6 Thinking Strategies Literacy Inservice

March 2005

Determining Important Ideas

I understand the main ideas ofthe text and what theauthor's message is.

The text was mostly about...The author is trying to tell us that...

I learned...The important details were...

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SUMMARIZING

IS TAKING LARGER SELECTIONS OF TEXT AND REDUCING THEM TO THEIR BARE ESSENTIALS:

•THE GIST

•KEY IDEAS

•MAIN POINTS THAT ARE WORTH NOTING AND REMEMBERING

When we summarize, we strip away the extra wording and focus on the heart of the material.

When students SUMMARIZE they:

•pull out main ideas•focus on key details

•use key words and phrases

•break down the larger ideas

•tell only enough to convey the gist

Readers…

•Identify key ideas or themes as they read•Utilize text structure and text features (such as bold or

italicized print, figures and photographs) to help them distinguish important from unimportant information

Writers…•Observe their world and record what they believe is significant•Make decision about the best genre and structure to

communicate their ideas

Mathematicians…•Evaluate and think critically about information•Make decisions about the quality and usefulness of information•Decide what is important to remember and what is not

Proficient

Strategies for Summarizing:

“ Somebody Wanted But So ”

Save the Last Word

Most Important Word

2 Column Chart: topic/details

Text frames

Save the Last Word:•After reading a text, students choose passages they like and copy

each passage on a card.

•Then , on the reverse side of that card, they write why they liked that passage.

•Once students have completed this, they get into small groups.

•One at a time, they read the passages they selected.

•The other students comment on what they liked or didn’t like about each passage.

•Then, the student who wrote it on his card gets to have the last word as he reads his reason for choosing that passage

Most Important Words s

•To encourage a lively debate, ask students to choose what they consider to be the most important word from the text they’ve just read.

•This strategy forces the students back into the text to consider what was the most important aspect of that text.

•When students have made their choices, make sure they can point to places in the text where the word is used and explain why they chose that word as important

Steer them away from using a character’s name or word in the title

If students choose “of” and “the”? Have them count ‘em! :)

“Somebody Wanted But So”Summarizing a short story or a novel appears to be too

overwhelming for many students. SWBS offers students a framework as they create their summaries.

Students read a story and then decide who the somebody is, what that somebody wanted, but what happened to keep something from happening, and so, finally, how everything works out.

SWBS also moves students beyond summary writing-Somebody= deciding main charactersWanted= events of the plot- main ideas and detailsBut= examining conflictSo= looking at resolutions

Somebody(character)

Wanted(goal/motivation)

But(conflict)

So(resolution)

2 Column Chart: Topic and Details

The topic and detail form is effective in allowing for the students to list essential information. The third column can be added for connections or questions.

Topic Detail Response

Text Frames The intent of the text frame is to help children develop independent comprehension skills. They can be used to help organize information in order to identify important ideas and learn to use text structure to support comprehension.

Constructing the frames:1. Read the text, determine the focus.2. Sketch out a paragraph which focuses on the problem.3. Delete words, phrases, and sentences except those which

are needed to sustain the purpose of the paragraph.4. Modify the frame to be used in a variety of situations.

STORY SUMMARY WITH ONE CHARACTER INCLUDED

OUR STORY IS ABOUT_________________________________________________.

_______________________ IS AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER IN OUR STORY.

__________________________ TRIED TO _________________________________

__________________________________________________. THE STORY ENDS

WHEN __________________________________________________________.

IMPORTANT IDEA OR PLOT

IN THIS STORY, TH E PROBLEM STARTS WHEN_________________________

_____________________________________. AFTER THAT, ________________

______________________________________________________________________

NEXT, _______________________________________________________________

__________________________________. THEN, __________________________

____________________________________________________. THE PROBLEM

IS FINALLY SOLVED WHEN __________________________________________

___________________________________________. THE STORY ENDS______

___________________________________________________________.

When students highlight or mark text in nonfiction materials, they should keep the following guidelines in mind:

•Look carefully at the first and last line of each paragraph

•Highlight only necessary words and phrases

•Don’t get thrown off by interesting details

•Try not to highlight more than half of a paragraph

•Make notes in margins

•Cue words-followed by important information

•Nonfiction has many features that signal important information

6 Thinking Strategies Literacy Inservice

March 2005

Determining Important Ideas