Distinguishing Between the Text and Thought

Subject Area(s):

• K-12: Language Arts

Grade Level(s):

• 5th-6th Grade

Description:

This lesson provides the basic framework to help students distinguish between a summary of the text and what the reader is thinking.

Goals & Objectives:

Students will understand and apply the art of summarizing and what the reader is thinking by using a two column think sheet headed "What the Piece Is About/What It Makes Me Think About."

Materials:

1. Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.
2. An article entitled "Pompeii: the Time Machine," by Robin Shulka; reprinted in The New comprehensive English Examination Guide, 2nd Edition.

Procedures:

Content for Strategy/Content:

Provide significance for the lesson by briefly discussing plagiarism and its consequences; mention the fact that many students suffer poor grades on reports because they really don't understand how to put things in their own words. Tell students that the skill they will be learning will be helpful in all their schoolwork and throughout their lives.

Next, give students tips about the art of summarizing including the following: 

• Pick out the most important ideas.
• Keep it brief.
• Say it in your own words in a way that makes sense.

Reflection:

• Stop periodically and think about what you have just read.
• How does it make you feel?
• Jot down your feelings.

Modeling: Read

• Hand out the story "Pompeii: the Time Machine."
• Then have the students make up the two column think sheet headed "What the Piece Is About/What It Makes Me Think About."
• The teacher will read the story completely, then have the students briefly fill in the column entitled "What It Makes Me Think About."

Note: Remind the students to record their thoughts first, then do the task at hand because there is nothing more important than what the reader is thinking.

Guided Practice:

• Have the students reread the first three paragraphs.
• After each paragraph help the students list two or three items in the "What the Piece Is About" column, avoiding complete sentences. have them use words or phrases only.

Independent Practice:

• Have the students reread the fourth paragraph on their own.
• Have the students continue recording items in the "what the Piece Is About column as we have done in the guided practice.
• Repeat with each paragraph as time permits, continuing to record important items.

Sharing/Reflection:

Have the students reflect on the effectiveness of this strategy by discussing the following questions: (1) How did this strategy work for you? (2) Was it intrusive? If so, why? (3) Record their responses on chart paper for review and for reference later on.

Assessment:

Assessments begin during the Independent Practice section by monitoring the two column think sheet headed “What the Piece Is About/What It Makes Me Think About.” From the responses indicated on this sheet and discussed in class, a determination will be made as to whether or not the students have met the objectives of this lesson. Assessment will continue during the Sharing/Reflection section. Recording their responses on chart paper for review will prove if the students have truly learned how to distinguish between a summary of the text and what the reader is thinking. A review of the entire lesson or a portion of the lesson will depend upon the accuracy of their responses and questions raised during class discussion.

Supporting Files:

• Pompeii.doc
  Attached is a copy of the short story entitled "Pompeii: the Time Machine" by Robin Shulka.

Standards:

National Information Literacy Standards (K-12)

Evaluates information critically and competently.

• Selects information appropriate to the problem or question at hand.

Uses information accurately and creatively

• Integrates new information into one's own knowledge.

Information Skills and Subskills (K-16)

Organization

• Summarizes/synthesizes/classifies final information
• Subject: K-12: Language Arts

National Content Standards (K-12)

Reading

• Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts