Question

how to summarize nonfiction
focus strategy

1. identify the topic what is the paragraph mostly about? notice the words learn, education, taught, and schools. the topic is ray’s education.
2. find the important information what is the most important idea about ray’s education? what less important details can you leave out?
3. summarize the paragraph in your own words, tell about the topic and important information.
4. avoid opinions because this is a summary and not a critique, do not include your own opinion here.

rays mother wanted him to get a good education, but no one in town knew how to teach a blind boy.

Explanation:

To summarize the given non - fiction text about Ray's education:

Step 1: Identify the Topic

The key words related to the topic are "learn", "education", "taught", "schools", and the specific subject is Ray's education. So the topic is Ray's education.

Step 2: Find Important Information

The important idea is that Ray's mother wanted him to get a good education. The less important detail (or the challenge) is that no one in the town knew how to teach a blind boy. We can leave out any other non - essential descriptive details that might be present (but in this short text, the main non - essential part related to the challenge is just the fact about the town's lack of knowledge in teaching a blind boy, and we focus on the main idea of his mother's wish).

Step 3: Summarize the Paragraph

Ray's mother desired that he receive a good education. However, the people in their town were not aware of how to teach a blind boy.

Step 4: Avoid Opinions

We have not included any personal opinions. We just stated the facts: Ray's mother's wish for his education and the problem of finding someone to teach him as a blind boy in the town.

If we were to give a very concise summary: Ray's mother wanted him to get a good education, but the town had no one who could teach a blind boy.

Answer:

To summarize the given non - fiction text about Ray's education:

Step 1: Identify the Topic

The key words related to the topic are "learn", "education", "taught", "schools", and the specific subject is Ray's education. So the topic is Ray's education.

Step 2: Find Important Information

The important idea is that Ray's mother wanted him to get a good education. The less important detail (or the challenge) is that no one in the town knew how to teach a blind boy. We can leave out any other non - essential descriptive details that might be present (but in this short text, the main non - essential part related to the challenge is just the fact about the town's lack of knowledge in teaching a blind boy, and we focus on the main idea of his mother's wish).

Step 3: Summarize the Paragraph

Ray's mother desired that he receive a good education. However, the people in their town were not aware of how to teach a blind boy.

Step 4: Avoid Opinions

We have not included any personal opinions. We just stated the facts: Ray's mother's wish for his education and the problem of finding someone to teach him as a blind boy in the town.

If we were to give a very concise summary: Ray's mother wanted him to get a good education, but the town had no one who could teach a blind boy.