Summarizing Seminal DocumentsEnglish II

OBJ/DoL

SWBAT summarize main ideas in a seminal document.

Given a document, SW answer 2 MC questions about summarizing and write their own proficient summary of the passage.

How: Using some strategies we’ve looked at before, we’ll be reading some short texts and creating different types of summaries

Why: In some cases, we read but don’t understand. By summarizing per paragraph as we go, we’ll have a deeper understanding by the end.

When Summarizing, Use The

M Main idea:

Identify main idea from TOPIC SENTENCE (if there is one) or use BASIC SIGNAL WORDS

I Identify SUPPORTING DETAILS

D Disregard unimportant information

A Analyze redundant information

S Simplify, categorize, and label important information

Other Summary Methods We’ve Used…

5W’s – Who, What, Where, When, Why

Summary with Words – a visual summary where you draw the most important information

10Cents Per Word – you’re given a dollar amount you can spend (like a classified ad) and then you must summarize and stay under budget

SWBS – Somebody Wanted But So

Purple Prose

Purple prose is a term of literary criticism used to describe passages written in prose so extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself. Purple prose is sensually evocative beyond the requirements of its context.

It also refers to writing that employs certain rhetorical effects such as exaggerated sentiment or pathos in an attempt to manipulate a reader's response.

The following passage is one of the most important and well-recognized examples of purple prose in US history, and it was used in a courtroom.

Old Drum ArgumentGentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

Who.What.Where.When.Why. this speech in one complete sentence on your whiteboard.

Old Drum, pt 2The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

Choose your favorite summary method you remember to summarize this information.

Old Drum, pt 3

If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.

On your whiteboard, draw a summary of this scene.

Old Drum Application

Based on the speech we just read, what is a saying or sentiment that you think may have been influenced by this speech?

“Ain’t I A Woman”

On the next slide, you’ll see Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman” Speech.

Your job is to edit down her speech to a maximum of 20 words. You do not need to begin with “she said,” just make it shorter. This should go in your notebook.

x

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

Using Summaries…

Look at your partner’s summary and highlight all the words you used that were the same. Words like and, the, and or do not count. Hold up on your hands how many common words you used.

Declaration of Independence Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb7MI8NQLoo

After watching the clip, please create a 15-20 word summary of the video you just saw on your whiteboard.

Declaration of Independence

Using your scrap of paper, please fold it into four pieces. Each quadrant will represent one part of the SWBS strategy. Use the info on the next two slides to create your graphic organizer.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

SWBS

On your whiteboard, using your information on your sheet, please create a summary in two sentences. Be sure to include all necessary information and use your SWBS chart for support.