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Franklin's Philosophy of Life
in His Own Words

312 Pages $14.95

Reading Comprehension

What's The Big Idea?

What's the big idea teaching reading comprehension?
Why do we do it? What do we hope to gain by it? What difference does it make?

For Frederick Douglass, it was his ticket to freedom. He recognized, as an eight year old child, that unless he learned to read and write, he would always be a slave. Yet, there are many, a great many, who are able to read very well and still choose to enter the dark world of slavery voluntarily. True, being enslaved isn't their intent. It's not what they are trying to achieve. Most often they are seeking pleasure, or at least an escape from pain, only to discover the pleasure fleeting and the pain increased as they slide into a living hell of addiction and self-destructive compulsive behaviors.

So, the big idea behind reading comprehension activities must be something more than just literacy. It must also be something more than just the acquisition of knowledge. But what is it?

Think About It!

Ideas are the most powerful things in the world and the written word is their sacred repository. But this vast repository contains both good ideas and bad ideas. This being true, the most empowering thing in the world is to be able to distinguish

GOOD IDEAS FROM BAD IDEAS

If your reading curriculum doesn't have this as as a primary objective, you may need to beef it up! Because, in the world in which today's children live, it is an essential survival skill!

Introducing "The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly"

Reading Comprehension Activites in
"The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly"

Reading Comprehension Strategies

The following activities and stories illustrate some of the reading comprehension strategies employed in "The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly." (click on either the picture or the blue link)

Grades 2-6

In grades 2-6 explore what illusion robbed both Snow White and her stepmother of good judgment? Why would a beautiful Queen turn herself into an ugly old hag? Why did Snow White fall victim to her ruse? The abililty to answer these questions and understand the relevance of this child's fairy tale to their own lives may well save your students from many difficulties in life. Snow White

Notice in the story of Snow White the use of Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight questions designed to help students reflect on what they already knew, what they just learned, and how this information may be helpful them in the future.

Also, in the Discussion Opportunity box, designed to assist you in lesson preparation, you will find reference to various members of The Stink'n Think'n Gang, a band of thieves out to rob us of common sense and good judgment. For example....

Do your students know who this villain is? Are they aware there's a band of thieves out to rob them of common sense and good judgment? Can you help them recognize the influence of these bandits in fiction, history, the daily news, and in their own lives? Learn who these bandits are and what they do.

Grades 5-9

Do your students know the story of how Frederick Douglass learned to read and write, the what obstacles he had to over come, how long it took him, and why he was willing to pay the price he paid? If not, they need to! Slavery isn't limited to physical bondage. This is a great example of how a single idea can change a person's life. Frederick Douglass Learns to Read and Write

The lessons to be learned from these excerpts from the Douglass's biography are so rich and so vitally relevant to young people today, every student needs to know his story. It's a powerful example of creative problem solving—by an eight year old child. It's a study in persistence and patience. It's an invaluable history lesson, reminding us of the destructive nature of prejudice and slavery. It vividly demonstrates the price one who understood the importance of being able to read and write was willing to pay to gain these skills. These and many more valuable lessons may be mined from these little excerpts from his life.

In the Discussion Opportunity Box assoicated with these stories you will note reference to characters from EPT and the CT (Clear Thinking) Team. The CT Team, found in both volumes, represents seven thinking skills essential to overcoming the influences of the Stink'n Think'n Gang and EPT.

Are your students able to recognize the insidious influence of Polarizer in their lives? Do they know he is a member of EPT, a clandenstine organization dedicated to overthrowing civilization by flooding the world with Error-Prone Thinking? Learn more about EPT

By employing the Clear Thinking Team to your help students develop their thinking skills you also help them develop the emotional intelligence and social skills essential to living happy, fulfilling lives. Since both the acquisition and use of knowledge is determined by these Seven C Skills, they may well prove to be the most important thing you ever teach your students. The CT Team

Reading Comprehension Exercises

In addition to the rich literature base contained in "The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly" and the comprehension and retention strategies mentioned above, these lessons include a number of reading comprehension activities designed to explore the meaning of words. For example....

The Peter Piper Tongue Twisters in grades 5-9 are not only fun, but very instructive in helping students develop emotional intelligence and social skills, as well as word skills, as they rewrite the tongue twisters to give Poor Peter a better reputation. Poor Peter Piper

The ABC Sequence, a simple science demonstration, which has profound implications in all our
lives, is not so much a reading exercise as a reading comprehension strategy.

If your students understand the ABC Sequence, they will be able to recognize its operation in every story they read, both factual and fictional. More importantly, they will be better able to predict its influence in choices they make. The ABC Sequence

The Best Author Ever Award

Hi,

I'm George Rogers, author of "The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly" and creator of Character Based Learning and the nefarious characters found in The Stink'n Think'n Gang and EPT.

I want you to know I was just acclaimed the best author ever and received a certificate attesting to the fact.

I received this great award from a second grade class at Westland Elementary in Salt Lake City. Miss Green the teacher of that class has been teaching her students lessons from The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly this year and invited me to visit her class and read to them Mac and Zach from Hackensack one of the stories in grades 2-6 and also an illustrated children's book.

After reading the story to them we discussed it and I asked them to share for me some of their favorite lessons from the Seven C's. I was struck by the force of their enthusiasm, the clarity of their descriptions of the various lessons and what they had learned from them.

