Reading

Business Literature

Reading
Speed reading?

This is not about trying to read as FAST as you can . . .

. . . It is about learning to read as effectively as you can

Assessing your findings

150 wpm 250 wpm 400 wpm

Insufficient Average general reader (too slow for college) Good general reader (the minimum for effective college-reading) Strong college reader Excellent

600 wpm 1000 wpm

Main causes of slower reading

word-by-word reading; slow perceptual reaction time, i.e., slowness of recognition; vocalizationhabitual or for comprehension; Inefficient eye movements; Regression; faulty habits of attention and concentration; lack of practice in readingespecially large amounts; fear of losing comprehension; habitual slow reading; poor evaluation of which aspects are important and which are unimportant; the effort to remember everything rather than to remember selectively.

So now what?

The average college student reads about 350 words per minute. A "good" reading speed is around 500 to 700 words per minute, but some people can read a thousand words per minute.

What makes the difference?

There are three main factors involved in improving reading speed: (1) the desire to improve, (2) the willingness to try new techniques, and (3) the motivation to practice.

Most people can double their reading speed while still maintaining equal or even higher comprehension.
Warning: In order to learn to read rapidly and well you must have acquired the necessary vocabulary. When you can understand college-level materials, you are ready to practice reading faster.

Strategies for effective reading

Pre-Read: Skim the piece looking for sub-headings, images, graphs etc. Try to get a sense of what the reading is about. You can call this READING FOR PLOT (like reading the end of a mystery novel before you get there); Pre-think: ask yourself some questions that this reading might answer, things on the syllabus perhaps, or from the lecture. Think BEFORE you read. You can call this CREATIVE THINKING; Read in blocks: Read several words at once (a phrase, half a line, or a full line in textbooks with columns); Pause ONLY at the end of sections. Dont reread, but jot down what you remember at the end of each section. You can go back and reread at the end. Dont wait for the action replay. Just read!

If you find yourself falling asleep--take a nap! DO NOT keep reading. It is a waste of time. Just give it up for a bit.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Remember reading about Spot the dog?

SEE

SPOT
RUN SPOT LICKS . . . No . . . LIKES SPOT LIKES THE BALL.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Before that you sounded letters.

R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R okay

RE - MEM - BER

REMEMBER!!!

Tricks for successful reading

Reading one word at a time in college is like sounding out letters or parts of words.

It TAKES TOO LONG

Instead . . .

Read in blocks: Read several words at once (a phrase, half a line, or a full line in textbooks with columns); We are going to practice this

Tricks for successful reading

Think about how much effort it takes for your eyes to focus on EACH WORD AT A TIME!
Lets play the focus game for a minute. Focus on something a long way away, now focus on something close up. Now look to your left and focus. Now to your right. Now close up again. It took time for you to focus, right? That same process is occurring every time you FOCUS on a word if you read word-by-word. See??

It TAKES TOO LONG

Your eyes get TIRED

READ IN CLUMPS (clauses, phrases)

Let your eyes settle on several words at once (a phrase, half a line, or a full line in textbooks with columns). SEE the words, but dont move your eyes or say them. We are going to practice this

Tricks for successful reading

Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half Place it under a line of text If the text is in columns, put a dot on the piece of paper in the middle of the line

As you read,

move the piece of paper down the page so it is always under the line you are reading.

Look at the DOT

and SEE the words, but do not SAY them

We are going to practice this

Using the eye-guide

Move the eye-guide down the page as you read. One line at a time.

Focus on the dot, and just see the words

Article source: www.sedl.org/reading/ topics/brainreading.pdf.

Here are the other tricks

Vocabulary - Wait until you've finished reading to look up unfamiliar words. (If you stop, you'll reduce your level of comprehension.) Comprehension - to improve comprehension, repeat the main points of the chapter after closing the book. See how many specific details you can recall. The more you interact with your text, the more you'll recall. Recollection and comprehension require a vigorous approach. Practice 1: Skimming & Scanning - find an interesting newspaper column or magazine article. Rapidly read the article, sampling just the first sentence or two of each paragraph and a few key words. Jot down all the facts you can remember. Then reread the article slowly, giving yourself a point for every item you can recall.

Now YOU need to practice

The Basic Program:

Two or three times a day, read something you enjoy for 15 to 20 minutes without stopping. Time yourself to within 30 seconds. Record your reading rate and chart your progress. Recording and charting are essential if you wish to make real progress. Push yourself gently as you read. If your mind wanders, get it back on track. Set reading-rate goals for yourself. Aim for a 10% increase in your reading rate over the previous record. Practice skimming & scanning by finding an interesting newspaper column or magazine article and rapidly reading the article, sampling just the first sentence or two of each paragraph and a few key words. Jot down all the facts you can remember. Then reread the article slowly, giving yourself a point for every item you can recall. READ YOUR TEXBOOKS ACTIVELY!

