Retelling and Summarizing A quick guide for teachers

Overview Retelling and summarizing are two important strategies and activities for reading Retelling and summarizing share some key similarities However, it’s important to consider their differences when planning classroom instruction

What is retelling? Retelling is an oral activity in which a reader explains the main ideas of the text For example, after reading a story, a reader retells the story by putting it into his or her own words

Why use retelling in the classroom? Retelling is a powerful classroom tool for building comprehension Retelling fiction requires students to think about characters, setting, conflict,and important events Retelling nonfiction requires students to consider key ideas and important information

How do we use retelling in the classroom? The simplest way is to use partner retelling After modeling how to retell, pair students up with directions to retell the story to one another Providing props such as pictures, toys, or even paper figures builds interest and adds a manipulative element

Try this! Photocopy pictures to go along with a story. Have students cut out individual pictures. Then, as they retell the story, they can use the pictures to depict the action

What does the teacher do while students retell? While students are retelling the story to one another, walk around to listen Are students: Using character names? Showing the links between key ideas in the story? Putting ideas into their own words?

Using retelling for assessment Retelling is an aspect of many primary reading assessments, including the DRA and DIBELS Try listening as a student retells a story. Listen for specific details from the story, key events, and important ideas

Some key aspects of retelling A retelling of a story can be longer than the original Retelling can be a great tool to build comprehension of fiction and nonfiction Retelling works with students of all grade levels. Even non-readers can learn from retelling parts of a story to one another

What about summarizing? Like retelling, summarizing is an important reading strategy that builds comprehension Like retelling, the reader needs to put ideas into his or her own words However, there are some important differences to keep in mind

Key Differences Retelling is oral Summarizing is written In a retelling, the more details, the better A summary should include only the most important details

Why use summarizing in the classroom? Summarizing is a key reading strategy—if a student can’t summarize, chances are that full comprehension didn’t occur Summarizing requires a reader to think about the important ideas of a text Many standardized tests require students to write summaries

What makes a good summary? A summary of fiction should include: Names of important characters and locations Important events from the story A sentence or two that points to the theme of the story A summary of fiction should not include: The reader’s opinions (This was a great book!) Trivial details

What makes a good summary? A summary of nonfiction should include: Key words from the passage Main ideas from the text A reflection of the text structure of the text A summary of nonfiction should not include: Trivial details The reader’s opinions

How do we help readers learn to summarize? Begin with retelling. Students can’t select the most important ideas until they can explain ideas in their own words Have students choose the best summary from several choices. Discuss what makes each summary a good example or a bad example

How do we help readers learn to summarize? To improve fiction summaries, help readers locate important events from the story To improve nonfiction summaries, teach students how to identify text structures (compare and contrast, problem solution, chronological order, cause and effect, etc)

Looking for more information? Check out Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling by Emily Kissner http://books.heinemann.com/products/E00797.aspx