Customer Reviews

Summarizers: Activity Structures to Support Integration and Retention of New Learning

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought the following books as one complete package:

1. Activators: Activity Structures to Engage Students' Thinking Before Instruction;
2. Summarisers: Activity Structures to Support Integration & retention of New Learning;

Both books are written by Jon Saphier & Mary Haley from the Research for Better Teaching, Inc., formed by a group of educators. Essentially, they are great tools for English & reading teachers!

I am very impressed by their work, even though their books are spring-bound & stretching only from 40 to 60 odd pages. Content-wise, they share some similarities with the work of Rick Wormeli, who wrote 'Summarisation in Any Subject', which I have reviewed earlier. Nevertheless, there are still more different tools & strategies not covered at all in Rick's book.

I believe these two books can serve as companions to Rick's book. I did not realise that these books were written much earlier.

Undoubtedly, Activating (i.e. getting students mind active & engaged) & summarising (i.e. getting them active in discerning what is important, what they have learned, how it is important &/or how it fits with what they already know) are important part of effective study skills. I will go on to say that they will serve as powerful life skills for the students in the long term.

I like the authors' fundamental premise: There is no one right way or best way. There exists a repertoire of ways. Hence the many tools & strategies outlined in these two books, plus Rick Wormeli's book, will continue to expand your teaching repertoires.

In this respect, I am still quite intrigued by an earlier negative review from a Masters in Education graduate.

Great ideas for teachers that do not take a ton of prep time and really work! Great if you are a Learning Focused School.

Book was in great shape, better than advertised. The book also arrived BEFORE the estimated arrival time. Would definitely use this vendor again!