Matthew G. GIST To complete the GIST activity, I selected an article from UPFRONT, a news magazine from Scholastic that is used in my Social Studies classroom every other week. The students were placed in groups based on similar academic ability. The push in Special Ed teacher worked with the group of students that included the ELL student and two IEP students so he could assist them in reading the article and writing their summaries. The activity was used in my 11th grade US History class. I thought it would be a simple activity for most of the class, but was surprised at how much they struggled with it. The high level group had difficulty in keeping their summaries within the 15 word limit. They wanted to write a lot more, insisted on using quotations from the reading, and had difficulty determining the most important/main point of each paragraph. The mid-level group worked together effectively to determine what the paragraph was saying, but struggled with paraphrasing their thoughts into writing. They reworked their first two paragraphs several times until finally satisfied with their summaries. As they moved through the article, though, they got the “gist” of it. The lower level group initially over simplified their summaries, and were not completely accurate, but the SE teacher decided to read the whole article aloud to the group first, then had them work paragraph by paragraph reading aloud to each other. I really like this strategy for reading comprehension, but also see many other advantageous uses for it. I think it would be great for peer editing of essays, for analyzing primary sources, and for taking notes on expository text. The next time I use it, however, I think I will use a shorter article for the ELL student and lower level group. They took a lot longer getting through the reading, and quickly felt as if writing a summary for each paragraph was overwhelming. The activity was great for forcing the upper level students to write more concise summaries and really focus on narrowing down the main idea. Brooke P. GIST I am currently teaching, but the students that I teach are between the ages of 4 and 5, so this activity is too advanced for them. However, when I did the exercise on my own, I understand how breaking up an article into smaller pieces would be beneficial. When students are assigned lots of reading, it can seem overwhelming, especially for students who might have a learning disability or ELL students who might already be struggling with the language. In addition, separating and summarizing smaller sections might make the students think about the information differently which could also help them to understand the reading better. Moreover, they might be more apt to look up certain words, which would also help them to process the information more efficiently. This technique can might help students to find the most important information in the piece too. Another advantage to breaking the reading up, is that one could read it in sections and answer questions, instead of reading the entire piece and then trying to remember all of the details. A class or student could also spread the reading out between more than one day (if they wanted to) by using this technique. Ariel T/ Self GIST While I am currently teaching, this activity did not fit into my schedule before the discussion was due, especially with the recent delays. Therefore, I went with the option to try it for myself and give feedback that way. I do, however, plan to give this to one class that struggles with reading comprehension and will add to my discussion late this week to update. What I like about the GIST template at first glance is its simplicity. Students often sigh at or flat out avoid activities that "look too long or hard" which I find to be code for "overwhelming and busy with information". The clear and chunked pieces really help provide a non distracting and low-risk template for student thoughts. Having the word limit also helps students really pick out and make decisions about important information, rather than fill a page with buzzwords to meet some arbitrary requirement. As an adult in grad school who is used to writing 5 page papers, this was a challenge! The template could also be motivating as students will not think it is "too much writing". The template can easily be modified for students that need differentiation. Sentence starters could be added for student with modifications to scaffold the expectations of the activity. Students could take turns practicing various literacy techniques where one reads and the other takes notes for the template. They could then collaborate to complete the GIST, building off each other's ideas and learning how to really narrowing down the important points. I could even see modifying this to fit a mathematical model, specifying the GIST of math concepts discussed in an article. While I have not had ELL yet, I could see this being a challenge and perhaps would modify the directions to allow a broader limit on words used. I could see it being an advantage for ELL in way of practicing learned language skills and trying to utilize vocabulary from the content. sara p. GIST This activity was very effective. Although I teach a younger grade, I was able to do this exercise whole group as well as small group. Doing this whole group allowed myself to model and show scholars what exactly it means to summarize after each paragraph using 15 words or less. Summarizing each paragraph in 15 words or less allows scholars the opportunity to really think about the most important parts and use that to recap and retain information. Breaking up every paragraph allows one to close read and really chunk apart the text. Breaking apart the text by paragraph allows scholars the opportunity to direct their