Rational:

Summarization is very important in comprehending text. One effective method of summarization is the about-point method. The about- point method asks two important questions regarding the text you’ve read, 1. What is the text about? And 2. What is the main point the writer is trying to make about the topic. Question 1 is usually answered by identifying the topic. Question 2 is harder to answer. The reader must pinpoint the exact pint the writer is trying to make.

Materials:

Individual copies of article

Pencils

Paper

Summarization checklist and comprehension quiz.

Procedures:

SAY: When we read, we do not have to remember every word and detail we read, but good readers don’t try to remember everything. They have a little trick. They only remember the important details. They summarize the text by using several methods to summarize. Then it is easier to comprehend and remember the important topic of what they have read.
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.
I am going to show you how to do an about-point method of summarization with an article about orangutans. Have you ever seen an orangutan before? They are a cousin of the gorilla. How big do you think they are? What do you think they eat? We will find out!
Before we begin to read, let’s go over the word arboreal. Do you know what arboreal means? arboreal means living in a tree. Orangutans live in trees, so they are arboreal. Do you know of any other arboreal animals? * students reply *
Here is a paragraph from the story:

Though an adult male orangutan can weigh up to 220 pounds (100 kilograms)—females weigh about half what males do—orangutans spend most of their time up in the trees. They are the largest of all arboreal animals. Equipped with very long, powerful arms and hook-shaped hands and feet, these apes climb and swing from tree to tree with ease. They reach from one tree to the next with their long arms, grasping the next branch with long hands or feet, and swing their bodies across the gap

This paragraph is about orangutan, but what is the writer wanting us to know? Orangutans are very large animals, the largest of the arboreal animals! I can make a topic sentence, Orangutans are the largest of the arboreal animals.

Now it is your turn to use to about-point method,

On the ground, orangutans walk on all fours. Orangutans find their food in the trees where they live. More than half their diet consists of fruit. They also eat nuts, bark, and other parts of plants and trees. Every once in a while, they eat insects such as ants and termites, as well as bird eggs.

What is his paragraph about? Yes! It is about what orangutans eat! Yes, they mostly eat fruit found in the trees they live in. What could our topic sentences be?... Yes! Orangutans’ diet is composed primarily of fruit found in their own trees they live in.

Now I would like for you this finish reading the whole article. Continue using the about-point method to make topic sentences for each paragraph and keep up with your summarization. You are basically rewriting all the important facts in your own words.

Assessment: Collect each student’s summary of the article, and evaluate the summarization using the following checklist:

__ 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:

Orangutans are the largest ____ animals?

Where do orangutans live? _____

Where do orangutans find their food? ____

Where do orangutans find their water? ____

How do orangutans navigate through the trees? ____