Knowledge of how to write a summary is most readily developed through
practice in situations where summarizing fits naturally. Within
the traditional English curriculum, those good practice situations
include:
Unfortunately, teaching summarization skills in any of those
contexts is incredibly boring.
An approach less likely to render students comatose is to involve
students in team
activities to discover connections between the ways written
summary is used in everyday life and the way it is used in English
class.
Below are three ideas that incorporate team activities in teaching
how to write a summary.
What's a good summary? (team activity)
This team activity has four parts culminating in a slide show.
Since a slide show is a summary medium, the students are effectively
testing what they have learned about how to write summary.
1. Student teams identify and provide examples of at least X number
of specific situations in which a written summary is presented.
The greater the diversity of situations, the greater the likelihood
of a useful team product.
2. Teams sort the examples by purpose, audience, length, and any
other categories they deem useful.
3. Teams identify characteristics of a good written summary.
4. Teams prepare a slide show (maximum 10 slides) summarizing the
characteristics of a good written summary. The slide show should
be prepared for viewing without accompanying oral presentation.
If you use this activity, you should provide resources for help
in preparing a slide show. Students will also need specific guidance
so they understand the focus is on how well their slides demonstrate
that they understand how to summarize.
What's a class equivalent? (team/individual)
Note: This activity can be done by individuals or teams.
Witnesses to an accident are asked, "What happened?"
Typically, witnesses respond with a summary, which they may elaborate
upon with a detailed narrative.
1. Ask students to identify between three and five situations
where students are asked the "what happened?" question
in their classes.
2. Ask students to analyze typical classroom responses to the question.
Do the responses follow the typical out-of-class pattern? If they
don't, what accounts for the differences?
3. Ask students to develop a thesis
statement and writing
skeleton™ for a paper they could write showing that event
reports follow/do not follow the same pattern in academic work
as in ordinary life experience.
You could follow up by having students individually write those
papers or use the skeletons for class discussion on how to write
a summary.
Literature log lines (team, individual combo)
A log line is a brief summary of a TV show or movie. It is fiction's
equivalent of nonfiction's thesis statement. In a sentence or
two, the log line summarizes the plot and sets an emotional hook.
1. Present students with 10-12 examples of log lines for shows
or movies. Have student teams identify the characteristics of
the log line. (You may wish to follow up with whole-class discussion
to be sure everyone knows what the characteristics are.)
2. Have students individually prepare log lines for a piece of
literature they have read as a class assignment, or that they viewed
as a class assignment.
3. Share the log lines. It is not necessary to share the identity
of the authors.
4. Have groups identify in the individual log lines particularly
effective examples of:
-
Use of action words.
-
Use of descriptive words other than verbs.
-
Main character identification.
-
Concise description of the central conflict.
- The element that makes the literary work unique.
4. Finish off the study by having students individually write
about some aspect of their experience writing log lines. The writing
can be informal or formal, as you choose.
