Summarize

What: Summarizing is the process of determining the central ideas and most important details in a text.

Why effective? In order to summarize, readers must identify the central idea, the most relevant details, and synthesize the information into a concise understanding, which requires higher order thinking skills, inferencing, and an understanding of the text structure and purpose in general. In short, summarizing builds reading comprehension, and it is one of the nine instructional strategies proven to improve student achievement.

Resources:

• Inverted Pyramid - News stories
• Summarizing from AdLit.org - Printable graphic organizers and tips for the classroom
• 3-2-1 Summary - 3-2-1 summaries require the reader to identify 3 main ideas, two text connections, either to yourself or to the world, and one thought-provoking question.
• Boxes and Bullets Graphic Organizers - A strategy for identifying the central or main idea and its corresponding supporting details, which can lead to concise summaries

References

Marzano, R. J. (2002, Winter). Getting acquainted with the essential nine. ASCD, Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/curriculum-update/winter2002/Getting-Acquainted-with-the-Essential-Nine.aspx