paraphrasing activity for middle school

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Teaching Students to Paraphrase

Ideas for scaffolding paraphrasing so that students correctly learn this valuable but difficult-to-master skill.

When discussing text in the classroom, it’s tough for students to shift from utilizing an author’s words (copying) to accepting the challenge to express that author’s idea in their own words (paraphrasing).

But teaching effective paraphrasing is necessary because the use of paraphrasing facilitates important literacy skills : It encourages repeated reading, develops note-taking habits as students track quotes and outline text details, and expands vocabulary as they consider appropriate ways to describe the original text. The skill may seem daunting to students because it takes time to find the appropriate words to reshape a sentence, but that is time well spent.

We also need to teach paraphrasing, of course, so that students develop the skill set required to avoid committing plagiarism unintentionally .

Student Tools

One way to support students is to make them aware of tools that may help when they’re paraphrasing. Think of these as training wheels—students won’t use them forever.

Academic Phrasebank : Ready-made phrases help students organize their sentences when they paraphrase. The site provides sentence starters for defining ideas, comparing and contrasting ideas, describing cause and effect, and explaining evidence to support statements.

For instance, if a student were paraphrasing vocabulary word X, they would be able to find sentence starters such as “The word X encompasses...,” “The word X is challenging to define because...,” and “The word X is intended to....”

Ashford University Writing Center : This website has a five-item quiz to review the paraphrasing process. It allows students to identify examples and non-examples of paraphrasing for a given text.

When examining non-examples, students are shown how replacing or rearranging words is akin to copying and pasting on a computer. Students see examples of effective paraphrasing, including a change of sentence structure or personal elaboration combined with limited quoted information.

Tone Analyzer : This tool allows students to enter a brief sample from a text and receive an analysis of the tone. When using this tool, students can request an assessment of whether the text illustrates anger, joy, sadness, etc. In addition to these emotions, the website includes language descriptors such as confident (used to describe texts that use active voice and/or words such as will , must , etc.) or tentative (texts with words such as seems , appears , might , etc.). This tool is useful in helping students successfully align the tone of their paraphrased material with the tone of the original text.

Student Self-Check Prompts

Students should outgrow the tools above, and teachers can encourage that growth by showing them how to monitor their own progress with paraphrasing. Students can self-check to determine how on track with paraphrasing they are by asking themselves these questions:

• Can I identify elements of the text that are most significant (and thus appropriate to preserve) when I put it in my own words?
• Can I recite elements of the text from memory in order to prepare to put it into my own words?
• How can I adjust the sentence structure to preserve the meaning of the text?

Student Cautions

Because the journey to paraphrasing may involve a few hiccups, it’s a good idea to identify potential student challenges. When paraphrasing, remind students that they should:

• Attempt to describe the text in their own words gradually, one component at a time (thanks to Doug Lemov and Maggie Johnson for this close reading strategy). For instance, they might first use their own words to describe significant phrases in the reading, and then make an effort to explain one or two key sentences, and finally attempt to paraphrase an entire paragraph.
• Monitor the similarities between the text and the paraphrase. For instance, after describing specific sentences or paragraphs, they should note how many words are shared. Instead of using the same words as the author, focus on mirroring the same main idea. The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning at Yale offers easy-to-follow models for how to achieve this.
• Ensure that there is a sufficient number of word substitutions in the paraphrased material. (Substituting only a couple of words could constitute plagiarism.) Students should focus on changing the structure of the sentence . This may involve converting a simple sentence to a compound sentence or adding a prepositional phrase.
• Avoid adjusting special language (acronyms, figurative language, jargon, etc.). These kinds of terms are considered common knowledge, so using them in a paraphrase doesn’t constitute plagiarism. Resources such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab can help students figure out whether a particular term is common knowledge.

Teachers can push students to move beyond copying by encouraging them to see paraphrasing as the go-to reading response. When we equip students with needed resources, we make student voice the rule instead of the exception.

I Used My Own Words! Paraphrasing Informational Texts

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Paraphrasing helps students make connections with prior knowledge, demonstrate comprehension, and remember what they have read. Through careful explanation and thorough modeling by the teacher in this lesson, students learn to use paraphrasing to monitor their comprehension and acquire new information. They also realize that if they cannot paraphrase after reading, they need to go back and reread to clarify information. In pairs, students engage in guided practice so that they can learn to use the strategy independently. Students will need prompting and encouragement to use this strategy after the initial instruction is completed. The lesson can be extended to help students prepare to write reports about particular topics.

