STUDY SKILLS
One of the greatest challenges middle school, high school, and college students face is reading textbooks and other types of nonfiction. Because this type of writing tends to be dense with information, reading it is a demanding process that requires high levels of comprehension, concentration, and retention.
The Institute's curriculum provides a comprehensive and systematic approach for nonfiction that develops students' metacognitive and critical reading skills. Students learn to recognize how information is organized, read for main ideas and supporting details, follow the development of thought and take effective notes. The aim of the curriculum is to enable students to exercise control of their own learning processes as they tackle challenging material.
Previewing:
The curriculum developed by the Institute teaches students to use the available text cues (chapter and section outlines, heading and subheadings, chapter summaries, etc.) to get an effective grasp of a text's organization and content.
Reading for the Main Idea:
Curriculum focuses on identifying and tracking main ideas at the level of the paragraph and section and differentiating main ideas from subordinate details. Guidance is provided about adjusting reading strategy depending on the difficulty and density of material.
Reporting Techniques:
Reporting techniques involve retelling, in one's own words, the main ideas and important supporting details of a paragraph or a section of text. These techniques enable students to identify, synthesize and summarize main ideas and supporting details and significantly boost retention.
Note-Taking:
In the Institute's curriculum, a note-taking process is integrated with previewing, critical reading and retelling. Students learn to organize notes in outline form, focusing on the main ideas and important supporting details of a section of text.