1. 6 Thinking Strategies Literacy Inservice March 2005
Determining Important Ideas
6 Thinking Strategies Literacy Inservice March 2005

3. 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.

4. 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

5. Proficient
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

6. Strategies for Summarizing:
Save the Last Word
Most Important Word
“ Somebody Wanted But So ”
2 Column Chart: topic/details
Text frames

7. 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

8. Most Important Word s 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! :)

10. “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 characters
Wanted= events of the plot- main ideas and details
But= examining conflict
So= looking at resolutions

12. 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

13. 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:
Read the text, determine the focus.
Sketch out a paragraph which focuses on the problem.
Delete words, phrases, and sentences except those which are needed to sustain the purpose of the paragraph.
Modify the frame to be used in a variety of situations.

15. 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

16. 6 Thinking Strategies Literacy Inservice March 2005
Determining Important Ideas
6 Thinking Strategies Literacy Inservice March 2005