Title of Video Segment: Into the Book: Behind the Lesson, Summarizing
Running time: 9 minutes, 25 seconds
Synopsis of Segment: Summarizing … A teacher and a reading expert highlight the usefulness of summarizing text, but in this video it’s the students who perhaps best show how the strategy can help struggling readers.

DR. MICHAEL P. FORD:  How do students use summarizing to get into the book? Let's get Behind the Lesson and see how teachers make this happen.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: Why do we need to learn to summarize?
     
STUDENT: Because, when you summarize you have a really, really long story and you want to make it shorter, so you summarize.
     
JUDY FELSENTHAL: Meg, why do we need to summarize?
     
STUDENT: So you can remember the most important part.
     
STUDENT: Take out the details.
     
JUDY FELSENTHAL: Ah, to take out the details.

Today, what we're going to look at is a piece of fiction. We've spent some time doing retelling, right? We looked at characters, setting, events, problem and solution. When we're going to summarize for fiction, what we want to include are the characters. Because, really, what good would it be to tell about a story if you couldn't remember who was in it. The problem.

STUDENT: The setting and the solution.
     
JUDY FELSENTHAL: And the solution. You know, the setting is important, but I kind of think that unless a setting is an important part of the story, like if it's a story about living in the desert and how that's real difficult, then I think the setting's an important part of a summary, but if the setting just kind of takes place at somebody's house or in school and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with the problem or the solution, I think it's something that we can put in a little later.

I told you guys the other day that I think the problem and the solution are very connected to this author's message. If we're summarizing and we can remember that problem and solution, we'll also be able to figure out the author's purpose.
     
DR. FORD: What was your objective for today's lesson?
     
JUDY FELSENTHAL: My objective for today's lesson was to have a beginning experience with the children trying to summarize in a piece of fiction. We've done summarizing with nonfiction, determining the important ideas. Today my goal was to teach them that when you're looking at fiction, the easiest way to summarize is to find the problem and the solution.

"One day, while a little girl was drawing some pictures, "he said to her, 'I wish sometimes you would use me.'"
     
When I was looking for the key ideas, the first thing I decided was that I needed this part at the beginning where the black crayon was feeling very unhappy, because nobody used him very much. You think that's okay? What is interesting about this is this has both the character and the problem right here at the beginning. Because what's his problem?
     
STUDENT: That he wasn't feeling very happy because he wasn't getting used.
     
JUDY FELSENTHAL: Right, because he wasn't getting used. So, we get the character and we get nobody used him very much all in the same part. It was tricky for me through here because he came to the little girl and he asked her about using him and she said, "Well, I would like to, but I don't know what to draw." I thought well, that's close, but then he told her what to draw. Which of those three things do you think is most important?
     
STUDENT: He told her what to draw?
     
JUDY FELSENTHAL: I think so too because if he doesn't tell her, then we're not working toward a solution of the problem.

DR. FORD: Today, there was this effective use of the white board and the overhead and the teacher thinking aloud. Can you talk a little bit more about the importance of that kind of technique to be explicit with strategy?

JUDY FELSENTHAL: The strategy instruction relies on metacognition. We've talked about how we need to be aware of what's going on in our mind. I talked to them about a little voice in their head that's speaking, and when I do the overt, explicit modeling, I'm saying to them, "So this is what I was thinking." And I've taught them that when I'm sharing, that that's what that little voice in my head is saying to me now. If I share it with you, you'll see how it works in my mind, and then be able to pick it up, how it works in your own mind. I believe that modeling component, as a teacher, takes what appears mysterious to children, summarizing, and makes it into something that's not too difficult.
     
Here's the key idea paper I showed you the other day. What I've got on it are the three keys and then our door, which those keys will open when we go to write our whole summary.

Would you read number one for us please, Rena.
     
STUDENT: A black crayon was sad because nobody used him.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: Okay, let me tell you your job. I'm going to read you a story and ask you to go back and do your own summary in groups. "The ice cream cone went drip, drip." Oh no, what?

STUDENT: Because they're going to get too distracted fighting, they won't eat the ice cream.

DR. FORD: What do you say to classroom teachers that say second graders really aren't ready for comprehension strategy instruction.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: I say, if you are willing to take the time to be very explicit in that instruction and guide them through the steps, they can do things that you would be surprised they can do. The summarizing is something new I've done this year. I started with one sentence stories. And we worked on finding the key idea in a one sentence story. I really believe strongly in the gradual release model where I do lots of modeling. Then we do it as a group. Then we do it as a smaller group and a partner and then down to the individual level.

I want you to think, we need to find the characters, the problem and the solution. You and your group need to talk. Everybody takes a turn. Everybody listens to everybody else's ideas. When you have all decided what you want, I'm going to hand out this key paper for you. You do not need to do the door part today. We'll take care of that tomorrow. Today I just want you to fill out your three key ideas. Questions? Good.
     
STUDENT: I think we can cut it kind of, because this looks like a long
sentence.
     
STUDENT: Maybe just cut it down to "The bears argued and argued."

STUDENT: Why don't we put both of them as the problem?
     
STUDENT: Well, because he doesn't get saved or anything. It's like one big problem actually.
     
STUDENT: Yeah, but we don't know which one would be the problem.

STUDENT: We have to agree on one of them. Which one? I think it should be that nobody is eating him. What do you think Rena?

STUDENT: I think it would be nobody is eating him.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: So, we know the problem. What do you think the author's purpose is for writing this story.

STUDENT: I think the author's purpose is to learn that if you argue and argue, then you just won't get what you want.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: Meg, go ahead.
     
STUDENT: I think he wrote this story because, if they're fighting, you should maybe do something to stop them from arguing and you tell them what to do. Maybe something like that.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: To help them find a better way to solve their problem?

STUDENT: Yeah.
     
DR. FORD: Where will you go next with this lesson and this strategy?

JUDY FELSENTHAL: What we'll go to next is trying to write a summary paragraph on the paper I designed for the lesson, there's that door. I said, when we have keys, we can open doors. Just trying to create some interesting metaphor. We'll take those three ideas and put them into paragraph form. So I'll teach transitional language so those sentences hang together.

One last thing before we go today. Let's talk one more time about how summarizing, how what you did today, will help you remember the story. What I'd like you to do is do a quick knee to knee. How does summarizing the story help you?

STUDENT: Because it's kind of a confusing story. If you summarize it, then it's like easier to remember it.

STUDENT: Like, if you add every single detail, after a while it will get really boring.
     
STUDENT: Because it's way too long.

DR. FORD: One of the questions we've been asking every teacher is what it is you love most about your job?
     
JUDY FELSENTHAL: What I love most about my job is--oh now I'll get all choked up because I really do feel this way--being able to fall in love with a group of kids every two years and spending that time with them.
     
DR. FORD: That's very powerful.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: Well, I'm maudlin.

DR. FORD: Actually, being in your classroom today, it was easy to tell that they had a teacher that really cared about what they were learning. Thank you for letting us drop in.

JUDY FELSENTHAL: Thanks for coming.