Key Concept Synthesis Strategy




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ELA Web Pages:

Use this Strategy:

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

Targeted Reading Skills:

· Condense or summarize ideas from one or more texts

· Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information

· Compare/contrast information from one or more texts

· Make text-to-text, text-to-self, and/or text-to-world connections

What is it?

When students are given “dense” reading material, they often become frustrated and remark, “I read it, but I don’t get it!” or “I didn’t know what was important and what wasn’t.” For many young readers, this frustration builds and they approach difficult texts feeling defeated before they even begin. One strategy we can use is to provide a framework for the reading by creating a focus on the key concepts. The process involves identifying the key concepts as they read, putting those concepts in their own words and explaining why the concept is important and/or making connections to other concepts.

What does it look like?

Using this strategy requires helping students to use a number of textual clues that will help them determine the key concepts in a reading. Some elements that will aid students in the identification of key concepts are:

Examining the text structure for any elements that the writer/publisher may have used to indicate major divisions in the subject matter (e.g. titles, subtitles, bold headings, and supportive graphics or visuals)
Determining which sentence in a paragraph is the topic sentence; as texts get more sophisticated, students need to recognize that frequently it may not be the first sentence in the paragraph.
Learning to identify statements that “forecast” main ideas or key concepts that will come at some point later on in the reading.
Recognizing that transitions may sometimes help to identify a main idea or a possible shift in the writer’s thinking. (e.g. when compared to, or another possibility is, or in contrast, etc.)
Examining the summary statements in the paragraphs and/or the conclusions that summarize each section of the reading may help to verify and condense the main ideas or key concepts.

Providing models and guided practice where students have opportunities to identify and explain the above elements is crucial. Once students can understand and recognize these elements, provide them with sections of the current text they are reading and have them practice independently as preparation for the next class. As students become more proficient in recognizing these elements as they read, a powerful addition is to have them identify these elements in their own writing.

The graphic organizer below is a condensed version of the template that you can print off the web from Tools for Reading, Writing and Thinking.

Key Concept Synthesis

Directions: Use the following graphic organizer to identify the five most important concepts (in the form of single words or phrases) from the reading. Think about identifying the five most import concepts this way: If you had to explain the reading to someone who had not read the text, what are the five most important concepts you would want them to understand? Use a highlighter and marginal notes to identify import concepts as you read, and then complete the graphic organizer once you have completed the reading.

Five Key Concepts (with page #s)	Put the Concept in Your Own Words	Explain Why the Concept is Important & Make Connections to Other Concepts
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Click here for a printable version of this graphic organizer.

How could I use, adapt or differentiate it?

If this is a new strategy for your students, it is helpful to make copies of a section of the text so that they can highlight and annotate; this process alone will encourage a close reading of the text even before they complete the graphic organizer.
When first using this strategy with your students, you may want to have them identify the various elements that helped them to zero in on the main ideas or key concepts. This could be noted in the Key Concept column under the concept or in the margins of the annotated text.
For students that are more visual and/or artistic, they may want to use a mind map to capture the key concepts and their connections.
Once students have completed the graphic organizer, they can share their ideas with other students to discuss how/why they identified the key concepts they selected.