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From Theory to Practice

• Paraphrasing helps readers monitor their comprehension.  
• Paraphrasing encourages readers to make connections with prior knowledge.  
• Paraphrasing helps readers remember what they have read.
• In effective strategy instruction, the teacher explains the purpose of the strategy, how to use it, and when and where to use it  
• In effective strategy instruction, the teacher models strategy use for students and provides guided practice before expecting students to use the strategy independently.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access  
• Whiteboard (or overhead) for projection of text and shared writing  
• Print or digital texts on instructional levels of students in the class  
• Individual copies of texts (if computers are not available)

Preparation

Student objectives.

Students will

• Demonstrate comprehension by paraphrasing facts from informational texts  
• Gain knowledge and apply what they have learned about paraphrasing by reading information about three unusual animals

Session 1: Introduction of Paraphrasing

Session 2: review and guided practice with paraphrasing, session 3: review and guided practice with paraphrasing, session 4: review and independent practice with paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is a good way to prepare students to write written reports. When students put information into their own words, they are not copying directly from a text. After the previous four sessions, a possible extension would be to identify another topic (such as countries, planets, plants), have students brainstorm what kind of questions would be interesting to answer about these, assign print materials or websites for students to read and paraphrase, take notes to answer the questions, and prepare written reports. These would be more formal than the quick writes that were done in the paraphrasing sessions.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Throughout the sessions, when students are working in pairs or independently, make note of whether or not they are using their own words in paraphrasing. Be ready to intervene with additional modeling and practice if students are having difficulty paraphrasing.  
• The quick writes at the end of the sessions should be collected to see whether students are using their own words, whether they have understood the text they read, and what information they have learned about the animals. Compare the prior knowledge that you assessed at the beginning of each session with the information included in the quick writes to see what new information has been learned.

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Paraphrase Games and Activities You Should Know

Table of Contents

Paraphrase games and activities teach your students to paraphrase without putting them to sleep. This article teaches and reinforces this skill in fun and exciting ways by using activities and games.

Students must sometimes find solutions or facts from what they’ve read and not merely duplicate the source. We call this “paraphrasing.”

Why does this matter? First, we want to make sure we don’t plagiarize, so we don’t use someone else’s work and call it our own. After rephrasing and rethinking, teachers need to hear what a student says to know if they understand.

Why Play Paraphrase Games?

Teachers must often hear students synthesize and rewrite words to evaluate if they grasp it. Most people aren’t born knowing how to paraphrase. These activities and games teach and reinforce paraphrase.

Most of us aren’t born knowing how to paraphrase, though. Use these games and activities to help your students learn and practice paraphrasing.

1. Paraphrasing Races

The teacher puts the students into groups and gives each group a sentence. They have three minutes to come up with as many different ways to say the sentence as they can. Each good way of putting it is worth one point. The winner is the team with the most points.

2. Fun Question and Answer

At its core, paraphrasing means rewriting something in your own words, so have students start by doing that. Split your students into pairs and ask them questions.

Questions like “What did you do yesterday after school?” Tell me your vacation plans etc.

• Student A gives a three- or four-sentence answer to the question.
• Student B rewrites what Student A said.
• Then, each pair changes roles.

You should show the class how to do this a few times before you start.

3. Quiz, Quiz, Trade Game

This is another version of the “Talk at First” Game. Start by:

• Giving each student a piece of paper with a sentence on it.
• Have students find partners.
• Student A says her sentence, and Student B rewrites it in his or her own words.

The students then switch places. Then, they trade cards and go on to find different partners.

4. The Use of Index Cards

Ask students to take something their parent or sibling says and put it in their own words. Send them home with two index cards. On one, have them write down the original idea and on the other, how they changed it. Share the next day in class.

5. Identify Me

Make index cards with samples of academic text, like a few sentences from your science or social studies book.

Instructions

Give each group both a set of sample text cards and a set of blank index cards. Have each group choose someone to be the first judge and someone else to be the reader.

The judge picks a ready-made card and reads it out loud. Then, the judge puts it in the middle of the group so that everyone can see it.

Everyone in the group (except the reader) rewrites the text in their own words and writes it on a blank index card.

The card is then put in the reader. The reader reads each quoted card aloud, and the judge tries to guess who authored it. Give points for each right answer. Switch roles and keep playing until all of the task cards are used up.

