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March 2008
education.com
Study Skills They Don't Teach in School
by Cheri Lucas
Your child may have a period of "study hall" or "independent reading," but what if she's never been shown how to utilize that time? Teachers seldom train kids to read with a purpose, organize their thoughts and notes, infer what comes next, or connect what they read to their own lives. These are critical thinking skills we assume students have, but don't formally teach!
Once a week, I work with small groups of sixth graders in a cozy, experimental, and student-driven atmosphere. We use Aristotle Leads the Way , the first book in The Story of Science series by Joy Hakim, who brought U.S. history to life in her illustrated 10-volume tale, A History of US . But Hakim's books aren't traditional textbooks. “I hate the word ‘textbook,'” she says. “I see my books as anti-textbooks.” Aristotle Leads the Way , for instance, isn't just about science. Hakim weaves history, art, math, world cultures, language arts, and science into each chapter. The sixth graders respond freely to tales of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece, the world's creation myths, and stories of the first mathematicians, philosophers, and physicists as they studied numbers, discovered the atom, and introduced revolutionary thinking to civilization.
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