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Michael Clay Thompson: Free Downloads
Michael’s Long John Silver poem: Silver’s Song
- An Implementation Slideshow
- Developing Verbal Talent
- Elements of Poetry
- 100 Classic Words
- Grammar
- An Introduction to the Gettysburg Address
- Classic Words Bar Chart
- Advanced Vocabulary for Gifted Secondary Students
- About Research Papers
- Advanced Thinking in Research
- Three Pages in One Glance
- Poetry or Prose: A False Dichotomy
- Taking Notes without Note Cards or Bibliography Cards
1. An Implementation Slideshow
When should you introduce Grammar? and Writing? Here is the overview of when and how to introduce the various elements of the curriculum. Valuable advice from Michael Clay Thompson for teachers and homeschooling parents. A series of pdf slideshows showing how the program should be developed for your students or your child.
Download Implementing the MCT Curriculum – Elementary Tier 4MB, 57 page PDF slideshow.
Download Implementing the MCT Curriculum – Secondary Tier 3MB, 55 page PDF slideshow.
2. Developing Verbal Talent
(Hand-out for : Gifted Children Need Classic Literature NAGC 2006)
“Classics are gifted books, by gifted writers, and are right for gifted kids”. Contains a List of classic words. Answers the question: Why is grammar fun and valuable? Key points and recommendations.
See also Michael Clay Thompson’s Classics in the Classroom and Word Within the Word.
Download Developing Verbal Talent 695K, 8 page PDF.
3. Elements of Poetry
Just as a composer consciously places each separate note of a symphony on musical staff, so a poet consciously controls each separate vowel and consonant sound, organizing them within the structure of rhythm.
The technique that everyone immediately associates with poetry, rhyme, is probably the one that is least used in modern poetry. Instead, most modern poets use far subtler and less obvious techniques to create – and conceal – their art. Many of them are explained in this hand-out.
Learn more about poetics in the Poetic Series by Michael Clay Thompson.
Download Elements of Poetry 81K, 3 page PDF.
4. 100 Classic Words
“What words do students really need to know if they are to read comfortably in the classics of English and American literature? My ten-year study of 35,000 examples from 130 different works indicates that the following words appear with high frequency. They are the top 100 words in my Classic Words database, in descending order of frequency, and they appear even in socalled children’s classics, such as Tom Sawyer, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, and The Call of the Wild.”
From: Classic Words by Michael Clay Thompson.
Download 100 Classic Words 40K, 1 page PDF.
5. Grammar
A Magic Lens For Understanding Our Own Ideas.
More about Grammar: The Magic Lens series by Michael Clay Thompson, for secondary students, and for elementary students: Building Language.
Download Grammar 138K, 12 page PDF.
6. An Introduction to the Gettysburg Address
Lincoln used only ten sentences to give one of the most powerful speeches in American history.
For the full text of Michael Clay Thompson’s study of the Gettysburg Address, see Lincoln’s Ten Sentences.
Download An Introduction to the Gettysburg Address 121K, 5 page PDF.
7. Classic Words Bar Chart
From the Classic Words database. A bar chart showing how 27 books of classic literature vary in the richness of their vocabulary, noting that the most frequently read in the classroom are the least challenging!
Download Classic Words Bar Chart 99K, 1 page PDF.
8. Advanced Vocabulary for Gifted Secondary Students
This download is a hand-out for Michael Clay Thompson vocabulary workshops. It shows how vocabulary can be taught by learning and using roots and stems. It is a sample chapter from his series for secondary students, Word Within the Word..
Download Advanced Vocabulary for Gifted Secondary Students 113K, 13 page PDF.
9. About Research Papers
This extract from Michael’s book Classics in the Classroom outlines the techniques and methods behind creating and marking a good research paper.
Download About Research Papers 769K, 3 page PDF.
10. Advanced Thinking in Research
Here Michael details the four main types of research paper, covering creation, evaluation and reporting of ideas and the creative thinking behind conveying these ideas.
Download Advanced Thinking in Research 72K, 1 page PDF.
11. Three Pages in One Glance
“When you first learn to write a research paper, a three-page typed paper can seem overwhelming, but it really is a very short paper… …A three-page research paper is about quality, not quantity.”
Download Three Pages in One Glance 40K, 1 page PDF.
12. Poetry or Prose: A False Dichotomy
The Overlap between Poetry and Prose, an article written for California Association for the Gifted, May 2007
Download Poetry or Prose: A False Dichotomy
84K, 11 page PDF.
13. Taking Notes without Note Cards or Bibliography Cards
Even though students will not be turning in note cards or bibliography cards, they still have to write down the information during the research process.
Download Taking Notes without Note Cards or Bibliography Cards 84K, 11 page PDF.