6. Paraphrase Together

Try rewriting a short paragraph as a whole class. Use your document, camera or write it on the board to show the paragraph. You might want to give each student a copy. Make sure your pupils are aware of the distinction between paraphrasing and summarizing . Talk about the different ways to do things.

The students are to use the Four R’s to paraphrase correctly.

Reword the sentences

• Students should try to reword the sentences. Use synonyms for words and phrases whenever you can.

Rearrange the sentences

• Students should be able to change the order of the words in a sentence to make a new sentence. They can even switch the order of the ideas in a paragraph.

Realize that s ome words are unchangeable

• Students should be aware that some words and phrases cannot be changed. Words such as names, dates, titles, etc., but they can be rephrased in a different way.

Recheck for same meaning

• Make sure that the meaning of your paraphrase is the same as the original.

Paraphrase games are a great way to practice and develop your paraphrasing skills . They provide a space to reflect on and improve on your writing skills as well as work on teamwork, and creativity.

With a bit of creative thinking and originality, these games provide a lot of possibility for unforgettable moments.

Pam is an expert grammarian with years of experience teaching English, writing and ESL Grammar courses at the university level. She is enamored with all things language and fascinated with how we use words to shape our world.

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HEY! THAT'S MINE! Putting Ideas into Your Own Words and Avoiding Plagiarism

Introduction | Background Knowledge | Activities | Extensions

Introduction

21st Century students are more tech-savvy than any group of learners before them. They are digital natives and have access to the world at their fingertips. With that power comes great responsibility. Students are sharing pictures and memes and cutting and pasting information without giving it a second thought. We must teach students how to put thoughts and ideas into their own words, giving credit where credit is due. Students need explicit instruction on paraphrasing and citations to protect themselves and to teach them to be ethical users of information.

• ISTE Standards for Students: Digital Citizen 2c. Demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.
• AASL National School Library Standards, Engage Shared Foundation, Think Domain: Learners follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by: 1. Responsibly applying information, technology, and media to learning. 2. Understanding the ethical use of information, technology, and media.
• AASL National School Library Standards, Engage Shared Foundation, Create Domain: Learners use valid information and reasoned conclusions to make ethical decisions in the creation of knowledge by: 1. Ethically using and reproducing others' work. 2. Acknowledging authorship and demonstrating respect for the intellectual property of others. 3. Including elements in personal-knowledge products that allow others to credit content appropriately.
• AASL National School Library Standards, Engage Shared Foundation, Grow Domain: Learners engage with information to extend personal learning by: 1. Personalizing their use of information and information technologies. 2. Reflecting on the process of ethical generation of knowledge. 3. Inspiring others to engage in safe, responsible, ethical, and legal information behaviors.

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Background Knowledge

Plagiarism occurs when someone uses another person's thoughts or ideas as their own. It is so much more than stealing a term paper or copying someone's homework. It can be a quote from text, melodies from a favorite song, a photo or infographic, or sharing a funny meme on social media. Many students simply do not realize that cutting and pasting a paragraph from a digital encyclopedia is wrong.

An understanding of copyright is crucial. Copyright Kids ( TeachersFirst review ) gives both guidance and a quiz for review.

Paraphrasing is putting thoughts or ideas into your own words; this is the first step to avoiding plagiarism. The next step is to learn to cite sources correctly; by recording key information initially such as the book or article title, author, date of publication, website, etc. students can return to or direct others to find clarification if needed, making citation easier from the notes. Kindergarteners do not need to choose between APA, MLA, and Chicago style, but even our youngest students can learn to identify the title and author of the source they used to find their information. There are many citation resources to make this task easier for older students.

Online Resources

There are several online resources to help teachers present information about plagiarism. These resources include short videos that present plagiarism in student-friendly ways. Two universities have created resources, including a game appropriate for upper elementary students and above.

• Citation for Beginners is a great animated video addressing both plagiarism and citations.
• How to Paraphrase in 5 Easy Steps is a video with easy to understand suggestions.
• What is Plagiarism? offers a great explanation of plagiarism in a child-friendly video.
• 5 Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism is another short video to help to understand.
• Please Don't Cheat ( TeachersFirst review ) offers materials for teachers and students.
• Goblin Threat
• Find the goblins and answer questions about plagiarism and citing sources to save the college! This game has portions specific to the Lycoming College Library, but the majority of the information is appropriate for upper elementary students and above.
• Rutgers University Plagiarism Modules
• From Rutgers University, this three section-module helps explain plagiarism. Though this resource is aimed at college students, it would still be appropriate for upper elementary students and above.

