Summary

By asking students to summarize a reading assignment, you can help them to identify and remember the main points of what they’ve read.  This activity can be part of the homework assignment, or it can be done at the beginning of class before starting a discussion or lecture. Depending on the nature of the reading assignment, you might ask them to limit their summaries to a paragraph or a page.  You can also ask students to then revise their summaries by narrowing them down to one sentence, or to work in groups to compare summaries and create a revised version that successfully incorporates the most important points.  These activities can help students better understand their reading assignments, and to remember the key concepts for later assignments or exams.