Comprehension, Thinking & Learning
To achieve at second level, all students need a repertoire of literacy, learning and study strategies that they can apply across all subjects.
At Level 3 the NBSS works with schools to support those students, at Senior or Junior Cycle, who for example may need to improve their skills in one or more of the essential areas of reading or develop their writing skills, spelling skills, maths and numeracy skills or general learning skills.
The close connections between academic achievement and behaviour mean that addressing a deficit in one area may prevent a problem from occurring in the other.
As part of the 'Teacher as Researcher' projects the NBSS also works with individuals or groups of teachers on learning, study and literacy skills development research projects at all three levels of intervention, across Senior and Junior Cycle. The following is an example of a Teacher as Researcher project focused on developing students' writing skills using strategies from the NBSS 'Writing with Wow Words and Building Vocabulary' resource.
More examples of school interventions and 'Teacher as Researcher' projects focused on comprehension, learning, literacy and study skills development can be seen here.
"...their reports at Christmas were that they weren’t working anywhere near to where they should be. So motivation is a huge issue for them. They are not motivated. They just do the bare minimum and that is it. And all of their teachers indicate that on their behaviour checklist...
Well I took the WOW words (NBSS resource)… So we had the story planners and then they picked two titles to come up with the why, what and where for two of those stories. Then they would fill out a more detailed plan…start to really fill in what is happening, where is it happening, why is it happening and when is it happening. …computers really worked for them. So they did a first draft on the computer and initially they would have done one paragraph unfinished and so we would go back to the plan and I would say you haven’t talked about this and you haven’t talked about that. So they kept going and put a little more in it. And then they started to read each others quite early on. And I wasn’t sure because they can be quite harsh on each other... And they were very complimentary. They would be saying, 'that is a deadly story' or 'that is cool'. So they were interested in where each others’ stories were going to go. It was kind of an extraordinary moment for me …
...I thought I would be looking at three lessons max and suddenly it became a good week’s worth of work. The importance of getting some pictures in at the end, getting the print right, the presentation was very important to them. And these are guys that…if you look at their copies they are all over the place. And laminating them. All of these things were very important. And they were very proud putting them up on the wall. It was very interesting. And I said that I would show them to their English teacher and they were very keen that their English teacher saw it…and the English teacher was surprised at the work they had produced."
Adolescent Literacy
In developing a continuum of support to address student literacy, learning and behavioural needs the NBSS draws upon the findings from international research into the most effective ways to improve adolescent literacy. Common themes emerge from the research literature as to effective practices for addressing the literacy needs of adolescent learners. Among these is the need for:
- All subject teachers to integrate the explicit and direct teaching of vocabulary, comprehension and writing skills necessary for learning in their subject area.
- The need to develop and improve the fluency skills of some students.
- The need for systemic, intensive and explicit teaching related to phonics and phonemic awareness for a small number of students.
As part of its Model of Support, the NBSS works with schools at Levels 1, 2, and 3 in developing specific strategies and interventions that address the five essential areas of reading for adolescent learners, i.e.
- Comprehension
- Vocabulary
- Fluency
- Phonics
- Phonemic Awareness.
NBSS Learning to Learn Resources
The NBSS has developed teacher and student resources to support the development of academic literacy, learning and study skills at Senior and Junior Cycle. More details can be found on the Publications & Resources section of this site.