paraphrasing lesson plan 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.

Exploring Plagiarism, Copyright, and Paraphrasing

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• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

This lesson helps students understand copyright, fair use, and plagiarism by focusing on why students should avoid plagiarism and exploring strategies that respect copyright and fair use. The lesson includes three parts, each framed by a KWL chart. In the first part, focusing on plagiarism, students discuss plagiarism and look at examples to determine whether the passages are plagiarized. Part two introduces copyright and fair use. Students use a Think-Pair-Share strategy to explore questions about fair use, then read several scenarios and determine if the uses described are fair use. In the third part, students develop paraphrasing skills through direct practice with paraphrasing text book passages using an online notetaking tool. This lesson plan was developed as part of a collaborative professional project with the American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).

Featured Resources

• Checklist for Fair Use : Use this checklist to determine if your use of copyrighted material is considered fair use.
• ReadWriteThink Notetaker : Use this online tool to organize and reorganize notes.

From Theory to Practice

Students need multiple opportunities to practice citing sources and paraphrasing, to see examples of writing that properly uses paraphrasing and citations, and to reinforce these concepts. When students are taught information about these concepts early in their academic careers they are more likely to find success when the demands for research increase with the sophistication of their work. As their work becomes more sophisticated, students must have an understanding of fair use practices concerning copyright. Giving credit for a source is essential, but there are times when just a citation is not enough. Depending upon what part and how much of the text a writer uses, he or she may need to seek permission to use the material. By discussing and practicing paraphrasing and working through some fair use examples in this lesson, students should gain a better understanding of these concepts.

Further Reading

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

• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Student textbook from a content area such as social studies or science
• Internet connection and projection capabilities
• Identifying Plagiarism PowerPoint Presentation
• Paraphrasing Practice PowerPoint Presentation
• Research Skills KWL
• Checklist for Fair Use
• Paraphrasing Practice handout
• Identifying Plagiarism examples

Preparation

• This lesson is designed to be co-planned and co-taught by the classroom teacher and the school library media specialist. Meet to decide responsibilities for teaching the lessons and assessing student work, as well as to arrange logistics for using the library media center.  In advance, agree upon lead and support educator roles for each session. Educators are strongly encouraged to alternate roles depending upon individual strengths and expertise.
• Ideally, the library media specialist and English language arts teacher will also collaborate with a willing colleague from the science or social science department for the activities in this lesson.
• Choose a section or chapter in the student textbook to use during each part of the lesson and as part of the student assessment. Textbook sections that have not/may not be covered in class work best.
• Make copies of the Research Skills KWL handout and Checklist for Fair Use for each student.
• Make arrangements to project the Paraphrasing Practice PowerPoint Presentation and the Identifying Plagiarism PowerPoint Presentation , or create separate transparencies for each sentence on the Paraphrasing Practice and Identifying Plagiarism sheets.
• If students need additional practice, choose passages from available texts (e.g., an elementary level encyclopedia; student writing; unfamiliar school or college textbooks). Work together to create your own paraphrased and plagiarized versions of the passages to extend student options for identifying plagiarism.
• The classroom teacher and library media specialist should test the ReadWriteThink Notetaker on the computers to familiarize themselves with the tool and to ensure the Flash plug-in is installed. Schools can download the plug-in from the Technical Support page .

Student Objectives

Students will:

• define plagiarism, fair use, and paraphrasing.
• recognize and provide examples of plagiarism, fair use, and paraphrasing.
• use appropriate paraphrasing strategies to replace advanced-level words with age/grade/level appropriate vocabulary.

Note: In addition to the stated NCTE/IRA standards, this lesson is also aligned to the following American Association of School Librarians Standards for the 21st-Century Learner .

• Respect copyright/intellectual property rights of creators and producers.
• Follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information
• Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.
• Respect the principles of intellectual freedom.

