Notes

Unit Overview~ Each unit begins with a unit overview. This a snapshot of the content and readings you'll cover in the unit's lessons.
Lesson Overview~ Each unit consists of three to six lessons. Each lesson overview gives you an idea of what you'll cover in the lesson. It contains the lesson objectives and key terms.
Studies~ The studies are where most of the teaching in the course happens. A typical study focuses on a specific topic or skill. In each study, you'll read text, engage in interactive activities, and test your understanding of the content by taking short, unscored quizzes. Each study includes a study sheet. Filling out your study sheet will help you to study and do well on your scored quizzes and tests.
Readings~ Some lessons include reading activities. In these activities, you'll read a short story, essay, article, or other text. Reading the text and filling out the reading guide will help you to study and do well on scored quizzes and tests.
Journals~ Journals are short, scored writing exercises based on the readings.
Practices~ Practices are scored activities, and each unit has one practice. For each practice, you are expected to submit original work to your instructor. When you budget time to do the activities in this course, set aside homework time during which you can complete these writing activities.
Quizzes~ Quizzes are scored activities with computer-scored questions. A quiz will typically follow each study and will test your understanding and ability to apply skills and knowledge covered in the study. Quizzes are scored activities.
Tests~ At the end of each unit, you will complete a unit review and take a two-part unit test.
the most important things to remember from this lesson:

In this course, you can expect to change how you read and think. Here are some of the most important things to remember from this lesson:

Taking an online class can be difficult. It is important to think about how you are using your time.
This class has 10 units and a review unit and a final exam.
The four "paths" of this class are vocabulary, reading comprehension, study skills, and media literacy. (If you don't know what all of those things are, no problem — you will soon!)
You will take quizzes and tests throughout the class.

Navajo Code Talkers~
The Navajo Code Talkers were a group of Navajo soldiers who created the military code used during World War II and then coded and decoded thousands of messages. Their code has been credited with saving the lives of many American soldiers. Click the link to learn more.

Even the alphabet is a code. Each letter stands for a certain sound. A phonetic symbol can also represent that sound.

Phonetic symbols help us know how words should sound out loud. Some phonetic symbols look just like letters. Others are special shapes that help show the different sounds letters can make.

This is probably how you learned to read:

~You learned that each letter makes one or more sounds.
~You learned that letters could be put together to create words.
~You learned to sound out each word, one by one.
~You might not have known it, but you were decoding these groups of letters into words.

Saying each word in the correct way is only part of reading. When you understand what the words are trying to tell you, reading becomes less work and a lot more fun.

Do words ever make pictures in your mind? This can be called a "mind movie." When it happens, you can really understand what you are reading.

Does your mind movie ever stop working? Do you ever come to words you don't know? This happens to everyone! Don't believe it? When was the last time you ordered fish at a French restaurant?

English is full of words from other languages. We also have a lot of plain old English words that are very difficult.

So it's common to be flying through reading and get stuck decoding a very difficult word. If you want to really learn that new word, slow down. Grab a dictionary, and check out the phonetic symbols.

Purpose Is Key
Now that you've learned about decoding, let's talk about ways to comprehend
what you read.

It is difficult to comprehend if you don't know why you are reading. There is always a purpose for reading. Often you, the reader, get to choose that purpose.

In this course, you'll be looking at four common purposes for reading:

~To be entertained
~To complete a task
~To obtain information
~To analyze

Why should you "read on purpose"? Purposes help you:

~focus your reading
~ask questions as you read
~interact with your reading
~have a conversation with your reading.

As you read, you leave your reciting voice behind and use your conversation voice.
Set and reach reading goals, such as:

~To laugh out loud and really get to know the characters
~To reach the end of your reading, prepared to complete a task
~To have learned new information
~To find patterns in a poem

Did you know that purposes for reading can change?


~You read an article to help you write a history report.
~You get interested in the article and begin to read it to learn new information. ~You wonder about the topic and think of questions you want to ask the author.
~You laugh and hope you can find other articles like this one.

Your purpose has changed from "to complete a task" to "to obtain information" to "to be entertained."

Letting your purposes change as you read means you are a flexible reader.

For me, words are a form of action, capable of influencing change.1

— Ingrid Bengis (b. 1944), Russian novelist and essayist
Are words really that important?

Imagine you're at a concert. Everyone's having a great time as they dance and sing along. Suddenly, the sound system goes dead. The singer doesn't know it. She sings, but the audience doesn't hear her. Her mouth moves without sound, and she dances to an empty beat.



