Comprehension Summarizing Events

Interventions for Comprehension –
Summarizing events:
Skill- Comprehension: Summarizing
Intervention – GRASP: Guided Reading and Summarizing Procedure
Source or adapted from - “Improving Reading: Strategies and Resources”

by Jerry L. Johns and Susan Davis Lenski
Materials:
instructional level passage
paper, pencil
chart paper or board
Instructions for administration:

1. Provide students with a short passage at their instructional level of
reading. Explain that the students will be writing a summary of the
passage. If your students do not understand the term summary, explain
that a summary is a brief description of a longer text.
2. Ask students to read the passage independently with the purpose of
remembering all that they can.
3. After all students have finished reading, ask them to tell you what they
remembered. List on the board all of the items they suggest.
4. Ask students to reread the passage with the purpose of making additions
to and deletions from the list on the board.
5. After rereading, have the class suggest changes to the list on the board.
Revise the list as needed.
6. Then ask students to suggest categories for the information. List the
categories and ask students to divide the items on the list into the
categories.
7. Using the outline generated by categorizing the information, write the
summary. You might suggest that students begin with a main idea
statement for the first main heading with details as the subheadings.
Intervention – Summary Microtheme
Source or adapted from - “Improving Reading: Strategies and Resources”

by Jerry L. Johns and Susan Davis Lenski
Materials:
passage
pencil, paper

1. Explain to students that a summary microtheme is a short sentence (or
two) that expresses the main point of a text. A microtheme can be used to
help students know whether they are understanding a passage.
2. After students have read a paragraph or two, ask them to think of the main
idea of the passage. You might ask students to refer to the title and/or
subheadings of the text to help them understand the main idea.
3. Distribute large index cards to each student and ask students to write the
main idea on the card in a sentence or two. (i.e. Otters are playful animals
who like to swim.)
4. Ask students to evaluate their responses by determining whether they
understood the main point of the passage. Those students who are unsure
whether they have an accurate summary should reread the text.
5. After the students have completed a final reading of the text and have
written a summary sentence, give them an example that does not express
the main idea of the text but is one of the details (i.e. Otters eat frogs.)
Explain that this is one of the details of the passage and that students
sometimes confuse details with main ideas. Then write an example that is
too broad, such as Otters are wild animals. Explain that, although students
need to think in general terms, students should also try to have some
specific information in their summary microtheme.
6. Invite students to make changes in their responses if need to express the
summary of the text in a sentence or two.
Intervention – Teaching Main Idea
Source or adapted from - “Handbook for Remediation of Reading

Difficulties” by Jerry L. Johns
Materials:
reading passages
chart paper or board
bag of candy (optional)

1. Tell students that this lesson will help them learn to figure out the main
idea of a paragraph or a passage. Begin by presenting lists of words on
the board. Ask students to think of a word or phrase that could be used to
describe what the words are mostly about. Several lists are shown below.
Be sure to select words that are appropriate for the students begin taught.
[If students have difficulty with this step, first model for them by showing
them a bag of different types of candy. Explain that the details of the bag
are M&Ms, Snickers, Skittles, and candy corn, while the main idea of the
bag is “candy”.]
Animals/Pets Clothes/Things to wear Cars/sporty cars

dog shirt Firebird
cat pants Mustang
hamster dress Corvette
guinea pig shoes Triumph
horse skirt MG
2. Discuss the words or phrases offered by students. Stress that the words
or phrases describe the topic: they tell what the words are about. Relate
the discussion to reading. Ask students to relate favorite books or stories
and to tell what the topics are. Indicate that the main idea is the most
important idea given about a topic. Other pieces of information support the
main idea and are called details.
3. Draw a wheel with spokes on the board and tell students that the center of
the wheel represents the main idea and the spokes represent the
supporting details. Then present a short passage and help students pick
out the topic, main idea, and supporting details.
4. Then use another passage to model how to go about determining the
main idea. “Think” out loud. Explain why certain details are eliminated as
the main idea. Encourage students to share their thoughts too.
5. Make the point that in some passages the main idea is directly stated. In
others passages it is not. Also, some paragraphs do not contain a main
idea; they may be transitional paragraphs.
6. Use additional paragraphs or passages to help students learn to figure out
the main idea. Then develop a wall chart that might contain the following
hints or reminders:
Finding the Main Idea

