Summarize Chunks of Text

Authors, particularly authors of articles and other informational texts, organize their ideas into sections or chunks. Often, pupils will rush through a text or scan over it without really taking any of it in. Readers can deepen their understanding of a text by reading, pausing, and summarizing each section. The video effectively models how to pause, think about the chunk of reading, and then compose a succinct summary. Show the video to begin the summarizing process, and then continue summarizing the remaining sections as a class or in small groups. While the video focuses on a particular article, the strategy could be used for any article. Take a look at the excellent additional materials for more ideas.