) take succinct but complete notes.
What are the challenges in teaching it?

6. Why summarize?
“Practice in summarizing improves students’ reading comprehension of fiction and nonfiction alike, helping them construct an overall understanding of a text, story, chapter, or article.”
(Rinehart, Stahl & Erickson, 1986)
(Allow participants to read the slide.)

7. Teaching
Summarization

8. How Can I Teach My Students to Summarize?
Newspaper Articles
Short Text
Internet Source
Passage from Content Text
Picture Books
Teaching summarizing is no small undertaking. It’s one of the hardest strategies for students to grasp, and one of the hardest strategies for you to teach. You have to repeatedly model it and give your students ample time and opportunities to practice it.

9. Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?
Be a News Reporter
Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?
After students have read one of the suggested texts mentioned on the previous slide, some type of modeling and follow-up activity is needed. Teachers need to model key elements related to summarizing by use of the overhead or chart paper. The following are critical components to students’ understanding of the overall process of summarizing text: 1) pulling out main ideas, 2) focusing on key details, 3) using key words and phrases, 4) breaking down the larger ideas, 5) writing only enough to convey the gist, and 6) taking succinct but complete notes.
Answering the basic questions – Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? is a strategy to assist students in developing the concepts above.
Of particular importance in summary is, “Who did what?” Pointing out that students should pay attention to introductions and last paragraphs of a text, first and last sentences of paragraphs, and bold-faced words may help in summarizing.

10. Reciprocal Teaching The most important ideas in this text are…
This book was about…
First… Next… Then… Finally…
This story takes place…
The main characters are…
The problem occurs when…
When using the strategy of reciprocal teaching, the teacher and students take turns modeling summarization. With this technique, students are provided with many opportunities to observe others summarizing and also to participate in creating their own summaries. Students are encouraged to use the prompts listed in this slide to guide their summaries.

11. Steps to identify the topic ~
Look at the title. Look at the first and last paragraph. Ask yourself: “What is discussed through the whole section?” Look at captions, pictures, words in bold, and headings for clues to the topic. What do they all have in common?
In order to teach students how to identify the topic, Jeffrey Wilhelm, in his book Improving Comprehension with Think-Alouds Strategies, recommends the steps listed on the slide.
In addition, remind students that the topic must include all the major details and events from the selection and what they have in common.

12. Identify All Details/Major Events
Authors often plant important ideas in:
 Details that reflect the title
 Details at the beginning of text
 Details at the end
 Surprises or revelations
 Repetitions
 Lots of attention given to a detail
 Subheads and italicized text
 Changes in character, tone, mood, setting, plot
 A question near the beginning or end
Allow time for participants to read slide.

13. Students Evaluate Summaries
1. If you have not read the text yourself, would you be able to understand what it was about from the summary? Why or why not? 2. Is there anything important that should be added? What is it? 3. Is there anything unimportant that should be be left out of the summary? What is it?
It is critical for students to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of their summaries. These sets of questions are taken from Teach Them ALL to Read by Elaine McEwan.

14. First text Fourth text chunk chunk Third text Second text chunk chunk
Key word (s)
Summarizing
First text
chunk
Key word (s)
Summarizing
Fourth text
chunk
Title
of Text
to be
Summarized
Key word (s)
Summarizing
Third text
chunk
Key word (s)
Summarizing
Second text
chunk
This graphic is also taken from Teach Them ALL to Read: Catching the Kids Who Fall Through the Cracks. It forces students to limit themselves to only a few words, asking them to weigh the significance of various facts.

15. Reading Skills Important
Somebody/Wanted/But/So Then
Reading Skills Important
to Summarization
Conflict/Resolution
Character Differences, Goals,
and Motivations
Main Ideas and Details
Making Generalizations
Another instant organizer is the technique called Somebody Wanted But So – or - Somebody Wanted But So Then. This technique allows the reader to recognize the relationship between the main character and the problem in the story. It also aids in understanding the conflict and resolution – important to summarization.

