The PRIMALS Compendium of Teaching Resources

This compendium was published with support

from the Australian Government through the
Basic Education Sector Transformation
(BEST) Program.

Permission to use or reproduce this publication

or parts of it in hard or digital copies for
personal or educational use is granted free,
provided that the copies are not reproduced or
distributed for
commercial purposes, and that proper credit is given
to the Austraian government.

Printed in the Philippines

First Printing, 2019

Literacy Compendium Kit

E N G L I S H L E S S O N PL ANS F I L I P I N O L E S S O N PL ANS L IT ERACY S TRATEGIES

Study Strategies

Summarizing
Study skills o r st udy strategies This guide describes
are ap p r o ach e s a ppl ied t o strategies for teaching
learning. They are generally students how to
critical t o success in school summarize texts
a n d useful f o r learning effectively.
t h r o u g h o u t one's life. Study
skills are a n ar ray o f skills
which tackle t he process o f
or ganizing a n d t a kin g in new
inform ation, r etaining
inform ation, o r dealing with
assessments. They include
effective reading,
co nc en t r a t i on techniques, a n d
efficient notetaking.

S T U D Y S TRAT EGIES
Table o f Contents:

Background/Research Base 2
Purpose/Benefits 3
Description/Procedure 3
How Teachers Can Make
t h e Strategy Work 6
Applications Across
t he Cur riculum 6
 Study Strategies

Summarizing

Background / Research Base

Summarizing involves t he ability o f readers t o pull

together, o r synthesize i nf or mat i on in a text so as
t o explain in their own words what t he text is
about.
Summarizing is a n i m p o r t a n t strategy because it c a n
enable readers t o recall text quickly. It also c a n
make readers more aware o f text organization, o f
what is i m p o r t a n t in a text a n d o f how ideas are
related.
Effective summarizing of expository in a story line or identifying the
text may involve such things as factors that motivate a character's
condensing the steps in a scientific actions and behavior.
process, the stages of development
of an art movement, or the episodes Palincsar and Brown (1984)
that led to some major historical identified four activities they
event. believe aid in comprehension-
fostering
Effective summarizing of narrative and comprehension-monitoring
text can involve such things as activities. These activities are
connecting and synthesizing events self-questioning, summarizing,
clarifying, and predicting.

2 The PRIMALS C o m p e n d i u m o f T eac hing Resources | LITERACY STRATEGY GUIDES

Summarizing reportedly results
in average percentile gains of
19 points in standardized tests
(Haystead & Marzano, 2009;
cited in Gunning, 2013, p. 329).
The National Reading Panel
(2000) report and the Writing to
Read report (Graham & Hebert,
2010) concluded that
summarization
is one research-based reading
strategy that should be taught
during classroom instruction to
improve comprehension. However,
as students find writing
summaries difficult, teachers
should first develop students’
ability to summarize orally
(Brown & Day, 1983; Hare &
Borchardt, 1984;
citedresearch
The in Gunning, 2013,points
likewise p. 329).
out
that summarizing is a
complex skill that must be
taught even in the early
grades. Summarizing must
also be presented as a tool
that students can use to share
information and better
comprehend and remember what
they read. Applying the skill in
content area texts should allow
students to see how summarizing
is a learning aid.
A study by Westby et al. (2010)
also provided preliminary
evidence that literacy instruction
that involved identification of
expository text structures and
use of graphic organizers to
highlight the organization
promoted greater growth in
summarization skills than age-
related development for fourth-
and fifth-grade students.
Purpose / Benefits
• It helps students learn to
determine essential ideas and
consolidate important details
that support them.
• It enables students to focus on
key words and phrases of
an assigned text that are
worth noting and
remembering.
• It teaches students how to take
a large selection of text and
reduce it to the main points for
more concise understanding.
Description / Procedure
1. Begin by reading or
having students listen to
the text selection.
2. Ask students the following
framework questions:
• What are the main
ideas?
• What are the crucial details
necessary for supporting
the ideas?
• What information is
irrelevant or unnecessary?
3. Have them use key words
or phrases to identify the
main points from the text.
S tu d y S tr a t e g i e s | Su m m a r izi n g 3
 SUMMARIZING STRATEGY
1: GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

A number of graphic organizers

are useful as summarizing tools
for
students. Teachers must remember
to model and guide students in
using these graphic organizers
after reading the text. (See
examples below.)

Name ____________ Date_____ Name ____________ Date_____

Organizer for Summarizing Summary Graphic Organizer
Someone Title: ________________
Who is the main character?
Main Idea
Wanted
What did the character want?
Circle the 3 most important words in the
Main Idea, and then write them here:
But
What was the problem?