Session One

• Distribute the Research Skills KWL handout, and ask the students to complete the "know" and "want to know" columns for each of the three items.
• The classroom teacher and library media specialist should co-lead a discussion of the students' responses for the "know" and "want to know" columns of the plagiarism section of the worksheet.
• Create a class definition of plagiarism, using the information on students KWL chart. Be sure that the class definition includes the idea of using another person's words or ideas without crediting the original writer.
• Failure of the assignment or course
• Requirement to do the work over
• Suspension/expulsion
• Lawsuit, fines, and/or firing for workplace plagiarism
• Paraphrase with appropriate citations
• Give credit through footnotes/endnotes, a works cited page, or a bibliography
• Share examples from the  Identifying Plagiarism PowerPoint Presentation or Identifying Plagiarism Sheet , and ask students to determine whether the passages are plagiarized. Add examples from class texts to expand this practice at identifying plagiarism.
• During the class discussion of the passages, consider the following advice from Laura Hennessey DeSena's book Preventing Plagiarism: Tips and Techniques : "In teaching students how to paraphrase, I tell them to put the text aside for a few moments and try to remember what the writer said--the ideas, the insights.  Then I ask students to try to write down these ideas.  I have them compare the two versions, their translation with the original text.  Integrity of ideas much remain intact.  If student writers change the meaning, then they will have to try again.  If they, unintentionally, appropriated exact language, then they will have to try again.  If students are unable to remember what they have read, then they should view the passage as a whole and synthesize the main points in their own words.  Encourage them to change sentence structure, in addition to altering diction.  In changing language choices, they should try to use their own words, before consulting a dictionary or thesaurus." (49). DeSena, Laura Hennessey.  2007. Preventing Plagiarism: Tips and Techniques . (Chapter 3). Urbana, IL:  NCTE.

Have students complete the "learned" column for plagiarism on the Research Skills KWL handout.

If time permits, share this school media center Website on plagiarism to review the concepts that have been covered and point out available resources.

Session Two

• Begin with a brief review of the previous session.
• Discuss the students' responses for the "know" and "want to know" columns of the fair use section of the Research Skills KWL handout.
• The Copyright Office at the Library of Congress defines fair use as "purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered ‘fair,' such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research."
• The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: "quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported." ( Factsheet on fair use of copyrighted works . U.S. Copyright Office, July 2006.)
• Using the information from Copyright Kids! Copyright Basics & FAQs , share each question with students and have them use the Think-Pair-Share strategy (think about it on your own, pair with a neighbor, share with a larger group) to answer the question.
• When students have had a chance to consider all the questions, reveal the answers from the Website .
• in school: for assignments such as term papers, class plays, presentations
• personal life: Internet downloads, podcasts, personal writings
• To expand the discussion to include music downloads, show the class the first two and a half minutes of the Ball State University Libraries video "What Do You Think about Intellectual Property?" from their Copyright for Students page.
• Have students discuss their thoughts and reactions.
• Distribute and review the Checklist for Fair Use handout.
• John is writing a science term paper on the life of a ferret. He has used two books, a general encyclopedia, and several Websites to gather his information. He has put much of the information into his own words but has used a few direct quotes, citing information that is not his own. Is his work okay according to the Checklist for Fair Use ? Why or why not? (Answer: yes—educational purposes; only a portion of information used; factual information; paraphrased; and credit given.)
• Mary and her friends like the poems of Shel Silverstein, so she copied a bunch of the poems using the school photocopier, stapled them together, and made plans to sell the booklet to anyone who wants it. Is this fair use? Why or why not? (Answer: no—the poems being reproduced are not the student's own work; entire poems used; heart of the work used; creative work; copies sold, therefore depriving author of income.)
• Uncle Marty always videotapes family events. He has put together a video CD with some of the highlights and is giving out the CDs to family members. He has asked each recipient to pay him for the cost of the blank CD so he can continue to make more copies. Is this fair use? Why or why not? (Answer: yes—originator doing the reproduction.)
• Taylor has purchased music from iTunes and placed it on her MP3 player. She also gave the music to three of her friends. Are these uses fair? Why or why not? (Answer: yes and no—The download to Taylor's MP3 player is fine because she paid for the download; however, giving the music to her friends is not because it deprives the copyright owner of income.)
• Allow time for follow-up discussion. Include in the discussion when and how to seek permission to use a copyrighted work (see the U.S. Copyright Office answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright ).
• Have the students complete the "learned" column of the fair use section of the Research Skills KWL handout.

