Summarizing
Summarizing means that learners can condense a text into its most important parts and communicate it in their own words. In social studies, learners need to summarize to generate main ideas and connect central ideas from various sources in concise ways.
When do learners summarize?
Learners summarize when they:
• communicate the main ideas and supporting details from a text in their own words
• integrate ideas presented throughout a text to make meaning
• condense a text into the most important information
Why should learners summarize?
Summarizing allows learners to:
• identify main ideas and consolidate information that supports main ideas
• remember what is read
• take a large selection of text and make it more concise
How to summarize
You may be observing learners are struggling to summarize the texts they encounter in social studies. If you notice learners engaging in any of the following, try the accompanying strategies to support them in summarizing.
Big Idea
Learners need to restate main idea(s) and important details in their own words.
If you observe:
Learners copy word-for-word from a text. Try:
Get the Gist
In order to determine the gist of a text, learners need to be able to identify the most important information. Learners can use questions to identify the gist of a text.
Note to teachers: Questions can be developed by the teacher and recorded on an anchor chart.
Learners preview the text by looking at text features to determine what the text could be about
Learners read the text and ask themselves questions such as:
Who is doing what?
When and where is this taking place?
Why is this taking place - or - Why is it important?
How did this happen?
Learners review their responses to the questions to create a short summary
They Say/I Say
Effective summarizing requires learners to try to understand someone else’s ideas or perspectives. Learners can “put themselves in the shoes” of the author to explain their perspective.
• Learners take jot notes from a text including the main ideas, supporting details, and key words
• Learners use only their notes to explain the author’s perspective to a partner
• Learners re-read the text to ensure they did not forget or misremember any important information
• Learners record their summary
Big Idea
Learners need to be accurate and concise.
If you observe:
Learners record too much, or irrelevant information in the text. Try:
Identify Organizational Structure
Authors use organizational structures to organize and communicate their ideas and supporting details. Learners can identify organizational structures to identify information to include in their summaries.
Note to teachers: This strategy can be introduced after learners have been explicitly taught organizational structures in a series of separate mini-lessons.
• Learners identify the organizational structure(s) used in the text
• Learners select a graphic organizer appropriate to the organizational structure(s) they identified and record their findings
• Learners compare their findings with a partner
• With their partner, learners use their graphic organizer to develop a short summary of the text
Draw It Out
Representing information visually helps readers to remember what has been read. Learners can summarize important information visually by creating diagrams, graphic novel pages, maps, or other visuals.
• Learners read over the whole text
• Then, in pairs, learners re-read sections of the text and pause to discuss main idea(s) or supporting details in each section
• Learners record their findings
• Once learners have re-read the entire text, then choose a visual that will support their findings (e.g., a chronological text may be represented as an illustrated timeline)
• With their partner, learners complete their visual, being sure to include only the main idea(s) and relevant supporting details.
Big Idea
Learners need to recall important information from the text.
If you observe:
Learners can't remember main ideas or supporting details from the text. Try:
What's the Purpose?
Information text can include a lot of information and detail. Learners can establish a purpose for reading to develop summaries that include important information and terms they need to remember. Some examples might include important dates, historical figures or dates that are relevant to the purpose or various perspectives introduced in the text.
• Learners read the text in relation to their purpose for reading
• Learners re-read the text and circle or information relevant to their purpose
• Learners compare their notes with a partner and confirm their choices
• Learners record a short summary of the author’s idea(s) and supporting details
Bringing It All Together
Developing a response to an inquiry question requires learners to include evidence from a range of sources. Learners can review their notes to select and organize information in response to an inquiry question.
• Learners review their notes to identify main ideas and related information, quotations, and other details they would like to highlight from various sources
• Learners identify additional features that could support their thinking (graphs, charts, tables, symbols, statistics, images etc.)
• Learners develop a new notebook page organized around their key ideas that reflect findings from various sources
For a printable version of the page, click here.