Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction

Parent Resources/Homeschooling Materials

Teaching Vocabulary (Eight Methods of Instruction) and Teaching Letter Names and Sounds

Teaching Vocabulary and Teaching Letter Names and Sounds

Choosing among eight different methods to introduce vocabulary allows teachers to develop students’ excellent visual and auditory discrimination, their ability to detect word parts, and identify syllables.

Teaching Manuscript and Cursive Penmanship Skills

Teaching Manuscript and Cursive Penmanship Skills

As pupils learn to spell, write legibly and rapidly what they read, and proof their work, their reading levels increase and they use their ability to express themselves in writing more frequently.

Teaching Comprehension (Literal, Interpretative, Critical, and Creative)

Teaching Comprehension (Literal, Interpretative, Critical, and Creative)

Unless students understand the words they read, they lose interest in reading. Comprehension is critical for persons to become lifetime readers.

Teaching Critical Thinking and Specialized Study Skills

Teaching Critical Thinking and Specialized Study Skills

Critical thinking and specialized study skills assist a reader to obtain information more readily and to transfer the information so it makes sense and is used to serve meaningful purposes identified by the learner.

Teaching Writing (Creative and Expository) Skills, Book 1

Teaching Writing (Creative and Expository) Skills, Book 1

Teaching Writing, Book 1, includes 36 sets of directives to teach at least 120 lessons. The teacher will be able to teach many writing skills with the use of this text.

Item Details

Teaching Critical Thinking and Specialized Study Skills

Teaching Critical Thinking and Specialized Study Skills
$49.95

This book is spiral bound so teachers can hold an open book while teaching.

Item Description

Critical thinking and specialized study skills assist a reader to obtain information more readily and to transfer the information so it makes sense and is used to serve meaningful purposes identified by the learner. Teachers use a variety of written materials, literary genre, and content texts to teach such skills.

The specific lessons contained in this text include:

  1. Select the Topic
  2. Select the Main Idea
  3. Evaluate the Relevancy of Sentences, Parts I and II
  4. Organize Information on Levels of Importance
  5. Take Notes:
    1. Write Topic and Main Idea from What Is Read/Heard
    2. Write Topic and Subtopics in Outline Form from What Is Read/Heard
  6. Alphabetize:
    1. Say Letters of the Alphabet in Order, and Arrange Words in Alphabetical Order by the First Two, Three, and Four Letters
    2. Arrange Words and Acronyms in Alphabetical Order
  7. Locate and Use:
    1. Information, I (textbook, dictionary, encyclopedia, etc.)
    2. Information, II (variety of other sources, such as atlas, thesaurus, etc.)
    3. Parts of a Newspaper
  8. Follow Written and Verbal Directions
  9. Read and Use Graphic Aids
  10. Survey a Book/Chapter
  11. Develop Reading Flexibility: Skimming
  12. Develop Reading Flexibility: Scanning
  13. Write an Essay: Descriptive, Narrative, Persuasive, Expository
  14. Read and Write Abbreviations
  15. Read and Use Symbols
  16. Locate and Use Measuring Devices
  17. Learn from Observing Demonstrations and from Personal Experience

Although the list of critical thinking and specialized skills above is not exhaustive, the use of these skills will stimulate wider reading with greater understanding.

In addition to general reading, the above-listed skills are frequently used in specific ways in various subject areas. Samples of these include reading maps and time lines in social studies, reading graphs and equations in mathematics, reading figures and diagrams in science, reading recipes in home economics and football plays in physical education. Some of these specialized skills can be taught in a generic way as the reading of graphic aids is taught.

This text will assist teachers in helping students to accommodate to a different style of writing, which is characterized by tenseness, density of ideas, and inclusion of many unfamiliar and different concepts. Specialized study skills enable students to learn to use resources necessary for effective reading.