Customer Reviews

Summarization in Any Subject: 50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning

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As part of my relentless pursuit of tools & strategies to turbo-charge my own reading performance, & ultimately, to improve my success coaching to kids/teens/adults, I am constantly on the lookout for books & other resources in bookstores as well as on the net. I came across this amazing book while straying into the website of ASCD (Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development), a worldwide, non-profit educational association dedicated to the success of every learner. Not only I bought the book from them, but also became a member of ASCD.

I already know how to summarize, & am proud to say that I am pretty good at it, too, but I didn't know there are 50 ways to do it. They are systematically arranged in an alphabetical order for easy & quick reference. Each & every technique is fully described & with varied forms in the pages that follow. In fact, the author has even provided a reference Chart of Summarisation Techniques.

In a nutshell, summarization is the act of restating essential information from text or an experience in as few words as possible or in a new, yet efficient, manner. I have always thought that summarization must be done in writing. This book tells me: YES! it can be done in writing, but also orally, dramatically, artistically, visually, physically, musically, in groups or individually.

The author, a teacher with twenty-four years of teaching experience, has contributed a masterpiece to the world of reading.

The book, printed in large format, is written primarily as a comprehensive instruction & resource guide for English & reading teachers. For the teacher, this is definitely a great tool for enhancing not only their own lecturing methods, but their students' learning & performance.

For the student, relating what has been observed or experienced in a clear, succinct manner, orally or in written form, is a helpful skill to master. More critically, when they attend lecture or read or writing news articles, identifying the salient information, no matter what subject they pursue & structuring that information for meaning & successful application, are not only part of effective study skills, but will serve as effective life skills in the long term.

In a knowledge-based economy, workers must be able to read or perceive something, then make sense of it by manipulating the information, reorganize it, & applying it to a new situation. They must constantly & freely explore new ideas & analyse them. This process is similar to the one journalists use to relate the daily news.

Summarisation is indeed a real world skill.

Learning the 50 techniques may be daunting at first, but the payoff is great. As a success coach to kids/teens, I can testify to this.

Most of the techniques can be adapted & enhanced, with a little imagination, for use with non-academic materials, so professionals in business & industry can learn & master them, too.

To help the reader in summarization savvy, the author has included special instructional practices for teachers in the beginning chapter. In addition, the author has also presented a special section on paraphrasing. I concur with the author that paraphrasing is fundamental to creating summaries. I must highlight that these additions are truly excellent pieces of work by the author.

At the end of the book, there are sample texts & summarization practice activities. The Resources is also a goldmine of information.

This is not a book that you can just read in one go. You have to work on it as you read. You have to do a lot of thinking & reflecting. The author puts this in perspective at the onset: "AS YOU READ THIS BOOK, PLEASE STOP AT REGULAR INTERVALS & SUMMARISE WHAT YOU'VE READ."

Attention readers, irrespective of whether you are a student or a teacher, or a working professional in business & industry, I strongly urge you to get hold of this book. You will be summarization-savvy in no time, just like what I have achieved.

An excellent book for all secondary ed. teachers. Well written, funny and very practical. If all teachers used these summarization methods, our kids would benefit greatly.

As a veteran educator and an instructional coach, I'm often asked by teachers for resources to help them with formative assessments that are different than the standard quiz or essay. This book is a gold mine! The summarization activities in this book are fabulous ways to assess student learning. This book can help any teacher, new or veteran, who is trying to find a new "tool" for their instructional toolbox. I highly recommend it.

Rick Wormeli's book helped me figure out how to go about incorporating this powerful strategy into my teaching practice. When I bought the book, I thought I would learn a few things...but I wasn't prepared to have the multitude of ideas and innovations that I could put into practice right away. Rick's ideas and techniques are accessible by all ages in the classroom and helped me sharpen my thinking.

I like this book because it gives an easy to read review of 50 of the top most well used and researched based strategies that are currently in education. I would especially recommend this book for English Language Arts teachers in all grade levels. However, the content in this book can be taught across the curriculum especially when helping struggling readers in content classes! ESL and SPED teachers check out this book! It is a MUST for your classroom. Thanks Rick!!!

We used this book to assist our elementary staff with one of the more effective teaching strategies, summarizing and notetaking. Although we needed to adapt some for the elementary level, it was easy to do and teachers appreciated the resource.

This is an excellent book. So many new ideas and ideas outside the box! Great for new teachers and veteran teachers, too!

CRISS training and a good education will teach you everything that is already in this book...not much new. Unfortunately for this great author, this particular book does not live up to the reputation.