STUDY GROUP OUTLINE
Learning to Think, Learning to Learn:
What The Science Of Thinking And Learning Has To Offer Adult Education
by Jennifer Cromley, published by National Institute for Literacy, c 2000.
What The Science Of Thinking And Learning Has To Offer Adult Education
by Jennifer Cromley, published by National Institute for Literacy, c 2000.
Fact
Sheet 10: How Thinking Develops, Part 2—Changes in Strategies
Principle:
Development Means Changes in Strategies
- Give an example of a student who fits the comment “Development occurs at multiple levels and has many faces,” (Pg 97). Describe the student’s strengths and weaknesses and what activities you have tried to improve development in low areas. Is the student aware of his widely differing abilities? Does he feel that level placement should be based on high, mid-range, or low skills?
- There are four things that develop over time and with experience: basic processes, self-awareness of oneself as a thinker and learner, strategies, and content knowledge. The author states that strategies and content knowledge are the most important for adult education teachers. (PG 98) Based on her statement, identify five different reasons that strategies and content knowledge would be most important to adult education students . . . and therefore, hopefully, also to their teachers.
- The following
descriptions fit readers.
- Beginning readers—they do not know when to use a particular strategy, and the strategies they try are often unsuccessful
- Intermediate readers—they have many strategy options but don’t know when or how to use them effectively
- Experienced
readers—have access to many strategies but select
the appropriate
strategy(ies) for a specific task, often using far fewer strategies than intermediate readers but using them more effectively. (Pgs 98-99)
For ABE teachers, decide which category each of your students fits into and explain why you selected that particular category. For ESOL teachers, how would you reword this information so it applied to speakers?
- “Strategy change does not seem to happen because people feel that old strategies are not working. Rather, it seems to happen when people are challenged with difficult problems where familiar strategies are too time-consuming.” (Pg 100) How can teachers create these challenges within their classrooms? How does a teacher decide when a challenge is too hard for a specific student? How does she create different challenges for different students at the same time? How can a teacher effectively monitor many students at the same time who are all experiencing different challenges?
- Ms. Cromley says that “it is painful to switch from a strategy that you are good at to one that you are not good at and to ‘go backwards in order to go forwards.’” (Pg 101) Make a list of five activities that teachers could try that would push/force students to move from a comfortable strategy to an uncomfortable one. Create a funny skit is which you, a know-it-all-teacher, try to convince a very unwilling student to try something new. Next week, get two students to perform the skit in your classroom.
- One “key” to changing strategies, according to the author, is for students to realize that it was the new strategy that caused the successful outcome, not just luck. (Pg 101) How would you encourage students to recognize their new ability and reward them for venturing beyond their confidence net? Would your students like some visual recognition (an award certificate, a class cheer, etc)?
- Children who are more involved in the classroom receive more attention from their teachers, which allows them to experience more things within the classroom environment. The same is true for low-level adults. (Pg 101) Have you ever realized that you are more attuned to some students than to others? What about those students attracts your interest and time? What response do you receive from those students? Are other students in your class receiving less attention because they are shy or less able to verbalize their needs?
- How much class time do you spend each week on modeling your own thinking process (orally and on the blackboard) and practicing thinking skills and giving feedback to students on their progress in developing advanced thinking skills? (Pg 102)
- In the Lesson Ideas section (Pgs 103-104), the author makes ten suggestions of activities that facilitate development in advanced thinking skills. Select five, explain why you chose those five, and then describe how you can implement those ideas into your lesson plans for next week.