 Decide what the topic is. In other words, what is the passage or
paragraph about?
 Ask yourself what is the most important idea given about the topic.
This should be the main idea or central thought.
 Look for details in the passage that give information about the main
idea you have identified. If you don’t locate any details, you may not
have correctly identified the main idea.
 Remember that the main idea is sometimes stated directly in the
passage. At other times, the main idea is not stated and you have
to use the details in the passage to figure out the main idea.
Intervention – Reciprocal Teaching
Source or adapted from - Palincsar, A.S., & Brown, A.L. (1985). Reciprocal
teaching: Activities to promote read(ing) with your mind. In T.L. Harris & E.J.
Cooper (Eds.), Reading, thinking and concept development: Strategies for the
classroom. New York: The College Board. AND Linda Hoyt's book "Revisit,
Reflect, Retell
Materials:
reading passages or leveled books
cards (see below)
reciprocal teaching worksheet (see below)
Reciprocal teaching is a comprehension technique that has been heavily

researched and proven to improve students' use of four basic comprehension
strategies. When reading a book, article or any selection, good readers naturally:
 predict
 clarify
 ask questions
 summarize
Reciprocal teaching guides students through the use of these four important
strategies in a small group setting. The group reads sections of a text and the
students take turns leading the discussion. The discussion leader has question
cards to help with the discussion (adapted from Linda Hoyt's book "Revisit,
Reflect, Retell").
Before reading the section, the student leader starts the discussion using the
following cue cards:
1. "Please get ready to 2. "I predict this section
read to page _____." will be about..."
(Select a good (Discussion leader
stopping place) speaks)
3. "Does anyone else
have a prediction?" 4. "Please read silently
(Encourage group to the place we picked."
members to speak)
Students then silently read the section. Occasionally, discussion begins

spontaneously during this time, though more often everyone waits until the others
are done. To help occupy students who finish reading before others, and to help
with overall comprehension, students often draw a picture to represent the main
idea of the section when they are finished reading. These pictures can then be
included in the discussion.
After everyone has finished reading, the same student leader uses the following
cue cards to begin the discussion:
5. "Does anyone have

6. "Were there any
any comments or
words you thought were
questions about the
interesting?"
section?"
7. "Summarize in 2 or 3
8. "Who would like to be
sentences: This section
the next discussion
was about _____."'
leader?"
(Discussion leader)
To help students remember questions or comments as they read, they are given
1x2 post-it pads on which to record their thoughts. The post-its are inserted into
the story as they read.
Card 6 serves as an opening for discussion of unusual vocabulary. By calling the

words "interesting", we open the door for students who might otherwise be
embarrassed by not knowing a word. Students are invited to solve the word's
meaning themselves using context clues.
Over time, the goal is for students to apply all of the strategies in their own
reading. The following worksheet can help guide students as they read the
passage in their group. It can also be used during their independent reading.
Prediction: Before you begin to read the selection, look at the title or cover, scan the pages to read the ma-
jor headings, and look at any illustrations. Write down your prediction(s).
Prediction: Support:
Main Ideas: As you ﬁnish reading each paragraph Questions: For each main idea listed, write down at
or key section of text, identify the main idea of that least one question.
paragraph or section.
Main Idea 1: Question 1:
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
Summarize: Write a brief summary of what you read.
Clarify: Copy down words, phrases, or sentences in the passage that are unclear. Then explain
how you clariﬁed your understanding.
Word or Phrase: Clarify:
Name:_______________________________________
Chapter or Book title: ____________________________
Reciprocal Teaching Worksheet
http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/forpd
Intervention – Read, Cover, Remember, Retell
Source or adapted from - “Revisit, Reflect, Retell” by Linda Hoyt
Materials:
reading passage
Ask the student to do the following:

1. Read about as much as you think you can cover with your hand.
2. Cover the text with your hand.
3. Consciously focus on remembering what you read. This is a quiet time for
thinking. [have the student focus on visualizing what he/she read and
“make a movie in their head”]
4. Tell what you remember (it’s ok to peek back at the text if you need to).
5. Read some more and follow the steps again.

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Interventions for Comprehension –

Intervention – GRASP: Guided Reading and Summarizing Procedure

Source or adapted from - “Improving Reading: Strategies and Resources”

Instructions for administration:

Intervention – Summary Microtheme

Source or adapted from - “Improving Reading: Strategies and Resources”

Instructions for administration:

Intervention – Teaching Main Idea

Source or adapted from - “Handbook for Remediation of Reading

Instructions for administration:

Animals/Pets Clothes/Things to wear Cars/sporty cars

Finding the Main Idea

Intervention – Reciprocal Teaching

Instructions for administration:

Reciprocal teaching is a comprehension technique that has been heavily

Students then silently read the section. Occasionally, discussion begins

5. "Does anyone have

Card 6 serves as an opening for discussion of unusual vocabulary. By calling the

Reciprocal Teaching Worksheet

Intervention – Read, Cover, Remember, Retell

Source or adapted from - “Revisit, Reflect, Retell” by Linda Hoyt

Instructions for administration:

Ask the student to do the following:

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