Northlakes High School Learning to Learn Year 7-2016 Student copy
Learning to Learn Introduction Northlakes High School s core values are Respect, Responsibility and Personal Best. Students can demonstrate these values through both their behaviour and schoolwork from the very beginning of Year 7in many ways. Learning to Learn is a program that can assist students to show these values through their schoolwork in the classroom and at home. The program introduces students to the basic comprehension, writing and organisational skills they will need to succeed at high school. These skills will be used by teachers in every class so that students can demonstrate: Respect for their own learning, and for every opportunity to learn. Responsibility for bringing all their books and equipment for classes and for completing all their work, particularly independent work. Personal Best in striving for excellence in class, home and assessment work. Year 7 students will complete the Learning to Learn program in the first few weeks of Term 1. Parents can learn the same skills in our Parent Meeting, also held in Term 1. What is in the Program? 1. Getting Organised Timetable Book Expectations and Book marking slip Diary use planning, homework, assessment tasks and exams Home-study expectations and homework booklets 2. Reading Unpacking text how to break down a text so you can understand what it is about Understanding the 3 levels of Comprehension questions Here, Hidden, Head Navigating a Text book Contents page, Index, Headings, Sub-headings Skimming and Scanning Visual Literacy 3. Writing Summarising main Ideas plus expansion points Graphic Organisers Note making converting main idea points to paragraphs TEEEC 4. Scaffolds Word Banks metalanguage and spelling Text Types Topic structured overviews / revision Kick Start Questions
Getting Organised Timetable One of the biggest changes for students coming to high school is the fact that they now have a timetable. This means students will have a two week cycle of lessons with 5 different classes each day. Students will need to read their timetable every morning (or the night before) in order to pack their bag with all books and equipment for each day. Make two copies of the timetable you are given. This can be done using a Word document or Excel spreadsheet on the computer. Save it to your files, so that you have a permanent copy. 1. Keep the original one in your wallet 2. Keep a copy at home on your desk/pinned to the wall/in a tote tray with your school books. 3. Copy or paste into your diary which you should keep in your school bag If you lose your timetable, you will need to buy a copy from the school office at a cost of 50 cents. Book Expectations Have a separate book for each subject Books need to be covered, clearly labelled with your name and class on the front Each page used for writing needs a ruled margin, date and heading, which is underlined. Complete all work neatly Catch up on work missed due to absence from class Hand in regularly to your teacher for marking Note: Teachers may have different ways they would like you to set out your book, but these are the BASIC expectations for subjects that require writing. (Maths may be an exception) Books are marked regularly by class teachers who will use this Book Marking Book Marking slip Slip to paste into your books to give you Northlakes High School Book Marking feedback on the work you do in class and at home. Date: Book covered Headings underlined Sheets pasted in Homework completed Corrections done Grade: (A-E) Margins ruled Pages dated Spelling lists Class work completed Care and effort Feedback Comment Feedback will inform you about what you are doing well, where you need to improve and what you can do to improve your skills and knowledge in that unit of work. You will then need to follow up on the feedback you are given. That might mean completing missed work or redoing a task if necessary. It could just be that you need to organise your book better. Signature
Using the School Diary School diaries are used to record what you need to do and when (date) this needs to happen. This can be homework, assessment tasks or excursions and sporting events. Use the assessment schedule and unit overview to know what you have coming up. Diaries can be also used to help plan a timetable of work in stages so assignments are not left to the last minute. Use the assessment log in the front of the diary to plan your workload. Diaries need to be brought to school every single day and should be unpacked onto your desk with your other equipment each lesson Home-study expectations Every student will have some homework to complete. Every night students should be revising the work completed that day and writing down any questions or points needing clarification ready for next lesson. Sometimes this homework will be in the form of specific homework issued by your class teacher. All homework will need to be completed by the due date. Assignments and assessment tasks will also be given to you and you may need to work on these at home. They usually require you to do research and need to be planned over a period of days or weeks to enable all the work to be completed. You should also read over the work you have completed in class and revise your spelling list for each subject on a regular basis, If you don t understand what you need to do for homework, ask your teacher to explain it again before going home or ask for help from your parent, carer or other family members. Read instructions and put in your best effort. Homework Homework, assignments and assessment tasks are given regularly. Assessments and revision ideas are listed on the school website. If students do not have computer access at home they can use the Library computers during breaks, or get a printed sheet from their teacher. Students can also use the library computers to research in break times and the librarian is available to assist. Reading
Unpacking Text: Before - During - After Understanding the 3 Levels of Comprehension Questions RIGHT THERE QUESTIONS Right There Questions are those where the answer is right there in one sentence. You need to find the one correct sentence that matches the question. There is only one correct answer to a Right There Question. THINK AND SEARCH QUESTIONS Think and Search Questions are where the answer uses more than one sentence. You need to look for all the parts of the story that go together to make up the complete and correct answer. There is usually only one complete and correct answer to a Think & Search question. ON MY OWN QUESTIONS On my own questions are where the answer requires you to think of the answer on your own there are few (sometimes no) clues in the story. You need to think about what you already know about the topic and the story, and write an answer that fits in with both the story and what you already know. There can be more than one answer to On My Own questions.
