Writing with Skill FICTION

[Nikkijsharp]

Hi,

we just started WWS with our 11 year old.  He is doing great...with non fiction selections.  He is understanding and enjoying outline writing.  He can easily give me 2-4 sentence summaries on non fiction.
However, when it comes to fiction, it’s like he’s reading another language.  I’ve done WWE with him through the years, but he has always struggled with fiction summaries.  I even break it down for him.  I’ll read a few sentences, ask who/what selection was about and ask “what did xyz do?”  So I basically prompt him into a single sentence summary.  But even when asked to come up with a sentence from the details he JUST gave me, he’s at a loss.

I’m really struggling because non fiction is so easy for him.  He has an excellent vocabulary, his reading skills are at least on “grade level,” so no issues there.  
Any advice? 

[Lori D.]

Welcome! I see by your post count you are new!

How is his comprehension of fiction stories? Can you tell that he understands/remembers details of what happened earlier in the story, and that he sees the connection between past events in the story to what's currently happening in the story? 

Also, how is he with telling the "story" of what happened to him or to a friend? (Example: "I was out riding my bike this morning, and you'll never guess what I saw! In the big rain puddle at the end of the street were little tadpoles and frogs!") Can he relate the beginning, middle, and end of real life events to tell them as a "story"?

Just asking those questions because if he struggles with telling personal anecdotes (the "story" of what happened to him), or struggles to understand the story in a fiction book, you may need to dig a little deeper into what's going on with an evaluation to see if there is some sort of processing issue or learning disabilities (LDs) that have been masked up to this point.
 

Assuming there are no (LDs), and totally just "off the top of my head" rambling, but... perhaps it is hard for him to pull out single threads from the tapestry that is fiction. With nonfiction, there is a clear set of facts to summarize. With fiction, how does one determine was is "most important"? In other words, the story may appear as a single whole, too big and interwoven to break down into summaries.

And (still just brainstorming here) maybe summarizing is not the way to approach discussing fiction with this student? Perhaps try some other types of questions to build connection with the story:
- What was your favorite part of the story?
- What was it about that part that you especially liked? 
- Who was your favorite character?
- What about that character stood out to you?
- What do you think might happen in the next chapter?
- Why do you think that character made that choice?
- What would you have chosen if you'd been in that situation?

Is he a very visual learner? Maybe have him draw a picture that captures what stood out to him from the chapter read, instead of talking through a summary. Then use the picture as a springboard to discuss the story, or to use it as a prompt towards summarizing. Example: "Wow, I see you drew a great pirate ship here. You really put in a lot of details with the cannons and the skull and cross-bones flag. What did you think was important about this pirate ship in this chapter?"

Summarizing graphic organizer -- this organizer has you fold a piece of paper into fourths, and put one heading in each fourth: "Somebody", "Wanted", "But", "So" -- and fill that out, one square at a time. Example:
"Somebody" - Cinderella
"Wanted" - to go to the ball
"But" - her wicked stepmother wouldn't let her go
"So" - her fairy godmother made her magic clothes and a magic coach so she could go

What about starting short/small and build up? Try reading and summarizing short fairy tales, and maybe use that summarizing graphic organizer as a way to model and get the thinking started.

Some possible resources to try:
- Reading Detective series, Critical Thinking Press (NOT free)
- Spotlight on Reading series: Summarizing, Cause and Effect, Inferring, Story Elements (NOT free)
- Reading Rocket short article on summarizing, with a number of links to activities for helping with summarizing (free)
- Reading Recovery short article on summarizing and synthesizing (free)

Again, welcome! And BEST of luck in finding what best helps with getting over the hurdle of summarizing fiction. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Lori D.

[stlily]

I highly recommend listening to SWB's talk called "What Is Literary Analysis".  In it she explains that it is perfectly normal for kids to have a hard time discussing literature and analyzing it. She gives practical tips on how to discuss books with students. https://welltrainedmind.com/p/what-is-literary-analysis-when-why-and-how-should-i-teach-it-mp3/?v=7516fd43adaa

[PeterPan]

On 9/9/2020 at 11:05 AM, Nikkijsharp said:

but he has always struggled with fiction summaries.  

The term you're looking for is narrative language development. Here's a link with the stages, so you can see where he's at and what is glitched. https://mindwingconcepts.com/pages/methodology  It sounds like more than a working memory issue, because WWE would have nailed that.

[Miss Tick]

I want to just add that taking a break (or multiple short breaks) to tackle this will pull you off schedule with WWS, and that is TOTALLY OK. Stretching that series over 4 years is a valid approach. It took us a few weeks longer than 4 years, but they are now solid writers.

[EKS]

Summarizing fiction is actually a very difficult task. Especially when you move away from straight plot summarization into things like themes and what the piece is really about.  I'd start with having him write plot summaries and then move on to harder tasks. When you talk to him about the details I recommend that you take notes for him and then stick them in front of him while he writes the summary.  I found doing this on a small whiteboard and then propping it up in front of the student worked particularly well.

Edited September 27, 2020 by EKS