The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens By Sean Covey

Reader’s Guide (English IV)

Name____________________________________________________________________ This activity is due the first day of your senior year. The work for this text (this journal and test, will be a major part of your “literature and language” grade for the first quarter (literature and language = 40% of your grade). You may write on this sheet or type your responses. All typed responses must be submitted to Safe Assign for comparison on Blackboard before they can be graded (instructions for submitting to Safe Assign will be given during the first week of school).

Pre-reading: Before you read the text, answer the following question in complete sentences. 1. Why did you choose this book to read instead of Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands?

During/After Reading: In the following chart, demonstrate a connection between a passage or quotation from any five of the seven habits identified in this book and your life. Use the example below to guide your responses.

Habit Quotation/Passage (with page number)

How does/can/will this relate to my life?

“Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw”

“There are many ways to expand your mind. However, the best approach may simply be to read. As the saying goes, reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body” (Covey 218).

Throughout my life my parents and my teachers have always told me to read, read, read. I’ve always thought that they just wanted me to read because they wanted me to focus on school all the time, but this passage makes me think about reading in a new way. Maybe I’ve always been told to read because people in my life recognize that reading is, like Covey says, a way to “expand your mind” (218). And maybe if I expand my mind, I’ll see things in a different way. Maybe I’ll even be better at solving problems or identifying with people who I have always seen as different from me. Maybe I’ll try to read one more book this summer as an experiment: the quest to expand my mind! I guess we’ll see…

Habit Quotation/Passage (with page number)

How does/can/will this relate to my life?

You’re finished. Congratulations!

Remember to bring this assignment with you the first day of school.