This document provides an introduction to summarizing texts. It defines summarizing as finding the key ideas and supporting details of a text to understand the overall meaning. Good readers focus on the most important elements based on their reading purpose. To summarize effectively, one should provide an overview, include key details, and leave out unnecessary information. Summarizing helps students process information, see how ideas connect, and communicate concepts to others. It also supports comprehension and remembering content. Teachers can prepare students for summarization by clearly explaining the technique and providing models, strategies, and practice opportunities with different text types.

1. Introduction to Summarizing

2. What is Summarizing?
• Summarizing is finding the key ideas and
supporting details to get the “gist” of a
piece of writing.
• Skilled readers distill what is important --
based on the purpose of reading -- to
understand and recall the text.

3. Three Key Elements of
Summarizing
• Provide an overview or topic statement.
• Include key details.
• Leave out irrelevant or unimportant details.

4. How is Summarizing Important?
• Aids students in processing information
and focusing in on the key ideas.
• Helps students see how ideas fit together
to form a coherent whole.
• Provides students with a means for
presenting their ideas in ways that others
can understand.

5. How Does Summarizing Help
Students?
• Encourages your students to get used to
looking for key ideas in the text as they read.
This is a key element of comprehension.
• Helps students connect key ideas to sense or
meaning. Summarizing helps them absorb
the ideas in the text.
• Selecting key vocabulary words from the text
helps your students expand their word
knowledge.
• Supports students in both comprehending
and remembering information.

6. How Can I Prepare Students to
Use This Practice?
• Provide clear explanations about what
summarizing is and how it can help
students in all subjects.
• Share real examples of how students use
summarizing every day.
• Offer strategies and tools to help students
with summarizing, including digital tools.
• Give students lots of opportunities to
practice summarizing many types of texts,
both online and in print.

7. Discussion Questions 1
1. What types of problems do your struggling
readers encounter when they are asked to
summarize literature or informational texts?
2. Which Common Core State Standards focus
on summarizing?
3. Which specific features of digital text could
support students' ability to summarize?

8. How Can I Support Students in
Summarizing Text?

9. Use of Evidence-Based Practices
• Provide Clear Explanations
• Give Students Strategies and Models
• Provide Opportunities for Practice

10. Differentiated Instruction
• Plan instruction that considers students'
readiness, learning needs, and interests.
• Use a range of technology tools to:
– engage learners at varying levels
– engage learners in multiple ways.
– offer students options for demonstrating
understanding and mastery

11. Teacher-Dependent
Ways to Differentiate
• By Content
– Different levels of reading or resource materials, reading
buddies, small group instruction, curriculum compacting, multi-
level computer programs and Web Quests, audio materials, etc.
• By Product
– Activity choice boards, tiered activities, multi-level learning
center tasks, similar readiness groups, choice in group work,
varied journal prompts, mixed readiness groups with targeted
roles for students, etc.
• By Process
– Tiered products, students choose mode of presentation to
demonstrate learning, independent study, varied rubrics,
mentorships, interest-based investigations

12. Student-Dependent
Ways to Differentiate
• By Readiness
– Options in content, topic, or theme, options in the
tools needed for production, options in methods for
engagement
• By Profile
– Consideration of gender, culture, learning styles,
strengths, and weaknesses
• By Interests
– Identification of background knowledge/gaps in
learning, vary amount of direct instruction, and
practice, pace of instruction, complexity of activities,
and exploration of a topic

13. Discussion Questions 2
1. How do you explain summarizing to your
students?
2. Do you build practice in summarizing into
your ongoing reading instruction?
3. Over time, how could you increase the
complexity of the reading materials that
students have to summarize?

14. Activities Before Reading
• Ask students to:
– Review the headings and key words, as well
as any pictures, graphs or maps within the
text.
– Use these clues to brainstorm what the text is
about.
– Think about what tools and strategies they'll
use to help them build summaries -- note
taking, highlighting, or using graphic
organizers. This is a great opportunity to use
digital text!

15. Activities During Reading
• Ask students to do the following on their
own, in pairs, and in groups:
• Read and reread text as needed.
• Use planned/selected strategies and tools
for marking text and taking notes.
• Pause at set intervals to jot down ideas,
talk to a peer, or speak into a recording
device.

16. Activities After Reading
• Ask students to:
– Collect their ideas.
– Review and organize their notes.
– Discuss their plans for their summaries with
others.
– Draft their summaries and get feedback.
– Revise their summaries.
• Digital tools for outlining, drafting, and
sharing are great for these activities!
Consider allowing students to create visual
summaries as well.

17. Discussion Questions
1. How do you vary instruction if students
are reading literature or informational
texts?
2. What strategies help students to dig more
deeply when they reread the text?
3. Which technology tools could help
students after reading to draft their
summaries?

18. Disclaimer
Awarded through a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of
education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Grant
#H327G090004-10, PowerUp What Works was developed by a team of
experts in education, technology, differentiated instruction/UDL, and
special education at the Center for Technology Implementation,
operated by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in collaboration
with the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and the Center for
Applied Special Technology (CAST).
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