Sweet Summarizing with About-Point!
Reading to Learn
Rationale: One of the most powerful strategies for comprehending a text is the ability to summarize it. In using the about-point method, summarization can be made simple. In the about-point method, two questions are asked: What is the text about? What is the main point the writer is trying to make? While knowing what the writer writes about may be easier to understand, discovering the point of the text is often harder to grasp. In this lesson, the reader must take all the points the writer makes, and superordinate this into one main point. The main point is the predicate of the topic sentence.
Materials: Copies of an article on Attack of the Ads (link below), pencil and paper, summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (below)
Procedure:
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Explain to your students the importance of summarization. Say, “Summarization is when we remember the important points the writer is making in a text. It can be hard to remember a whole story, so that is why we use summarization strategies that help us remember a few important points. We can take a text that has thousands of words and reduce it to understand and summarize its meaning. For example, if we take the topic sentences of each paragraph, we can put them together to form a summarization.”
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Say, “The about-point is a strategy for summarization. This is a two question strategy where students ask themselves: What is the text about? What is the main point the writer is trying to make? The second question is more complex and we will have to combine all the points into one umbrella idea.”
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Say, “Today, I will show you how we can use the about-point strategy to discover the meaning behind the article ‘Attack on the Ads.’ Have you ever seen and ad on TV for candy or fast food? How did this make you feel? How do these ads impact you? We will learn the answers when we read!” [Pass out the article to each student]
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Say, “Now first of all, we need to discuss some vocabulary we will see in the text. That way, when we see the word, we will understand what it means and how it relates to the text. Our first vocab term is affect. Affect means to produce a change in. We can also see this as affected. If I used this in a sentence I would say “The bad grade on her test affected her self esteem.” The bad grade changed her self-esteem. After she got a bad test grade, she felt bad about herself and her ability to do well. How would winning a race affect you? Finish the sentence: The storm affected our trip because…” [Other possible vocab words to do this with: suddenly, immediately, unhealthy]
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Say, “Go to the highlighted paragraph in your article. Here is the paragraph from the article:
The researchers examined advertising of junk food to more than 6,000 kids through TV commercials and other types of media. (The term junk food is often used to describe foods and beverages that are high in sugar or salt and low in nutritional value.) They found that kids made unhealthy food and drink choices as quickly as 30 minutes after seeing the ads. Experts worry that exposure to these ads can have a negative effect on kids’ health. “There is too much unhealthy food advertising out there,” says Behnam Sadeghirad. He’s one of the researchers who led the study. “This is dangerous for younger children.”
This paragraph talks about junk food TV ads. What is the point being made? TV ads on junk food are exposed to many children. Junk food ads make children want to make unhealthy eating decisions. When I combine these two ideas, I can make topic sentence: Many children see junk food ads on TV, and furthermore are more inclined to make unhealthy decisions after seeing them. When I combine these two ideas, I superordinate them.”
6. Say, “Now it is your turn to use the about-point strategy for summarization. Here is the paragraph:
It’s especially hard to escape from ads on TV. The Nielsen Company tracked the number of food ads that kids saw in 2015. It found that kids watched nearly 12 food ads on TV each day. Most of these ads weren’t for healthy foods. In fact, on average, kids saw only one ad for fruits and veggies. Instead, most of the ads were for fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and sugary cereals.
What’s the paragraph about? Yes, this talks about junk food ads on TV. What are the main points the author is making about TV ads? Yes, children watch many food ads on TV everyday. Yes, there are many unhealthy food ads and there aren’t many fruit vegetable ads for children on TV. Let’s combine these two [wait for a response].That is correct: Children watch many food commercials every day, and most of these ads are for unhealthy foods and not healthy foods.
7. Say, “Now that we have practiced, it is time for you to try it on your own. Read the rest of the paragraphs in the article and come up with a topic sentence using the about-point strategy. When you are done, you will have a good summary for the article. Write down that summary on a piece of paper. Remember to take note of the important points and not random facts. We are trying to gather the main idea. After you have finished, you will come take this quiz.
Assessment- gather the summaries and use this checklist to evaluate:
_____ Contains important information
_____ Ignored Trivia and examples
_____ Reduced the original text
_____ Contained an idea from each paragraph
_____ Organized Summary paragraph
Quiz:
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What kind of ads are specifically targeted towards young children?
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What are children more likely to do after seeing an unhealthy ad?
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Through what media (TV, Reading, Billboards, or on Trucks) do most children see ads containing junk food?
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How do you define junk food?
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Junk food ads can lead to a higher risk of what?
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What are some specific ways companies try to trick you into buying their product (Tricks of the Trade)?
References:
Joe Bubar, Attack of the Ads, 2017, https://sn4.scholastic.com/issues/2016-17/010217/attack-of-the-ads.html
Bruce Murray, Using About Point to Awaken the Main Idea, http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/AboutPointRL.html
Madison Wolanek, Sippin on Summarization, http://madisonwolanek.wixsite.com/lesson-designs/readingtolearn
