TEKS Lesson Plan/Unit Plan s3

Focus Plan Texarkana Independent School District

GRADING 2nd 6 Weeks PLAN CODE: R6.2.1 PERIOD: Teacher: Ables Course/subject: English Language Arts

Grade(s): 6 Time allotted for 2 class sessions instruction:

Title: The 50 Percent Summary Strategy Lesson TOPIC: Paraphrase and summarize a passage

TAKS Objective: Objective 1 The student will demonstrate a basic understanding of culturally diverse written texts.

FoCUS TEKS and Student 6.10 Reading/comprehension. The student uses a variety of Expectation: strategies to comprehend a wide range of texts of increasing levels of difficulty. The student is expected to: (G) paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform, or organize ideas (4-8). Supporting TEKS and Student 6.10 Reading/comprehension. The student uses a variety of Expectation: strategies to comprehend a wide range of texts of increasing levels of difficulty. The student is expected to: (F) determine a text’s main (or major) ideas and how those ideas are supported with details (4-8). (H) draw inferences such as conclusions or generalizations and support them with text evidence [and experience] (4-8).

Concepts Enduring Understandings/Generalizations/Principles The student will understand that Summarizing Summarizing is how we take larger selections of text and reduce them to their bare essentials: the key ideas and the main points that are worth noting and remembering. Summary A summary consists of the main idea and the crucial details of a paragraph or selection. Paraphrase Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to tell what you’ve read, heard, or seen. Main Idea The most important idea in a paragraph or passage is the main idea. Synthesize When we synthesize, we combine things in a new way.

 Division of Curriculum and Instruction  School Improvement Department  Texarkana Independent School District I. Sequence of Activities (Instructional Strategies)

A. Focus/connections At the beginning of class, ask students if anyone watched television the night before. As students respond, ask them to tell the class about the program they watched in three to four sentences. Explain that what they are doing is summarizing what they viewed. Further explain that not only do we need to be able to summarize what we view, but that good readers are able to summarize what they read.

B. Instructional activities (demonstrations, lectures, examples, hands-on experiences, role play, active learning experience, modeling, discussion, reading, listening, viewing, etc.) 1. Use the transparency packet to explain that when we summarize, we fill in missing parts and translate information into our own words. Lead a discussion of these two elements with the sample paragraph and summary on the transparencies. 2. To transition from summarizing a single paragraph to summarizing an entire passage, use The 50% Summary Activity. See the instructions sheet for complete information on how to use this strategy.

C. Guided Activity or Strategies Once students see how the strategy works, instruct students to partner with another student and have them practice, discussing their decisions with one another as you walk around the class and listen to their practice. (See Activity 2: Guided Practice – The Princess and the Pea.) After the partner practice, ask students to read their summaries to the class. The goal of this activity is to make sure each student understands each step of the strategy and how to use it.

II. STUDENT PERFORMANCE

A. Description After the discussion and checking for understanding, have students use the strategy by using Activity 3: Using the Strategy – The Emperor’s New Suit. For parts 1 and 2 of the story, have students work in pairs or small groups. For parts 3 and 4, have students work independently.

B. Accommodations/modifications This assignment could be modified by having students work in groups or pairs to complete all of Activity 3.

C. Enrichment The assignment also could be modified by having students work independently to complete all of Activity 3. iii. Assessment of Activities

A. Description Students will complete a self assessment of their work using the Self-Assessment Rubric. Students also will be assessed by the instructor based on their written summaries in Activity 3.

B. Rubrics/grading criteria See the rubric for grading criteria.

C. Sample discussion questions 1. What is the difference between main idea and summary? 2. How would you paraphrase this sentence? 3. How would you paraphrase this passage?

 Division of Curriculum and Instruction  School Improvement Department  Texarkana Independent School District 4. Why do you think this is the best summary? 5. What is this summary statement missing? 6. What is the main idea of this passage? 7. Which supporting details are crucial to the selection?

IV. TAKS Preparation A. Transition to TAKS context Collect student-created summaries and use these summaries in TAKS-simulated questions. Choose four different summaries as follows: . One summary that includes the beginning, middle, and end of the selection . One summary that is missing the beginning . One summary that is missing the middle . One summary that is missing the end Have students identify the best summary.

B. Sample TAKS questions 1. Read the first sentence of a summary of the story.

Summary of “Riding to Win”

Tacy is racing her horse Stubby in the Ranger County Rodeo Junior Barrel Racing Championship.

Which set of sentences best completes the summary? F Tacy is a little scared as she waits for the gate to open to begin her first ride. She looks over at her sister, who gives her the thumbs-up sign. G Tacy rides carefully during her first ride. After her ride she is in fourth place with one more ride to go. H Tacy watches her sister Sheri and Sheri’s horse Beetle. Tacy thinks Sheri is riding too fast and wants her to slow down. J Tacy rides cautiously during her first ride. After watching her sister Sheri’s ride, she lets Stubby run full speed in her second ride and wins. From Spring 2004 Grade 6 Reading TAKS

2. Read the first part of the summary about the article.

Summary of “Mattie Stepanek, Poet-Hero”

Despite having a rare form of muscular dystrophy, Mattie Stepanek enjoys many of the same things as other kids, such as learning a martial art and attending summer camp. However, Mattie is unique in many ways.