Online Citation Tools

In the digital age, creating citations is easier than it ever has been. Students can learn to use these citation generators to make accurate entries for works cited pages or bibliographies.

• MyBib (TeachersFirst review)
• CitationMachine ( TeachersFirst review )
• Citation Generator ( TeachersFirst review )
• Easy Bib ( TeachersFirst review )
• ZoteroBib ( TeachersFirst review )

Pirates of Plagiarism

• The Pirates of Plagiarism by Kathleen Fox and Lisa Downey is a fun way to introduce the concept of plagiarism to younger students. Captain Bumbo and his band of pirates come into the library and break all of the rules. Students can identify their mistakes and explain how to avoid plagiarism.

Matching Games

• Students can practice matching paraphrased text, the copyrighted text, and corresponding citations with the sorting activity listed below at GameBuilder. These can be tailored to various age groups, printed, and can be made reusable by laminating for a non-tech approach or simply copied for an interactive notebook activity or an assessment. GameBuilder ( TeachersFirst review ) scroll down the page to find a Matching game generator that will help make online sorts of terms or paraphrased phrases that are game-like; students will also enjoy the game Chakalaka; these are relatively easy for even those who don't consider themselves tech-savvy.

Activities for Paraphrasing

• Paraphrase the Paraphrase
• Busy Teacher ( TeachersFirst review ) suggests this idea - divide the class into groups of four or five students per group. Provide each group with a paragraph that is on their reading level. Students work in groups to paraphrase their paragraphs. The teacher then collects the original paragraph and passes the paraphrased paragraph to the next group. The students then paraphrase the paraphrase. Do this at least twice then compare the paraphrases to the original.
• PBSLearning Media
• PBSLearning Media has a great lesson plan on paraphrasing. It is even offered in an interactive plan, Paraphrasing in a Pinch , which can be used for online teaching or flipped lessons.
• Play Telephone
• This game is a great way to teach students how to paraphrase by playing an old-fashioned game of telephone. As the message travels and changes, we can teach students how we paraphrase naturally. The message may change, but the meaning is always the same. Change the game to encourage paraphrase and see how much the meaning changes along the line.

Activities for Citations

• Citations are the Address for the Information
• Using school's or a well-known address (P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney Australia is what I used in my class because the students were familiar with Finding Nemo), create a sort where the students can manipulate the address to put it in order. Discuss why it is important to have the address in order. Make the connection to citations and why it is important to have all of the correct information in the correct order. As in my example mentioned above, the next step is to practice with real books and websites in a hands-on fashion. The final step in the progression is to use an online citation generator to create a citation. Find more ideas about making citations fun at Informania - the site is geared for high schoolers but can be adapted for upper elementary and middle school.

Human Citations

• While this is still a sorting activity, get the students up and moving as they practice creating appropriate citations. On separate 8 ½ x 11 pieces of paper, print out each part of a citation in a large font, along with individual punctuation marks; when creating multiple citations, use different colors of paper for each individual citation and a basic color for the punctuation mark sheets. Have students arrange themselves to create the correct citation.
• Use GameBuilder ( TeachersFirst review ) and scroll down the page to find the Sequence game where the pieces of a citation can be correctly listed in the sequence. Creating multiple games with varied media types will help students learn how different citations appear.

Citation Scavenger Hunt

• Prove It! is an activity for middle and high school students, provided by ReadWriteThink ( Review Here ) to find evidence that supports a claim and cite it accordingly. There is a downloadable PDF to introduce the lesson and another for the student to complete.

• Model how to cite their sources from Kindergarten on! If you are reading a nonfiction book and are asking students to recall information, ask them how they know. Show students how to go back into the book and find the information. Write the page number where you found the information/text evidence beside what the student recalled. Write the book's name and the author at the bottom of the anchor chart or graphic organizer such as a K-W-L chart.
• Develop a classroom culture where students practice paraphrasing throughout the day; this is an excellent way to promote listening skills and inference skills. When a student responds to a question, ask another student to paraphrase what the first said.
• Students can paraphrase a section or a chapter of the textbook during science and social studies content lessons.
• Use paraphrasing in guided reading to support a student's comprehension, especially in fiction books. Students can paraphrase a conversation or event in the book to show understanding.
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Musing From The Middle School

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

September 21, 2014 by jwyks 12 Comments

This year, I decided to teach this skill over a few days at the beginning of the year. I’ve never taught it like this before. I usually wait until I move into nonfiction and argument writing and then I mention the difference in the three, but I never teach it as its own lesson. However, this year I thought maybe knowing how to do each of these early on would help as we start working on answering open-ended questions.