So
H ow did the character try to Three Important Details
solve the problem? 1.)
2.)
Then
What was the resolution to the 3.)
problem? Summary of the Passage in ONE Sentence

Summary

Name ____________ Date_____

Chapter Summary
Title _____________________
Author_________________

Pages Read

Chapter My
Events Thoughts

Predictions for next

chapter

4 The PRIMALS C o m p e n d i u m o f T eac hing Resources | LITERACY STRATEGY GUIDES

 3-2-1
Summarizing Strategy
2:
3-2-1
List 3 main points (or 3 “somethings”),
Three Facts You Learned
2 controversial ideas (or two things I 1.)
disagree with), and 1 question related to 2.)
the key concept or learning. (See 3-2-1 3.)

template)

Two Questions You Still Have

1.)
2.)

1 Opinion You Have

1.)

Summarizing Strategy
3: Framed Paragraph

Students complete the paragraph frame

by completing the sentences prompts
about the selection read. (See Example
below)

Informational Summary Narrative Summary Frame #1

Paragraph Frame #7 This text/story is ab ou t .
is/are the main
The topic of this text is characters. In the beginning
. In the middle
. The
main idea is . One idea
t h a t is importan t is .
This is illustrated when the text
.
states
In the end

Narrative Summary Frame #2

. Another detail that is important is
. In the text, . took place at
the author describes this detail .
when writing . An was the main character
additional detail t hat is important is of the story. His/Her major conflict
was
. The text .
describes He/She tried t o solve the problem by
b y saying
. At the end
. I think the a ut ho r .
wrote this topic because

S tu d y S tr a t e g i e s | Su m m a r izi n g 5
 Summarizing Strategy 4:
One-Sentence Summary

Summarize in one sentence the

key point of the lesson (be specific
about what to summarize—i.e.,
the importance of ---)

Summarizing Strategy
5: Learning Logs/
Journals

If students keep learning logs for the

course, let the summarizing activity
be an entry in the learning log
(similar to journals)

How Teachers Can Make The Applications Across The

Strategy Work Curriculum

In Math, summarizing and

For English language learners and paraphrasing can help promote
students who have varied discourse in the problem-
reading skills, teachers may: solving process. Think-
alouds can also be used in
• Use writing activities to build on
teaching math. After a teacher
prior knowledge, help improve
poses a problem, students
writing, and strengthen vocabulary
may be asked to share their
skills.
solutions. As students share
• Guide students throughout
their solutions, teachers or
the summary writing process.
Encourage students to write students should summarize or
successively shorter summaries, paraphrase. This allows the
constantly refining their written teacher to clarify ideas that
piece until only the most essential students have presented, and
and relevant information to connect these with
remains. everyday language and
• Have students work together to mathematical terms.
answer summary questions
and write responses.
When teaching summarizing, teachers
can also begin with shorter, easier
text. Texts that are shorter and
easier to comprehend are easier to
summarize. Teachers may also start
with narrative texts first, which are
easier to summarize than expository
texts (Hidi & Anderson, 1986, cited
in Gunning, 2013, p. 330).

6 The PRIMALS C o m p e n d i u m o f T eac hing Resources | LITERACY STRATEGY GUIDES

References

Boulware-Gooden, R., Carreker, S., Thornhill, A.,

Joshi, R.M. (2007). Instruction of Metacognitive
Strategies Enhances Reading
Comprehension a n d Vocabulary
Achievement of Third-Grade Students. The
Reading Teacher, 61(1), pp. 70-77.

Gregory, G. & Burkman, A. (2012). Differentiated

Literacy Strategies for English Language
Learners Grades K-6. Thousand Oaks,
California: Corwin Press.

Gunning, T. (2013). Creating Literacy Instruction

f or all Students. Boston: Pearson.

Jones, R. (2007). Strategies for Reading

Comprehension: Summarizing. Retrieved 2008,
January 29, from http://www.readingquest.or
g / strat/summarize.html.

Palincsar, A., & Brown, A. (1984). Reciprocal

teaching of comprehension-fostering
a n d comprehension-monitoring activities.
Cognition a n d Instruction, 1, 117-175.

Reading Rockets. (n.d.) Summarizing. Retrieved

from http://www.readingrockets.org/
strategies/summarizing o n 27 January
2019.

Texas Educational Agency. (2002).

Comprehension Instruction, 9-12. Retrieved
from http://www.
netxv.net/pm_attach/67/TRI-Comprehension_
Instr.pdf.

Westby, C., Culatta, B., Lawrence, B. & Hall-

Kenyon,
K. (2010). Summarizing expository texts. Topics
in Language Disorders, 30, 4, 275-287.

S tudy Strategies | Su m m a r izi n g

7