And I don't think we are going to get better at summary items on assessments by summarizing. As readers taking a test, our brains are not really summarizing -- we are evaluating summaries and evidence. It's a different skill.
Hear me clearly: we are not getting better on summary because we are actually teaching summary. STAAR offers summaries, calls them summaries, and we still need to know how to summarize, but we are not summarizing when we are answering STAAR summary questions. We need to actually start teaching the flawed ways summaries show up in distractors.
Solution: Give kids collections of summaries about the same text and have them ask: What's wrong with this summary? What's it missing? What's not true? What's just a restatement or detail instead of the importance and gist? They need to be comparing and evaluating the merits of each summary against another one. Just like they have to do in the multiple choice options.
Below are a series of links to take you to lessons about Summary and what needs to be taught that will move our needle on assessment results.
Yes, yes, yes...I have been trying to convey and articulate this idea for years. The strategy differs with each genre, AND...we must teach kids to look at each choice to see the missing and or extraneous elements.
ReplyDeleteI have ,however, tried to instill in teachers the idea that strategically, and for modeling purposes, it is a good idea for the reader to first draft what he or she believes to be a best summary. To use it a starting point for comparison. Especially with fiction when the elements are a bit easier to identify. (this one had the characters , but the conflict...)
thoughts on this?
Conflict - yes. I'm seeing some problems with that too. I'll write about that next. After I fix the post on genre summary that I accidentally deleted.
ReplyDeleteSarah - https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2019/11/conflict-vs-problem.html; Right now, I'm recommending the students annnotate the text and summaries for plot elements instead of writing those silly little summaries next to each paragraph. For our work in comprehension, we need to think beyond what the paragraphs are saying and working more with how they are functioning to deliver the genre, purpose, or message.
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