Assignment #3: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 3 – Summarizing and Notetaking
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A. Self Assessment of Current Beliefs and Practices: This component asks you to reflect on how and why you currently use the instructional strategies of summarizing and notetaking in your classroom. The intent of this is to activate your prior knowledge of your strategy use so that you can make comparisons as you read the chapter. Below are the questions to help you complete your self-assessment. (Complete – but do not post!)
• In what situations is it important for my students to summarize?
• What does summarizing help my students do?
• What do I do to help students understand and use the process of summarizing?
• What questions do I have about using summarizing in my classroom?
B. Read & Reflect “Research & Theory”: This portion of the assignment asks you to read chapter 3 and reflect briefly on your thinking after reading the “Research and Theory” section for summarizing and notetaking. (Complete – but do not post!)
C. Practice: Choose one of the specific “classroom practice” strategies or techniques shared in this chapter to teach to your students (If you are not currently teaching, you may share how you would use this strategy in your classroom) – please post a brief reflection of how this went to the posting labeled Week Three: Summarizing and Notetaking. Click on the “comment” link below.
D. Final Strategy Reflection: Use the following sequence of questions/promps to reflect on what you’ve learned about both the strategies presented in the chapter and what you’ve learned about yourself as both a teacher and a learner. Please post your brief reflection to the posting labeled Week Three: Summarizing and Notetaking by clicking on the “comment” link below.
How has the information you read in this chapter on summarizing affected your thinking about teaching and learning? What have you learned about yourself as a teacher and learner? Use the following questions to assist you in writing a brief strategy reflection:
• How has reading this information affirmed some of what you already knew about summarizing?
• What is something you now understand better about summarizing?
• How might you change how you use summarizing in your classroom?
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12 comments:
After reading chapter 3 I struggled a little bit to find a way to either recognize where I already use these strategies or how I could incorporate them into my teaching. Of course in kindergarten we don't do much note taking or independent reading so I had to find a way to use it in my read alouds. So what I decided to do was to use the strategy 'summarizing' to strengthen what I already do with teaching kids to share what they think is the beginning, middle, and end of a story. I guess basically this is teaching summarizing.
I began the lesson by explaining what summarizing was and told them that we already do this with our BME lessons and that today we would learn a more detailed way of deciding what is important in a story. Some of my kids still struggle with being able to put the events of a story in order so this was a good lesson to work on these weaknesses.
Basically what I did was read a story and then we made a big chart listing out all the things that happened in the beginning in one color and then a different color for the middle and another for the end of the story events. Once we were done we went through this information and pulled out two facts/sentences from each color (BME) and then created a paragraph explaining the story. We then revisited the vocab term summarizing.
It was a bit of a long lesson for the kids but I do think it was great for strengthening their understanding of summarizing. Overall I believe it went well. I then sent them off to illustrate the story using our lesson as scaffolding of the events.
It can be difficult to translate this to a Kindergarten level. I loved your idea of completing a shared writing activity using the 3 different colors for BME...and then taking a couple of sentences from each section to create the story summary. So much summary work that gets done in Kindergarten is done orally. My colleague, who is also an amazing K teacher, has used a similar strategy during an interactive writing activity (that was spread out over several day...with a very simple story). Thanks!
C. Practice:
Before reading chapter three I was hoping I could find a simplified approach to modeling summarization. I felt I needed more concrete steps to summarizing, not just “here is my thought process…now go and try it on your own.” I was excited to read about the “Rule Based” Strategy. I could see myself modeling these steps to the class with exerpts from our social studies, and science units, and our current events studies with newspapers and magazine arcticles.
This would be my plan of action: First, I would make a poster to display in the classroom:
Summarizing
1.delete the unnecessary/repetitive
2.substitute
3.keep the important
I would keep this poster up all year. To begin with I would model this process on the overhead, or Smart Board, thinking out loud as I go through the steps with the whole class. Ideally I would do this a couple of times a week for three or four weeks, having the students follow along on their own copies. Slowly, I would turn the process over to them working in groups, partners, and individually. I could see this becoming a once, or twice, weekly activity, such as daily math or calendar work is. This would give them a lot of practice with this process, and hopefully help them to feel comfortable summarizing.
Report writing is a large part of fourth and fifth grade, and learning to summarize the research they do is a huge step in their success. Identifying what is important information, and what is not can be hard for students to decipher.