	Hindsight, Insight and Foresight questions increase student participation, comprehension and retention by causing students to reflect upon what they have just learned and its relevance to their lives while minimizing your lesson preparation time. more information
	Most lessons also include a Discussion Opportunity Box offering suggestions on ways you may wish to lead the discussion, again minimizing the time required for lesson preparation and stimulating ideas on how to make the lesson most relevant to your students
	Most lessons are self-contained requiring no additional materials for the lesson. Those that do are identified by an Advance Preparation box indicating what is needed. Any additional items required are both inexpensive and easily obtainable requiring little out of pocket expense or running around to find.
	These are scalable lessons that are easily adjusted to fit the time you have as well as the interest and comprehension levels of your students.
	These are fun, high interest lessons in which your students response will make them both rewarding and enjoyable for you to teach. But they are not cotton candy. They deal with serious choices young people have to make on a daily basis.
	Most lessons are Multi-Dimensional meaning they address several aspects of personal and academic development and which facilitates presenting and discussing them on more than one occasion thus significantly increasing both comprehension and retention of the principles involved.
	Every lesson is a Character Based Lesson which means each one meets one or more of the following state core standards while at the same time helping young people improve their thinking skills and develop emotional intelligence, social skills, virtue or character, whatever you wish to call it. Communication Standards Reasoning and Problem Solving Standards Personal Development Standards Civic and Social Responsibility Standards Arts, Language and Literature Standards History and Social Studies Standards Science, Mathmatics and Technology Standards
	The Online Lesson Finder (included with the eBook editions) is a valuable time saver, greatly simplifying the process of finding, selecting and planning lessons that meet your class needs. In addition to the title and page of the lesson, you are provided with a complete lesson plan including a synopsis of the lesson, the primary focus of the lesson and core curriculum standards the lesson meets.
	The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly contain a rich literature base consisting of: Familiar stories with a new twist designed to increase reading comprehension and retention and facilitate student discussion by enabling them to more clearly recognize the relevance of the story to their own lives. Original stories, again designed to stimulate interest and facilitate learning by their relevance to choices students have to make on a daily basis Autobigraphical and biographical sketches of famous and not so famous individuals designed to empower young people with the ablity to make responsible choices by helping them recognize: Choices some of these people made when they were still small children that affected the whole of their lives Choices some of them made which enabled them to overcome serious handicaps and difficulties in their lives Choices others have made that illlustrate the effort required for them to accomplish remarkable things and the rewards of having made the effort
	Although the lessons may be taught in any order at any time, and you may wish to address particular class or individual needs with specific lessons, the lessons in The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly are presented in sequential sections designed to build one on the other. Section One, Choosing to Avoid Faulty Thinking: These lessons are designed to help students recognize and avoid dysfunctional thinking habits that are so common and so awfully destructive of human happiness. Unfortunately these thinking habits seem to require no effort at all to acquire. Section Two, Choosing to Develop the Seven C Skills: These lessons focus on helping students develop seven thinking skills necessary for overcoming faulty thinking and are essential for accomplishing anything worth while in life. Unfortunately, these thinking skills seem to require a great deal of effort to acquire in any significant measure. Section Three, Choosing to Be Personally Responsible: This section focuses on individual accountability for individual choices and actions. Once students are able to recognize the thoughts and behaviors that limit their progress, and that no one else can control these thoughts and behaviors, they are ready to accept greater personal responsibility for their lives. Section Four, Choosing to Respect Myself: When students accept greater responsibility for their choices, they are able to take the next step in making choices they can feel good about. An important element of these lessons is helping them to recognize benefits of their own uniqueness and recognize perfection is not a pre-requisite for self-respect. Section Five, Choosing to Respect Others: When individuals do not respect themselves, it is more difficult for them to respect others. This section is designed to help students recognize how our individual differences add interest and variety to life and also how these differences make possible unique individual contributions to the benefit of all. Section Six, Choosing to Be Trustworthy: The lessons in this section focus on helping students understand that a free society is based on mutual trust and that individual and collective safety, progress and happiness is dependent on this trust.
	The Teaching Stragtegies in the Seven C's of Thinking Clearly contain mental hooks intended to create a cocklebur effect. For example: While The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly contains a rich literature base, there are also a wide variety of other activities designed to address varied learning styles. A number of lessons can be presented as Dynamid Duos in which the same idea is presented in both in a literature format and an activity format which improves both comprehension and retention. The iconic characters employed in The CT Team, The Stink'n Think'n Gang and EPT provide valuable discussion vehicles which are easily transferrable to other lesson materials you have. These characters can significantly increase reading comprehension and retention by establishing the relevance of the ideas in the minds of your students. These characters not only enable students to connect the dots between the particular lesson and their lives, they are able to transfer this knowledge to other information and events they are experiencing in their lives. These teaching strategies are easily transferrable to other curriculum resources you are using as well.
	One of the great benefits of these lessons is their suitablity and ease of reproduction for both class room use and home assignments and for use in both public and homeschool curriculum.
	In addition to the Online Lesson Finder* available at this site, a Character Trait Cross Reference Index along with listings of most of the stories (Great Lessons from Great Lives and Great Lessons from Great Stories) can be found at the end of each book. Combined they provide you with an unparalleled ability to find lessons specifically suited to your needs at any particular time as well as a fully developed lesson plan including a synopsis of the lesson, the primary focus of the lesson, and the core curriculum requirements addressed by the lesson. *included with the eBook editions