Read Works
Read Works: Sequence Kindergarten Unit: Sequence Clue Words
[Free Registration/Login Required] Teach students to identify the sequence of a story by looking at transitional words such as "first" and "then" in the book Henry and Mudge: The First Book of Their Adventures by Cynthia Rylant. Learning...
Other
Elements of Fiction
Simple discussion of the elements of fiction with a specific section devoted to Freytag's Pyramid (aka "basic plot structure"). A good place to start for gathering information on the structure of narrative.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy [Pdf]
This is a one-page nonfiction excerpt from JFK's Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961. It is followed by an open-ended question which requires students to provide evidence from the story; it includes underlining the most important...
Washington State University
Washington State University: Julius Caesar: Act Iii
Summaries of each scene in Act III of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Summarizing by Text Messaging Shakespeare
This is a lesson in how to summarize a play by William Shakespeare, in this case Romeo and Juliet, by writing a 140-character text message for each selection that students are assigned to read. The text messages are sent to a website,...
BBC
Bbc: 60 Second Shakespeare: Julius Caesar
Presents The Tragedy of Julius Caesar summarized in a one-page newspaper. The 'All about writing' link at the bottom takes you to a page of learning activities, e.g., how to create a photo-story or how to write a script for a 60-second...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Critical Reading: Summary Skills
This activity focuses on how to write a summary including strategies for annotation, paraphrasing the thesis statement, distinguishing major ideas from minor ones, and picking appropriate quotes. It also provides videos including "How to...
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: Evaluating Bibliographic Citations
This entry focuses on how to evaluate bibliographic citations to determine if the information is useful. It suggests looking at the author, title, summary, and timeliness of the work.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Using Sources: Paraphrase and Summary
This lesson focuses on how to integrate source material using paraphrase and summary and the differences between the two. It also provides a practice exercise.
Colorado State University
Colorado State Writing Center: Writing Summaries
This guide is about the many facets and considerations involved when writing a summary. Also provides the reader options for which type of summary they are interested in researching, and provides a detailed analysis of each. Th e links...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Analyze Nonfiction: Central Idea [Pdf]
This graphic organizer will help students analyze nonfiction pieces. Students will use the graphic organizer to guide them as they identify the central idea and supporting details.
A to Z Teacher Stuff
A to Z Teacher Stuff: Summary, Note Taking, Main Idea & Details
A to Z Teacher Stuff offers a lesson plan, submitted by a teacher, using different sized post-it notes to discuss summarizing, note taking, main idea, and details. RI.11-12.2 Central IdeaS/Anal/Summ
Wisc-Online
Wisc Online: Summary Writing
In this learning module, students demonstrate an understanding of summary writing by reading step-by-step instructions and then summarizing short paragraphs. Examples of summaries that are poorly written, as well as those that are...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Monitor for Understanding: Strategic
A lesson plan in which students complete a graphic organizer to record prior knowledge before reading, ask questions while reading, and summarize a text after reading. Materials are included. [PDF]
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Monitor for Understanding: Sum Summary! [Pdf]
A lesson plan in which students read a narrative or informational text and complete graphic organizers to help them write good summaries of the texts. Materials are included.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Expository Text Structure: Summarizing [Pdf]
A lesson plan in which students read a text and record the main ideas and supporting details on a graphic organizer. Students then complete the organizer by writing a summary of the text. Materials are included.
Love To Know Media
Your Dictionary: Lesson Plan for Writing a Movie Summary
This instructional activity focuses on teaching high school students to write a movie summary that provides a plot summary without sharing too much of the storyline but includes the following: brevity, conflict, theme, tone, and...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson:using Art to Study Plot
In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine the artwork in Lasceaux Cave in France via Internet and illustrate a chapter summary from Brian's Winter by Gary Paulson in "caveman style."
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Fighting for Gender and Racial Equality
In this lesson students will examine the lives of key leaders and events in the fight for gender and racial equality at the turn of the 20th century. Through this inquiry study students will choose one of these leaders or events to...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Writing Expository Text Summaries
This resource presents instructional practices for writing summaries of expository text in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies classes.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Discussing "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"
Today we are picking apart this story and discussing it in great detail so that we can set the foundation for our comparing and contrasting activity on our Day 3 lesson.
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All: Summarizing Texts
Fifth graders will review what a summary is and complete a worksheet for practice. They will then write their own informational text and a peer will summarize.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Curriculum Hub: Ela Guidebooks: A Lesson Before Dying: Summarize
Read paragraphs one and two from the prologue of Invisible Man together to establish our understanding, and then summarize the text.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Ela Guidebooks: Summarizing
This strategy helps students refine their understanding of texts to meet reading expectations and prepare for writing about texts.