Ø What
is skills?
Skills
are the processes or steps a student needs to
learn in order to perform specific tasks.
Skills that appear very simple or basic to the
learner who has mastered them can be complex for
the beginning learner. For example, learning to
correctly write the letters of the alphabet,
requires that students have mastered many
prerequisite skills like holding a pencil
correctly, knowing that print is written
left-to-right, knowing the names of the letters,
being able to visually discriminate the shapes
of the letters, and having the fine motor skills
to write the letters.
An
example of a thinking skill is summarizing. The
skill of summarizing seems very simple on the
surface. However, summarizing is a complex
process which requires that the learner has
developed the following prerequisite skills: 1)
determining what is important and what is not as
important to remember about an event or episode;
2) identifying the major and minor patterns in
the important information; 3) paraphrasing the
important information about the patterns in
one’s own words; and 4) organizing and
communicating this information concisely and
clearly to a given audience.
Ø Why
is skill acquisition important in a
thinking-centered curriculum?
Students need to learn specific foundational
skills. When foundational skills are
internalized they can be used automatically or
with hardly any thought. Once foundational
skills are internalized, the learner can
concentrate on more complex, creative, and
challenging tasks which require higher-level
thinking.
Ø What
are the characteristics of instruction that
effectively addresses skill acquisition?
-
Teachers
clearly target the skills that students need
to learn and share with the students the
value of learning the skills. A critical
question that needs to be answered by
teachers for students is “Where will I ever
use what you are teaching me in my adult
life?”
-
Teachers model
how to learn new skills through ‘think
alouds’ and identify which Habits of Mind
can support learning the identified skill.
-
Students are
given ample guided practice and
reinforcement at learning new skills.
-
Practice tasks
are differentiated for the unique needs of
the learner.
-
Teachers
provide students with clear, specific, and
timely feedback on how to improve at the
identified skill.
Ø If
you would like more information…
Literature and
Research Base:
Marzano, Robert, Debra Pickering, and Jane
Pollock. Dimensions of Learning.
Virginia: ASCD, 2001.
Perkins, David. Smart Schools. New York:
The Free Press, 1992.
Related Links:
New
York State Core Curriculum documents identify
the key content for required courses. See the
link below:
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/corecurr.htm
