Helping Students Become Strategic Learners: Guidelines for Teaching (Cognitive Strategy Training Series)

An eminently practical book that helps the beginning or experienced teacher translate skill-specific strategy methods into their classroom teaching. The author demonstrates how teachers can implement cognitive strategy instruction in their own classrooms. After a chapter to introduce teachers to principles of teaching strategies, a review of the skill area requirements is integrated with the instructional components to effectively implement strategy instruction in the skill areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. Each chapter ends with an overview of the classroom materials and resources that help teachers teach and support cognitive strategies in their classrooms.

Chapters Two through Four set forth the instructional components for implementing cognitive-based reading, writing, and mathematics instruction, and the features of the media and materials that support these activities. Chapter Five presents a discussion of collaborative learning methods such as peer-tutoring and cooperative learning, since strategic learning capabilities are often enhanced by student-to-student interaction. The book addresses ways to relate collaborative learning techniques to foster and support the principles of cognitively based instruction, and ways to mobilize classroom resources to assist in these efforts.