Comprehension, Retention, and Motivation
MULTIDIMENSIONAL
Lessons are multidimensional meaning they can be used for teaching character education and social skills lessons from several different directions
For example, the story of how Frederick Douglass learns to read and write may be used for a social studies lesson on slavery, a literacy lesson on the importance of knowing how to read and write, a lesson on creative problem solving, a lesson on critical thinking, or lessons on responsibility and respect, not to mention several other thinking skills and character traits he demonstrated.
By approaching the same learning activity from different points of view on different occasions students are allowed to build on past learning experiences to achieve new levels of understanding and performance.
DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES
The mix of stories and activities requires students to utilize different learning styles in
ways that are mutually reinforcing. When stories are combined with activities to teach a concept, the concept becomes easier to understand and act upon.
MENTAL IMAGERY
The memorable characters that symbolize The Seven C Skills, The Stink'n Think'n Gang, and EPT are valuable learning hooks that aid both comprehension and retention. In fun, objective, and non-threatening ways, these characters help students develop the abiity to distinguish between good ideas and bad ideas.
REPETITION
These ready to go lessons are easy to prepare and can be expanded or contracted to fit in the time you have available to teach them. This flexibility and ease of preparation makes frequent repetition of concepts essential to intellectual and moral development both feasible and natural.
SHARED LEARNING
The character development component of each lesson is designed to help students develop those virtues and social skills essential to happy and productive lives. Cooperative learning and collaborative reasoning strategies are employed to not only help students know what these qualities are and recognize what they look like, but also to help them understand why they are important.
FUN AND RELEVANT
The activities and stories are fun because they involve doing things kids like to do, but they are not cotton candy. These are serious lessons relevant to experiences your students have on a daily basis and which touch their lives in very personal ways.
RICH LITERATURE BASE
The Seven C’s of Thinking Clearly contains a rich literature base which facilitates repeated reading of stories and story retelling by students. These are powerful stories that can help students better see how the skills we are teaching play out in real life. Many of the biographical sketches are of people who made important choices that influenced the course of their lives while yet in early childhood.
HINDSIGHT, INSIGHT, FORESIGHT
Throughout The Seven C's of Thinking Clearly HIF Questions are employed to require active student involvement and to increase understanding.
Put these all together and you have multiple opportunities every day for creating character based learning experiences for your students. You also have comprehension, retention, and motivation strategies that help them to internalize the concepts being taught.
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