Session Three

• Begin with a review of the previous sessions.
• Discuss students' responses for the "know" and "want to know" columns of the paraphrasing section of the Research Skills KWL handout.
• Create a class definition of paraphrasing, using the information on students KWL chart. Be sure that the class definition includes the idea of restating another person's ideas in your own words or format.
• Ask students to give examples of some of the ways they paraphrase information. Make sure the discussion includes summarizing, rewording, and using direct quotes.
• Make sure that students understand that summarizing is putting the main ideas of a piece of writing in a shortened form that uses their own words. This process can be completed by reading an entire text (paragraph, page, section, etc.) and then writing down what they remember accurately.
• In collaboration with another content area teacher, assign an unfamiliar passage from the students' textbook for students to read and summarize.
• For additional practice, introduce students to the ReadWriteThink Notetaker . Allow time for them to become familiar with the tool, perhaps having them practice together using the passage assigned in the previous step.
• Assign a new passage from the unfamiliar section, and ask the students to use the ReadWriteThink Notetaker to summarize the information.
• Make sure students understand that rewording is restating the material in their own words. Explain to students that their teachers expect them to write as students would write, not as textbooks or encyclopedias sound. Then show them how to take a statement and rewrite it using words they know and would use.
• Do one or two of the examples in the Paraphrasing Practice Powerpoint Presentation together, deciding which words should be changed and which can stay.
• Complete the remainder one at a time using Think-Pair-Share or some other small group strategy.
• Go over the students' suggestions aloud after each example, and offer comments on the results.
• An important person's words lend credibility to the writing.
• The reader will think you are very strategic to seek out an authority's idea to include in the report.
• The words and phrases in the quote simply express the idea too powerfully not to use the original.
• Ask students to consider why it is important that a paper is not one long quote or a series of quotes from a book even if credit is given.
• Provide instruction on footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography compilation if appropriate at this time, using the class textbook.
• Have students complete the "learned" portion of the Research Skills KWL handout for paraphrasing.
• Have volunteers share what they learned over the entire lesson.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• The classroom teacher and school media specialist should assess students’ learning through observation and anecdotal notetaking on participation and class discussions.
• Test students’ understanding by choosing a three-paragraph passage from the class textbook, and asking each student to demonstrate the following skills: summarize paragraph one; paraphrase paragraph two; and choose a significant quotation from paragraph three, citing it correctly.
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This document is a code of best practices that helps educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use.

Useful for a wide variety of reading and writing activities, this outlining tool allows students to organize up to five levels of information.

This tool allows students to create an online K-W-L chart. Saving capability makes it easy for them to start the chart before reading and then return to it to reflect on what they learned.

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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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Paraphrasing

In our Paraphrasing lesson plan, students learn what paraphrasing is, when it is used, and strategies for paraphrasing effectively. Students also learn how to distinguish paraphrasing from summarizing and plagiarism.

Description

Additional information.

Our Paraphrasing lesson plan introduces students to paraphrasing selections of text correctly. The students will also learn the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing. In addition, plagiarism is discussed and reasons are given why it’s wrong to plagiarize another person’s work. Students are asked to work collaboratively to summarize a given piece of text. Students are also asked to paraphrase several sentences and short paragraphs on their own in order to demonstrate their understanding of the concept.

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to define paraphrase, distinguish it from summarizing and plagiarism, and correctly paraphrase selected text and passages.

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I am very impressed with this curriculum.

I used this for 5th grade homeschool. It was very helpful in teaching how to use alternative phrases. She struggles with writing narratives. The curriculum is written for classroom use but I am able to use most of the assignments as homework. The list of resources for each subject is amazing.

Main Idea lesson plan

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Quality all the way..

So happy to have come across this resource. The plans are detailed and thorough. Resources are excellent. However, some of the resource links need to be updated as they no longer exist or link is broken.

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Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression.

Do your students restate texts or word problems without answering the question? 

In this routine, students work in groups to help each other unpack a text or question, and then articulate their responses, discover a new topic, or strategize an approach., teacher guide see 1 item hide 1 item.

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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!! 

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July 21, 2015 at 8:57 am

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November 13, 2015 at 5:54 am

July 5, 2016 at 7:26 am

September 5, 2016 at 8:27 am

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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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Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Texts

By Mary Montero

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We are SO close to being done with our nonfiction unit, and I’m looking forward to jumping back in to novel studies. My students are slowly growing to love (okay, maybe like is still a better word) informational text, and that was truly one of my main goals in all of this.

Last week, we did a brief review of the difference between summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting texts.  I should have done this a long time ago!  I often see it taught in the context of research, but when I started seeing summaries that used direct quotes or lines from the text, I knew it was time.  It’s also a huge skill for 5th graders to be able to paraphrase well, so I decided it was worth taking the time to do.   Oh, and the fact that standardized testing is coming in less than month was excellent incentive as well.

First, I used an idea that I got from Teaching in Room 6  about summarizing nonfiction texts with comic strips.  I LOVED this idea, and you should really read her original post.  She does a great job of explaining it, and her kids actually used the Comic Creator software to make really neat and authentic-looking comics!

