Reading Summer School

Good readers make mental summaries as they read. That means that as they read, they think about the big idea in each paragraph. They also connect those big ideas from paragraph to paragraph making a long-running mental summary.

Mental summaries help readers decide if they understand what they are reading and if it makes sense. It also helps them pull out important ideas as they read.

Two methods are useful for making this mental summary. I will review each type and provide an example. I will also model these mental summaries in a read aloud from our read aloud text.

Mental Summary Method 1

After each paragraph, a reader thinks in three parts:

What....................Verb......................Big Picture

• The "what" is what was read. The paragraph....The book entitled....This section....This chapter.
• The "verb" matches the type of writing in the paragraph, book, section, or chapter. Examples of typical verbs include:
• explains
• describes
• compares
• outlines
• describes examples of
• summarizes
• The "big picture" is what the text tells you about the topic.
  

Examples:

This paragraph (what) explains (verb) the different types of computer programs and their uses (big picture).

This section (what) describes (verb) the setting in which the character Studwell lives (big picture).

This chapter (what) compares (verb) the two types of summarizing methods that good readers use (big picture).

Mental Summary Method 2

After each paragraph, a good reader thinks:

Topic.... + What is said about the topic.... + Purpose..... = Main idea

The topic is usually one word that is repeated and that the paragraph or section addresses.
What is said about the topic connects the main details in the section of text with the main idea. Sometimes signal words point to these main details.
The purpose is why the author wrote the paragraph. This may be to inform, explain, persuade, or entertain.

Example:

Fiction example:

An elementary student + goes back in time to find a treasure he thinks is hidden in his current farm site + and provides entertainment while modeling courage = the main idea of the book.

Nonfiction or expository example:

The cost of freedom + was great for many early members of our country + persuading the reader to value their freedom because of the cost = the main idea of the book.

Regardless of which method you choose, you should end up with a similar main idea or summary. The text is not different so the main idea should not be different.