Table of Contents

Steps from note-taking to summarywriting: Rebecca's story

HOMEPAGE

back to  Summary: an example: Maze Prison

go on to Example:  The Independent

1. Note-taking: Headings

2. Note-taking with headings and key-words

3. From notes to retold

4. Preparing summary writing: Shift to Present Tense

5. Preparing summary writing: Adding functions

6. A global view on the way

Full story

When I get home from school, I decide to do something unusual. I decide to do my English homework for Mr Bacon. I don't want any trouble with teachers this week; lessons are bad enough. I missed the English homework twice last week, and Mr Bacon will be furious if I miss it again.

We've got to write a story about smugglers. All because of this stupid book that we're reading -it's about smugglers in ... I don't know, the twenty-first century B.C., I think it is. Whenever it is, it's rubbish. Streaky - that's Mr Bacon (in case you hadn't guessed) - said that we could write about modern day smugglers if we wanted to. He said this as if he was doing us a really big favour. And all the posh kids in our class started to show off - about going through customs at airports and things like that. I've never been through customs, so you can just imagine how easy it's going to be for me to write this story.  I haven't much energy tonight. So I sit down and switch on this old King Kong film on the television, to help me think while I'm writing.

 I like King Kong. And then it gets to the part where they've caught him and they're taking him to America. This suddenly reminds me of the story that I've got to write. Because I notice that they don't take King Kong through the customs. The man who wrote the film just cheats and misses that part altogether. A really good story would be the scene when they try to smuggle King Kong through the customs.
It's quite a good story. King Kong is huge, and when he walks through the customs, people can only see his hairy legs. The people who are trying to get him into the country say it's a special black hairy carpet. When the customs officer starts to get difficult and asks too many questions, King Kong steps on him - and all the customs hall gets squashed. It's a very good plot. I like it anyway.
 
I feel a bit better when I go upstairs to bed because I think I've written something good.
Streaky Bacon will probably say that it's stupid,  but I don't care. He always reads out Amelia Hamlet's stories, or Sarah Swille's, and he says mine are rubbish. Of course, I usually write them while I'm on my way to the lesson, so they're never very brilliant.

The first lesson on Monday is English. Mr Bacon says he's going to read out some of the best stories from last week. Some of the brainy kids start to whisper, "Mine's rubbish", and "Ooooh, I hope he doesn't read mine out". This really means that they think their story's fantastic, and that they hope he'll read it out to the class.
I don't say anything. Streaky takes Sarah Swille's book and starts to read out her story.
Her work is always read out, but really I don't think it's so good. Streaky gives Sarah her book back. Then he says, "Most of the stories were good, but they were all very similar. Most of you used exactly the same plot. All except this one. .." And he picks up my book and starts to read the story out. The brainy kids look at each other and whisper, "Whose is it?" and "Is it yours?" - but none of them know. I don't say anything. I expect that Streaky will soon say how terrible it is. But he doesn't. He reads it very well and uses different voices for the customs man and for King Kong.

When he gets to the part where the customs man tells King Kong that he'll have to go into quarantine in case he's got rabies, everybody starts to laugh. They laugh more when King Kong steps on him. I even smile myself. Streaky reads it out very well, so it sounds really funny. When he's finished, Streaky says what a clever story it is. He even says it would make a very good play. Everybody else in the class agrees.

Then he gives the books back.

Everybody in the class is flabbergasted when they find out that the story that Streaky's been reading is mine. They think I'm too stupid to write anything more exciting than the date. I can write good stories when I feel like it, you see.
And poems. It's just that I don't feel like it very often.

Table of Contents

Steps from note-taking to summary writing: Rebecca's story

HOMEPAGE

back to  Summary: an example: Maze Prison

go on to Example:  The Independent