Next, I had the kids read some short articles (I used some old Time for Kids magazines) and answer some simple, “right there” questions using either a quote, summary, or paraphrase to support their thinking. I am hoping that teaching this strategy early on will pay off. Often, I have students (usually my struggling learners) who will copy an entire paragraph from a text because they think they are supporting their answer. Typically, they don’t use transitions and their answers come out disjointed and confusing and LONG!

Do you teach this skill as its own lesson? How’s it work for you?

Happy Teaching!! 

Reader Interactions

July 21, 2015 at 8:57 am

This comment has been removed by the author.

November 13, 2015 at 5:54 am

July 5, 2016 at 7:26 am

September 5, 2016 at 8:27 am

Thanks! I will definitly try it with my little students! They like colorful and bright things, so I think it is a great way to teach them about summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting. Also, I have a question for you! How do I teach my students that services like this one aren't good for them?

January 23, 2017 at 12:07 pm

Well thought content impressed me! I am glad to check out sharing information and accordingly meet with the demands paraphrase mla format

July 25, 2017 at 4:57 am

Microsoft Office and IE integration. You can integrate Summarizer into your favorite applications and summarize texts with one click without switching the windows. more

July 25, 2017 at 11:37 am

Key study skills for summarizing are skimming and scanning. Honing these skills will take practice but with the right strategies and orientation you will be summarizing quickly and effectively in no time. homepage

August 18, 2017 at 4:31 am

I have helped graduate students edit essays, analysis papers, dissertations, and alternative graduate-level papers. the foremost common drawback I actually have found once writing graduate papers is that the lack of transitions. homepage

January 3, 2018 at 3:43 pm

Thanks for sharing.

October 14, 2018 at 12:55 am

October 14, 2018 at 12:56 am

very informative

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Paraphrasing Middle School

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Exercise : Basic-level Paraphrase and Summary Writing

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Paraphrase the following sentences.

• The student requested that the professor excuses her absence, but the professor refused.
• There will be a music concert next to Vienna coffee shop. Would you like to go?
• International Center is hosting English Conversation classes. They help non-native speakers of English practice their English speaking skills.
• The office of International Students and Scholars at Purdue University is located in Schleman Hall.
• The car that was pulled over by the police officer yesterday just had an accident. That driver is not careful.

Summarize the following text from the Voice of America website:

“Many thousands of Chinese are studying at schools in the United States. And writer Liel Leibovitz says the students are following an example that began in the eighteen seventies.

• Mr. Leibovitz and writer Matthew Miller joined forces to tell the story of the students in their book, “Fortunate Sons.” The book says China sent one hundred twenty boys to America to learn about developments that could help modernize their country.” (American Documents the Country’s First Exchange Students from China, Voice of America, learningenglish.voanews.com)
• “Illiteracy is a problem in many of the world’s poorest countries. Even in wealthier nations like the United States, many children struggle with reading and writing. But in 19 cities across the country [United States], the volunteers of Experience Corps are helping youngsters learn to read. The volunteers, all over 50, work with students in low-income areas.” (Older Volunteers Help Children Learn to Read, Voice of America, voanews.com)
• “Women entrepreneurs in the developing world often face challenges that limit their chances for success and growth. They often have less access to education than men and have difficulty getting financing on their own. But with an understanding of the essential aspects of doing business – such as planning, financing, networking and marketing – they can overcome those obstacles. That's where the 10,000 Women Initiative comes in. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, it's an investment in education with dividends that benefit the businesswomen, their local communities and their national economies.” (Goldman Sachs invests in Educating Women in Business, Voice of America, voanews.com)

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Summarizing worksheets & activities.

Summarizing is one of those skills that may seem very easy to a teacher but can be difficult for students who have not been properly taught how to summarize. For many years I did not even teach my seventh and eighth grade students how to summarize. I would just ask them to summarize texts and then get mad at them when they failed to produce quality summaries. I was wrong in doing this. Now I always teach my students how to write summaries.

Additionally, as per the Common Core State Standards, summaries should not contain opinions, background knowledge, or personal information; rather, a summary should be entirely text based. After years of learning to make connections between the text and themselves, students must be retrained to keep themselves out of their writing in regards to summaries. Teaching this skill surely warrants some of your class time.

