Provide Students with a Range of Scaffolds for Effective Summary Writing

Chandra looked up from the notecard she was holding, pausing to take a long breath. “Um, Chandra,” I prompted her, looking at the clock, “how much longer is this summary of your book going to take?” She flipped the card over and examined her tiny writing. “Probably another five minutes, Mrs. W.,” she replied. “A summary is all the important stuff you said, right?” I nodded back at her. “Well, there was a lot of important stuff because it was a long article.”