Our textbook addresses Summarizing and Synthesizing information in reading, especially when reading non-fiction books. According to Harvey and Goudvis, Summarizing is when “we pull out of the most important information and put it in our own words to remember it. Each bit of information we encounter adds a piece to the construction of meaning” (2007, p 179).  When I teach Summarizing, I tell my students they need to tell me, in one sentence, the most important idea in the book. In order to this, I read small sections or paragraphs within the text and stop at strategic points to sum up what we read. I usually model this skill and later allow my students to practice on their own.

One of the lessons I enjoyed reading about was Retelling to Summarize Information. This lesson entails taking notes while reading to recall the most important information at the end. I have actually implemented this lesson with my students in the reading intervention group. Summarizing information is confusing for them as they are required to retell the most important ideas without telling too much. My students usually provide more information than what they need to. One way I scaffold the lesson is by reading each heading or chapter and stopping to summarize what we read in just one sentence. I model the first two headings, then we do one heading together, and lastly students practice on their own. For instance, Monday we read an informational book How Cats Communicate. I summarized, in just one sentence, the first two headings and wrote it on the white board. Later in the instruction, I encouraged my students to summarize the rest of the headings and write on sticky notes. At the end of the lesson, we shared our sentences and together we wrote a summary of the book.

As I read this chapter I thought of ways I could modify my practice when teaching Summarizing to my students. A good idea is to create an anchor chart with an explanation of what summarizing is with examples and non examples. I can also create another anchor chart that could provide students with a framework to effectively summarize:

·         Tell what is important

·         Tell it in a way that makes sense

·         Don’t tell too much

These are great ways to assist my students in summarizing as they need visual reminders (such as anchor charts) to master any reading skill.

Another lesson I have implemented in my reading instruction is Comparing and Contrasting in Social Studies. When learning about Native Americans, students explored the variety of tribes and their unique characteristics such as main jobs, houses they lived in, women and men roles in the tribes, among others. As students explored each tribe, they generated and three column chart in order to compare and contrast Native Americans. Afterwards, they utilized the information in these columns to compose and compare and contrast paragraph about Native Americans. When students Summarize, not only do they determine the most important ideas in a text, but they also “add and think, and integrate new information” (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p 184.

Determining Importance in Non-Fictional Texts is one difficult task for my students. They have been taught how to determine main idea and supporting details; yet, they continue to struggle with determining the most important ideas within a text.  I often ask myself: Why do we drill the same skills such as main idea, over and over in our students? Why do students have to master this skill? According to Harvey and Goudvis, students must learn how to determine important information because “nonfiction fuel kids’ curiosity, enticing them to read more, dig deeper, and search for answers to compelling questions. When kids read and understand nonfiction, they build background for the topic and acquire new knowledge. The ability to identify essential ideas and salient information is a prerequisite to developing insight” (2007, p 156).  This is skills we teach our students on a daily basis, especially those who with less privilege households.

As I explored chapter ten in our course text, I realized I had already been using the strategies for teaching non-fiction texts to our students. The book recommends focusing on text features such as captions, visuals, vocabulary, headings, and titles (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). Some of the tips suggested are: “Looking carefully at the first and last line of each paragraph, noticing signal words and phrases, illustrations and photographs, among others “(Harvey & Goudvis, 2007).  I utilize a strategy called THIEVES which I learned in my first year of teaching that focuses on “stealing” information in order to make predictions as to what the chapter or book is going to regard. Each letter stands for one text feature and reminds students what to look for as they begin a new chapter on their content area textbooks or personal book.  T: TITLE, H: HEADING, I: INFORMATION, E: EVERY FIRST SENTENCE IN EACH PARAGRAPH, V: VISUALS AND VOCABULARY, E: END OF CHAPTER QUESTIONS, and S: SUMMARY.  I have made bookmarks for students to utilize when reading to assist them referring to it as needed. Prior to utilizing this strategy, I introduce it to the students by explaining and modeling each initial. Next, students and I practice how to use THIEVES and make predictions about the text. The more we do it, the more students get comfortable with the strategy and also any text. At the beginning I devote my guided reading and whole group instruction on any content area to scaffold by doing with the students.  As they become proficient, I listen and observe how they use it in their daily practice, especially during centers or guided reading.  

 While this method could be used with elementary students, it can be certainly implemented with middle and high school students. I have only used it with fifth graders during reading intervention time as well as in Social Studies and Science. I find THIEVES to be effective as it helps students organized their thinking process. Additionally, it guides them in learning information step by step. Even those struggling students have been successful with THIEVES as it allows them to at least make predictions about the text.

Two of the lessons I really enjoyed learning about in this chapter were: Building Background Knowledge of Non-fiction Features and Becoming Familiar with the Characteristics of Nonfiction Trade Books. Both of these lessons promotes the mastery of identifying and utilizing text features such as captions, graphics, photographs, in order to determine important information within the text. While these lessons are too basic for my fifth grade students, I can use them to scaffold the process of becoming familiar with text features, especially in the primary levels. When students create their own learning artifacts such as their own non-fiction text, they easily store and thus, recall that knowledge. Students acquire real information by creating captions, illustrations, as well as comparing and contrasting through images and real pictures.

Harvey, S. & Goudvis A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (2^nd Ed). Porstmouth: NH. Stenhouse Publishers.