Teaching Summaries with Jimmy Fallon

Okay, so I knew I'd get your attention with that title. And yes, I did [just this past week] use a Jimmy Fallon clip to teach writing summaries. Before we get to Jimmy though, let me walk you through the other parts of the introduction lesson.

Introduction to Writing Summaries
By nature, kids just have this way of including every unnecessary and pointless detail when they are writing summaries. After having one too many students tell me that the "character woke up", "the character went out the door", and "the character was sad", I knew I had to do something to keep my sanity. So, I introduced the 5-sentence summary. Yes, an entire book in 5 sentences. Yes, it drives the kids crazy and the parents even crazier, but before long the limitation of only 5 sentences really helps them to start picking only the most important details. Here's a free handy dandy resource, with a sample summary.

Before introducing this resource, I show the kids the short animated movie called Pigeon: Impossible. After watching it, I give them a HORRIBLE summary of it. By the end, they were begging me to stop. I then have them help me by telling me what should be in a good summary. (Because they're 5th graders, they have had exposure before.) I record their suggestions on an anchor chart. I make sure to emphasize that summaries only include the most important details from the beginning, middle, and end.To end the lesson, I give them a "good" summary of the movie by using their suggestions.

 

The next day we start by reviewing what makes a good summary. I make sure to lead the conversation to the point that summaries are much shorter than the original. As a great motivation/hook, I tell the kids that even Jimmy Fallon knows how to write a summary:) In fact, he's so good, that he can do it in 5 seconds! We all know that Jimmy likes to play games with his famous guests, and one of the games is "Five Second Summaries". The following clip is kid-friendly, appropriate, and even uses several movies kids know. 

 

 

And they loved the idea so much, that they begged to play our own version. They were even willing to work extra hard and work at writing summaries for nearly an hour to be rewarded with "Ms. G's Five Second Summaries"!

Of course this is just the beginning and much modeling is to follow, but I hope your kiddos enjoy this exciting introduction to writing summaries.