1. Writing a Summary
Say- Now we are going to write a summary of the story I just read- The Wall by Eve Bunting

2. Start your summary with a summarizing statement
What can help you to make a summarizing statement-
I + V+ FT= A summarizing statement
This is the formula, strategy to help students understand the parts of a summarizing statement, see next slide for definitions of each letter

3. I= Introduce Answer these questions- What is the title?
What format is it written in (article, book, poem, etc…)
Who is the author?
For example,
The Wall, a picture book, by Eve Bunting….
Read slide, practice this on overhead with other books in your room. For example, have a pile of books, articles, etc… and have students introduce them either verbally or in writing. You can do the “introduce” on the overhead and the students can follow along in writing at their desks. Many variations for how to do this, but don’t just do this once have students practice writing the introduce portion multiple times until they seem to understand.

4. Describes Explains Shows Tells Convinces
Verb
Use a verb (action word)
Some to consider-
Describes Explains Shows Tells Convinces
For example-
The Wall, a picture book, by Eve Bunting describes a….
In this section of the summarizing statement students need to pick a verb, the most common ones used in a summarizing statement are listed above
At this time, also handout the verb list to each student, tell them to keep this in their notebooks and reference it when in need of a verb
Again- you can practice this part of the summarizing statement as much as you think your students need

5. FT=
Finishing thought
The main thing that happens in the story (the gist).
For example,
The Wall, a picture book, by Eve Bunting describes a boy and his father’s visit to the Vietnam Wall where many come for a variety of reasons.
This section of the summarizing statement is the most difficult to teach students. It will be important for teachers to spend some time and practice on this section of the summarizing statement.
Recommendation- Have students I+V+FT multiple times with multiple genre. For example, for an entry task teachers may want to put up a comic strip and have students I+V+FT it, do this many days in a row. Or put up a simple poem every day and have students I+V+FT those. You could just verbally share the summarizing statements or have students write out their statements. It also seems to be helpful to have the students fold notebook paper into thirds and label the first column I, the second column V, and in the third column FT. Students write the parts of their summarizing statement in each column.

6. Figuring out the main events
In order to get kids to understand the concept of main events and coming up with three main events, first start by asking the class to brainstorm all the events they can remember from the story. Write them on overhead or type into computer as students are saying them. When done with list of events, tell students they have 3 votes and to vote for the three events they think are the most important to the story line. Have students raise hand as you are reading each event off the class list. Write the total votes for each listed event next to that event on the overhead or word document. When done look at list, ask students- Why are these (point to the events with the most votes) getting the most votes (when students vote they most often vote for main events and give very few vote for the things on the list that aren’t a major event. If by chance you have classes where many students vote for minor events this is a great formative assessment and this lets the teacher know that the students need more work on identifying main events vs. minor events) and why are these getting so little votes?
Point out that the most voted events are the main event / less number of votes means that event is not a main event.
On overhead or word document highlight the most voted events and note to the class that these are the three main events we are going to use in our summary.
Then next slide

7. MAIN EVENTS You know it is a main event when…..
If you took it out the whole story would change
The wall is black and shiny vs. locating the grandfather’s name on the wall
Reviewing what we just talked about regarding why they voted for a certain main event
“The wall is black and shiny” is not a main event, could be taken out and the story would not really change
Taking the location of the grandfather’s name on the wall out would really change the story, therefore, it is a main event

8. Summary Scoring Guide
2 includes a summary statement and 3 main events from the selection.
1 includes a summary statement AND 1 or 2 main events from the selection OR
3 main events, but no summary statement
0 1 or 2 main events and no summarizing statement or only minor events
Now switch over to looking at student summaries
because I want to see if we are clear as to what needs to be in a good summary and scoring some is the best way to know if we understand this
To score them we will be using the guide that is used to score summaries on the WASL
Go over the scoring guide.
Make sure to write this on chart paper so that you can reference it when scoring student samples.