16. Excerpt from The Necklace
Mrs. Loisel wanted to be rich and wanted to go to the dance. BUT she didn’t have the right clothes and jewelry. SO she shamed her husband into buying her a dress and she borrowed a necklace. THEN Mrs. Loisel wanted to give back the necklace after she wore it. BUT she had lost it. SO she and her husband had to find a new one and THEN borrow money to buy it so she could return the replacement to her friend.
Beers in her book, When Kids Can’t Read, offers this example, taken from “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Take a moment and read the passage. Allow time for participants to read slide.
Notice how this technique calls the students’ attention to critical details that lead them through the process of summarization.
There is a handout that gives further information about this technique. Give participants the appropriate handout. There is one for elementary and another for secondary.

17. Sum It Up!
“She put on two woolen suits, one on top of the other. Then she put on two leather suits and covered her bulky outfit with a skirt.”
Excerpt from Ruth Law Thrills a Nation (Brown, 1993)
In The Reading Strategies Notebook (pgs ), there are numerous ideas for summarizing. These notebooks are available in every school’s professional library. Feel free to make copies of any of these strategies.
One of the ideas presented asks students to use as few words as possible to summarize a passage. In the example above, the summary sentence could be She wore lots of clothes.
As you are working with writing summaries, you could add the incentive for your students that every word in their summary will cost $1.00.

18. 3 – 2 – 1 Strategy 3 Things You Found Out 2 Interesting Facts
1 Question You Still Have
One website with exceptional ideas is <
The technique could be modified to reflect your subject content. For example, in a social studies classroom, the teacher could instruct students to find 3 differences between feudalism and nation-states, 2 similarities, and 1 question they still have.

19. Synthesize Connect to the Text
Synthesizing information aids text comprehension and the reader’s ability to “Connect to the text.”
Connect to the Text

20. Synthesis is…
“The process of ordering, recalling, retelling, and recreating into a coherent whole the information with which our minds are bombarded every day. It is the uniquely human trait that permits us to sift through a myriad of details and focus on those pieces we need to know and remember.” (Keene/Zimmerman)
Keene and Zimmerman in Mosaic of Thought define synthesis as… (Read slide).

21. SYNTHESIZE – Beyond Summary
together
The putting
of parts or
elements
so as to
form a whole
Keene states, “I combine new ideas with what I already know to get something new and different.”

22. Kids say… “Synthesizing is like inferring, only super-sized!”
“When you synthesize you say
in your head, I used to think this, but
now I’m
thinking this.”
“When I
synthesize, my
mind is changing, my ideas are changing, my
thinking is
changing.”
Let’s hear student descriptions about synthesizing from noted authority Debbe Miller. (Allow participants to read the slide.)
Wording such as:
“Now I understand that...”
“I have learned that…”
“This gives me an idea…”
means synthesizing is taking place.

23. Bringing It home…
“As families gather and share the events of the day, they are synthesizing, sorting out the unimportant, and creating individual interpretations of the day.”
Keene, Zimmerman
The conversation that takes place around the dinner table brings in each person’s prior knowledge, questions, retelling, and judgments, creating a version different than each individual’s version.

24. Synthesizing How is synthesizing important to your content area?
What are the challenges in teaching it?
Discuss these questions with staff near you. (Get responses.)
You may have an idea of why it’s important, but you do not know how to move your students from simply summarizing to synthesizing. Perhaps some of the ideas that follow later in this presentation will help.

25. Ways to
Synthesize

26. Bloom’s Taxonomy Cues for Synthesis Compose Construct Combine
Develop
Organize
Perform
Produce
Propose
Rewrite
Combine
Integrate
Modify
Rearrange
Substitute
Plan
Create
Design
Invent
These cues provide a useful structure for teachers to use to draw students into synthesizing.

27. Two-Word Strategy Read a thought-provoking article.
Ask students to be silent and then to write only two different words that reflect their thinking about a passage.
After selections, students should tell others the words, why they chose them, and how they relate to their lives.
Linda Hoyt suggests this technique in her book, Revisit, Reflect, Retell.

28. Strip Poem Each person writes one item that he/she
knows about the subject studied.
The strips of paper are read aloud in a small group.
The group organizes itself in some coherent form.
The group reads the “poem” to the class.
The Paper Strips poem, as suggested by Ocskus, gives a wonderful way to synthesize knowledge learned.

29. Save the Last Word for Me
Directions for Students:
1. Select a quote from the article you’ve read. Write your thought/ idea/question about the quote.
2. In a small group, give your quote and allow all others to respond.
3. At the end, share your comments.
Short, Harste & Burke describe this technique in their book – Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers. It has been around for awhile but continues to be an effective synthesis. This experience requires the reader to select an important idea and then respond with some ownership of the statement.

