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Learning to read doesn’t just happen. It has to be taught through systematic, organized instruction. Reading is a skill which is built upon through stages and is an ongoing process.

If a stage of reading development has not been learned, students will flounder in their reading ability, which also affects their writing skills. It is imperative that teachers make certain students fully understand each stage of the reading/writing process before they move on to the next level.

Jean Chall, world renowned reading expert and psychologist for fifty years, and past professor emeritus at Harvard University cites her five stages of reading development below:

Stage 0:

Pre-reading Stage:

Unsystematic accumulation of understandings about reading between pre-school and kindergarten.

Stage 1:

Initial Reading or Decoding Stage (grades 1-2; Ages 6-7 )

Student’s central task is learning arbitrary letters and associating them with corresponding parts of spoken words. Learner acquires knowledge about reading. Phonics.

Stage 2:

Confirmation, Fluency, Ungluing from Print, Automaticity Stage (grades 2-3; Ages 7-8)

Consolidation of what was learned in Stage 1. Requires reading many easy and familiar books for developmental reading. Gradual increase in functional and recreational reading. Common use of the basal readers. Functional reading important – content area texts – here’s where we fail in our attempts to prepare our students. Range of possible recreational reading increases.

Stage 3:

Reading for Learning the New Stage: A First Step (Grades 4-8; ages 9-13)

Readers need to bring prior knowledge to their reading. Children acquire facts.

Stage 4:

Multiple Viewpoints Stage: (High School; Ages 14-18)

Should include instruction in reading/study skills, and reading strategies for success.

Stage 5:

Construction & Reconstruction Stage: College ; Ages 18 & up)

Adult literacy should stress acquisition of skills useful to the participants and the ability to apply those skills.

These are the stair steps of reading development. They are built upon and climbed, as students grow in their literacy development. Sometimes students get stuck in one of the stages. It’s my job as a literacy specialist to “unstick” them so they can move on to the next phase and beyond, empowering them to become enthuiastic readers and writers.

Copyright © 2006 by Pamela Beers. All rights reserved.

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“The rules won’t let me” Is the thirteenth of my series of the eighteen excuses people most commonly use, consciously or unconsciously that can slow down or eliminate their chance of becoming successful. Mind Set is a very substantial part of success development. Through various strategies like this and Personal Development can be made a lot easier.

There are areas of your life, and I am not referring to laws or legalities but social rules that can intimidate us not to cross lines because they are the rules we grew up with that either our parents or our piers instituted for us. Things that we perceive to be real only are they?

For instance, you can’t move out of state and leave your family or I have to do it that way I always have. Sometimes we need to march to the beat of our own drummer and do it our way. That is our form of originality.

With continued mind set training will aid in your success development. There are is a lot of mind chatter that can be in your mind holding you back from success. So continue to learn and grow.

We know you are all capable of this. You had to step outside of societies box to enter the realm of free enterprise to start with. Don’t let this mind virus limit your originality and perhaps keep you from your true path. Listen to your heart and follow its rules, that is usually our best guide.

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Home based business ideas require that you choose the right one among thousands that you may have in order for you to achieve internet success. Apart from choosing the right idea, your personal improvement will also contribute heavily towards your success with any of your home based business ideas.

Most of the emerging entrepreneurs do not understand the significance of personal improvement which forms the basic essence of any successful businessperson.

Some of the smart entrepreneurs learn very quickly the importance of their personal development for the success of their business. However, many do not which lessens their chance of survival in the business. This is the basic reason for such high failure rates of home based businesses.

It is always a wise plan to improve you first before taking on any particular task. You might need to emotionally strengthen yourself along with updating your knowledge, skills and physical health in order to achieve any level of success in your business.

Here, is a basic view of the relationship between home based business ideas and personal development.

Sources of personal development:

You will find numerous resources on Google and Yahoo that will help you to obtain nearly any personal development requirements that you may have. There are also many text books and magazine articles that you can get from your local library or book store to help you in this endeavor as well. You will be wise to study those resources which are authored by people with real life experiences in the subject matter rather than a ghost writer who has no real life experience with the subject matter.

DVD’s and CD’s are other excellent resources which can help you with your personal development. The Internet is also a giant resource. Internet online courses and live webinars are very helpful for home based businesses and generally the training is free.

Physical and spiritual personal development:

• It is also important to keep yourself physically fit, healthy with good personal hygiene. You should have an exercise at least three times per week depending upon your age and health condition. A good dietary program is also important.
• You should also consult your Doctor and/or your Health Consultant to find out if there is any medication that you should be taking to manage any potential stress that you may be experiencing now or that you perceive could affect you in managing your business in the future.

Personal development also includes attending seminars and other training events to give you more exposure to new knowledge, techniques, and technical skills needed to manage your business. This type of training not only helps to expand your personal qualities but it also gives you exposure to other people who may later become your mentors.

