Teaching summarizing: delete, replace, combine

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

Teach summarizing as a set of moves. Students cross out minor details and repeats, replace lists with one category word, write a gist sentence for each section, then combine those sentences into a summary under a word limit and check it against a short rubric. Model every move on one text before students try it, and start with paragraphs before whole articles.

Summarizing is hard to teach as one big task. "Write a summary" gives students nothing to do except copy or retell. It gets easier when you break it into small moves students can see and practice: cut, replace, gist, combine and check.

The steps below teach those moves in order, each with an example. For goal wording, see IEP goals for summarizing. Main idea comes first; if the student cannot state a paragraph's main idea yet, start with how to teach main idea step by step. The pillar on reading comprehension strategies shows where summarizing fits.

What you need before you start

10 to 15 short informational paragraphs and 4 or 5 articles of 300 to 500 words at the student's instructional level.
Colored pencils or a highlighter for marking text.
The 5-point summary rubric from the summarizing goals page: central idea, key points, no minor details, own words, length.
A probe: one unpracticed article and a word limit, such as 40 words for a 400-word text.

The What Works Clearinghouse guide for grades 4 to 9 recommends teaching a routine for finding the gist of short sections of text.^[1] Summarization was also among the strategies the National Reading Panel found worth teaching directly.^[2] Steps 4 and 5 build that gist routine into a full summary.

Step-by-step

Step 1: Check main idea first

Ask the student to tell what 3 paragraphs are mostly about, in one sentence each. If they give topics or details, teach main idea before summarizing. Summarizing a whole article without a paragraph-level main idea is like building a wall without bricks.

Step 2: Cross out minor details and repeats

Model on a paragraph. Read it aloud and cross out anything that is an example, a number, a side fact or a repeat. Say why each time. "Sharks have up to 3,000 teeth. That's a cool fact, but the paragraph is about how sharks hunt, so it goes."

Then the student does the next paragraph and explains each cut. Students usually cut too little at first. That is fine. They learn by comparing their cuts to yours.

Step 3: Replace lists with a category word

Show how a list becomes one word. "Lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars" becomes "big cats." "She washed the dishes, swept the floor and folded the laundry" becomes "she did chores."

Give 8 lists and have the student write the category word for each. Then find lists in real paragraphs and replace them. This one move often cuts a summary in half.

Step 4: Write a gist sentence for each section

For each paragraph or section, the student writes one sentence of 15 words or fewer: the topic and the most important thing about it. If the section has a heading, turn the heading into the sentence.

Example: heading "How sharks find prey." Gist: "Sharks find prey using smell, sound and electric signals from other animals." That is 12 words.

Step 5: Combine under a word limit

Put the gist sentences together and cut again. Start with a central idea sentence, then add the 2 or 3 most important points. Set a word limit, about one tenth of the source length, and count words together.

A 4-section article gives 4 gist sentences of about 50 words. Cutting to 40 words forces the student to merge two points or drop the weakest. That decision is the heart of summarizing.

Step 6: Self-check with the rubric

The student scores their own summary on the 5-point rubric, then you score it. Talk about any row where you disagree. Over time, the student's self-score and yours should match. When they do, the student can check summaries without you.

Worked example from start to finish

Nia is a fictional 7th grader reading near a grade 6 level. Her summaries copy whole sentences and run 100 words or more. Lessons are 20 minutes, 3 days a week, in a small group.

Baseline. Three probes, each an unpracticed grade 6 article of 400 to 450 words with a 40-word limit. Rubric scores: 2, 1 and 2 out of 5. Median: 2. Word counts: 118, 96 and 104.

Week	Teaching focus	Rubric score (out of 5)	Words
1	Steps 1 and 2: main idea check, crossing out	2	92
2	Step 3: category words	2	74
3	Step 4: section gists	3	68
4	Step 4 continued, headings to gists	3	55
5	Step 5: combine under the limit	3	44
6	Step 5 continued	4	41
7	Step 6: self-check with the rubric	4	38
8	Mixed practice, new article types	4	39

The word count dropped before the rubric score moved. That is common, and worth reporting: it shows the student is making choices even while the central idea sentence is still weak. In week 7, Nia's self-scores matched the teacher's on 4 of 5 rows.

Her goal is 4 of 5 rubric points with 40 words or fewer on 3 consecutive probes. She met it in weeks 7 and 8 (week 6 ran 1 word over the limit), so the teacher keeps probing every 2 weeks for a third.

Common mistakes

Weak: "Write a summary of this chapter" with no modeling. Better: Model each move on one paragraph, then have the student do the next one with feedback.

Weak: No length limit. Better: Set a word limit and count words every time. Without a limit, students retell.

Weak: Starting with a whole chapter. Better: Start with paragraphs, then sections, then short articles, then chapters.

Weak: Accepting a summary of copied sentences. Better: Underline runs of more than 5 copied words and have the student rewrite those parts.

Weak: Teaching summary and retell as the same thing. Better: Teach retell first if the student cannot yet tell events in order, using the retell rubric, then move to summary.

Templates and tools

Goal templates: sum up an informational paragraph in one sentence, write an objective summary of an article and summarize a story with a somebody-wanted-but-so frame.
The comprehension goals page and the reading comprehension strategies hub list the rest.
Track rubric scores and word counts on the rubric scoring data sheet.
Run a draft goal through the goal checker.
Text structure makes Step 5 easier; see text structure signal words.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest way to start teaching summarizing?

Start with single paragraphs and the crossing-out move. Have the student cross out examples, numbers and repeats and say why. Then write one sentence for what is left. Move to sections and articles once the student does this reliably.

Should a summary have a word limit?

Yes, especially while students are learning. A limit of about one tenth of the source length forces the student to choose what matters. Without one, students tend to retell instead of summarizing.

What if the student copies sentences from the text?

Underline any run of more than 5 copied words and ask the student to say that part in their own words, then write what they said. Practicing the category-word move also cuts copying.

Use it in IEP Atlas

Sources

Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9, What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences
Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.