Summarizing information is a skill I find my sixth grade students struggle with. It stems from their difficulty synthesizing the information they read, therefore they are unable to put the information in their own words since they never really understood what they read to begin with.
In brick and mortar school it was easier to activate background knowledge, review reading strategies, and check for understanding. In virtual school it is much more difficult to teach and model good reading strategies and determine where the breakdown in comprehension is occurring.
One of the first assignments this year for my sixth grade Language Arts class was to write a summary of a short story they read. I found the students struggled with this despite very logical and well-written directions in the lesson on how to complete this assignment. Students had trouble pulling out the important information and would often get distracted by the details.
I like the Two Column Think Sheet strategy headed with “What the Piece is About/What It Makes Me Think About,” found on page 188 of Strategies
That Work (Harvey, 2007). This strategy requires students to document not only their understanding of what was read, but their thoughts about the piece as well.
As a virtual teacher, this strategy works well because it does not require them to mark the text (which they are unable to do since all the reading in online) and it provides insight to which reading strategies (predicting, making connections, questioning, etc.) the student is using as they read which would work well with our asynchronous instruction.
Reference
Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension
to enhance understanding. Portland, Me: Stenhouse Publishers.
In brick and mortar school it was easier to activate background knowledge, review reading strategies, and check for understanding. In virtual school it is much more difficult to teach and model good reading strategies and determine where the breakdown in comprehension is occurring.
One of the first assignments this year for my sixth grade Language Arts class was to write a summary of a short story they read. I found the students struggled with this despite very logical and well-written directions in the lesson on how to complete this assignment. Students had trouble pulling out the important information and would often get distracted by the details.
I like the Two Column Think Sheet strategy headed with “What the Piece is About/What It Makes Me Think About,” found on page 188 of Strategies
That Work (Harvey, 2007). This strategy requires students to document not only their understanding of what was read, but their thoughts about the piece as well.
As a virtual teacher, this strategy works well because it does not require them to mark the text (which they are unable to do since all the reading in online) and it provides insight to which reading strategies (predicting, making connections, questioning, etc.) the student is using as they read which would work well with our asynchronous instruction.
Reference
Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension
to enhance understanding. Portland, Me: Stenhouse Publishers.
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