Reading Growth: Basic Skills (1968)

[Music] Tim on the way to the library would you deliver this note to miss Hoffman in room 105 oh and would you return these please all right good morning today is Thursday we are studying plants I have learned keep reading Bobby I have learned that I eat some plants some plants give me clothes it's been a long time since you learned how to read do you remember what it was like plants are helpful in many ways they give us Beauty you're not a beginner anymore things have changed for you all right thank you Tim very good Bobby Carol what was the name of the plant that gave us the material for our clothing cotton that's right cotton comes from you're a better reader now can any but that's not the main difference now your world of reading has become much larger some of your reading is still for pleasure but now you're doing more kinds of reading you read history science geogy graphy and arithmetic to understand these subjects in school in arithmetic there are many word problems that you have to read you have to read to find special information in encyclopedias dictionaries atlases library card files and all this is just part of your growth in Reading you must also polish and expand your old reading skills and build new ones if they're needed the job of this film is to help you know what is expected of a good reader Tim is a good reader and at the same time he's growing becoming a more effective reader you can grow too you're going to watch Tim to find out what you should expect of yourself as a reader this assignment was the reason Tim went to the library read it here are some of the meanings Tim's classmates found a friend here is sort of the edge of the settled regions I read about the ocean is a frontier but what about frontiers of science for Tim one part of good reading is paying attention to word meanings and one way to do that is to watch carefully for new meanings of familiar words Tim did you find any other use of the word frontier in the library well this book I found has a chapter about Frontier research and science good what's your understanding of that use of Frontier well Frontier research probably means a new kind of research what makes you think that the way it's used there's a need for Frontier research not simply research in new directions but research that employs new techniques unexplored methods and attitudes Tim can often get the meaning of a word word from the way it's used from the context knowing how to use context clues is especially important when a familiar word is not being used in a familiar way for instance take this word fix is usually used to mean to repair something that's broken as in this simple sentence please fix the clock but suppose you came across fix used like this now fix your eyes on the boat does this have anything to do with broken eyes no it doesn't really make sense that way the words that follow might help fix your eyes on the boat seems to mean hold your eyes steadily on the boat that makes sense and one definition of fix in the dictionary agrees so context clues can help in getting word meanings but not always Tim is coming to a word that will give him some trouble unarguable Tim can't remember seeing this word before how is it used the the context doesn't help much but as a good reader Tim has other skills he can put to work he looks for parts of the word that look familiar an is a prefix Tim knows it can mean not this part looks like the word argue and this is a suffix that means what it says able and what does it all seem to mean unarguable not able to be argued something you can't argue about something that seems to be true does that make sense in the context the unarguable answer the answer that seems to be true is that research must go on yes that meaning does make sense so you see for Tim reading is paying attention to word meanings each word meaning gives one small idea taken all together many word meanings add up to Big Ideas getting the Big Ideas is another important reading skill let's see what that means think of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle each piece by itself is like a little picture when you put all all the pieces together you get the big picture words work something like that too words express ideas and many ideas can give you a big idea let's see how it might work with the ideas in this paragraph Ron's bed was unmade his pajamas thrown across it a marble bag lay empty in one corner of the room with its marbles spread across cross the floor like a carpet among them were papers books shoes stockings Checkers jigsaw puzzle pieces and a little green frog on a string all right have you got the big idea what is the condition of Ron's room the last sentence of the paragraph leaves no doubt Ron's room was a mess this sentence tells pretty much what the other sentences are about the last sentence gives us the big idea of the paragraph it helps to sum up the meaning of many sentences a good reader like Tim knows how important it is to look for these big ideas and he knows how to find them he knows that finding such sentences helps him understand better what the author has in mind and when they aren't there Tim has learned to build his own statement of the Big Ideas so even without the last sentence in this paragraph that we read Tim would know that Ron's room was a mess so you see to a good reader like Tim an important part of reading is finding the Big Ideas so he'll know clearly what the author is writing about Tim if you're finished read whatever you like and we'll have our discussion about Frontiers when the others are done Tim is a fast reader but being a good reader means more than just being able to read fast another sign of a good reader is that he has several reading speeds let's see what that means the book Tim is reading is a story book he's read before the story of Dr dittle he's reading it again because he liked it so much the first time so it's easy reading how do you think Tim reads an easy book for fun fast or slow fast of course but suppose he were reading a word problem in arithmetic like number seven here the words are easy words but Tim's not reading them for fun he has to study them carefully so how does he read slow of course but these words aren't as simple they're part of a history assignment about the Alamo which Tim has just finished reading carefully and rather slowly we don't have to read it now just suppose Tim were going to reread this only to find the name of the place where the Alamo was located then how would he read it fast of course because all he wants to do is find the name San Antonio so you see the material Tim reads and his purpose for reading help him know how fast he should read that's why he has several reading speeds for Tim being a good reader also means one more skill creative reading you'll get an idea of what that means now I think we're already ready will those of you who are going to be in the discussion please come up with your books much of reading is getting ideas and information from an author but when you read creatively your emphasis is on putting your own ideas to work as you read Tim now you've read the chapter on Frontier research does the author's use of Frontier seem right to you yes he's is's really writing about new advances in science the creative reader questions what he reads his answers help him judge what he's read word frontier right in this case we've talked about several uses of the word frontier from what you've read how would you say that a Frontiersman is like a scientist doing Frontier research the creative reader also Compares what he reads with what he's read before he is able to form his own Impressions his own ideas by comparing well a Frontiersman goes into places where nobody's been before and a scientist doing Frontier research Tim has a new understanding of the concept of Frontier because he is skilled at creative reading that's another reason Tim is a good reader but of course that's not the only reason a good reader also has different reading speeds he can use he knows how to find the big ideas and he's interested in word meanings these are some of the important signs of a good reader do these skills describe you as a reader think about it now is the time for growth in your reading skills now is the time for you to become a better reader [Music]