"Reading and Thinking like a College Student" Supplemental Content: Actionable Steps

1. Read with Initiative. Choose any book that interests you and read it using the 5 step system from "Reading like a College Student," by Kari Arnoldsen. The book doesn't have to be a required text for a class, but it could be. Set aside time to read each week, and take notes as you read. Ask classmates if you don't understand something and/or a teacher who works with your kind of text. You will likely impress that teacher by showing your initiative. 
2. Strategic Reading. Read an assignment for any class using the 5 step system from "Reading like a College Student," by Kari Arnoldsen. Follow the steps. Make an appointment with the teacher of that class. Share both the points in this chapter and your notes with your instructor. And, as always, ask questions. 
3. Strategic Re-reading. Reread any chapter within this section: "Reading like a College Student," "Critical Thinking," "Analytical Thinking," "Creative Thinking," and "Lateral Thinking: Love and Impermanence." This time take notes on it and write down your answers to the following questions: what are the key points this chapter is trying to make? How did you figure it out? What made this reading accessible to you? What made it confusing? And how could learn more? 
4. Your Younger You. Draw one of your first memories. Do not worry about composition, neatness, or whether it is good. Avoid the digital, add something to the real world. Use crayons, pencils, markers, kool-aid, carpet, bananas, white-out, spoons, mashed potatoes, gravel. Use whatever medium you wish, whatever sounds fun. Go back to being a kid; create what feels right. Once completed write down a list of words about what you created. Then imagine what your 5-year-old self would say. Write down a few of his or her words. Then, using the two banks of words, compose a poem about your first memory.

5. That's So Random: Collect three random objects and create a narrative from them—the more random and disparate the better. If you need aid, enlist a friend to choose them for you. Set a timer. In ten minutes, write a story that includes all three. One might be the focus of the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. Don't think; write. You have only ten minutes to jot down as much as possible. Many creators stifle at the prospect of getting it right from the beginning. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

6. Reconnect the Dots: Revisit the first challenge in "Creative Thinking," by Andy Nogasky. Now you understand the premise and the bounds, will you approach it differently. How? Challenge yourself to find a brand-new way to connect A to B. Or the opposite: in a group try to duplicate the exact same paper. Even if they are similar, are they identical? Is that possible?

7. The Starting Question and Critical Thinking. What is something that you observe every day or do every day that you have always accepted as a fact? once you have identified this observation or action, search for an answer using any resource available. Are you satisfied with your answer? Or do you think you could continue on your search for more information? Why or why not? Did you come to any conclusions about your knowledge? If so, what?  
8. The Stepwise Process. The Stepwise process discussed in "Critical Thinking," by Jed Rasmussen, is composed of five steps: formulate a question, gather answers from your question, consider the implications, explore other perspectives, and repeat and adapt. Write down your answers. For each of these following scenarios, use the stepwise process to address the problem through critical thinking: 
   1. A student finds an expensive necklace in a bush near the bell tower. There is no identification on it.
   2. Fred's friend is stressed about the final for his class. Fred has already taken the final and received a 100%. He knows all of the answers. 
   3. What would happen if suddenly all electronic devices in the world stopped working? 
   4. What would happen if all animals could suddenly communicate with us? 
9. Intuitive/Analytical Problem Solving. Select something that you see as a problem in society. Analyze the problem and write down some intuitive solutions to the problem. Then brainstorm some structures and processes that might solve the problem. Then select one of the brainstormed ideas and develop this idea further. Conjecture about how your structure and/or process will help solve the problem. Now compare and contrast your intuitive solution with the analytical solution. Write about your results.
10. "The Abandoned Chapter" activity. Complete the last sentence or paragraph of "Creative Thinking," by Andy Nogasky: 

At first, work instinctually, write down the first thing that springs to mind. Then refine your thoughts. In groups, compare your ideas and discuss how the sentence/paragraph should end. Working collaboratively, create a new final sentence/paragraph deciding what creativity is.