Hunting Like a Shark for the Main Idea Caroline Vinson
Rationale: Summarization is a key way to help readers focus in on the important parts of a text, and it helps them with comprehension. One method of summarizing that has been proven effective is called about-point, which asks the reader to identify two critical questions about the text: a) What is the text about? This is the easier question of the two, because it is simply asking the reader to identify the topic, and this answer usually can become the topic sentence. b) What is the main point the writer is making about that topic? This is the harder question of the two. Since the author usually makes several points, the reader must classify the points in order of importance and try to discover a term to include all of the important points that the author chooses to include. This term that the reader finds then becomes the predicate of that topic sentence.
Materials:
Individual copies of an article written for kids on Great White Sharks from National Geographic Explorer
Pencil and paper for each student.
Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz (below).
Procedures:
1. Explain to children why summarization is important: Whenever we read a text, we are not able to immediately memorize it, because it has too many words and details. A good reader realizes this, and uses a summarization strategy to remember only the really important points that the author is making about a topic. By doing this, they break a large text that could have hundreds or thousands of words into a few key ideas to remember more easily.
2. The best way to summarize is called about-point. In about-point, you ask yourself two questions to make a topic sentence about your text. The easy question is "What is the text about?" The harder question is "What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?" To answer this question, you have to think of term that covers all of the key points that the writer includes.
3. I’m going to show you how I would do about-point with a paragraph on Great White Sharks, which is the article you are going to be reading today from National Geographic Explorer. Have you ever seen a shark in the ocean before? Are they really as dangerous as they seem? What makes them so dangerous? What kind of animals are their prey? These are some of the questions you will be learning to answer today.
4. Let’s talk about an important vocabulary word you’ll be reading: predatory. Predatory refers to an animal that hunts other animals to eat. This is not a person hunting for food in their refrigerator. For example, we would say “The lion is a predatory animal that hunts gazelles to eat. Can humans be predatory? Finish this sentence: “Humans are predatory because we hunt…”
5. Here is a paragraph from the story:
"Great whites are the largest predatory fish on the planet. That puts this shark at the top of the food chain. Orcas or larger sharks could be a threat. The only other danger to him is people."
This paragraph is explaining about sharks being predators, but what is the main idea that the author is trying to show here? Great whites are the most dangerous fish on the planet. Orcas, larger sharks, and humans threaten them, though. Putting these points together, I can make a topic sentence: Great white sharks, while very dangerous, are still prey to orcas, larger sharks, and humans.
6. Now I want you to use about-point on a paragraph:
"Sharks can be killed by fishing lines and nets. They’re hunted by sports fishers. And poachers sell their fins to make shark fin soup."
What’s this paragraph about? Yes, great white sharks. What are the main points the author is making about these sharks? Correct, they are killed by fishing lines and nets. Yes, another point is that they are hunted for their fins to make soup. How could we combine those ideas in one sentence beginning: Great white sharks…? Great white sharks are killed by fishing lines and nets for their fins in order to make soup.
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 great white sharks. 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.
Assessment: Collect the summary of the article from each student and evaluate it using these criteria:
__ Collected important information
__ Ignored trivia and examples in summary.
__ Significantly reduced the text from the original
__ Sentences brought ideas together from each paragraph
__ Sentences organized coherently into essay form.
Quiz:
1. What animals could kill a great white shark?
2. What senses help him to find his prey easily?
3. What makes this type of shark different from other sharks?
4. What is his skeleton made of that allows him to move so easily?
5. What helps the shark to balance as it glides through the water hunting?
6. What is a lateral line?
7. Can sharks only see during the daytime?
8. Do sharks need to eat everyday?
9. How does electroreception help great white sharks find prey?
Reference: Brenna Maloney, On the Hunt With the Great White Shark.
Murray, Bruce. Using About-Point to Awaken the Main Idea. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/AboutPointRL.html