Here are some resources that I used in my classroom to teach my students how to summarize. I hope that you find this page useful:

Summarizing Common Core State Standards

120 comments, kowsar seyfudin mahmax.

Thank you very much

I want to express my gratitude for the work you have put into this site.

I have used your site for students for almost a decade now and they have not disappointed once.

Thank you for coming back!

I really appreciate these worksheets and all the worksheets you have published. I work as a volunteer for a literacy group, and we don’t have many resources at this level. I was an SLP so I have had no professional experience as a language arts teacher. These resources allow me to teach better and not have to create items from scratch.

thank you it was informative.

Alphonsa Anis

Thanks it was extremely helpful.

Absolutely fabulous. I’m using them for two employees who are struggling to summarise information. Very, very helpful – thank you.

Hello, can these great worksheets be linked to Google Classroom? Also, how can I have my students access the online assessments? Thank you.

There is a Google Classroom button on the title slide of each online assignment. Press this button to assign it. Google Classroom integration is pretty thin right now, but I’m hoping that they open up their platform more sometime soon!

Thank you, Mr. Morton, for sharing your tips and worksheets for summary teaching and writing practices. Very useful!

Some great activities, really helpful. One thing I want to point out is that shinobi-no-mono is NOT Chinese – this is Japanese. And in the text the characters given are Japanese, NOT Chinese. This is quite a big oversight. As language teachers we need to be aware of different languages.

Thank you. I appreciate the insight.

I want summary and practice sheets for grade 6

Please send me an answer key for the summarizing test.

Acutually 忍の者 isnt chinese the word の is japanses, while in chinese and japanese they call ninja , 忍者. Other than that this is some really good stuff to study my summary from

great material. I´ve been looking for this type of easy to read/ understand material for a long time.

Would it be possible to have the solutions to the test?

Thanks in advance.

Diane Thomas

These are wonderful!Thank you so much!

Thanks a lot .

JANINE RAINES

DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWER KEY TO THE SUMMARIZING TEST?

Mrs. Robinson

Hello, I’m looking for the answer guide for the Summarizing test, please advise if it is available?

Loan Nguyen

Thanks for your sharing. Invaluable resources for teachers. It would be highly appreciated if you can send me the key for the summary test.

Is there an answer sheet for the summarizing test?

EXCELLENT worksheets!

Like many of the above comments, I was hoping that there was an answer key for the summarizing test.

I’m pleased that today is the day that I can finally say, “ Here you go .”

Thank you so much!!

Thank you very much. Bless you!

Thank you, Mr. Morton, for sharing these materials. Indeed this is of great help in my class.

The materials are awesome!! I’d like to separate them to two levels of my students. I’m teaching international students, the comparasion of the good and bad summary really works a lot. I really appriciate for your sharing. However, could you share the summarising answer keys as well? That would help me a lot. Thank you!

Would you consider making something for the 4th & 5th grade level? The examples were all very helpful, but many of my students read below grade level. Thank you again! Jill C.

Thanks from Toronto! Great help for ESL classes here.

Thanks so much from Istanbul! Kids loved it and saved me so much precious precious time

saida merad

Thank you for your valuable help!

Thank you for putting all the material together.

I couldn’t find the answers for the Summarizing Test. They will surely save me some time. Please send them to me, or let me know where I can find them. Thank you so much,

Did you get the answer sheet?

Thank you for all the great materials to use, they will prove to be a great resource!

I was wondering if you would mind pointing out the source from which you pulled the information about ninjas for your worksheet on them. I just wanted to make sure I had the right information because from the bit of research that I pulled up, I see that both in history (concept / existence) and etymology, ninjas are Japanese. The Japanese use kanji, which are essentially Chinese characters, and is only one of the three different “alphabet” sets they use for written communication. So words like “shinobi” and “shinobi no mono” are all Japanese in origin, but written using Chinese characters and not really associated with Chinese culture. This is especially true because “no mono” is a Japanese phrase. Please let me know if there is a source that does say otherwise, so that I can have all the information. Thank you again!

Hello. I pulled that content from a Wikipedia page a long time ago. I’m no expert on the subject. I was just writing a worksheet that I hope would interest students.

These worksheets are helpful but the commenter above is correct, none of these words are or have ever been Chinese. “Shinobi” was in Japanese poems in the 8th century, not Chinese. Shinobi was the Chinese reading of the characters, but it was always a Japanese word. It might be helpful to fix this worksheet to avoid presenting incorrect information to students.

