Improve Reading Comprehension: Same Words, Different Meanings

By Marlene Caroselli, Ed.D

Sentences can have antithetical meanings sometimes, depending on things as simple as a single space or a puny little mark of punctuation.  To illustrate, when men were asked to punctuate this sentence:

    WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS AN ANIMAL.

the majority of them placed commas after the first word and the fourth, suggesting women lose their social skills if denied access to the opposite sex.  Women tend to see the sentence differently. The majority will punctuate it this way:

    WOMAN--WITHOUT HER--MAN IS AN ANIMAL.

Same words. Entirely different meanings.

In his February 26 2010, blog, "When Rote Learning Makes Sense," author Ben Johnson reminds us that before students can think critically, they need to have something to think about. He endorses Benjamin Boom's assertion that evaluating and creating are the highest levels of thought.

The reading tutors at KnowledgePoints help students understand inferences and the nuances that are to be found in the writing they read. Our tutors give them something to think about and then challenge them to create new, evaluated thoughts.

One thing you can do at home requires very little effort. Obtain a list of provocative quotations and ask your child to interpret each. Play devil's advocate with some. Offer a different interpretation--perhaps even more than one.

Of course, there can be no "correct" answer because only the originator of the quote knows what he or she meant. (Remember Freud's response to the analyzers who saw physiological symbolism in a simple cigar. Sometimes, he reminded them, "a cigar is just a cigar!")

However, you can increase your child's comprehension of reading passages by discussing the most likely interpretations of that material. If the meaning is fairly obvious, ask for an example that illustrates the truth of the quote.

Some quotations that can pave the way to in-depth thinking follow.

• The game of life is the game of boomerangs. -Florence Scovel Shinn
• To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. -Bertrand Russell
• A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.   -Thomas Carruthers
• After the game, the king and pawn go into the same box. -Italian Proverb
• Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that  nothing is. -Thomas Szasz
• Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the     headlights, but you make the whole trip that way. -E.L. Doctorow
• A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible abor and there is an invisible labor. -Victor Hugo

KnowledgePoints Learning Center, which provides reading tutoring to students in Florham Park, Morristown, Livingston and other area towns can provide thoughtful challenges, like these,  to your kids.

Study Skills and Time Management: More Frogs to Eat

In a previous posting on procastination and study skills, I admitted to being a chronic procrastinator, and offered up the metaphorical technique of eating a frog, which I recently learned, and now apply to my daily life. I also mentioned that we’ve incorporated this technique into the Time Management lesson of our Study Skills Program.

Recently, a reader reminded me that Mark Twain originated this frog metaphor.  Twain  advised, "If you have to swallow a frog, don't stare at it too long." His words have relevance for students facing the daily metaphorical homework-frog. On the macrocosmic scale, you can encourage your child to tackle homework as soon as possible after his arrival home. On the microcosmic scale, encourage him to tackle first the one subject with which he has most difficulty.

The longer she waits, the more tired your child will be. And, you'll want your child facing homework when she has the most energy--not at the end of the day, when she has the least.

(Games can revive flagging interest. In "Grace's Homework/Study Tips Blog" on October 11 , Grace Fleming encourages the use of games for cognitive development. More about that in our next blog, where we'll talk about games for improving vocabulary.)

KnowledgePoints math tutors know the importance of having regular routines so study habits do become habitual. Our staff members lay out processes for students to use as they tackle particular problems. (All work, after all, is process.) You can do the same by establish a process for studying or doing homework.
The process would include using the same "reserved" space every afternoon or evening, having good lighting, having all the tools necessary.

The process should begin with the student doing an assessment of what homework needs to be done, in which categories. (Note, there is no harm in having your child move from the reserved space from time to time. If it's easier for her to pace the halls while committing vocabulary words/ meanings to mind, that is fine. But, the home base, so to speak, should be clearly identified and all the tools kept there.)

Ideally, your child will also do a time estimate of how much time needs to be allocated. (Meeting and matching projected time frames is one of the best ways to develop left-brain or analytical skills.) Discuss with your child the point at which breaks should be woven in to the process.

Finally, briefly discuss the order in which the tasks will be accomplished--starting, of course, with the "froggiest."

Think Tutoring offers study skills and tutoring programs in Florham Park, Madison, Livingston, Morristown and other northern NJ communities.  

Improve Your Child's Vocabulary and Language Skills

Blogging in Mamapedia Voices ("Encourage Your Kids to Explore, Discover, Experiment, and Be Creative," September 27, 2010), Kristin Fitch emphasizes the importance of discovery. She recommends ways to keep the magic alive and suggests, among other things, making up adventures.

