February+-

Sorry I'm late, but I'm running behind and my class and I are still inferring (and probably will be for two more weeks).

Summarizing & Synthesizing
When you ask your students to summarize, what usually happens? What do we want them to do? This seems like a fine month to revisit main idea and details. I'm thinking maybe a little outlining - but not like I used to have to do in school 100 years ago with the Roman numerals. We know that the EOG is heavy on nonfiction, so I'm thinking we can practice this month's skill using our science books and the books I've checked out from the media center to complement our study of biomes. How do you plan to get these strategies across to your kids? Please share your good ideas!
 * they write down everything
 * they write down almost nothing
 * they write in complete sentences
 * they copy word for word
 * identify main ideas
 * focus on details
 * use key words and phrases
 * break down the larger ideas
 * take brief but complete notes

Don't know if this is the right way but I have gone through the science lesson and type up notes for the students to copy into their journals. Maybe things will stick if they read about it, discussed it, and write about the material. Then they have something to study when it comes to test time. Maybe the students will understand that not everything is important from the textbook and need to be written down word for word. If anyone has any ideas about using a textbook especially science since we are know tested in this subject I would greatly appreciate it. Becky Smaldone

I like the jigsaw puzzle analogy used in ch. 11. When summarizing we synthesize the pieces to see the big picture. Background knowledge impacts synthesizing. We should model revising our thinking as we read. With limited background knowledge, we may come up with a whole new insight after reading about a topic. Even with a well developed background, we may change or add to our understanding. Teaching students to notice fonts and effects, signal words and phrases, graphics and other nonfiction features can help them better comprehend nonfiction. Many times the “gist” of the passage will be found there. The FQR model (facts/questions/response columns) is one approach to teaching summarizing. Students learn to pick out and respond to important parts of the passage and monitor their own understanding. I also like Kent’s idea of only using one word to help you remember a passage. Brevity is a virtue when summarizing. When you retell it, you can pull the rest of the words for a summary out of your head. Synthesized writing is both factual and personal. Teaching summarizing skills is necessary across the curriculum. We must help readers learn to sift essential information from less important details, whether we are enjoying a novel, studying invertebrates, or even as closure to a math lesson. -K.Wilson

Being the Science Geek that I am, I loved the idea a finding important details from the science book and then having the students synthesize how these habitats relate to them. They had to take what they have learned from their "posters" and relate it to North Carolina. Several of them tried to tell me that there are deserts in NC. When I asked them to show me or tell me where it is, a little light went off above their heads. It was one of those moments a teacher loves. They "got it." Another moment of revelation...as they prepared information (**Facts**) for the posters, they realized they developed more (**questions**). Example: What animals do live in the rain forests or the taiga? Their (**response**) to these questions were more questions which lead to them **__wanting__** to research to respond correctly. This was a great project.

Susan McCollum