How to implement it?

Summarizing can be difficult, even for adults. The leap from retelling —which asks readers to remember the events of a story in logical order— to determining what is important or essential in a story and condensing that information into a summary is significant. A good way to support the growing summarizing ability of young readers is to model and practice summarizing routines. The routine or structure that makes the most sense will vary depending on the age and experience of the students.

Less experienced students

Try to move from structured routines for teaching story sequence, such as "Beginning, Middle, and End" and "First, Next, Then, Last," to structured summarizing routines like "Somebody Wanted, But, So" or "Five Finger Summary (Who (character), What they wanted (Character's intention), But (Problem), So (Character's solution), Finally (Ending of the story)." These scaffolds provide students with a visual representation of their thinking and a way to structure their responses while encouraging them to think about more than just the sequence of events.

More experienced students

For students who have had more practice identifying elements of the story and determining important ideas, try using more open routines such as keyword-focused approaches for summarizing. For students who are comfortable with the concept of main ideas and important details:

​ ​ 1. Start by reading or having the students listen to the text selection that is going to be summarized.

​ ​ 2. Ask the students the following structural questions: What are the main ideas?

What are the crucial details needed to support the main ideas? What information is irrelevant or unnecessary?

​ ​ 3. Have them use keywords or phrases to identify the main points of the text.

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Diversity in the classroom

For second language learners, students with varied reading skills, and younger students.

​ • Please note that different summarization routines can be used for the same text.

​ • If students are working independently or in pairs, the method they use to summarize may vary.

​ ​• Use visual elements. Incorporate graphic organizers that use images instead of text as indicators and/or ask students to draw their summaries. Guide students during the summary writing process. Encourage them to write progressively shorter summaries, refining their written piece until only the most essential and relevant information remains. Have students work together to answer summary questions and write responses. Consider pairing emerging and advanced writers and promote discussion about what is important in the text, allowing both students to engage in the thinking work of summarizing.

Evidence

Jones, R. (2007). Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Summarizing. Retrieved 2008, January 29, from http://www.readingquest.org/strat/summarize.html.

Guthrie, J. T. (2003). Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction: Practices of Teaching Reading for Understanding. In C. Snow & A. Sweet (Eds.), Reading for Understanding: Implications of RAND Report for Education (pp. 115-140). New York: Guilford.

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This article is a free adaptation and translation of: Reading Rockets (n.d.) Summerizing.https://www.readingrockets.org/classroom/classroom-strategies/summarizing