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Dear Jonie
Just what do you mean by 'study skills'?  If your staff were to identify
specifically the concepts and skills they believe the students require, then
they could look at what they already do and see what is already happening
and what needs to be added or emphasised.

Have a staff brainstorm - "what concepts and skills are essential to our
students when they move to middle school?" Initially, do it electronically
with folk emailing their responses to a central person, if that works in
your context, or stick a large piece of paper in the staffroom for ideas to
be recorded as people think of them.  Set a time limit of just one week then
have someone collate and classify the responses and then take it back to a
staff meeting to see if they have anything further to add, having seen
others responses.  This, hopefully, will generate heated debate as people
really think about why they or someone else has identified something.  After
20 mins maximum (depending on the size of your staff) of open discussion,
each staff member has to write the 6 or 8 items that are most important to
them,  Then they pair with someone and construct a core list from the ones
that both identified, and then that pair meet another pair and compare lists
and construct an agreed list of six from the commonalities. The staff then
become one group again and the core lists are posted.  Commonalities from
the group lists are identified and hey presto - there are your agreed
outcomes!

From that they could create their own program, rather than importing one
that consists of what other people think important. They would have
ownership of it because they have had the input and would therefore be much
more likely to incorporate it into their programs.

This approach would also help address the 'crowded curriculum' where new
ideas are just added as another layer instead of being examined to see which
parts you already do and how the new bits can be integrated.

So the concept of 'study skills' would become an across curriculum
perspective, infiltrated into everything rather than some stand-alone set of
skills seen as just something more to teach.

Good luck
Barbara

Barbara Braxton
Teacher-Librarian
Palmerston District Primary School
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA

T. 61 2 6205 6162
F. 61 2 6205 7242
E. barbara@austarmetro.com.au
W. http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au

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