Reading Growth: Getting The Big Idea (1968)

[Music] p two young men are reading that's easy to see hi Pete Hi Sam the books they're reading are the same that's easy to see too but one of the boys is getting the big ideas and one isn't that isn't too easy to see however if we borrow an idea from the comic strips then we can tell which one is getting the Big Ideas Sam not Sam not from this jumble in his head Pete aha Pete's the one he's getting the Big Ideas all right he's the one we can learn something from not Sam goodbye Sam [Music] what's the big idea all right that's a good question to begin with what is a big idea let's just think about that as I read you what the boys were reading and we'll see it's a paragraph about giraffes it reads precisely like this a giraffe is a tall animal with hoofs because he has hoofs he is one of the ulet the hoofed Plante eating mammals other common ulet are horses cows and elephants most of a giraffe's height comes from its stilt-like legs and long slender neck with its head some 18 ft above the ground a giraffe is able to reach tree leaves for food as well as grass even while eating a giraffe's sharp eyes and ears and Keen sense of smell keep it on guard for enemies although giraffes usually run from danger they've been known to use their hoofs As [Music] Weapons a giraffe's hoofs are 12 in across and cover solid bone even Lions need fear that crashing hoofs of a giraffe right here's the paragraph I just read now there are a lot of ideas here let's just think of them in terms of pictures a tall animal with hoofs an ulet a plant eater stilt like legs long slender neck head 18 ft above the ground eating tree leaves or grass sharp senses hoofs As Weapons 12 in across solid bone yes many ideas are here that fit together in a way to give you a general picture of a giraffe that is all except one of these ideas which is more General than the others I'll reread the sentences that contain this idea a giraffe is a tall animal with hoofs because he has hoofs he is one of the ulet the hoofed Plante eaing mammals we could summarize the idea like this giraffes are tall ulet now we have something like a newspaper headline the headline gives the big idea by reading just the headlines in a newspaper you know what each news item is about you can quickly find out who won the game who is meeting what happened what's being built what giraffes are you see headlines help you read They're General stat ments that answer the question what's the big idea a good reader knows that all the ideas he reads in sentences and paragraphs aren't equally important so he looks for the general statements when he reads like this one a giraffe is a hoofed mammal or ulet then he fits in the other ideas like the facts that a giraffe is tall and has hoofs they go into their proper places beneath the the general statement in this way an outline forms in Pete's mind finding the Big Ideas also helps Pete remember and understand what he reads sometimes Big Ideas are easy to find especially in school books social studies for instance the Big Ideas stand out here if you know what to look for a chapter heading is often a good clue here it gives Pete a good idea idea of the general topic climate and land formation and each section of the chapter has headings what was the Ice Age how did glaciers change the land you see section headings help in the same way as newspaper headlines this is one way that some reading materials are organized to help you find the important ideas while organized materials can help you in another way this paragraph is an example it begins with a general statement the shape of the land was being changed in many ways especially in North America in the rest of the paragraph there are words and phrases that tell you more exactly what is included under the general topic so you'll read about glaciers moving scooping out Canyons forming rivers and lakes do you see how that first sentence gave you a good idea of what the rest of the paragraph would be about that's why it's called a topic sentence a topic sentence is often found at the beginning of a paragraph it will usually tell you the main idea of one or more paragraphs this sentence is the topic sentence for the first two paragraphs here the topic sentence is the last one this is another place to look for topic sentences you'll usually find topic sentences used in informational non-fiction materials such as textbooks and encyclopedias on the other hand fiction is often written without topic sentences or any kind of headlines unless chapter titles are used a good reader like Pete makes up his own headlines as he reads let's see how he does it he's reading science fiction stories this one he's about to start is called field trip to Earth we'll listen in and look for the big ideas with him let's have our balloon fine now here's the story Billy Cosmos watched through the viewer as his school ship rocketed out of his home Galaxy the Stars seemed to drift away like fireflies on a summer night and soon his Galaxy and its neighbors were only tiny spiral smudges of light in the Deep Blackness of Intergalactic space let's stop a moment now look at the story and quickly extract certain key words as we hear the thoughts that are popping into Pete's head Billy Cosmos that's a boy School ship probably like a school bus in space home Galaxy that's the Galaxy his planet is in let's go on with the story now it seemed that the ship had begun to move toward one of the smudges it was the Milky Way Home galaxy of the historic planet Earth each year a history class from Billy School took a field trip to Earth Man's first home in the universe now more ideas Milky Way that's our galaxy historic planet Earth so he lives in the future and not on Earth field trip like we take to a museum and we read on in less time than he thought it would take Billy's School ship had entered the Milky Way galaxy and was heading for the star called the Sun and then hovering there in the light of the sun was Earth Man's first home while they awaited the Spaceport signal for landing they saw the Earth through the ship's telescope it was just like the pictures Billy had seen in his history book Earth was a Living Museum the cities had been rebuilt to look as they had in the long ago days of of the 20th century when men first ventured into [Music] space people dressed in costumes of the 20th century drove ancient cars and worked like people once did on Earth each year visitors from all the colonized galaxies came to Earth to learn about life long ago Earth a museum 20th century so it would look like it does today people in costumes like the clothes we wear today driving cars doing work like we do today visitors like people who visit museums today now the signal arrived from the Spaceport and the school ship began a slow descent to Earth Billy awaited with growing excitement his Adventure into the ancient world of the 20th century I'm sorry to have to stop because I'd like to know what happens to Billy Cosmos but remember our subject now is making up headlines in a story Pete has gotten many ideas a few of them are General ideas keeping these General ideas in mind as he reads Pete watches for other ideas that give detailed information with this information Pete is able to form his own understanding of the Big Ideas even without topic sentences you see like Headlines by sorting out and grouping ideas in the story that go together Pete builds in his mind a pattern of main ideas as he reads like this if he wants to be sure he remembers the main ideas he must might actually make an outline ideas that are equally important are placed in the main headings less important ideas are placed under them so when an author doesn't do it for him Pete can make up his own headings Pete has a good understanding of what he reads and he remembers it well because he knows how to find the big ideas and by the way Pete if you put these Big Ideas together to get a bigger idea that includes them all would you have something like this you're right this isn't good because it doesn't tell who made the trip and why how would you do it that's the idea Sam could take a lesson from you Pete but with continued practice Sam can learn to do as well well he can improve his ability to remember and understand what he reads do you understand Sam and by the way so can you