C4T Summary #1

Review: Raising the Standards Through Chapter Books: The C.I.A. Approach
In this blog post, Diane Dahl a teacher from Texas reviews a book by Sarah Collinge. The title of the book is Raising the Standards Through Chapter Books: The C.I.A. Approach. The book uses the C.I.A approach which stands for Collect, Interpret, and Apply. It has steps for introducing the approach in your classroom and how to use chapter books to effectively teach thinking skills. Ms. Dahl believes that this approach will lead to greater achievement and can help advance students thinking skills. She suggests this book as a great resource for integrating the approach into your own classroom. I really enjoyed reading about the book and her thoughts on how chapter books are a great way to develop critical thinking. This is a great suggestion of a book that will assist teachers in integrating chapter books into the class which will help the students to be more successful. 

Teach Thinking Skills to Increase Learning in Class and Life
In this blog post, Ms. Dahl discusses her first day of school and the frustration she experienced because her students lacked the basic skills needed for learning. She decided that before she taught them anything else she needed to teach them the skills that are required to learn efficiently. Previously, in a BRAINSmart class she had learned a about curriculum, Thinking for Reading by Dr. Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers, which she realized would be the perfect thing to try with her students. Two days a week for five weeks they learned about the ten different skills. There was a story, discussion points and coloring pages that went along for each one. The skills and concepts became a part of the class daily and she could slowly start to see changes throughout all of the students. This is a process and the skills take a little while but she knows that they will have a positive impact on each and every student for their life, as well as in the classroom now.


I love how she saw the need of basic learning skills in the classroom and took the initiative to step in and change it. She took what she had learned from others and applied it in the classroom. I feel it is very important for teachers to build a learning community such as this and to help each other discover effective methods for teaching. This curriculum would be a tremendous asset for any class. It is clear from the video and the stories of her students' responses that it had a major impact on them. I think that these skills are vital for the students to learn and will help with their success in the future.