With some imaginative effort on your part, you, too, can pull wonder from the world around us and introduce it to your children. As you take your children on these journeys, you'll no doubt enjoy the linguistic landscape yourself.

Now, at Think Tutoring, we must deal with the metaphorical "meat and potatoes" of knowledge. (Standardized tests, after all, deal with facts and not fantasy.) But at home, you can experiment with luscious, linguistic desserts or appetizing "amuse-bouches" to keep verbal wonder alive.

Take, for example, the delightful literary device known as meiosis (pronounced my-O-sis). It's a means of emphasizing one's point by understating it. "Michael Jordan's not a bad basketball player" is a sentence that makes its point (he's really a very good player) by under- rather than over-stating the truth.

As you go through the ordinary moments of daily living with your family, look for opportunities to reinforce their understanding of this special literary device. As you do, you will be developing your children's awareness of the world around them. ("That spelling test today was easy...if you write dictionaries for a living.") You will also be helping to develop an appreciation for the words that will appear on all kinds of tests--from language arts & spelling tests to SAT tests--the kind our tutors prepare students for.

After all, it was no less magical a writer than Hans Christian Andersen who maintained that "life itself is the most wondrous fairy tale of all." We can all help children discover the wonder of words by applying meiosis to life as we live it.

Improve Study Skills & Stop Procrastinating: Eat a Frog

Have you watched your kids, on school nights, do everything and anything but their homework?  You might cajole, nag, threaten, but they continue to find the most creative ways to avoid the books.  It's quite possible, too, they learned their best procrastination skills from you! See Apt. 11D - Procrastination So, instead of badgering them, you might want to explore another way.

I too am a procrastinator, but not until I picked up a small book about the subject,(Eat that Frog), did I understand that the things I procrastinated about most were the ones I dreaded the most and which caused me a lot of anxiety.

The title essentially lays out a metaphor that, each day, we all have frogs to eat (big frogs and little frogs), and sets out a challenge for readers “eat" at least one big frog (the source of anxiety) each day. The bigger the frog, the larger the sense of accomplishment, and the easier it becomes to eat smaller frogs. Every day, you need to identify the big, medium and small frogs, and try to summon up a large appetite.

At  Think Tutoring we teach study skills to middle and high school students at our learning center, and have recently introduce the Eat That Frog lesson.  For all our students, (and parents too), we encourage them to Eat That Frog!

Improve Study Skills with Problem Solving Opposites

In our previous blog, we discussed research that, at first blush, appears counter-intuitive. And yet, it has spawned some excellent articles, filled with promising ideas.
 
For example, among the blogs with extensions to the latest research on study habits, is a recent NYTimes blog September 13, 2010, "Learn Your Lessons" by Sandhya Nankani and Holly Epstein Ojalvo). The authors suggest that students themselves compile and lists of Do's and Don't's--study tips and techniques that work for them. These lists can then be shared with other students in the family or in study groups.
 
If you proceed with this list-recommendation, be sure to let us know here at KnowledgePoints. Our tutors will happily share your ideas with other students as we work on skill-development and even SAT preparation.

FROM STUDYING BETTER TO SOLVING PROBLEMS MORE EFFICIENTLY
There are those who solve problems analytically. And those who solve them creatively. And then, there are those who can tap into either brain-sphere, depending on the nature of the problem. Such thinkers are considered "lateralized." That is, they can use both their right brain (creative or divergent thinking skills) or its opposite, the left brain (analytical or convergent thinking skills) equally well.

HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME LATERALIZED
Here are two tips for enhancing skills in each of two complementary-but-not-contradictory areas.

To develop convergent or analytical skills:

• Improve your child's ability to gauge time requirements. To illustrate, ask him how long he thinks it will take him to finish his math homework. Then, compare his estimate to the actual time.
• Encourage your child to keep a neat and organized study area.
• And, of course, if you and other members of the family model the desired behavior, it will enhance your child's willingness to apply her organizational skills as she grows older and encounters new situations.

To develop divergent or imaginative skills:

• Engage in “what if…” thinking.  The questions can be silly ("What if elephants could fly?" or serious ("What if teachers were paid as much as athletes?"), but it will be important to explore as many consequences as possible fore each supposition.

• Whenever you can, ask your child to imagine the possibilities surrounding a given object. This, like the other exercises, can be done with other family members, too. Pick up an ordinary object and start making a list of other uses for the object, beyond its intended purpose.