Navigating a text book The Contents page is found at the front of a textbook, usually after the Title page. It outlines what content is covered in each chapter. You look at a Contents page to find your subject s main topic areas or general sub-points. The Index is found at the back of a text book and it is in alphabetical order. You look at an index to find specific Each Topic covered in a text book will have a chapter divided into sections. Each section will have a Heading and Subheadings. When you are trying to find information, skim the headings to locate where you need to start. Subheadings can assist in narrowing your search, so look at them before reading the text. Navigating Text Book Quiz Science Focus 1 1. How many topics or chapters are there in the text book? 2. On what page does the chapter on Classification start? 3. How many headings will you find in the Forces chapter? (Do not include sub-headings) 4. On what pages would you find information about Clouds? 5. Turn to page 74. Write down the main heading and the two sub-headings on this page. Which is bigger? Why? 6. On what page will you find information about Sir Isaac Newton?
Skimming and Scanning Learning to Learn Skimming and Scanning Science Focus 1 Skimming Quiz p 118 Skimming helps you to get a quick idea about what is in the text. 1. What is the main heading on the page? 2. What are the two sub-headings? 3. What is the text box? 4. Notice that the 1 st paragraph is in bold blue writing. Read it to yourself. Summarise it in one sentence. 5. List the other words in bold and their definitions. 6. In one sentence, write down what sort of information you would be able to find in this text. Scanning Quiz p 148 Scanning is used to find specific information in a text. Look for signal words. 1. What are the two sub-headings on this page? 2. How many characteristics of living things are listed on this page? 3. What is an organism? (look for the signal words) 4. What age are the oldest plants in Australia? 5. Why isn t moving water considered a living thing? 6. How does coral get energy? 7. What species meets all the characteristics of living things?
Visual Literacy You need to be able to understand and produce a variety of visual texts and to read and interpret signs and symbols to make sense of the world in which you live. Visual literacy impacts on your daily life through such things as diagrams in books, popular culture: posters, CD and video covers; advertising, banners, logos, television, films, packaging, computer icons and all forms of information technology. The choice of image, layout, positioning, style and sizing of symbols, font and colour all carry meaning. Often the spoken word or written text is combined with visual images. Both text and visuals should be analysed together to determine the meaning of the text. Year 7 students should be able to: Locate directly stated information in the written text and/or illustration Make connections between ideas in a text e.g. link information from a heading, written text and diagram Interpret from clearly labelled and captioned illustrations which are important to the meaning of a text, particularly in non-narrative texts Interpret detailed diagrams and illustrations Identify and interpret the function of language features e.g. headings, capitalisation of whole words, persuasive language Interpret the function of textual features e.g. Bold type, colour, layout, image and text placement
Writing Summarising main ideas plus expansion points Use the skimming and scanning techniques to get an idea of the text. Look at the heading and subheadings and write them down. Then, under each subheading, pick out the main ideas by locating the topic sentence in each paragraph. Next, reduce the sentence to a few key words making a phrase or shorter sentence. You can use dot points, abbreviations, commas, semicolons, colons and dashes to assist in the process. Leave out small words. For example: Skim & scan. Use heading / subheadings.. Pick out main ideas - locate topic sentences. Reduce to key words phrase / sentence Graphic Organisers These can assist you in organising your notes or ideas about a topic. There are many different styles to choose from. Have a look at the following website to see which one suits your purpose when summarising. Interactive PDF Graphic Organisers - http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm
Note Making converting information into main points
TEEC/TEEEC This is a good way to expand your paragraph writing to make sure you cover all points in enough detail. Follow this scaffold for each paragraph: Topic Sentence Explanation Example Example Evaluate Conclusion State your main idea of the entire paragraph. what is the entire paragraph about? Further explains your main idea This is where you prove the topic sentence to be true. Convince the reader by sharing statistics, facts, quotes, anecdotes or illustrations One sentence of personal experience, knowledge or quote that demonstrates your point. Evaluate the example and relate it to the topic. The last sentence of the paragraph should summarise what the entire paragraph was about. Again, what was the entire paragraph about? Scaffolds Word Banks and Spelling For every topic covered in each subject, teachers will provide you with a list of words. This Word Bank will be made up of the technical language (metalanguage) you need to know for the study of that topic. You need to learn to spell these words as well as learning what each word means so you can use this vocabulary when answering questions. Keep a special page in your book for the Word Banks. Teachers will focus on and test your spelling regularly. You might like to use the Look Say Cover Write Check method to assist the learning process. Text Types Scaffolds for the text types you will need to complete for extended responses are at the back of this booklet, along with sample assessment tasks and models. You will be familiar with these scaffolds from primary school and your teachers will continue to use these scaffolds, and others, with you to improve your writing skills. Structured Topic Overview At the start of each topic / unit of work in each subject, your teacher will issue with a Structured Topic Overview which will provide you with a summary of content and skills / dot points that you will cover in that unit. This allows you to understand what you are doing and what you need to know at the end of that unit.
Revision When it comes to revision, your teacher will then use the Structured Topic Overview to help you identify which aspects of the list you need to study for the test or assessment. You can fill in the blank tick box next to the aspects to assist you in remembering what to study. You also need to revise your class notes on a regular basis. Reading over your class notes regularly, will help embed the concepts in your memory for later recall. You can use a graphic organiser, write a summary of each topic or rewrite notes in your own words These things will help you retain the information. If you start these habits in Year 7 and continue through High School, completing assessment tasks and studying for exams will be much easier, less stressful, and give better results. You will love the fact that you achieving and improving all the time. Kick Start Questions Not many students like tests, sometimes because they may feel unprepared, be unsure of what content will be in the test or of what is expected of them. Kick Start Questions are questions that students can be sure of being in a test. Your teachers can publish 10-20 questions on the Northlakes High School web site. You can access these questions, with their answers, at school and from home. This will not only assist you in getting a kick start with your achievement in the tests but also show you how to study.