Grade 7 English Language Arts | FL B.E.S.T. Standard: ELA.7.R.3.2
ELA.7.R.3.2: Paraphrase content from grade-level texts.
Grade 7 Focus: Summarizing complex texts objectively, paraphrasing without plagiarizing, and distinguishing essential from non-essential information.
By the end of this unit, students will be able to:
| Term | Definition | Student-Friendly Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Summarize | Condense a text to its main ideas and essential points | Give the "short version" of a whole text - just the most important stuff |
| Paraphrase | Restate a specific passage in your own words | Say what ONE part of the text said, but in completely different words |
| Essential Information | Main ideas and key details necessary to understand the text | The stuff you MUST include for the summary to make sense |
| Non-Essential Information | Supporting details that are interesting but not crucial | Nice to know, but you can skip it and still understand the main point |
| Objective | Based on facts, without personal opinions | Just the facts - no "I think" or opinions added |
| Plagiarism | Using someone else's words or ideas without credit | Copying - even if you change a few words, it's still plagiarism |
| Summarizing | Paraphrasing | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Entire text or large section | Specific sentence or short passage |
| Length | Much shorter than original | About the same length as original |
| Content | Main ideas only | All details from the passage |
| Purpose | Show understanding of whole text | Use specific info without plagiarizing |
| Day | Focus | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Summary vs. Paraphrase | Define and compare both skills. Use Student Concept Worksheet to distinguish between them. |
| 2 | Objective Summarizing | Practice writing objective summaries. Identify and remove opinions and non-essential details. |
| 3 | Effective Paraphrasing | Practice paraphrasing passages. Focus on changing BOTH words AND structure. |
| 4 | Avoiding Plagiarism | Identify ineffective paraphrases. Practice proper techniques. Complete Practice Worksheet. |
| 5 | Assessment | Administer FAST Format Quiz. Review and reteach as needed. |
For summarizing: Ask students, "If you had only 30 seconds to tell a friend what this article is about, what would you say?" This forces them to identify essential information and leave out details. Record their verbal summaries, then compare to see what everyone included (essential) vs. what varied (non-essential).
Have students read a passage, then cover it and write the paraphrase from memory. This prevents word-for-word copying and forces genuine understanding. Then compare to the original to ensure accuracy was maintained.
Provide a list of details from a text on separate slips of paper. Students sort into "Essential" and "Non-Essential" piles. Discuss disagreements - this reveals how students think about importance and helps establish criteria for what must be included in summaries.
Show the original passage alongside 3-4 "paraphrases" - some effective, some too close to the original. Students identify which paraphrases are actually plagiarism and explain why. This builds awareness of what TRUE paraphrasing requires.
Correction: True paraphrasing requires changing BOTH the words AND the sentence structure. Simply swapping synonyms while keeping the original structure is still too close to plagiarism. Students must process the meaning and express it in completely new language.
Correction: A summary is shorter, but it must be SELECTIVE - including only essential information, not just removing random sentences. Summaries also must be objective, meaning no opinions or reactions from the reader.
Correction: Effective summaries focus on MAIN IDEAS, not specific details. Too many details make summaries too long and obscure the central message. Teach students to ask: "Is this needed to understand the main point?"
Correction: Summaries must be OBJECTIVE - they report what the text says without the reader's interpretation. Phrases like "I think," "This was interesting," or "The author did a good job" don't belong in summaries.
On the FAST assessment, summarizing and paraphrasing questions typically ask students to:
Key Strategy: Teach students to eliminate answer choices that add opinions, include too many details, or stay too close to the original wording.