Ratio of personal development training:

Ideally people should allot or dedicate at least 20% of their time from their daily routine towards personality development. For instance, if people spend five hours for their home business they should allot at least one hour for personal development. That ideal rate should be 5:1. Basically opening up your mind for new learning towards improving your personality will reflect on your business results.

General points to consider for personal development training:

• Focus on your most important needs first. Don’t shotgun a wide variety of subjects at the same time. Lock in on your most important needs first and follow up with others later.
• Start slow and expand gradually according to your needs and necessities.
• Focus on the specific needs of your home based business. Not all businesses need the same knowledge and skill sets. Find out what your needs are and stick to that subject matter.
• Don’t try to learn it all right now. Too much of information will bring chaos, frustration, lack of self confidence and most likely depression causing both your health and your business to suffer accordingly.
• Some home businesses even offer their distributors free personal development training. If so, then this is an excellent way for you to obtain some of the training that you may not already possess.

As a closing note, remember that your personal development is critical to your success in developing your home based business ideas.

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The quote was something along the lines of: “I learned that you can’t just stab people when you get mad.” My friend and I huddled around the computer in amazement as a 30 year old man was carried off in handcuffs to serve the remainder of his life in prison, his last words dangerously close to humorous, all things considered.

The humor didn’t come from his prison sentence, of course. And it goes without saying that it wasn’t a result of his actions. It was that a grown man was “learning” something that any kindergartener this side of a “My mom is the best, because…” finger painting probably already has a firm grasp of.

After humor, however, came a bit of relief. Because as obvious as that “lesson” seemed to be to me, I had to feel grateful that I have the type of life that I don’t need to learn lessons like that. Maybe if I had lived my entire life in that man’s shoes, I would’ve turned out just like him. But, much to my advantage, our realities are completely different.

Then I began to think of the lessons I’ve taken a firm grasp of and stored in my mental rolodex for later use over the years. Most of them financial, some relationship-oriented. Better savings plans, reductions in wasteful spending, more effective ways of communication, etc.

Are the lessons I’ve learned viewed by others the same way I viewed the convict’s? Is Paris Hilton sitting somewhere laughing at people like me who are forced to learn the benefit of appreciation of what you have? Does someone like her even need to learn the upside of appreciation when she’s in no danger of experiencing the downside?

Surely, there are acceptable behaviors and common courtesy guidelines that we all have to play fair by. But in the game of life, are we all on a level playing field? You could argue that elevating your mind and bettering yourself is beneficial to everyone despite social status, but benefit isn’t the issue here. The question is if it’s essential.

Does Paris really need to learn the street-smart lessons of the man who lost his entire life to a bad decision? And in turn, will the convict really benefit from the information she’d have to offer when he has zero chance of ever experiencing it?

Perhaps there are others firmly positioned in life’s inside track, marvelling at my ignorance of the world how they see it. Maybe one day my eyes will be opened to the realities of those with unlimited possibilities, and maybe they won’t.

And if not… Then I guess it really doesn’t matter now, does it?

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The law of Attraction is deciding what you want, imagining you have it and knowing it will be yours. These are the keys to being a winner in the game of life. Have you had good luck in the past? Did you ever win anything? Do you win consistently or has nothing gone right for you?  These thoughts and beliefs are what the Law of Attraction is bringing to you.

You are what you think you are. What you think about yourself is who you become and what you have thought about who and what you are in the past, has created you today. Thinking is something that we don’t think about. We just do it. It’s such a habit to have chattering going on all the time. And most of the time it’s negative self talk.

What do you say to yourself when you drop something? ”Oh stupid, clumsy me.” What do you say to yourself in the mirror? This becomes a belief about who you are when you repeat it more than a couple of times. Those beliefs carry over into all facets of your life; your job, marriage, health and wealth.

Life is a game, and we can play the game to be a winner. When you play a board game, or a sport game, in order to do well, you must learn the rules, play by them and practice in order to be competent at playing.

Life’s game has rules. The rules are, you have unlimited imagination and free will to choose anything you desire, and you have the ability to create your desire. The consequences are, what you choose to think and feel will be reflected back to you–this is what you will create.

Therefore, in order to play by the rules, you must learn to become aware of what you think, because that is what you will create for yourself.  If you don’t like this game, you can play a different one. You have the choice and the ability. Today is a new day and a new beginning. Anything you thought or spoke in the past that meant doubt, failure or was not up to what you would really like is gone. You don’t need to think about it any more. You are a powerful person.

“Hang in there long enough and strong enough and you will get it” is one of the fundamentals of the game of life. There are no failures, only delays in results. What you want to attract is on its way to you, just hang in there. Some of our desires may take a bit longer to manifest. Just because they don’t show up quickly, doesn’t mean you don’t get them.   Simply give them more energy by thinking about them. Write them on cards that you can put places you see all the time, and they will remind you to think about them and know they are coming to you.

Life has been set up on purpose with the Law of Attraction as the way Life works.   You can work with it to make it a winning game for you, and no one else loses just because you win.

