151.  Describe situations you can recall when inadequate communication skills led to decreased opportunities in your life.:
 
152.  Describe situations where stronger communication skills may have enhanced your prospects for success.:
 
153.  What do communication skills mean to you?:
 
154.  In what types of ways can improving communication skills assuage the burden of confinement?:
 
155.  What types of influence do communication skills have on an individual's prospects for success upon release? :
 
156.  How can developing communication skills open opportunities through imprisonment?:
 
157.  In what ways can an individual take clearly-defined, measurable steps toward improving communication skills?:
 
158.  In what ways have you taken measurable, deliberate steps to improve your communication skills?:
 
159.  What value do enhanced communication skills offer to a prospective employer?:
 
160.  How can a prisoner convey the extent of his communication skills and his personal investment to improve such skills?:
 
161.  How does the prison experience influence an individual's development of communication skills?:
 
162. In what ways do developing communicating skills resemble the development of physical fitness?:
 
163. What does it mean to read with a purpose?:
 
164. Describe the pattern of books you have read throughout your term in prison. What kind are they and why do you read them?:
 
165. In what ways do books you read prepare you for success upon release?:
 
166. When you consider the amount of free time available to you on a typical day, how do you determine the most effective ways to use it toward preparations for success?:
 
167. In what ways do you work to improve your dexterity with language, using words, sentences, and paragraphs to communicate ideas?:
 
168. How would you describe the argot of the imprisoned class?:
 
169. In what ways does the jargon of imprisonment compare of contrast with the language in the society you expect to encounter upon release?:
 
170. What does an individual speaker's enunciation convey to his listeners?:
 
171. In what ways do an individual's grooming habits or manner of dress communicate his values?:
 
172. To what extent does documenting a prison journey communicate an individual's commitment to success upon release?:
 
One of the exercises Michael embraced to develop his communication strategy included writing book reports. In Earning Freedom, he wrote that books opened opportunities that contributed in meaningful, measurable ways to prepare him for triumph over the obstacles he expected to encounter. Michael used the following format to write his book reports:
The book: How I came across the book (title of book); Why I choose to read (title of book); What I learned from (title of book); Ways in which (title of book) will contribute to my success upon release:
 
173.  In what ways would writing similar book reports contribute to the development of your communication skills and preparations for success upon release? :