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Super Saturday
Writing Conference

SECRET SITE

WRITE ABOUT THE TEXT

SESSION 3  |  Grades 3-12 / ELL Levels 3-5

[HANDOUT]

Summarize content-area information

Scaffold summarization instruction

Define the goal of a summary.

Summaries include only the most important information told in order. 

Summarize in stages with smaller paper or decreasing word limits.

Support early explanations with word banks

Using text features, generate a Title-Wave Summary.

Utilize the subheadings of a longer text to generate a summary after reading.

Expect longer summaries with structured support

Complete an Information Pyramid.

Students customize their understandings by completing an Information Pyramid with no one right answer.

Support comprehensive summaries with frames.

Students can hone their summarizing skills by completing the Somebody… Wanted… But… So… Then… frame.

Tweak the interpretation and the Somebody… Wanted… But… So… Then… frameworks for math story problems, too.

Students oral and written summaries need to match the same text structure of the passage.