Curriculum Corner

Summarizing by Drawing
Summarizing by drawing is a strategy that all teachers can implement for greater comprehension in all content areas.  It might be especially useful when students are given an independent reading assignment.  A recent article in Science Scope, NSTA Jan. 2007, provided the impetus for this article. It relates to reading comprehension; however this skill transfers to help your students build durable conceptual understanding across the curriculum.      

Advanced organizers such as graphic charts and sets of guiding questions are a routine that students have become accustomed to completing while reading a text book.  Students may only skim the reading selection in search of key words and can be left with less developed information—particularly  examples to support complete conceptual development.  This is an improvement on just, “Read pages 14-25,” as an assignment.  But, what if it were left more open-ended?  The author of the journal article did some action-research in her middle school classroom that provides just enough data to support giving this a try.  With some modifications to her process here is what you do.

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