Hey guys,

This is Lale, Tom.C and Inez and we’re here to tell you about our journey through T.S.I. It all started in 5th class when Ms. Love came into the classroom and little did we know how easy and fun reading could actually be! This was the time when we first started learning T.S.I. We got to choose our own books so that was a good start and everybody liked their novel. The books from the first cycle were different as this year we got a wider range of material including books such as There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom, Holes, Ratburger, The Wildflower Girl, Flight of the Doves and Faraway Home. This wasn’t the only good thing this year though because we moved up a level, the paper work was cut down a lot and the main aim was discussion of the text which we all agree was way better than writing. This year was more enjoyable than last year because we were more familiar with the cycle and all our feedback was taken into consideration.

So a quick reminder of what T.S.I. is – T.S.I. is basically another form of learning how to read and understand a text. You start off in a group usually of three. We use some strategies like Coding, Predictions, Visualisations, Determining Importance, Connections and comprehension. Although this looks like a lot of work it is actually easier than normal English. In Lale’s opinion it is another more detailed way to read and take in text naturally. Tom adds “It improves your independent work as well as group work”. Inez thinks T.S.I. helps us to learn from each other and also it reminds everyone to read more often.

The challenges of T.S.I are small but have a big impact if you don’t address them. The first term of T.S.I was the hardest as we were just getting familiar with the cycle and we were assigned more paper work. However last year after T.S.I was finished the feedback we gave was all taken into consideration and was addressed well. Because of this we predict that T.S.I will become a main subject on the curriculum for schools and we have no doubt that T.S.I. will become popular.

When advising newbies, we would suggest to always remember to use your pencil to code and highlight the reading strategies you are using, work as a team but most off all have fun doing T.S.I !!!

The benefits of T.S.I are that you are taking in a lot more text and you are improving all your reading skills and strategies. We think that even if you are just filling in your vocabulary sheet you are actually  improving there and then because you do it so frequently and consistently you don’t notice yourself even doing it. Everyone has improved their reading skills and we hope that T.S.I will continue so other students can further their reading skills just as we have done

~ Lale, Tom and Inez

T.S.I Pioneers