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We are all caught up in this game called life. There is no reset button. No way to shut it off and start over. There are no save points in this game. No go to pass and collect $200. There are rules however, and understanding these rules and the point of the game helps in the entire game of life. The rules are simple, enjoy the journey, and let go of trying to win. There are no winners, only players, some people play the game simply for the joy of the game. Others give up and wait for their turn to lay down forever. Others are lost in the middle. Learn to love the game, and play it with all your heart.

Life is a very serious game, and like all games there is an end. So many people are trying to win at the game of life, but what does winning mean? When does one know they have won at the game of life? The only victory that matters is the victory you choose for yourself. The only purpose of the game is the purpose you give yourself. There is no rule book out there telling us what the game is all about. There is nothing telling us what the game is all about. So the best we can do is play the game of life with all that we are, do as much as we can to find peace and happiness, and enjoy the game as we play it.

Take the time to find someone who does something they truly love. Maybe they make a handsome living at it, maybe not. The point isn’t how much they make or what they do. The point is the incredible joy they get out of just doing what they do. I had a mentor of mine give me an amazing insite to things once. When asked why he did what he did his response was simple: “I don’t do it because I want to help people live happier lives, because that is their responsibility and I don’t care what they do with it. I don’t do it because I want to be rich. I am, and my wealth will continue to grow as I help more people, but it’s not about the money. I simply get rewarded for doing the right things and helping people. I don’t do it because I care if people are successful or not, that’s not it at all. I don’t write because I want to entertain people, I don’t even like to type. I write because I love to create. If people get joy out of it great. If they are able to live better lives because of it that is great also, but I do it for me. I do it because it allows me to experience a place of joy. A peaceful place of creativity that allows me to connect with everything around me.” That opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing the world and the things I do in it.

So many people do things because they feel they have to for whatever reason. So many times people make decisions out of a fear of not having something or losing something else. Very rarely do people make a decisions simply because they would enjoy the journey of the path they choose. We all know people who are miserable at their job. They are miserable when they get home. They hate the people they work with and their spouse. They are never happy and haven’t smiled in years. We wonder if they even have the ability to laugh.

Rarely though do we find people who truly enjoy the journey of life they are on. Far and few are the people who are playing the game of life with all they have. Taking risk to create something they feel is worthy and noble. Few are the people who give what they do everything they have, and find joy and pleasure out of it. Imagine laying your head down at night knowing that you just lived one more day full of fulfillment. Remember to give life everything you are, and everything you have. Enjoy the game as you play it. Play it because you get joy out of the game. Try not to focus so hard on trying to win. If at the end of the day you are proud of the person you are becoming, joyful of the decisions you make, and happy about the steps you have taken. If you can say that is true, and you make decisions that make it so, then you are truly playing the game of life for the joy of the game. Remember not to take life to seriously, after all, it’s only temporary

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Most of us maintain goals or a purpose in life. We believe we’re participating in the game of life. We anticipate that if we stick to our plan, we will achieve our goals. Sometimes events occur that we cannot anticipate like being fired from our job, getting divorced or not being able to make our bills each month. The game we’re playing isn’t always fun, and at times of adversity we look to a Higher Power to bring it back to being fun.

It is not the job of our Higher Power to make us happy; however, it is the likely job of our Higher Power to get us through our difficult times. Our Higher Power is always there to guide us, not to create miracles.

We are created by our Higher Power, connected to our Higher Power and connected to everyone else. Each time we act, speak or decide upon an action, our actions affect all others in the universe with our energy. Our Higher Power is there to guide us…to put us “on track” when we’re lost. We talk to our Higher Power through our energies of happiness, despair, fear, etc.

Everything living and dead is composed of energy. It can be argued that the attractions of energies in the universe account for everything from everyday coincidences in life to the rise and fall of the stock market.

When we’re feeling despair and losing at the game of life, we need to talk with our Higher Power and ask for a winning strategy. Eventually, ideas will come to you. It is at this time, that you must act with forceful energy to get “through” despair and back on track to winning. Have you trained for a marathon or other sporting event? Do you work out at a gym to get into shape? Ever feel like you’re not going to realize your goal? It’s at precisely this time that we’re losing the game. It is at this time, that our Higher Power shows us a path that we need to follow.

That is the time to change our game strategy and increase our energy…then we will encounter situations and people that we previously didn’t expect. Why? Because we’re changing our levels and paths of energies; when you don’t feel like doing that last workout at the gym or run when you don’t feel like it… that you break through to another level of fitness. You can break through to another level of “game fitness” also. When we change our actions and energies, we attract different situations to us. Just when we’re losing the game, we can readjust our strategy and win.

People with high amounts of energy attract more opportunities to themselves than people with low energy. People with high levels of energy seem to be more successful. Think of the president or CEO of your company or the mayor of your city. What kind of personality and energy do they possess? I bet that they don’t sit around and complain of being bored or depressed. They probably don’t shy away from others. They take action! They’re proactive. People that possess a lot of energy don’t wait for success to come to them; they pursue it with perseverance, determination and fortitude. They decide what they want and go after it; they don’t settle for what comes to them.

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