30. Character Hot Seat
Ask student to sit in a chair in front of the room and assume a character from their book.
Ask student various questions about his/her character’s life.
Move to a higher level and ask his/her opinion on different subjects clearly important to that character.
Drama is a wonderful avenue for synthesis. Out of the facts and reading, a character is created. You as a teacher can encourage the “actor” to talk in the dialect of the character, using the imagined mannerisms and appropriate responses.

31. Reformulations ~ You can turn…
…Poems into stories or letters
…Expository text into narrative text
…Diaries or memoirs into plays, newspaper articles, or television scripts
…Texts into comic books, letters, or interviews
Beers in Why Children Can’t Read suggests doing reformulations as a way of synthesis. Students could also write a letter to an author or write a book review.

32. Power Notes Giving Notes a Power Rating
Power Notes were shared as an effective strategy earlier in the year. We are emphasizing this strategy again because it has so much potential as we work with our students to synthesize information.
You may choose to share the handout on Power Notes at this time. It gives more information on the technique.

33. read and write. In addition ~
Power Notes
Power Notes contribute to students’ awareness of text structure as they
read and write. In addition ~
Students learn to read actively and to prioritize main ideas from details as they study.
Power Notes can be integrated into a number of other activities to help students perceive how information is interconnected.
Classifying and sub-dividing information is a natural mental activity, and it is an essential process in classroom learning. But many of our students struggle with perceiving integral relationships in material and, as a result, have difficulty distinguishing attributes, examples, and other details from main ideas. Power Notes provide a systematic way to help students organize information for their reading, writing, and studying.
As you read, you focus less on specific details. Instead, you organize your thinking around main ideas, such as causes of current world economic problems and possible impacts on American citizens. As a mature reader, you can “separate the wheat from the chaff.”
Power Notes are an effective way to help students distinguish main ideas from supporting details. They are a variation of outlining.

34. corresponding details and examples
Power Notes
Power 1 ~
main point or category
Power 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s ~
corresponding details and examples
Read Slide.

35. An example of Power Notes
1. Penalties in Football 2. On Offense Holding Clipping 2. On Defense Off Sides Pass Interference Grabbing Face Mask 2. On Special Teams
Start by modeling Power Notes with categories familiar to the students. Point out how the powers relate to each other: power 2’s offer examples or elaboration of power 1’s, power 3’s provide examples or elaboration of power 2’s, and so on.
As you model Power Notes, show how indenting helps you recognize how the powers relate to each other, as demonstrated in the example on the slide.

36. Power 1 Power 2 Power 2 Power Notes Power 3 Power 3 Power 3 Power 3
Allow time for participants to view the visual or graphic representation.
Power 3
Power 3
Power 3
Power 3

37. Don’t Forget to Model I do, you watch. You do, I watch.
I do, you help.
You do,
I watch.
I help.
As we have discussed in each PowerPoint, a gradual release of responsibility is needed for every strategy. This slide gives us one quick way of saying it.

38. Proficient Readers Are…
Aware of changes in their conclusions about text; actively revising meaning
Monitoring the overall meaning and themes in text
Aware of text elements in fiction: character, setting, and conflict/resolution
Aware of text patterns in nonfiction
Employing cause/effect, time order, and problem/solution
Using their knowledge to make decisions about the overall knowledge
Keene sees these benchmarks in proficient readers who synthesize.

39. Proficient Readers (After Reading)
Can express, in a variety of means, ideas and themes relevant to the overall meaning of the text
Create in an original way a sum of information from the text, from other texts, and their own ideas and opinions
Use it to share, recommend, and CRITICALLY REVIEW the book
When one summarizes, synthesizes, determines importance, or draws conclusions, one is asking a reader to do critical thinking – evaluating credibility, reliability, and aesthetic quality of a work.

40. “A mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
According to Harvey and Goudvis, “When we synthesize information, we take individual pieces of information and combine them without prior knowing… At its best, synthesis involves merging new information with existing knowledge to create an original idea, see a new perspective, or form a new line of thinking to achieve insight.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes states what we hope will happen to all of our readers. Summarizing and synthesizing are worthwhile strategies needed for an ever-changing world.