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- [David] Hello readers.

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Today I'm in this peaceful forest

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to tell you all about the skill

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of figuring out the main idea of a text.

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- [Squirrel] Say, what's the big idea?

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- [David] Yes, exactly.

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Wait, what?

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Oh, hello squirrel.

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- [Squirrel] You heard me, big legs.

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What's the big idea?

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Were you tromping all
over my patch of forest

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without so much as a how do you do?

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- [David] I'm sorry.

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How do you do?
- Hello.

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- [David] How can I make it up to you?

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- [Squirrel] Well, okay.

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I'm working on a school assignment.

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- [David] Squirrels have school?

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- Yeah.
- All right, all right.

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Sorry, go on.

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- [Squirrel] So I've got
this newspaper article,

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and Mr. Badgerton says I have to draw out

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what the main idea is.

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How is that different from a summary?

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- [David] Okay, a summary is all of

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the key details of an article or a story,

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but a main idea is bigger than details.

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It's what those details add up to.

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A main idea is the key information

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that the author wants you to know

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after you've finished reading the text.

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So, for example, what's
going on in your article?

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- [Squirrel] It's about
the creek in the forest,

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and how everyone wants to drink from it,

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but the otters wanna swim in
it, the bears wanna fish in it,

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and the beavers wanna build a dam in it

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and turn the whole thing into a pond.

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- [David] Not as peaceful of a forest

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as I thought, huh?

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- [Squirrel] Not so much, no.

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- [David] What you just told me

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is a summary of the
events of the news story.

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But the big idea there is that
there's a conflict or fight

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over who has access to the creek.

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- [Squirrel] So you just zipped
all the supporting details

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out of my summary, and made
it more about the ideas?

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- [David] Yeah, exactly.

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The main idea is that different
animals wanna use the creek.

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- [Squirrel] Can you give me
a more complicated example?

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- [David] I would love to.

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Why don't we take a look at
this text about brain growth?

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So here's a passage about
training your brain.

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I'm going to read it,
I'm gonna make notes,

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and then I'm gonna
summarize each paragraph.

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And then, I'll take all those summaries,

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put 'em together, and that'll help us

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come up with a main idea.

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So, here we go.

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Your brain gets stronger
when you exercise it,

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just like muscles get stronger
when you exercise them.

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Training your brain isn't
always easy or comfortable.

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In fact, your brain uses up 20%

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of the oxygen and blood in your body

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because it works so hard.

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Okay, so, your brain can get
stronger, but it's not easy.

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Here are some examples
of how your brain grows

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when you learn new things.

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Learning math strengthens
the parts of the brain

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that are linked to memory,
thought, and action.

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Imagine that!

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Remember when you first learned
how to add and subtract?

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You got faster and faster
with more practice.

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That's because your neurons,
those are brain cells,

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your neurons were learning
how to work with each other,

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and then your memory improved.

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But memory is useful
for more than just math.

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I'm gonna underline more than just math.

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That same part of your brain

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helps you remember basketball
plays, dance routines,

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and even nice memories with
your friends and family.

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So it's not just about math.

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Learning and practicing things
helps your brain work faster.

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Learning or practicing
anything, yes anything!

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Learning and practicing helps strengthen

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and change our brains.

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Your brain is changing and
creating new neural pathways,

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which is just another way of saying

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brain connections, right?

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Neural is similar to neuron.

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So it's like, having
to do with brain cells.

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Your brain is changing and
creating new neural pathways

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when you struggle to learn something new.

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So struggle is important.

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In other words, there's a
lot happening in your brain

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when you're learning.

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All learning can build
new information pathways,

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but learning things that
are challenging for you

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can supercharge your brain growth.

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In other words, the
more you're challenged,

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the faster you learn.

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So here are my paragraph summaries.

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Your brain can get
stronger, but it's not easy.

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Learning and practicing
helps your brain work faster.

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And the more you're challenged,
the faster you learn.

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Putting those three things together,

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I would say that the
main idea of this passage

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is that learning new information
can strengthen your brain.

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Let's get our little
thinky pinky back in there.

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What I did was I took
something from each paragraph

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and found what they all had in common.

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There were some details, for example,

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about math or dance
practice, that are important,

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but aren't so important

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that they need to be
included in the main idea.

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All of that can just sort of be pushed

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into this broader idea of
learning new information

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makes your brain stronger,
can strengthen your brain.

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- [Squirrel] So how should I
be thinking about main ideas?

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- [David] All right.

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So, are you familiar with the expression,

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"You can't see the forest for the trees"?

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- [Squirrel] David, I live in a forest.

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Of course I'm familiar.

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- [David] So it means, right,

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don't get so hung up on details

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that you can't see the big picture.

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The trees, one by one, are
all part of the forest.

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They make up the forest.

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Right, you with me?
- Yes.

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- [David] A summary of the forest

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is all the important details.

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There's a stream here,
there's a birch tree here,

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a Douglas fir tree here, a red
oak tree here, a rock there.

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But the main idea is this is a forest.

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All of those things together

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add up to the idea of a forest.

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- [Squirrel] But do they add up

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to you doing my homework assignment?

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- [David] They do not.

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- [Squirrel] Aw, nuts.

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- [David] You can learn anything.

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David, out.