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.