Skills vs Strategies



Skills vs. Strategies

What is the difference between skills and strategies in the Trophies lesson plan? This chart outlines those differences.

|Skill |Strategy |

|These are automatic procedures that do not require thought, |A strategy is a conscious plan under the control of the reader, who |

|interpretation, or choice. |must make decisions about what strategies to use and when to use them.|

|Skills are product-oriented, observable behaviors such as answers to |Strategies are process-oriented, cognitive operations the reader |

|questions, answers on tests, skills lists, and taxonomies. |engages in, generally thought to be unobservable. |

| | |

|Skills instruction stresses repeated practice in applying skills until|Strategy instruction stresses the reasoning process readers go through|

|they become habitual responses to particular tasks. |as they interact with and comprehend text: how the strategies one |

| |uses change when one reads different texts or reads for different |

| |purposes. |

| |Strategy instruction teachers what to do with a skill, how and why to|

| |use it, and why it is important. |

| |Strategy instruction focuses on ways to help students understand what |

| |they read. |

Focus Skills and Focus Strategies

Focus Skill

Reading skills are taught in Trophies because they build reading comprehension. Specific skills are taught before, during, and after reading the selection. Each skill is introduces, reviewed, and maintained. Students have the opportunity to practice and apply the skills to become skillful readers. A Focus Skill is introduced and developed in each selection found in Trophies. These Focus Skills are identified on the 5-day planner with objectives for each selection. The Focus Skill can be easily traced because of the Skill Trace box found in the margins of the lesson plans in the Teacher’s Edition. The box includes the skill, the page numbers where it is introduced, reteach activity pages, review pages, activity pages to maintain the skill, and a test page for tested skills.

Focus Strategy

A reading strategy is developed in each selection found in Trophies. A list of these strategies is located in the front of the Teacher’s Edition and Pupil Edition (grades 2-6). There are 10 reading Focus Strategies (Strategies Good Readers Use) taught in Trophies. Each strategy is a plan that helps students monitor their own reading. As students become better readers, they are better able to comprehend the selections because of application of the Focus Strategy. Reading strategies are not developed automatically. Before student read stories and articles independently, teachers model strategic reading and thinking behaviors. These modeled strategies teach students to construct meaning when reading. A good repertoire of strategies builds flexibility in how student read. They can learn a variety of approaches to reading no matter what the text.

Focus Skills and Focus Strategy Lessons

Grade 4

|Story |Focus Skill |Focus Strategy |

|The Gardener |Narrative Elements |Use Context to Confirm Meaning |

|Donavan’s Word Jar |Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots |Use Decoding/Phonics |

|My Name is María Isabel |Narrative Elements |Make and Confirm Predictions |

|Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man |Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots |Summarize |

|Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride |Locate Information |Read Ahead |

|The Baker’s Neighbor |Cause and Effect |Use Decoding/Phonics |

|The Emperor and the Kite |Narrative Elements |Self-Question |

|Nights of the Pufflings |Summarize |Adjust Reading Rate |

|The Garden of Happiness |Cause and Effect |Make and Confirm Predictions |

|How to Babysit an Orangutan |Summarize |Use Text Structure and Format |

|Sarah, Plain and Tall |Draw Conclusions |Read Ahead |

|Stealing Home |Compare and Contrast |Use Context to Confirm Meaning |

|The Cricket in Times Square |Draw Conclusions |Create Mental Images |

|Two Lands, One Heart |Compare and Contrast |Reread to Clarify |

|Look to the North: A Wolf Pup Diary |Summarize |Use Text Structure and Format |

|The Kid’s Invention Book |Main Idea and Details |Adjust Reading Rate |

|The Case of Pablo’s Nose |Sequence |Read Ahead |

|In the Days of King Adobe |Main Idea and Details |Reread to Clarify |

|Red Writing Hood |Sequence |Create Mental Images |

|One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale |Compare and Contrast |Make and Confirm Predictions |

|Fire! |Elements of Nonfiction: Text |Summarize |

| |Structure | |

|A Very Important Day |Author’s Purpose |Use Decoding/Phonics |

|Saguaro Cactus |Elements of Nonfiction: Text |Adjust Reading Rate |

| |Structure | |

|Blue Willow |Author’s Purpose |Summarize |

|In My Family |Sequence |Use Context to Confirm Meaning |

|The Gold Rush |Fact and Opinion |Use Text Structure and Format |

|I Have Heard of a Land |Word Relationships |Self-Question |

|Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox |Fact and Opinion |Create Mental Images |

|Fly Traps! Plants that Bite Back |Word Relationships |Reread to Clarify |

|The Down and Up Fall |Author’s Purpose |Self-Question |

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