564
Simple
Toolbox
mple Summaries,
Summaries Fabulous Fi
Adapted from Beverly Tyner’s Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for
Beginning and Struggling Readers (2nd ed.) and Elfrieda H. Hiebert and D. Ray Reutzel’s Revisiting
Silent Reading: New Directions for Teachers and Researchers
Summarizing is a versatile
strategy you can use to wrap
up reading and stimulate
future reading.
Wrap Up the Reading
Summarizing is essential to
students’ basic understanding of
text. Summarizing includes
activities such as retelling,
sequencing story events, identifying
main ideas and details, recognizing
story elements, determining cause-
and-effect relationships, and
comparing and contrasting. The
primary comprehension strategy
after reading is summarizing. For
example, asking younger students
to recall everything they read lays
the foundation for future
comprehension in more complex
texts.
Teacher: Let’s make a list of all the
things that we can remember were
in the parade.
[Teacher writes as students
contribute responses.]
Laura: There were clowns and
bands in the parade.
R T The Reading Teacher Vol. 65
trtr_1083.indd 564
Finds
Teacher: Good. Let me add those [The teacher finishes reviewing
to our list. the vocabulary words.]
Teacher: As you leave group
Another way to summarize is to today, I want you to write a short
revisit the story vocabulary and use summary about what you learned
it to wrap up important text about storms today. Try to include
information. Older or advanced at least three new things that you
readers are capable of responding didn’t know before you read the
in writing as a follow up to reading. book.
Teacher: Let’s go back to the
vocabulary words we talked about
before reading. The first word is
dangerous. Think of a sentence
using the word dangerous that tells
something about what we read
today.
Harrison: We learned that some
storms can be dangerous like
snowstorms and hurricanes and
tornadoes.
Teacher: The next word is
hurricane. Think of a sentence
using the word hurricane that tells
something about what we read
today.
Valerie: We learned today that
hurricanes start over the water
before they come on land.
Teacher: You really learned a lot
Stimulate Future
today.
Reading
In addition to wrapping up the
reading, summarizing is great for
engaging students and stimulating
their future reading. One method
is to focus summarizing time on
fantastic events, fabulous finds,
and fascinating vocabulary.
Students can recount fantastic
events by first returning to their
initial purpose for reading and
asking themselves, Did I figure out
what I wanted? Did I accurately
predict what happened? You can
have students write or orally
provide a summary of what they
read or learned. If students are
reading a chapter book, you could
(continued)
Issue 8 pp. 564–566 DOI:10.1002/TRTR.01083 © 2012 International Reading Association
4/25/2012 12:28:50 PM
 565

SimpleSimple
Summaries,
S
Toolbox
Summaries,
i FFabulous
b l Fabulous
Finds
Fi d Finds
(continued)
(
Adapted from Beverly Tyner’s Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for
Beginning and Struggling Readers (2nd ed.) and Elfrieda H. Hiebert and D. Ray Reutzel’s Revisiting
Silent Reading: New Directions for Teachers and Researchers

DIGGING DEEPER
Check out these great resources
to learn more about summarizing:
■ Bio-Cube [student interactive],
ReadWriteThink.org
■ Lori Assaf and Rubén Garza,

“Making Magazine Covers That

Visually Count: Learning to
Summarize With Technology,” The
Reading Teacher, April 2007
■ Sarah Dennis-Shaw, “Guided

Comprehension: Summarizing
Using the QuIP Strategy,”
ReadWriteThink.org
■ Lori D. Oczkus, Reciprocal

Teaching at Work: Powerful

log these statements and review
them before the next reading,
providing a prompt to help
students remember what they last
read.
You can also encourage
students to identify fabulous
finds. A fabulous find is
something the students learn or
read that is unexpected or
exciting. Students can identify
fabulous finds by asking
themselves, What did I learn that
was surprising? You can also give
students the opportunity to share
fascinating vocabulary, or
vocabulary they found especially
interesting. Fascinating
vocabulary encourages word
consciousness in students. By
focusing on new words they are
encountering, students build
independent word-learning
strategies. See p. 566 for the
following graphic organizers:
■ Chapter Book Organizer for
Fantastic Events, Fabulous Finds,
and Fascinating Vocabulary
■ Daily Recording Sheet for
Fantastic Events, Fabulous Finds,
and Fascinating Vocabulary
Strategies and Lessons for
Improving Reading
Comprehension (2nd ed.),
International Reading Association
References
Hiebert, E.H., & Reutzel, D.R. (Eds.).
(2010). Revisiting silent reading: New
directions for teachers and researchers.
Newark, DE: International Reading
Association.
Tyner, B. (2009). Small-group reading
instruction: A differentiated teaching
model for beginning and struggling
readers (2nd ed.). Newark, DE:
International Reading Association.

www.reading.org R T

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566

Simple
Toolbox
mple Summaries,
Summaries Fabulous Fi
Reproducibles Finds
Adapted from Beverly Tyner’s Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for
Beginning and Struggling Readers (2nd ed.) and Elfrieda H. Hiebert and D. Ray Reutzel’s Revisiting
Chapter
Silent Reading: Book
New Directions Organizer
for Teachers and Researchers

Daily Recording Sheet for Fantastic Events, Fabulous Finds,

and Fascinating Vocabulary

Reprinted from Hairrell, A., Edmonds, M., Vaughn, S., & Simmons, D. (2010). Independent silent reading for struggling readers: Pitfalls and
potential. In E.H. Hiebert & D.R. Reutzel (Eds.) Revisiting silent reading: New directions for teachers and researchers (pp. 275–289). Newark,
DE: International Reading Association. May be copied for classroom use.

R T The Reading Teacher Vol. 65 Issue 8 May 2012

trtr_1083.indd 566 4/25/2012 12:28:52 PM

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