I think using the “Rule Based” Strategy as a platform in the classroom would immensely help the students to grasp the concept of summarizing and note taking. It would give them somewhere to look to when they are overwhelmed with researching… “OK, let me do step 1, step 2, step 3, and see where I am.” It could also lead us into great discussions as we tackle weekly summarizing exercises. It is exciting that I could apply this exercise across several subjects.
D. Final Strategy Reflection
I am picturing the teaching moments, and learning taking place, when I return to a classroom and put into action what I have learned from chapter 3.
Report project writing is exciting for fourth and fifth graders, especially when the topic interests them (volcanoes, lizards, etc…), and the children always start with such a hunger, and then the research begins. The children get overwhelmed and I get frustrated that they aren’t taking notes, and moving on to the next step.
After reading chapter 3 I realize I need to be teaching them the structure of information to help them summarize and note take. In the past I have provided them with summary frames (although I did not call them that), which was a big help, but something else was still missing. As a learner I do not recall being taught how to take notes, it just seemed like an extension of learning that came along when I needed it. I now realize as a teacher that I can’t expect my students to be comfortable note taking after two or three modeling lessons. I need to provide them with some tools (frames, rule based strategy, note formats), and a lot of modeled and guided practice.
I am now hoping that when we tackle report writing the students will have much more confidence as they do research, note taking, and summarizing. I know, as a teacher, I feel better equipped to help them over this large hurdle. The mystery of how to teach this much needed skill is not as unclear as it was, and it is exciting to think of how much this could improve the student’s reports. As well as how much it could help them in their future careers as students.
Two weeks ago I finished doing the DRA for the first grade classroom I worked in. Although the students were generally reading well, when it came to decoding, they had a very hard time summarizing. The regular classroom teacher and I realized that the students needed some work with summarizing. This last week, we modeled how to give short summaries and taught the students to read with a "memory stick." (The memory stick is actually a pencil and the students point using the erasure.) Partner one read a page or paragraph while partner two listened, holding the memory stick. Partner two then said a summary, pointing to key things in the picture that related to what was read. Partner one either said, "good job," and they switch roles, or asked the partner to listen again. The students went back and forth switching roles the entire time. I learned about this from reading The Daily Five.
I had taught the third grade students how to do this, but thought that first graders would not be able to do the activity. After reading the chapter about the importance of summarizing, noticing the students were having a difficult time with this school, I thought that we should try the activity. The students did very well. They enjoyed reading in partners and having a job to do while they were listening.
I think some next steps for me are to:
1. Continue modeling how to summaries effectively
2. Teach my older students how to write summaries
3. Try to teach note taking to my older students
D. Final Reflection
After reading chapter 3 I have realized two main things. The first is that I can teach summarizing even in kindergarten and the second is that to teach it I have to not just explain it but model it.
I found from reading this chapter that I already am beginning to build the foundation for this skill with kindergarten kids. I know that what I teach my kids is summarizing but just never understood how connected it is to their ability to do higher level thinking in their future. I feel like I have been told that I'm doing the right thing and now I just need to ensure that it continues through the year so they leave with strong skills.
To ensure this I realize now that I have to model, model, model for them. Just like Kay stated there are certainly ways to show them the concrete steps of summarizing. I plan on coming up with an easy way to use the three step process with my kids and use the same verbage each time we attempt summarizing. I enjoyed this chapter and feel like it's been good to remind myself that I am the beginning to this foundation of learning, it's inspiring.
Hi Kay and Sacha -
Kay - I loved the way you use the "Gradual Release of Responsibility" to provide structure for your students to succeed in using the "Rule Based Strategy"...and I agree - anything you can use across curriculum areas is a success! I also agree wholeheartedly that kids need to be taught (and taught) how to research and note take...I used to get so frustrated with colleagues that used to dock students for errors when they never taught them what was expected of them!!!
Sacha - I loved the idea of the "Memory Stick" - is this written in "The Sisters" book? I'd like to go back into it and read more about it - I absolutely love their work! Thanks for sharing!
Week Three: Summarizing and Note taking.
I’ve always just had students copy down information from the overhead regarding grammar structures. I occasionally will give them tables to fill in, especially in Spanish 2 when studying irregular verbs so that they get used to the format of writing the verbs for the corresponding subjects. I generally give them their vocab lists with the English words missing and have them fill them in, looking up words in their books or using dictionaries.
I like the conversation frame idea, so I went ahead and translated that and gave it to my Spanish 4 class with a conversation that we read aloud and enacted beforehand. They seemed to be processing the text a bit more deeply than they would have by simply reading it, so that’s a positive. I should have spent more time selecting a conversation that had more of the discussion elements brought out in the frame though as their answers to many of the prompts were simply “no”.
