The 10 percent summary strategy costs little in teacher time, and
it prepares students for the common core state standards in literacy.
As schools prepare for the common core state standards in literacy, they'll
be confronted with two challenges: first, helping students comprehend complex
texts, and, second, training students to write arguments supported by factual
evidence. A teacher's response to these challenges might be to lead class
discussions about complex reading or assign regular in-class argument essays.
Yet the reality is that after discussing a difficult article with a class of 20
or more students, even the most engaging teacher cannot guarantee that every
student will understand it. Meanwhile, one would be hard-pressed to find an
English teacher who has not inwardly cringed at the thought of having to
routinely grade stacks of in-class essays. Some teachers may even neglect to
assign such essays, wanting to avoid the work that follows.
