Summarization
with an Electric Eel
A Reading to Learn Design
By Lauren Dallas
Rationale:
Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. Students who are at this level are ready to learn strategies to better understand a text. This lesson introduces the strategy of summarization. An effective method of summarization is called about- point, which asks two critical questions about the text. 1) What is the text about? While this question is easy, it helps locate the subject that will be in your topic sentence. 2) What is the main point the writer is making about the topic? Students will have to understand which information is important and which is trivial. In summarizing, only the most important parts are included. Being able to summarize leads students into asking higher level thinking questions and comprehensions.
Materials:
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Individual copies of the National Geographic Kids article about electric eels
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Pencil and paper for each student
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Summarization checklist
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Electric eel Quiz
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Dry erase board and marker
Procedures:
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Say: “Whenever we read a text, we won’t be able to memorize every single word because there are just too many details. Good readers don’t try to remember every word; instead, they focus on summarizing the most important points that the author is trying to make about the topic. When we break large texts into smaller chunks, the main ideas become easier to remember!”
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Say: One way we can summarize is by using a strategy called about-point. When we use about-point, you will ask yourself two different questions about your reading. [Write the questions on the board for students to reference]. You will answer a simpler question, “What is the text about?” and a harder question, “What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?” When you answer the tough question, it will help you to identify the “umbrella term” that covers the important part that the author has written. To find the important parts the author wrote, you must find and take away any unimportant information. It helps to cross it out so you can’t see it. When you have the answers to these questions, it will later help you to formulate your sentences, especially your topic sentence!
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Say: Later in this lesson, I will model how to practice the about-point strategy with a paragraph in an article called “Electric Eel”. You are going to read this article today so that we can get the hang of summarization! Does anyone think they’ve ever seen an electric eel? How long are they? What do they eat? Where do they live? These are just a few of the questions that you will learn how to answer.
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Say: Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word that you’ll be reading: emit. Emit means to send out from a source. In other words, emit means to give off or release something. Many things can be emitted from a source including gas, liquid, heat, sound, light, or radiation. For example, “The fresh baked loaves of bread emitted warmth.” That means that I can feel the warmth coming from the freshly baked bread. What is something else that could be emitted? Finish this sentence: The _________ emits many different sounds. (Example answers: radio, TV, dog, people, etc.).
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Say: Here is a paragraph from the story: “Although electric eels have the power to be the bullies of the Amazon, they are actually not very aggressive animals. The eel uses its shock to stun prey and keep predators at bay.” This paragraph is about the electric power that electric eels have, but what important point is the writer making? The eels have the power to be bullies but instead are not very aggressive. So, what is the electricity for? If I put these points together, I can create a topic sentence: Even though electric eels could abuse their power of having electricity, we know that they use this power to stun prey and keep predators away from them.
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Say: Now it’s your turn! I’d like you to finish reading the article and use about-point to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you should have a good summary of the article. This will help you remember the important facts about electric eels. Remember, we shouldn’t summarize examples or trivia; these are only written to help you understand the main ideas. Your job is to write a short version of the article by summarizing in your own words. After everyone finishes, we will have a quiz to check for our understanding.
Checklist:
Collect each student’s summary of the article. Evaluate the responses using the following checklist:
Student Name:______________________
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____Wrote a topic sentence for each paragraph
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____Deleted unimportant or repetitive information
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____Significantly reduced the text from original to form summary
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____Identified important points
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____Successfully conjoined the important points to form a topic sentence
Quiz:
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Where does the electric eel get its name from?
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What is an example of something an electric eel might eat?
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About how big is an electric eel (length and weight)?
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What do electric eels use their electricity for?
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Where do electric eels live?
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How do electric eels navigate around?
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What is an electric eel closely related to?
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In which continent can you find electric eels?
References:
Electric Eel
Article: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/electric-eel
Murray, Bruce: Using About-Point to Awaken the Main
Idea. http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/handoffs/
https://murraba.wixsite.com/reading-lessons/rl
Mcgill, Molly: Swimming into Summarization