9. Putting it all together
Begin with the summarizing statement-
The Wall, a picture book, by Eve Bunting describes a boy and his father’s visit to the Vietnam Wall. .
Then add the three main events. Link them with transitions-
First, when the boy and father arrive at the wall they begin searching it for the name of the boy’s grandfather who died in the Vietnam War. As they are searching, the boy notices other people looking for names on the wall. Many of them appear sad. Eventually, the boy’s dad locates the grandfather’s name and he makes a rubbing of it. Finally, the boy leaves a picture of himself at the wall.
Teacher can use this complete summary or create their own from the main events the students decided on in class. If the teacher decides to use the class consensus main events the teacher will have to create a summary in real time.
Note that this summary’s main events come from the beginning, middle, and end. This is important and should be pointed out to students that their main events should be taken from a large portion of the selection.
Second Event
First Event
Third Event
Fourth Event

10. Full summary without notes
The Wall, a picture book, by Eve Bunting describes a boy and his father’s visit to the Vietnam Wall. First, when the boy and father arrive at the wall they begin searching it for the name of the boy’s grandfather who died in the Vietnam War. As they are searching, the boy notices other people looking for names on the wall. Many of them appear sad. Eventually, the boy’s dad locates the grandfather’s name and he makes a rubbing of it. Finally, the boy leaves a picture of himself at the wall.
This is the same summary as the previous slide, just without distractions

11. Summary Scoring Guide
2 includes a summary statement and 3 main events from the selection.
1 includes a summary statement AND 1 or 2 main events from the selection OR
3 main events, but no summary statement
0 1 or 2 main events and no summarizing statement or only minor events
Now switch over to looking at student summaries
because I want to see if we are clear as to what needs to be in a good summary and scoring some is the best way to know if we understand this
To score them we will be using the guide that is used to score summaries on the WASL
Go over the scoring guide.
Make sure to write this on chart paper so that you can reference it when scoring student samples.

12. Sample One
In The Wall by Eve Bunting, a boy and his father visit the Vietnam Wall. They locate and make a rubbing of the boy’s grandfather’s name who died a long time ago in a war. Next, the boy notices all the other people visiting the wall.
Refer to scoring guide while discussing this example
Teacher- Read the selection aloud to students, have them hold up their fingers- one, two, or a fist for what they think is the score for the sample. Summarize what you think the class consensus is on the finger scores. Then give the teacher decided score for the sample.
Score 1- Has a summarizing statement (but forgot to put the format- picture book) and two main events

13. Sample Two
The Wall a picture book by Eve Bunting, explains how a father and his son visit the Vietnam Wall. First, the boy and his father are looking for the grandfather’s name on the wall. Finally, they find it and the father is so happy that he makes a rubbing of his father’s name.
Repeat the class scoring procedures for every sample
Score 1- Again has a summarizing statement, but only two main events

14. Sample Three
The Wall, a picture book, by Eve Bunting, describes a man and his son’s visit to find his father’s name on the Vietnam Wall. At first, the name of the man’s father is difficult to locate, but once the boy and man find it they make a rubbing of the name. While there, the boy notices the many other people who are visiting the wall. He notes that many of them appear sad. Before the man and boy decide to leave the wall, they leave a picture of the boy. Though the boy wishes his grandfather was alive he is proud that his grandfather’s name is on the wall.
Score 2- Summarizing statement and four main events

15. Sample 4
A boy and his father visit the wall. They see many names of people who died in the war. They look for the boy’s grandfather’s name on the wall and they eventually find it. They make a rubbing of it and the dad puts it in his wallet. Many people who visit the wall are sad. At the end of the story, the boy leaves a picture of himself at the wall.
Score of 1- This is a 1 because the summarizing statement is weak, very little overview of the book, but it does have three main events

16. Sample Five
This story is about a boy and his father going to a wall. The wall is shiny and black. The boy and father can see themselves in the wall. A man in a wheelchair says “hi” to the boy. Little girls also visit the wall. Their teacher is with them. When the girls leave it is quiet at the wall. Finally, the boy and father leave the wall to go home.
Score 0- not a complete summarizing statement and all events are minor

17. You Do
On your own, read the selection and write a summary that includes a summarizing statement and three main events
You Do/Formative Assessment-Hand out the reading selection- The Potato Chip Man (this is in a word document) to each student. Have them read it independently and on a piece of paper write a summary. You may want to also require that each student turn in the I+V+FT sheet and the three main events they decided to include so you can see that they did explicitly think about this before writing one.
In addition, make sure to have the scoring guide displayed so all students are clear what is expected from a summary in order to meet standard
Collect from the students when done and score.