ost of us agree that students need help--or
perhaps just practice--with their abilities to summarize material.
The following exercise gives them practice while it also aids
their comprehension: Ask students to summarize in no more than
50 words the main points of their reading assignment. They might
do this on regular notebook paper or index cards. The activity
encourages them to read the assignment and helps them to remember
what they have read. And its brief format is not threatening
to them.
You might also combine this
activity with small group work, asking each group to work collaboratively
on the best version. They could also shorten their summary to
25 words and/or to one sentence.
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