Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) devote chapter three of their book, Classroom Instruction that Works, to summarizing and note taking. Following is a collection and pairing of resources to help you implement effective summarizing and note taking strategies in your own classroom. The 21st Century applications are adapted from Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007).
SUMMARIZING
1. The Rule-Based Summarizing Strategy:
Step 1: Delete trivial material that is unnecessary to understanding.
Step 2: Delete redundant material.
Step 3: Substitute general terms for specific terms (e.g. fish for trout).
Step 4: Select a topic sentence or invent one if it is missing.
TRY THIS 21st Century Application:
Use the Track Changes feature in Microsoft Word to model Rule-Based Summarizing and to have students practice the strategy. Select a passage from your textbook and save it into a blank Word document. Activate Track Changes and model the summarizing rules for students. For example, if a sentence is redundant, highlight it and press delete. That section then appears "crossed out" for students to see. What a nice, visually engaging way to teach summarizing!
2. Summary Frames
Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) define a summary frame as "a series of questions that the teacher provides to students. These questions are designed to highlight the critical elements for specific types of information" (p. 34-35). Chapter three provides examples of six different types of summary frames: narrative, topic-restriction-illustration, definition, argumentation, problem/solution, and conversation.
TRY THIS 21st Century Application:
Use Inspiration to create a template that students can use on their laptops. After modeling the completion of the template, allow students to fill in information on the frame template. For example, if a biology teacher wants students to summarize information about egg-laying mammals, he or she could create a definition frame on Inspiration with the following questions:
NOTE: Inspiration is already available in all CFF classrooms. If you do not have a CFF classroom, mywebspiration is comparable and may be downloaded free at mywebspiration.com
3. Reciprocal Teaching
The four components of RT:
1. summarizing
2. questioning
3. clarifying
4. predicting
TRY THIS organizer:
NOTE TAKING
Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) advise teachers to provide students with teacher-prepared notes. This way, students are provided with "a clear picture of what the teacher considers important" (p. 46). Teachers should also provide a variety of note taking techniques, since different students may prefer different formats.
1. Cornell Notes
This is a two-column note taking technique.
TRY THIS link:
2. Outlining
Outlines organize information into topics and subtopics. Broad, general ideas are main headings and they are divided into smaller subtopics.
TRY THIS strategy:
Create a pre-made outline format for students learning to use this note taking technique. Provide students with the proper number of main headings (with numerals or bullets) and subheadings for a passage or chapte,r and allow students to complete the outline using this as a guide.
3. Webbing
Webs are good all-purpose organizing tools for taking notes. They are appropriate for fiction as well as non-fiction material. They link supporting details with main ideas and topics.
TRY THIS 21st Century Application:
Once again, Inspiration has a large number of templates that are wonderful aids to teachers and students in the note taking process. One particularly nice feature: Since some students are more comfortable dealing with text than graphics, the Inspiration document can be transferred to and from outline to graphic versions. See an example: macbeth-for-web
NOTE: Inspiration is already available in all CFF classrooms. If you do not have a CFF classroom, mywebspiration is comparable and may be downloaded free at mywebspiration.com
4. Combination Notes
Students begin with an inverted T on their paper. They record facts and notes on the left side and drawings or other nonliguistic representations on the right. At the bottom (under the bar of the T) they write a 1-2 sentence summary of the above information.
TRY THIS 21st Century Application:
Use combination notes in a PowerPoint format. Create a template in PowerPoint and have students link essential concepts on the left with multimedia enhancements (relevant graphics, sounds, links, or video clips) on the right. At the bottom of each slide, have students include a brief summary statement.
