Summarizing+and+Extended+Thinking

Although summarizing and extended thinking are two separate components of the Learning Focused model, they are grouped together for this link because each of the items below can be used interchangeably dependent upon your purpose. Some activities are better suited for students to use when summarizing what they have just learned, while others may be a great fit for an extended thinking activity. Where it fits best will depend on your lesson and how you plan to teach the content. Additionally, these resources could also be utilized as a resource for assessment prompts.
 * Summarizing and Extended Thinking **

      
 *  Persuasion Tool - Want your students to write a persuasive essay on a topic you just covered? Have them use this tool to help them plan out their arguments before they start writing.
 * Mystery Cube - The Mystery Cube is a useful tool that helps students identify and summarize story elements in this popular genre. It can be used as a postreading activity for mysteries students have read or as a prewriting activity for students writing their own mysteries.
 * Literary Elements Map  - Students can map out the key literary elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution as prewriting for their own fiction or as analysis of a text by another author in this secondary-level interactive.
 * Wordle  - Instead of creating a word splash of vocab words, try copying and pasting someone's essay, or even a famous speech, into Wordle. The resulting diagram will show you what words are used most by making those words larger than others. Your students can see what words they might be over using, or you could have them analyze why a particular person may have used certain words often in their speeches.
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Character Trading Cards <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - The interactive Character Trading Cards tool is a fun and useful way for students to explore a character in a book that they are reading or as a prewriting exercise when creating characters for original stories.
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">3D Bio Cube <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - Bio-Cube is a useful summarizing tool that helps students identify and list key elements about a person whose biography or autobiography they have just read. It can also be used as a prewriting activity for student autobiographies.
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Writeboard <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">- Here your students can have their own digital whiteboard on their screen. When they setup their whiteboard, it gives them an address and password they can share with another student, and then both students (or more) can edit the same board, allowing them to share ideas and information easily, even if they aren't at the same computer, in the same class, or in the same school!
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Senteo <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - You can once again use Senteo here, by providing summarizing questions after reading stories, seeing video clips, or other activities.

<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; text-align: center;">
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Compare & Contrast Map <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - The Compare & Contrast Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for different kinds of comparison essays.
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Wiki <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - You've heard of Wikipedia, right? Well, you can make your own classroom wiki, for free! Once created, you can assign students different topics, and let them update your classroom wiki with information they learn throughout a unit. Then once you are finished, you have your very own wiki-encyclopedia about the topic you just covered in class, but made completely by your own students. (Note: if you can't figure out how to use a wiki, there will be sessions offered this coming school year on this topic)
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Blog <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - Creating a classroom blog is simple, and free, with Wordpress. Once created, you can have students post to the blog and you can have a discussion between students, even if they are in different periods or different schools! You can have book discussions, mini-debates, and more!
 * <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Photostory <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - Have your students create a digital project showing what they've learned. They can piece together pictures, video, audio, and text to tell a story or give a summary of a topic. Most district computers should have Photostory already loaded on them.
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';">Animoto <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> - Much like Photostory, Animoto allows students to create a project from photos and audio. One big advantage here is that Animoto is completely online, which means students will have access to their projects even from home.