What do you lose when you lose words? Without words, we can't talk to each other. Even with words, communication is difficult. People are always looking for the right way to say what they mean. That's where a good vocabulary is useful.

A powerful vocabulary helps you say what you think and feel. It also helps you understand others. In the lessons that follow, you'll build vocabulary skills that will help you understand your reading.

Soon, you may find new meaning in a story that once seemed simple. Or, you might write your own story. How? Word by word.

Objectives
~Know why building vocabulary is important.
~Know vocabulary-building strategies, including word picturing and word association.
~Tell about three features of a good vocabulary list.
~Study how words work with each other (grammar).
~Create your own definitions.

Vocab List
Perpetrator: n. One who commits a crime
Meteorologist: n. Weather person
Squall: n. A storm or sudden gust of wind
Thwart: v. To prevent someone from doing something, usually negative
Impeccable: adj. Perfect



With a running list, new vocabulary will stay active in your mind.
When you come to a new word, it's a good idea to write it down in a running list. You can keep your running list on paper or on your computer. When you add a new word to your list, you will help yourself remember the word next time you see it.

Each new word on your list should always include three things:

Word
The part of speech
Your own short definition
You've probably seen word lists with definitions. But why add the part of speech? Good question!

Parts of Speech: Why They Matter
Apple Pear Banana
What do these words have in common?

They are all fruits, of course, but apple, pear, and banana are also all nouns. A noun is a "person, place, or thing." You know you have a noun if you can put an article before it: a farmer, an apple, the farm.

Is this a complete sentence?

The farmer rakes.

Yes. It has a noun (farmer) and a verb (rakes), so it is a complete sentence. But it's a little boring. Try adding an adjective. What is this farmer like? Take a look at the picture and think of some adjectives to describe him.

You could have thought of old, tired, bored, sad, or skinny. Adjectives make nouns more interesting.

Adverbs do the same thing for verbs. How does this old, tired farmer rake? He could rake slowly, or quickly, or constantly. There are many adverbs that you could add.

Sentence: The skinny farmer slowly rakes.
Part of Speech: article adjective noun adverb verb
Adjectives and adverbs make sentences more interesting.

Adjectives hang onto nouns. Adverbs hang onto verbs.

Knowing parts of speech will help you use words. In Mr. Moneybags, you saw that the word destitute means "very poor." Because it's an adjective, you know you could use it to describe someone: "a destitute man."

A meteorologist is another word for "weather person." Because you know it's a noun, you might use it like this: "She's a meteorologist." Of course, you'd never use it as a verb: "She meteorologists every day to school."

Once you've figured out a word's part of speech, you'll want to write a good definition for it in your own words.

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. Making a word picture is a great way to remember that word. Word pictures can be easy with words you know. You probably see a picture kind of like this when you read the word apple.

But what about more difficult words? Like nemesis. Unless you know a lot about Greek, there aren't many clues in the word to help you find out what it means.

Once you look it up and find out that the meaning of the word is "enemy," you have what you need to come up with a word picture.

If you're a Twilight fan, you might think of Victoria when you read the word nemesis. If you like Harry Potter, nemesis might make you picture Voldemort. You might even have your own nemesis if you play a sport.

O.K. Focus on just one of the words, abstract. Remember that this word is an adjective because it can describe something.

Which pair of words below doesn't make sense?

~Abstract hairbrush
~Abstract art

If you chose "abstract hairbrush," you're right! Abstract doesn't go with hairbrush because a hairbrush is not an idea; it's a thing.

When you learn a new word, try to think about what other words go with it. This is called word association.

Deface~Wall
Destitute~Homeless
Abstract~Concept
Mayhem~Crowd
Thwart~Criminal
Meteorologist~Weather
Impeccable~Grades
Angular~Lines

Let's face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger, neither apple nor pine in pineapple.1

—Richard Lederer (b. 1938), author
You’ve learned a few good strategies for building a good vocabulary. In later lessons, you'll find other tips for taking words apart and putting them back together.

Define it: Put it on your running list.

Draw it: Make a picture of it, either in your mind or on paper.

Associate it: Think of other words that might go with it.

You have been studying for years. You may feel like you have all the skills you need or that it's too late to get better.

Stop to think about it: Are you always ready for tests? Or, do you have to study hard the night before? Do you remember what you study? Do you study in the same way each time?

In this lesson, you will learn about studying with a purpose, and you will learn that the best way to study is to have your own reasons for doing it. You will also learn about important study skills that will make studying easier for you.

Objectives
~Show how to study with a purpose.
~Evaluate your own study habits.