I began by having my students select a book from our library focusing on an event in history.  They had to really focus in on one event that only spanned the course of about a day.  So, if they chose a major war, they had to pick one battle.

Then, they wrote summaries of their events.  Next, I had them transfer their summaries into comics.  They had to use text and dialogue to tell the story and include all of the information their summary had (without just rewriting, of course).

They came out so nice, and they all agreed that it was such a fun way to practice summarizing!

Update: I now have an entire post on teaching summarizing!  Click here to read more about summarizing, too.

Then, we made a foldable and anchor chart to review the differences between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.  Most of the students knew what quoting was but had forgotten how to do it with integrity (using quotation marks and referencing the author).

I included a definition of each then some key ideas about each.

Update: Here’s another version, and you can download the template to make your own HERE .  The notebook template is also included in this free file.

They copied the key ideas on the top flap of their foldable.  Then I created some summarizing task cards to help them see the difference between the three different types of rewriting and retelling.

I made a copy of the first card for each student and they glued it on the same page as their foldable. Under each section of the foldable, they did the task under the flap so that they could see the different between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting using the same text.  We also underlined and color-coded their responses from the text.  This week, they are working on one card per day as part of their reading warm up.  So far, they have been incredibly effective, and I know it will make a difference in their written reading responses. It will also be great to have this under their belt for research in the future.

If you are interested in the summarizing task cards, you can buy them HERE .  They also include a digital option to use with your student devices!

Working on just one skill at a time? This summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting BUNDLE is a good starting place when working with shorter paragraphs. Each of these task card sets includes 32 high-interest nonfiction reading passages and a single prompt to summarize, paraphrase, or make a direct quote.

Have a happy week!

Mary Montero

I’m so glad you are here. I’m a current gifted and talented teacher in a small town in Colorado, and I’ve been in education since 2009. My passion (other than my family and cookies) is for making teachers’ lives easier and classrooms more engaging.

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14 Comments

I absolutely love all your products! This is such a great idea for getting students to really pick up on the differences between all three! I'm going to have to look into this for next year, but this year it may make a great RTI or reteaching lesson for some of my kiddos that still need help!

We're getting ready to use your Text Structures task cards right now to reteach text structures in small groups!

Thanks for sharing and producing such great products/ideas! Amanda My Shoe String Life

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20 Summarization Activities For Middle School: Videos, Worksheets, Games, And Tips

February 28, 2024 //  by  Michelle Mandel

We can all remember when the teacher gave us a text, and we were asked to read it and summarize it in our own words. At first, we thought that was a piece of cake, but as we sat down to do it, our minds wandered and we found ourselves distracted by anything that moved.

Here are some activities, tips, and tricks to help your middle school student understand reading for gist and basic writing skills.

1. Summary Structure Cheer 

“RBIWC, RBIWC” Don’t worry, the chanting will all make sense. Teach your middle school students this Chant / Cheer to help them remember the basic rules of summarization.

Give me  an R for Reading

Give me a B for Break it down

Give me an I for  Identify KP( Key Points )

Give me a W for writing the summary

Give me a C for check your work against the article

Learn More: Teach Heath

2. Somebody Wanted Something But So Then What?

This method of summarising is an amazingly simple way for your kiddos to remember what this skill is all about! They’ll cover; “somebody” = who / Describe the character(s),

“wanted”= what did they want or need, “but” = what was the obstacle or problem they faced, “so” = then what happened as a consequence, and finally “then” = the ending.

Learn More: YouTube

3. The 4 Ws

The 4 Ws strategy is a summarization technique that’ll simplify the process of note-taking for your students. With this technique, you’ll encourage them to use the words “Who?”, “Where?”, “What?”, and “When?” to simplify and prompt their method of summarizing vast amounts of information. This exercise works best when they’re working with sources such as books, news articles, or historical events.

Learn More: Sign Now

4. Who wants to be a MILLIONAIRE in Summarizing 

This is such a fun game students can do on and offline. Use different texts and four simple answers to help summarize the text. Can your students choose the right answer and move up towards the million-dollar question?  Have students come up with their own questions to play.

Learn More: Quia

5. Reading is the rule.

If you want to be good at summarizing, you will need to pick up a book or a magazine and start reading. 5-8 minutes a day will get your brain power moving, and if you want, you can even try to summarize a picture book if you are up for the challenge. How about reading 1,000 words and doing a PowerPoint slideshow teaching students how to summarize 1,000 words?