Comprehension Strategies: Comprehension Monitoring

Goal become aware of understanding of text and identify when that understanding has been blocked Ask questions

Does this make sense? Do I understand what I am reading? What does this have to do with what I already know? What will happen next?

Steps when there is a roadblock to comprehension

Identify the difficulty Use think-aloud procedures Restate what was read Reread text or read ahead to find info that may help

Comprehensions Strategies: Comprehension Monitoring

Read and Say Something
Ask a Question
I wonder? Why?

Make a Prediction
I think _________will happen Make a Comment Comment on something you like, a part you may not like, or a concept you do not understand
Harste, Short & Burke, 1988

How?
Make a Connection This reminds me of when I used to She/he is just like

Comprehension Strategies: Comprehension Monitoring

My Reading Check Sheet
Sentence CheckDid I understand this sentence? If you had trouble understanding the meaning of the sentence, try reading the sentence over. reading the whole paragraph again reading on asking someone Paragraph CheckWhat did the paragraph say? If you had trouble understanding what the paragraph said, try.. reading the paragraph over reading the paragraph before or after summarizing out loud asking someone Page CheckWhat do I remember? If you had trouble remembering what was said on this page, try rereading each paragraph on the page, and asking yourself, What did it say?
Adapted from Anderson (1980) and Babbs (1984)

Visualization or Mental Imagery

Imagery training has been found to improve students memory of what they read Individuals are guided to create visual images to represent a picture or a text as they read it. Can start with small amounts of text working up to whole pages

Retelling (Visualization)

Read a passage related to the topic As you read, draw simple pictures that mark the actions, events, or key points. After reading, retell the passage as you point to the pictures in sequence. Incorporate important vocabulary into the retelling. Students retell the passage after you have modeled.

2003 Neuhaus Education Center. Used with permission, 713/664-7676 www.neuhaus.org

A New Way Of Travel

We see cars everywhere we go. Can you imagine a world without any cars. Cars have been around for only about a hundred years. [Write 100.] Before cars were invented, people traveled by horse or by a carriage or wagon pulled by horse. Travel was very slow. [Draw wagon.] At one time cars were a rare sight on the city streets. Cars were expensive. Most people could not afford them. [Draw $$$$$$$$.] It took a long time to make a car. There were so many parts to put together. It took a few people many, many hours to put a car together, so there were not many cars available. [Draw four clocks.] A man named Henry Ford came up with an idea to make cars low cost and faster to make. His idea was known as an assembly line. [Draw a line.] To assemble a car, many workers stood in a line. Each worker was responsible for putting on only one part of a car. As a car moved down the line of workers, each worker put on their one part. [Write 1.] With more workers and each worker responsible for putting on only one part repeatedly, more cars were made in a shorter period of time. [Draw one clock.] All of the cars were similar, with the same parts and colors, and less expensive. [Draw $$.]

2003 Neuhaus Education Center. Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use only.

Now You Try

With a partner, read the next story and draw a
picture to represent each story part. Use just the pictures to retell the story.

The Contest
Once upon a time, the wind and the sun were having an argument about who was the stronger of the two. We must have a contest. That is the only way we will ever know who is the stronger one, said the sun. I am ready for any contest. What should it be?" said the wind. Look at all those people in the city. Whichever of us can make all the people in the city take off their coats is the winner, said the sun. OK, said the wind, It is hardly a challenge, but I will do it. Who should go first? Because I am so sure that I will win, I will let you go first, said the sun. The sun hid behind a large fluffy cloud and the wind got to work. His idea was to blow an icy blast that would blow the coats right off the people in the city. The wind blew and blew and blew. The blast was the coldest, strongest blast that the people had ever felt. Instead of blowing the coats right off the people, a strange thing happened. The people wrapped their coats tightly around themselves. The harder the wind blew, the tighter the people wrapped their coats around themselves. At last, the exhausted wind gave up. Now, it was time for the sun to get to work. The sun came out from behind the clouds and shone down on the city with all his strength. The people began to feel the warmth of the sun. They loosened their coats. The sun continued to shine with all his might. The people grew warmer and warmer. Soon they were so warm that they had to take their coats off. So the sun won the contest. He was indeed the stronger of the two!

2003 Neuhaus Education Center. Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use only.

REVIEW: TO ACTIVE READ YOU:

Ask general beginning questions; Set a purpose by pre-viewing a chapter, and deciding what you hope to learn; Guide yourself through the reading by skimming first, looking at its length, sub-headings (the plot), images, charts and graphs, etc.; Make notes, highlight, and summarize AFTER the reading is done! AND BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE!!!

Okay, lets try this

Go back to the same piece you read at the beginning. Take the piece of paper (your eye guide) and put it under the first line. Reread this piece, Move your eye guide down the page looking at the dot and just seeing the words. Ill stop you after ten minutes.

Okay, lets try this

Put a mark next to the line where you stopped. Did you read more than the first time? Now PRACTICE

Good luck!!!