A 25-Word Summary

An After-Reading Activity

A 25-Word Summary . . .

This activity was designed to help students utilize summarizing as a tool to better access the classroom texts

Initially, the activity may take several days, but as students get used to the process, it will go more quickly

When to use it …

A 25-word Summary can be used as an introductory lesson for a new unit or as a way to prepare students for discussion of complex texts or current events

Directions:

Distribute the text. Ask students to highlight in one color what they think are the main ideas of the article, and to highlight with a second color unknown words or terms. Explain that they will use this later in a group activity.

Assign students to heterogeneous groups. Be sure that they have done their individual work before moving on to group work.

Vocabulary: Ask students to listen in their groups while members take turns sharing terms that they have highlighted.

Main Ideas: Ask small groups to discuss similarities and differences in their choices of main ideas, as well as how they chose what things to highlight. Once all students have had a chance to share, prompt the group to reach a consensus about which things are the key points.

Ask students to write a twenty-five word summary of the passage that includes the key ideas selected by their group. Each student constructs one summary.

Ask students to listen in their groups while members take turns sharing their summaries. They can take notes on content in other’s summaries that are different from their own.

Groups then create a collaborative summary of no more than 25 words.

Clarify as the discussion unfolds what features generate a clear concise summary for the reader.

Optional/Extension Activity. . . Explain that all

groups will be rating each product based on a clear, complete and succinct summary of the main idea.

Provide time for groups to complete their summaries and to copy the final version on poster paper to post in the classroom. Students can put their names on the back of the poster board to protect their anonymity. Post the summaries.

Provide time for groups to read summaries posted in the room. Ask groups to rate the summaries as either good, better, or best based on these criteria: clear, complete and succinct statement of the main idea. Have them create a written rationale for their ratings which they will hand in for a grade. Ask groups to share out their ratings and explain their rationales. Clarify as the discussion unfolds what features generate a clear concise summary for the reader.

Final Product for Lesson

Choose a text in your discipline to use for a lesson that incorporates “A 25-Word Summary” (Download the “25-word summary” document)

Conduct the lesson for one or more of your classes

Submit the lesson plan, a copy of the text, a professional reflection (what went well, what could be improved, etc...) and a student work sample (Download “Teacher Reflection” document)