What is the answer key for summary test please?

Thanks a million for this Mr. Morton. This lesson will help me and my students understand summarizing better. God bless your sir!

Thank you so much for helpful material

Brian Samson

What a phenomenal effort you’ve done in putting together all these. Appreciate your ideas. Fabulous!

How amazing to come across your Summarising resouces with explicit instructions. Your comments about teaching the students how to effectively summarise was the most important fact. This in turn forced me to reflect on my own teaching. Thank you for the step by step instructions, they were very valuable. Have you posted any other reading strategy hints?

Sure, I’ve posted them all around this site. Feel free to explore a bit.

What’s the reading level for summary worksheet 3?

Can I get answers for summarizing test about Gutenberg

It is an awesome sight.I got to now today from where the school gives us topics in worksheets.Very useful,but one problems that we don’t get the answers of the questions so that we can check and correct our answers

Mary Jane Dela Cerna

Good day Mr. Morton 😀 what is the answer keys for the summary test? I am not sure in my answer 😀

Wow, just wanted to thank you for your hard work and generosity to publish them for everybody. Thank you so much.

I was studying for an exam and couldn’t find enough information on summarizing. I was very excited when I found your site. It was very helpful.Thanks a million!

A terrific resource. Thank you so much for sharing. I came across your site as I was looking for help with teaching summarising – no need to look any further! Powerpoint and practice sheets, examples …. awesome.

Gracie Alexander

Is there an answer key for the Test?

Kristen Moore

What an incredible site! Thank you for sharing your resources and ideas. Especially the Summary power point. I’ve been struggling to get my students to differentiate between a summary and a list of details. This will help so much!

Amy Gartland

I just discovered this site today. I teach high school ELL and was looking for good nonfiction texts that were accessible for my students. I will definitely be looking around some more and plan on using material in my lessons this week!

This was VERY helpful. Even for a university student who needed a refresher!

An answer key for the Summary would be helpful if provided. And also a whole passage summary, not just the summary for each paragraph.

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How to Teach Paraphrasing to High School Students

Research Writing , Secondary Literacy , Writing

Paraphrasing is a skill that students often learn in elementary or middle school. However, it is important to teach paraphrasing to high school students as well. Paraphrasing is an important writing skill. It encourages students to expand their vocabulary and modify sentence styles. It also challenges them to read closely and analyze meaning.

Paraphrasing is also an essential skill to avoid plagiarism . As high school students begin researching and developing more complex ideas, it is important to clarify the difference between paraphrasing a sentence and plagiarizing an essay.

What is the Goal of Paraphrasing?

Put simply, the goal of paraphrasing is to use the student’s own words to rephrase the words of another source. When students use their own words, they demonstrate that they have interpreted the information, made sense of it, and reiterated it to their audience. Thus, the goal of paraphrasing is also to demonstrate the student’s understanding of the source .

Students can also use paraphrasing as a tool to deepen their own understanding of a text . This is especially useful for English Language Learners reading at a new Lexile level. It can also help students reading antiquated texts, like Shakespeare or Beowulf . Finding meaning within each sentence or phrase can act as a stepping stone to understanding challenging texts as a whole.

Finally, an important goal of paraphrasing is to help students avoid plagiarism . Students can avoid direct plagiarism by rewording their sources and reiterating their understanding. Additionally, they can avoid other forms of plagiarism by properly integrating citations into their writing .

What is the Difference Between Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Knowing the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is essential for students writing standardized tests , including the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) , the AP Language and Composition Exam, and both the SAT and the ACT.

Summarizing involves highlighting the main points of an entire work or idea. A summary includes some of the supporting details, but not all. The goal of a summary is to capture the “big picture. ” In contrast, paraphrasing involves reiterating isolated details within a work or idea . Paraphrasing restates the specific details within a work. It is not necessary to make a connection between these details and the “big picture” of a text.

What is the Difference Between Paraphrasing and Annotating?

Paraphrasing and annotating share similarities. For one, both aim to explain a section of a work. Paraphrasing and annotating are also important parts of the close reading process. To differentiate between these two skills, it is best to consider paraphrasing as rewording the text, and annotating as reacting to the text . Deeper analysis, criticism, and opinion are important elements of annotation, but students should avoid including these elements when paraphrasing.

Activities to Teach Paraphrasing to High School Students

Use music to introduce paraphrasing to high school students.

