SCISConnections

Resources

Learning for Themselves:
Pathways to independence in the classroom

128 pp + CD–ROM
Authors: Dr Jeni Wilson and Kath Murdoch
RRP: $45.00
SCIS No: 1334087
ISBN: 9781863666657
Professional resource

In a world of rapidly changing knowledge requiring new and transferable skills, classrooms are increasingly being viewed as places where students learn how to learn. Central to this objective is developing students' capacity to work independently and manage themselves as learners.

Learning for Themselves offers teachers a repertoire of effective strategies and frameworks to nurture independent learning. The learning tasks draw from commonly addressed topics in primary school curriculums and are designed to be adapted by students and teachers to suit particular interests and a range of teaching and learning goals.

The accompanying CD–ROM provides all learning tasks as well as a further 28 proformas to assist teachers and students in planning, managing, monitoring and keeping records associated with independent learning tasks.

Smart Thinking:
Developing reflection and metacognition

128 pp
Authors: Dr Jeni Wilson and Lesley Wing Jan
RRP: $42.00
SCIS No: 1334089
ISBN: 9781863666787

This comprehensive resource aims to develop powerful and purposeful thinking and learning in everyday primary classrooms. Reflection occurs whenever a learner engages in active, persistent and careful consideration of a topic or idea to form a broader and more reasoned understanding. Metacognition describes students' awareness, consideration and control of their own cognitive processes and approaches.

Building students' proficiency in reflection and metacognition supports them to become effective, strategic and independent learners. These skills can be applied in a myriad of contexts to enable students to more fully comprehend the world and their place in it. This book supports teachers in planning and implementing the teaching of these two skills, developing students' abilities to:

  • question and self–question
  • make connections between prior and new learning and thinking
  • self–assess their work and development
  • set meaningful and strategic goals

Quality Comprehension:
A strategic model of reading instruction using read–along guides, grades 3–6

Authors: Sandra K Athans and Denise Ashe Devine
RRP: $59.95
SCIS No: 1359473
ISBN: 9780872074644
International Reading Association

Improve the comprehension of your middle years students with the Quality Comprehension Model, a four–part approach to reading comprehension instruction that synthesises and refines best practices. You'll discover how to develop unique solutions to meet your students' individual needs through small–group instruction in key comprehension strategies, independent activities, assessments and the innovative Read–Along Guide.

The Read–Along Guide reinforces direct instruction of comprehension strategies and helps monitor and evaluate student reading of both fiction and nonfiction texts. Using this tool, your students will be able to demonstrate in writing their use and understanding of the strategies. A wealth of hands–on material, such as reproducible Read–Along Guides and planning and assessment charts, will help you implement the approach in your classroom.

Using Metacognitive Assessments to Create Individualized Reading Instruction

152 pp
Author: Susan E Israel
RRP: $49.95
SCIS No: 1359502
ISBN: 9780872076211
International Reading Association

Learn to use metacognitive assessments as teaching strategies to help your primary students become independent readers with better comprehension. This practical, teacher–friendly guide explains how metacognitive assessments can provide a better understanding of how your learners think about the reading process and their reading abilities. It also shows you how to use this information to adapt literacy instruction to students' individual needs.

You'll learn about all aspects of metacognitive reading instruction and how to use interviews, surveys and inventories of assessment tools. Additional teaching tools include chapter goals, classroom scenarios and resources to enrich your understanding.

Informational Text in K–3 Classrooms:
Helping children read and write

168 pp
Authors: Sharon Benge Kletzien and Mariam Jean Dreher
RRP: $45.00
SCIS No: 1166109
ISBN: 9780872075375
International Reading Association

This book proves that informational texts are as effective as narrative texts in early reading instruction. Learn how you can build classroom libraries with quality texts appropriate for all children and find examples of how informational texts are used in different classroom settings.

Small–group Reading Instruction:
A differentiated teaching model for intermediate readers, grades 3–8

296 pp
Authors: Beverly Tyner and Sharon E Green
RRP: $54.00
SCIS No: 1241689
ISBN: 9780872075740
International Reading Association

The differentiated teaching model that has been so popular in the early learning community is now available to middle years teachers. This classroom–tested, research–based model brings students of similar abilities together into small groups to support reading, writing and spelling as integrated processes. You'll find step–by–step lesson plans on fluency, word study and comprehension; classroom dialogue and student work samples; assessment and word study materials; and proformas.

Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6–12:
A toolkit of classroom activities

224 pp
Author: Jeff Zwiers
RRP: $52.00
SCIS No: 1359604
ISBN: 9780872075399
International Reading Association

Help your readers understand content–area texts with these easy–to–use activities centred around six automatic habits of reading comprehension: organising text information by sculpting the main idea and summarising; connecting to background knowledge; making inferences and predictions; generating and answering questions; understanding and remembering word meanings; and monitoring comprehension.