focus on little pieces. The effectiveness differed throughout the classroom. I saw the effectiveness differ through different ability levels around the classroom. Teaching in a lower grade, I decided to modify this activity to allow scholars the opportunity to do this in small groups, teacher led small groups, partners, and independently. I personalized this activity by choosing short books/ reading selections on their reading level. From there, instead of summarizing paragraphs, we summarized each page of the book. Some who didn’t need every page summarized every couple pages. Depending on the length of their chunks, they had to summarize under 10 words. Scholars then summarized the whole nook in less than 15 words. This really allowed scholars to talk about the most important parts of the story. Through extreme differentiation mentioned above, scholars are able to read and summarize based on their ability level. This strategy offers English language learners, the opportunity to really break apart their reading and really make sense of the story. This allows ELL’s the opportunity to dissect what is being read. What might be a disadvantage, is the summarizing each paragraph and summarizing the whole reading in 15 words or less. For ELL’s it can be challenging when selecting the right words. When summarizing it is important to think of the right words to say to keep the summarizing to a minimum. Overall I would use this again in my classroom and continue to personalize it to meet the needs of all scholars. Amanda T. Understanding the Essence After reviewing and reading about GIST and looking over the template provided I started to observe the classes that I'm in as an aide a little more closely to see if this method is applied; and it is routinely used in the 11th-grade Economics class I assist. The teacher of this economy class activates prior knowledge and engages the class in group discussions through a do now to recap the last lesson and connect it to the new knowledge/instruction. Typically he will post articles for review on google classroom ahead of time and allows class time to review portions of the reading. Students know the classroom procedures and pick up a handout upon entering, based on the articles shared. I perceive that the GIST activity is useful and effective in educating ELA for all students. The one article in particular, from the New York Times, Take a Big Risk On an Activist? Nike Just Did It (2018) by Draper, Creswell, & Maheshwari, was read and reviewed. It is about Colin Kaepernick and how Nike recently extended his contract in light of his nonviolent protest in taking a stand about police brutality. The class was asked at the start of class their stances, perspectives, or opinions and then the room read the article together. Afterward, the students broke into smaller groups to pull out a few points from the article about what the repercussions and benefits Nike stands to face in keeping this athlete on their payroll. Then, the whole class reconvened to discuss the various points that they came up with and shared their insights. The class took a survey on slips, writing Y or N to indicate if they were likely to continue shopping for Nike products or not and the teacher tallied responses from the all three of his Economics classes. Throughout the day there were 50 for yes, they will keep buying and 9 for no. This particular activity is very effective as a student get to share opinions and review the text to pull out coins that they related to the situation. This is a fairly current and relevant situation for the students to discuss as a new commercial was produced by Nike asking - if dreams are crazy enough. Students were able to relay their prior insights and relate it to the new information that they found. The group didn’t write out a 20-word summary but respond to a worksheet developed by the teacher which basically does the exact same thing, asking students to answer the questions who, what, where, why and summarize what they’ve learned. When the teacher called upon a student with disabilities he respectfully requested to pass on reading one paragraph out loud in class. The teacher allowed his request and another student to read. The SWD was able to take part in the conversations, both whole, and small group gatherings and offered a number of points, participating well. There are advantages and disadvantages that the GIST approach offers for ELLs too. Students that are ELLs or have disabilities struggle as it is and having them read and recap a piece of text can be even more of a challenge for them. Being that the teacher submits articles on Google classrooms ahead of time, this offers a chance for ELLs to translate the article if needed since there is a translator available in the toolbar as well as allowing students the opportunity to practice reading aloud. The tools are extremely helpful for people who are new to learning English and provides a practice time outside of the classroom but assigning the GIST approach offered SWDs & ELLs the option to practice their shortcomings making them more able and allows students the chance to share their thoughts and review the text to pull out points that they relate to the question/assignment posed. Reference: Draper, Creswell, Maheshwari (2018). Take a big risk on an activist? Nike just did it. New York Times. GIST Read the first paragraph and summarize contents in fifteen words or less. Read the second paragraph and summarize it in fifteen words or less. Continue until you are done and then summarize the entire reading in fifteen words or less. Reading Summary Adapted from Tools for Teaching Content Literacy by Jane Allen. Copyright @2004. Stenhouse Publishers. All rights reserved.
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