I’ve always thought that summarizing and note taking are helpful and definitely are a cornerstone of learning a second language. Writing, listening and retelling, are all key practices in learning language. Having the students write notes rather than just handing them the information on a piece of paper helps them to assimilate the information, at least in a preliminary form, which will eventually lead to them using the new grammar structures and vocabulary to communicate.
I understand now that summarizing can come in many forms and be used in different contexts in ways that I’d never considered before. Many of the structures presented in this chapter are not necessarily pertaining to my subject area, but I can see how things can be tweaked to provide a structure for the analysis and assimilation of any text that we read in class. I also enjoy the idea of reading them a story and having them summarize, perhaps orally, to each other. I use summaries all the time, but mainly in an oral format. I will continue to explore new ways of using the various frames with my students. One other technique that I’m looking forward to trying out is giving students notes with information gaps that they will have to fill in. In this way, I can ensure that they are paying attention but they will be under less stress as they won’t have to write everything. In this way, I hope to increase their comprehension and absorption of the material.
This is Suzie Kabeiseman - aka Karlredcurlyhair. (Guess what color/kind of hair my son has.)
C. Chapter three helped to spell out the importance of summarizing and note taking. In my experience note taking has always been a tough one to teach. In the past my research lessons for my 6th graders involved note cards and letting students determine information importance on their own. This never felt satisfactory where I just hoped students picked up a little from their notes and summarizing just by experiencing the process. The cards were great for organizing their writing though.
Now, if I were to teach this process in my class NOW, I would model model model throughout the year. I have always taken notes using an informal outline. I would take notes as I teach, explaining the process and showing them what works for me. I would show them teacher created "notes." I would model alternative methods and give lots of opportunity for practice.
I would like to incorporate some reciprocal teaching into the system as well. Students would model their note taking process and let the class add to the learning. Note taking is a skill that needs to be practiced continually. It is also a very personal process, with everyone having a system that works for them. The importance of this autonomy needs to be shared with students too.
D. This chapter on summarizing has affirmed what I know about summarizing. It's an important skill and it has to be taught. Sadly, I don't think I taught it very well in the past. It's a skill that needs to utilized in a lesson specific manner - asking the question what do I want them to know? I really like the frames for this because they give such clean structures to teach in the content areas. Very useful.
Thanks Karen and Suzie,
Teaching students to summarize well is difficult. It involves at least two highly related elements, 1. filling in missing parts (inferring), and 2. translating information into a synthesized form. Out of all of the strategies introduced in this chapter, I've preferred to use the rule-based summarizing strategy and teaching students reciprocal teaching (which also works well in all areas of teaching once the children know how to do it!). Karen, I'm glad that you tried the Conversation Frame (I understand it may be difficult to transfer many of these strategies into your upper level Spanish classes) with success and Suzie - Reciprocal Teaching. I also agree that we need to MODEL, MODEL, MODEL how to notetake for our students, I also remember being left on my own as a student and trying to "notetake" without any teacher direction or model...and failing miserably at it.
My students just got done preparing for their state science work sample. During the week prior to the sample, we practiced scoring example papers.
I had just finished reading chapter 3 in the book and decided I could implement the "argumentative frame" approach to summarize and score the first section of the worksample, which is forming a question or hypothesis.
Students would all read the first section of the work sample and they would go through the section and answer the questions on scratch paper (I had the questions on the smartboard).
1. What background info is there?
2. What is the hypothesis?
3. What support is there for the hypothesis?
4. What concessions are made?
By summarizing the first section of the work sample, students are better able to score the information in a precise, guided way.
Using this method, students were able to better focus on the various aspects of the section in order to help them identify what parts were and were not present.
During this chapter I've learned that I definitely do not do enough work with summarizing information. My students have a VERY hard time taking a passage and summarizing it into something that is easy to understand. This chapter has showed me that it would be a good idea in the future to implement summarizing into my lessons because my students definitely need to know these skills for the future.
Sometimes when I put notes up on the board and the kids groan...usually when it's more than one sentence, I always tell that they don't have to write down EVERY word that I put on the board. They have a very hard time with this, and this chapter helped me realize that maybe they don't know HOW to summarize what they see into more simple terms.
Hi Henry!
I enjoyed reading about how you used the "Argumentative Frame" with your science students...and I agree that students at all levels need practice at summarizing information (and not just story summaries)...and yes this is a very specific skill that needs to be TAUGHT (modeled, guided, and then practice).
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