Multiple Abilities and Multiple Ability Orientations
Cohen (1994) recommends that before you introduce a task in the classroom, you should analyze it in terms of the specific intellectual abilities or skills that are needed to perform this task. Keep in mind that these should be things that students view as intellectual; rather than just talking about "getting along with others" or "drawing" you should specifically refer to things like "communicating mathematical ideas to your group" or "creating a diagram to illustrate the problem."
After introducing the multiple abilities, it is important to make a definitive statement about everyone having something to contribute to the task. Cohen offers "None of us has all of these abilities. Each one of us has some of these abilities" (1994, p. 122) but you are free to come up your own variant on this statement.
Take the task that you rewrote in the previous section, and create a list of multiple abilities that go with the task. Post this list in the box below.