Whether they realize it or not, students are using paraphrasing skills in their everyday life . When sharing information across cultural or generational boundaries, paraphrasing is often necessary. If you’ve ever needed to ask your students to translate modern music or slang, then you’ve essentially asked them to paraphrase! Similarly, if your students have asked you to decode a challenging sentence or paragraph within a text, they’ve also asked you to paraphrase.

A fun way to teach paraphrasing to high school students is to start in their comfort zone. I have had great success with using modern music to teach paraphrasing to older classes. This involves finding song lyrics that rely on slang words or cultural phrases and prompting students to paraphrase each line. Your students will get a kick out of explaining the meaning of these lyrics to you.

Here are some song suggestions for this activity. ( Note that some songs deal with mature themes. )

• “ 3 Nights ” by Dominic Fike
• “ Green Eyes ” by Arlo Parks
• “ Thinkin Bout You ” by Frank Ocean
• “ Sunflower ” by Harry Styles
• “ Don’t Start Now ” by Dua Lipa

With the right group of students, exploring the genre of rap can be a productive and engaging lesson for teaching paraphrasing . Unfortunately, rap music is not written for the classroom – even censored versions deal with mature subject matter. Use your professional judgment to determine whether or not this type of activity would be suitable for your students. The following song lyrics offer cultural dialect and a level of complexity that would be an engaging challenge to paraphrase:

• “ Humble ” by Kendrick Lamar ( censored version )
• “ Savage ” by Megan Thee Stallion ( censored version )
• “ God’s Plan ” by Drake ( censored version )
• “ Oceans ” by Jay Z
• “ The Season / Carry Me ” by Anderson .Paac

Apply Paraphrasing to More Challenging Texts

Now that students have practiced paraphrasing using high-interest texts , you can challenge them with literature outside of their comfort zone. Simply select an excerpt from a text written in Old English and format it on a worksheet with a blank text box next to the text. Students can paraphrase the text line-by-line to decipher meaning . This activity would pair well with any Shakespeare text in your school curriculum.

Alternatively, you could assign an antiquated text to explore as a class . Some options include The Seafarer , Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal , or the epic poem Beowulf . I find this activity especially effective when I divide a text amongst groups of students and assign them the task of paraphrasing different sections.

Model Paraphrasing During Read-Alouds in High School

Teaching paraphrasing can be as simple as modeling it during a read-aloud period in your classroom. This can involve pausing after reading important parts of the text to reiterate the message. You can also practice paraphrasing aloud after reading complex sentences to offer clarification.

After teaching students about paraphrasing, you can also ask them to paraphrase for you during read-alouds. If you haven’t taught this skill yet, you can simply ask students a simpler prompt, like “In your own words, what is this sentence/paragraph communicating? ”

To differentiate between paraphrasing and annotating , you can ask students to keep their responses separate from their reactions to the text. When they begin to offer too much insight, analysis, or criticism, you can coach them to take a step back and focus simply on the meaning .

To differentiate between paraphrasing and summarizing, you can also prompt students to summarize the text after the read-aloud. If you haven’t taught the skill of summarizing yet, you can simply ask students another simple prompt like “ what is this text about? “

Practice Integrating In-Text Citations to Teach Paraphrasing to High School Students

As mentioned, one of the goals of paraphrasing is to help students avoid plagiarism in their writing. To do so, students must be able to properly integrate in-text citations . These two skills will help students to credit sources and maintain academic integrity.

I teach this skill explicitly to students by practicing in-text citations in class. Mondays Made Easy offers in-text citations practice worksheets to model how to write parenthetical and integrated citations in student writing. These worksheets explore high-interest topics and offer a number of differentiation options , including different Lexile levels and a Tic-Tac-Toe activity to implement student choice.

If you’ve been struggling to teach paraphrasing to high school students , I hope these lesson plans and ideas are able to offer you some engaging solutions. For more activities and advice for the English Language Arts classroom, be sure to follow along on Instagram:

mondaysmadeeasy

Canadian Curriculum Designer and Education Blogger

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[…] in-text citations indicate where an idea originally came from. The idea could be word-for-word or paraphrased. As their name suggests, in-text citations exist within the text of an essay or paragraph. They […]

[…] You can incorporate classroom playlists into your English Language Arts curriculum in a number of ways. One way would be to simply have students select a song and write about the author’s purpose. Another way would be to assign students a playlist, have them select a song, and then have them paraphrase the music lyrics. […]