Which information best completes the summary?

F He has many difficulties because of his disease. He can’t walk, but he has a motorized wheelchair he calls Slick. He has to take an oxygen tank everywhere he goes to help him breathe. He has many daily medical treatments. G He speaks at conferences and other places to try to spread his message of peace. He also appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. Oprah Winfrey read some of his poems on television.

 Division of Curriculum and Instruction  School Improvement Department  Texarkana Independent School District H His wish to talk with former president Carter came true. He spoke to Carter about the need for peace in particular countries around the world. Mattie hopes to be a peacemaker when he grows up. J He has had poems published, been on television, and spoken with a former president. Mattie also speaks on behalf of other sick children and about world peace. From Spring 2004 Grade 6 Reading TAKS

3. Which is the best summary of this story?

A Someone is leaving trash in the courtyard of a new school. No one knows who is doing it, but a boy named Joel is angry that students may lose the use of the area. Joel and his father keep watch at night. They find out who is scattering the trash.

B Joel hears an announcement by the principal of the school. He and his friend Aidan feel the principal is being unfair. Joel’s father is a policeman, so Joel asks him to help with the situation.

C Trash is being left in the courtyard of a new school. The principal tells the students that the courtyard will be closed. A boy named Joel is upset by this. He decides to do something about it.

D The principal of a school announces that some of the students are leaving trash in the courtyard. Later she realizes the students at her school are not responsible, but she still doesn’t know who is making the mess. She asks the students for information about the situation. From Spring 2006 Grade 6 Reading TAKS

V. Key Vocabulary Summarizing, paraphrasing, synthesizing, gist, main idea, trivial, theme

VI. Resources

A. Textbook Summarization notes: Glencoe, Reading Handbook, p. R81

B. Supplementary materials Transparency Packet Activity 1: The 50 Percent Summary – Student Copy Activity 1: The 50 Percent Summary – Instructor’s Copy Activity 1: The 50 Percent Summary – Instructions Activity 2: Guided Practice – The Princess and the Pea Activity 3: Using the Strategy – The Emperor’s New Suit Self-Assessment Rubric Rubric: The 50 Percent Summary Skill Practice: Summarization – Lesson Closure vii. FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES (reteaching, cross-curricular support, technology activities, next lesson in sequence, etc.) . This lesson should be taught after the paragraph summary lesson. . To provide additional practice of the 50% Summary, identify other short expository pieces that have a predominant text structure. Place the original in a column format like the “Edison” piece. Ask students in groups, pairs, or individually to produce a 50% summary. Students can later exchange papers, use the highlight or underlining technique, and discuss whether the summaries still contain important information. . To reinforce the skill of summarization, have students summarize the class lessons throughout the year. (See Skill Practice: Summarization – Lesson Closure.)  Division of Curriculum and Instruction  School Improvement Department  Texarkana Independent School District  Division of Curriculum and Instruction  School Improvement Department  Texarkana Independent School District VIII. Teacher Notes Summarization strategies Following are strategies that may be implemented throughout the year. Students should practice summarization often in order to master the skill.

1. Selective underlining (or highlighting): The way to make underlining useful as a tool for comprehension is for it to be strategic, selective, and purposeful. The underlining must be undertaken toward particular ends. With selective underlining, the idea is to underline ONLY the key words, phrases, vocabulary, and ideas that are central to understanding the piece. Students should be taught this strategy explicitly, should be given time and means to practice, and should be reinforced for successful performance.

2. Paring it down: Have students write successively shorter summaries, constantly refining and reducing their written piece until only the most essential and relevant information remains. They can start off with half a page; then try to get it down to two paragraphs; then one paragraph; then two or three sentences; and ultimately a single sentence.

3. The Paragraph Summarization Strategy: This strategy focuses on students reading one paragraph at a time, stopping at the end of each paragraph, and then asking some questions to find the main idea and supporting details. Students can tell someone what they think the paragraph is about, or they can write it.

4. The Section Summarization Strategy. This strategy focuses on students reading a multi-paragraph section that covers a topic. The student begins by raising questions about what the section might be about. As the students read, they are prompted to make one important summary statement about each paragraph; at the end, they answer the questions they raised as the beginning of the section, state or write a connected summary using the important statements recorded during reading, and then describe how this section relates to the preceding and following sections.

The emphasis of this level of instruction and practice is on the integration on multiple main ideas to identify the significance of the set of ideas as a whole. If the student has difficulty with making paragraph level important statements as part of section summarization, the student is not ready for section summarization. More instruction and practice in paragraph summarization should be provided.

5. The Multi-Section Summarization Strategy: This strategy focuses on the type of summarization that is required for report writing. As the student reads each section in a chapter or chapter of a book, he/she makes at least three summarizing important statements. This may not cover all the information in the section or chapter, but it should be enough to help the student remember what the section or chapter was about when the summary report needs to be written. If the report is based on chapters in a narrative text, the statements might focus on what happened at the beginning, middle, or end of the chapter. When the student has finished reading the text, a summary is created using the three importance statements. A paragraph with a topic sentence, at least three supporting sentences, and a closing sentence are created. If the student has trouble with summarizing for report writing, then more instruction and practice in section summarization is provided.

 Division of Curriculum and Instruction  School Improvement Department  Texarkana Independent School District