What is summarizing? Why is being able to summarize an important skill to have?

When might skill at

summarizing come in especially handy? Lead students to talk about how summarizing means picking out
essential details and important ideas or themes in an article, a piece of literature, or a speech, and then
writing those ideas in their own words. Students might mention that summarizing is a helpful skill to have
when writing a report; that it is important when writing reports to state information and ideas in your own
words, instead of copying chunks of someone else's text (plagiarizing, cheating).

A summary is a short retelling of a longer written passage, containing the author’s most important ideas.
Summarizing helps improve both your reading and writing skills. To summarize, you must read a passage
closely, finding the main ideas and supporting ideas. Then you must briefly write down those ideas in a few
sentences or a paragraph. It is important to understand the difference between a summary and a paraphrase.
A paraphrase is simply a rewriting of a passage in your own words. A summary, on the other hand, contains
only the main idea and the supporting ideas of a passage. A summary will be much shorter than a
paraphrase.

At the start of the lesson, tell students: I am going to read to you a brief biography of Amelia Earhart, As I
read, your job is to listen very carefully and to jot down a few words or brief notes that will help you recall
the important points of the story. You will need those notes because, when I am finished reading, I am going
to ask you to write a paragraph that summarizes what you think were the most important events or themes in
Amelia Earhart's life.

After students write their summary paragraphs, invite several students to share their paragraphs. (As students
were writing and you were circulating; you might have noted -- and want to share -- several writing samples
from students you saw do a particularly good job.) This is an activity you might repeat a handful of times
over the course of a month; students' summarizing skills should improve with each successive lesson.

Five R’s of Note Taking

1. Recording: Writing down key words, phrases, facts, main ideas, and key concepts.

2. Reducing: This step reduces the learner’s notes into summary form for quick studying and preparation for
a test.

3. Reciting: Learners should review and rephrase their notes as soon as possible after class putting the notes
into their own words. This step makes notes easier to understand their own thoughts and meaning.

4. Reflecting: Something that many learners don’t grasp is that notes (concepts, ideas, and keywords) should
be thought about. It is easy to fall into the trap of reciting notes by rote. The key is to think about the
concepts, their meaning, and implications. Through this thoughtful process, learners are getting the most of
out of note taking and classes.

5. Reviewing: Learners should periodically review to keep the information fresh in your mind. One real
secret of successful studying is to know when, how, and what to review. Like an accomplished performer, it
is the quality of the review that makes a difference. Reviewing is an intentional, intense, and active process,
not a passive process. Take a hard look at all these elements and use the ones that work f