Learn More: WikiHow

6. Who doesn’t love to doodle?

Get out your paper and pens and it is time to read and doodle or draw. That’s right, I did not say read and write!  Your middle schoolers will fall in love with this activity and it is a great laugh. They will come up with silly details to share. Give them a text to summarize but 50% must be drawn in pictures or symbols. They can only use 50 % in the text.  It is a great activity and laughter is the best way to enjoy language.  Use Doodle note templates in class and have a blast!

Learn More: Redesign

7. Shake it up with Shakespeare’s Comic Summaries 

Creative strategies are always necessary to have on hand and your students can have fun in the English classroom with what you would think would be a difficult task, but with these fiction passages transformed into a comic, it makes it fun and teens can accomplish the task with ease.

Learn More: Teaching In Room 6 &  Plasq

8. Eight is great when it comes to summarizing 

Many think they are not capable of writing but without the know-how of how to write a good summary. It’s like diving into the deep end if you’re not a good swimmer. Learn how to stay afloat with 8 steps in Summarizing. This background knowledge will help you improve your sentence structures and ideas.

This is a fantastic opportunity for students to watch, write and learn. Eighth-grade students will love the autonomy of this project: Just watch, write and learn. This link has additional resources to guide you in the learning process too!

Learn More: Issuu

9. Time to get organized 

Graphic organizers are a charm when learning how to write or summarize with these printable worksheets your middle school and teens will write away. If you print the different worksheets on colored paper they will take home a rainbow of homework and do creative writing on their own .

Get them used to Fiction Summary / Story Summary / Plot Summary / Sequence Summary all of the lingo that goes with writing. They can practice passages easily with these resources. Can be used as a simple review activity or more a long-term project.

Learn More:  Lit in Focus

10. “What if” I learned how to Summarize this poem by Shel Silverstein.

This is a classic poem to use for middle school students. This poem can be used in a Theme unit and you can get the printable version of the poem. Students read the poem, discuss it and then work in pairs or individually to summarize it. Share with others in a class blog post.

Learn More: YA Class &  Shel Silverstein

11. Arts and Crafts in language – how is that possible? 

We all know that arts and crafts teach specific skills, one being reflection, which is crucial to summarizing texts. If a student is able to create a piece of art and write about it. Then explain their ideas to the reader. What is behind the art and what does he or she want to transmit, as well as what is the actual picture about.

This project really explores the possibilities of mixing both mediums.

Learn More: Learn English British Council

12. Be Foxy with Boardgames to help you write.

Table games are so cool! We all love to play them. These games can be educational and can inspire young minds to write and summarize better. Check out these games and have a great time inside and outside of the classroom. When we have fun, we learn!

Learn More: The John Fox

13. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Apples to apples is a great game to play and you can even make it yourself with your students. All ages love this board game and it is a great learning tool for sentence writing and summarizing. This is a gem to help with writing lessons.

Learn More:  Teaching With TLC

14. Paraphrasing Pupils 

Paraphrasing is the key to learning how to summarize. If we teach our children how to paraphrase correctly, they will be strong in writing once they get to high school.  Let’s use some prep lessons to be proficient in paraphrasing with some fun activities. Teach them how to reword, rearrange, realize and recheck. The 4R’s to write.

Learn More: Minds In Bloom

15. Quiz Time 

With these fun quizzes, you can revise the basics of summarizing and language points that are necessary.   There is a video followed by multiple-choice questions that can be done in groups or individually.

Learn More: TES

16. Watch and Write 

Watch a clip, think about it, and now get down to summarizing it. Prepare the clip, and tell them what is their mission. Pause often – get them to contemplate, watch it again, and now summarize it in pair work.

Learn More: KQ ED

17. #Hashtag help with summaries 

In class you see their heads all nodding yes, that they understand but 50% of the time it is not true. They need lots of help and activities for summarizing to sink in.

Learn More: Too Cool For Middle School

18. Go back in time 

Reading is fun and especially if you read some simple stories for middle school students.

Have your students choose a simple book that is 2 grades lower than their reading level and write a summary about it and present it to the class.

Learn More: Scattered Books

19. The middle school students are teachers for the week.

Have your middle school students learn how to teach 1st-4th grades how to summarize with simple words. They get to take the place of the teacher and prepare a presentation with activities.

Learn More: This Reading Mama

20. Do you speak TAMKO?

This is a fantastic strategy to help students summarize nonfiction.

T= What type of text is it

A= Author and Action

M=Main Topic

K= Key Details

O= Organization

This is a great website filled with loads of resources to help your students learn how to summarize nonfiction well.

Learn More: Stellar Teacher

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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

Reader Interactions

[…] 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 […]

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