Lesson 18: Skill: Summarizing

What are the most important events in the plot ?
Based on these events, how would you summarize ?

summarize, objective, paraphrase

Instruction:
CCSS: RL.6.2
Application:
CCSS: RL.6.1, RL.6.2, SL.6.1.A, SL.6.1.C, SL.6.2

When you summarize a text, you briefly state the main points and most important details in the text in your own words. Summarizing can help you organize, explain, and remember concepts in an informative text or the events that take place in a story.

To summarize, you must decide what is most important as you read. Ask the basic questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Using your own words, write your answers to these questions from an objective point of view, without inserting your own feelings and opinions.

Summarizing is sometimes confused with paraphrasing. When you paraphrase, you do not condense a text down to its most important details. Instead, you restate the text in your own words. A summary is much shorter than the original text, while a paraphrase may be the same length as the original text.

Teacher modelling
Turn and Talk
Think Pair Share
Small Group

Have students complete the multiple-choice questions to demonstrate their understanding of summarizing. 

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