Reading Lessons by Ruth Lee

Rationale: This lesson is about teaching vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies. Readers need to learn how to learn new words. Students’ varying vocabulary level plays a huge role in their ability to comprehend reading. This lesson is designed to equip teachers to be able to effectively model word learning for their students (vocabulary acquisition) and to introduce a research-based strategy for reading comprehension named summarization. In it are two questions asked to identify the topic of an expository text and the main point the author is making: What is the paragraph about? and What point is the author making in this paragraph?

 

Materials: 

1. Individual copies of an article written for kids on the Declaration of Independence.

2. Pencil and paper for each student.

3. Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (below).

4. Frayer Model worksheet for each student (sample model Appendix A).

                                          

Procedures:

1. Begin by explaining why summarization is important. 

Say: Summarization is one of the key strategies you will learn that will help you comprehending the text you read. Skilled readers are not easily stressed out when they get a long possibly seemingly-boring text. Instead, they get down with a pen or pencil and get ready to work as an active reader. We all want to be an expert reader. We all can be an expert reader if you have the willing determination. I will help you along the way. 

 

2. Say: The best way to summarize is called about-point. In about-point, you ask yourself an easy question and a tough question, and you use your answers to make a topic sentence. The easy question is "What is the text about?" The tough question is "What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?" To answer this question, you have to think of an umbrella term for all the important points the writer is telling you.

 

3. Say: In a few minutes, I’m going to show you how I’d do about-point with a paragraph on Declaration of Independence, which is the article you are going to be reading today. “Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?” “What significance does it hold for today?” are some of the questions you will be learning to answer today.

 

4. Say: Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word you’ll be reading: interfere. I’m handing out a worksheet for you to make notes on as I explain and explore about this word, interfere. [Hand students the worksheet out.] 

 

[Continue explaining.] Write the word in the middle. On the top left corner, write definition. 

So, the word interfere means that you take part of something you are not told, invited, or permitted to do. It is an action, thus it’s an action verb. It might be helpful for you to leave an abbreviated notation for a verb, v. for the future reference. 

 

Now I am going to give you an example sentence. Make a note on this as well. “Skipping breakfast interferes with students' focus during class.” “You are interfering in a private matter.” “British government would interfere with overseas trade.” As you might have noticed, it is often used in a negative context. Here is a non-example sentence: “I interfered by picking up the trash on the street.” Well, yet you would like to pick up trash on the street and that is something that you would do even you are not told to do, still this doesn’t make sense because that is not how you use the word in a sentence. How would you interfere with your siblings when they are doing their homework? [by playing violin, having TV on high volume, talking to your friends over the phone loudly, etc.] Can you come to the party if nothing interferes? [yes] Now, make your own sentence using the word by completing this starter sentence: “British government interfered with …”

 

Possible answers: … American colonies, … the business of other small countries, etc.

 

[Give some time for students to work on completing the chart.]

 

5. Say: Now, let’s read the text. Here is a paragraph from the story: 

 

The Declaration of Independence is a very important legal document, one of the most important ones in the history of the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence represents the first step made officially to stop Great Britain from controlling the 13 colonies. The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson during the Second Continental Congress. It took if seventeen days to write the Declaration of Independence. 

 

Okay, the about-point questions. What is this paragraph about? It is about the Declaration of Independence. What important points is the writer making? Declaration of Independence is an important legal document. Its significance is that it represented the first step to resist against the interference of the British government. 

 

6. Say: Now I want you to use about-point on a paragraph:

 

The purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to state that the colonies were from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence also described the principles that were the basis for wanting independence. The Declaration of Independence said that all men are created equal and they are all entitled to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

 

What’s this paragraph about? Yes, the purpose. The purpose of the D of I. What are the main points the author is making? Correct, D of I described the principles that were the basis for wanting independence. How could we combine those ideas in one sentence beginning: The purpose of the D of I is…? The purpose of the D of I is to describe the basic principles of desiring independence. 

 

7. Now I’d like you to finish reading the article and use about-point to make a topic sentence for each paragraph. When you are finished, you will have made a good summary of the article, which will help you remember important facts about the D of I. Don’t summarize examples or trivia; they are written only to help you understand the main ideas. You are writing a short version of the article in your own words, including only the important ideas to remember. And to make sure you remember, we will have a quiz after everyone finishes writing.