STUDY GROUP OUTLINE

1. Are members of your family or close friends “smart” in one area but definitely lacking skills in other areas? (Pg 1) What pairs would you make based on the people you know (i.e., smart in math but no common sense, smart in music but cannot read a road map)?
2. Rochel Gelman feels that “the languages of science and mathematics are better thought of as different languages than the one we use in everyday talk.” (Pg 2) In your classroom, do you teach “different languages” and when to speak those languages?
3. Thinking skills appear to be subject-based. They are most effective when taught in problem-solving ways in each different subject, modeled repeatedly while the process is demonstrated, discussed by both students and teachers, and practiced using real-life problems. (Pgs 3-4) How does this compare to your classroom teaching?
4. Do you consider yourself an “expert” (Pg 4) in a subject? On what do you base your evaluation? How did you become an expert?
5. All children (who are normal physically and mentally) are born with the ability to learn oral and aural language. Why do you think this innate language-learning ability does not extend to written language? (Pg 5)
6. If you were to tell your students that “ . . . people who read a lot continue to improve their vocabulary and knowledge of the world even after school; those who do not read do not improve those skills” (Pg 5), what do you think would be their reaction to this statement?
7. In ABE classes the focus is on teaching content. In ESOL classes the focus is on teaching strategies. According to the author, is either of these focuses the best approach to creating an enriched learning environment for the students? What blend of the two would you like to make the focus of your teaching? (Pgs 6-8)

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