This is Module 1 in my Quantum Speed Reading Workbook
We prepare for most things in life in some form. Athletes and players stretch out and warm up before the event. Drivers run the car for a few minutes, especially on a cold day. Farmers prepare the field before sowing. But students hardly ever think of preparing or warming up before reading.
You are expected to go from literature class to Maths class to Geography class without doing anything to help you switch gears from one subject to another.
You will find that you are a much more effective reader when you take the time to prepare before starting to read. Students who prepare to read remember more of what they have read and are able to concentrate better and make stronger connections between ideas.
85 % of the learning at school involves text, so it is very necessary that you learn to extract information from the texts.
How do you prepare for Reading ?
You can prepare by
• Stating Your Purpose
• Fixing your point of attention to enter the ideal state of mind.
STATE YOUR PURPOSE.
What is your purpose in reading? If the answer is: Because I have to answer the assignment, you are not very likely to remember what you read or retain what you read. You will find yourself flipping through the book aimlessly, wasting your time.
If you are not going anywhere, any road will take you there.
West African Proverb
Reading experts point out six fundamental purposes for reading:
1. To grasp a certain message
2. To find important details
3. To answer a specific question
4. To evaluate what you are reading
5. To apply what you are reading
6. To be entertained.
Remember, reading with purpose is the first step towards understanding and remembering what you read.
So, ask yourself – Why am I reading this? What is the purpose? What do I expect to be able to do/know as a result of this reading? Think about your reading in terms of outcomes.
• I want to learn it thoroughly – commit to memory.
• I want to get the gist of it – a broad overview
• I want to support my argument – get evidence
• I want to find out what happened next –
• I want to be able to answer an exam question on the topic
• I want a range of opinions on the topic
• I am hunting for concrete facts and figures.
Purpose defines method of reading:
According to Fry, there are basically three types of reading we all do:
1. Quick reference reading: when we seek specific information to answer a particular question.
2. Critical reading: finding out ideas and concepts that require thorough analysis.
3. Pleasure reading: when we read just for pleasure or to appreciate an author’s style and ability.
Complete the following table to understand how your method of reading will change according to your purpose:
Reading Your Purpose Best Reading Method
Material
Newspaper to find vacancies quick reference.
Ad
Magazine
Do-it-yourself
Manual
Physics Text
Novel
Dictionary
Telephone
Directory
A good reader will always fit the method to the purpose. So it is very necessary to be clear about your purpose for reading, right at the start.
There’s another strong reason why you should state your purpose. All reading experts agree that the best readers are active readers. Active reading, according to Fry is, “reading that involves thinking – that process of engaging your mind and emotions in what the author is trying to communicate…. The active reader involves himself in receiving a message – a fact, an opinion, - that is readily retained because he has a purpose.”
Reading actively actually means a series of things. Perhaps most importantly is that active reading means reading with an awareness of a purpose for reading. Far too often students read aimlessly, hoping that the key ideas will somehow "sink in" and then eventually "surface" when they need to. Having a purpose is another way of saying that you have set goals for your readings. Setting a purpose is intended to give you an awareness of how to be selective in your reading of the material. : Reading Skills for University – York University.
In a sense, setting a purpose is choosing a reading process: are you intending to read to learn? To skim through to identify key concepts?
scanning for something specific?
The purpose or process you choose for reading changes the way you encounter the text. For example, if you were reading the newspaper you would probably not want to read it in the same way you would read portions of your text book.
Likewise, if you were searching for a specific word in a dictionary, say the word "recall" you wouldn't begin by reading every word listed under every letter from A to Q in order to find it.
Reading to learn, skimming, and scanning are all processes of reading which accord with a different purpose. Adjusting your reading to these various processes can make your reading both more effective and more efficient. In fact, the skills of skimming and scanning are two skills taught in courses on "speed reading" to assist in the identification of passages that should be read more thoroughly and intensively. Reading Skills for University – York University.
Watch a video on this strategy : http://www.thinkport.org/microsites/reading/video/purpose.mpg
Before reading, you need a sense of your own purpose for reading. Are you looking for background information on a topic you know a little bit about already? Are you looking for specific details and facts that you can marshal in support of an argument? Are you trying to see how an author approaches her topic rhetorically? Knowing your own purpose in reading will help you focus your attention on relevant aspects of the text. Take a moment to reflect and clarify what your goal really is in the reading you’re about to do.
Here is what reading expert Paul Scheele has to say about preparing :
• All reading ultimately serves a purpose – consciously or unconsciously.
• When you state your purpose explicitly, you greatly increase the odds of attaining it.
• Purpose unleashes ability.
• Almost anything can be accomplished, with a strong sense of purpose.
• Purpose is the engine that drives the whole Mind Power Reading System.
• The power created when you establish a purpose, can be felt emotionally and physically.
• Readers with a firm sense of purpose acquire new feelings about the act of reading.
• They sit as if they mean business.
• When you have strong purpose, your body becomes strong and alert.
(Paul Scheele: “Photoreading Whole Mind System “)
1.1 How to set your purpose.
Ask yourself:
A) What is my ultimate application of this material?
B) How important is this material to me?
C) What level of detail do I want?
D) How much time am I willing to commit right now to satisfy my purpose?
Prepare: Step 2 – Enter the ideal state for reading.
To read efficiently, your body has to be relaxed and the mind alert.
• If you maintain relaxed alertness, you are more able to comprehend, retain and recall what you read.
• It is the flow state, when you are totally absorbed in the reading task at hand.
• The reading environment often does not allow for concentration – phones, conversations, distractions.
Paul Scheele gathered valuable information on how to prepare for reading
From the research done by Ron Davis – an engineer with MIT.
• Ron Davis, a dyslexic, found that people with dyslexia, have a roving point of attention – one that wanders through space without coming to a fixed point.
• Skilled readers, on the other hand, have a fixed point of attention located just behind and above the top of the head.
• By training himself to redirect his attention, he raised his reading, writing and spelling skills from an elementary to a college level in fewer than three years.
• The book “ Gift of Dyslexia “ describes his method in detail. His sessions begin by training his clients to find the ideal point of attention, which he calls the “ visio – awareness epicentre. ”
( See last page for a diagram of the “ Visio Awareness Epicentre.)
• Paul Scheele adapted the Ron Davis’ technique calling it “the tangerine technique”. I prefer to call it” The Mandarin technique” as this fruit is more common in New Zealand.
• It is basically a visualization technique where you bring your awareness to a certain point in space.
• – think of an imaginary mandarin floating just above and behind your head – about 15 cm up.
• Gently close your eyes and notice what happens to your physical and mental state as you do this ?
What you can expect to feel
• A widening of your visual field
• A slight hint of a smile to the corners of your eyes and the corners of your mouth to relax your face.
• Fluid movement of the eyes with less staccato or jumpy movements
• The ability to read word phrases or even whole sentences at a glance.
How to enter the ideal state of relaxed alertness.
• Place your reading material in front of you.
• Begin to relax by closing your eyes. Become aware of yourself from head to toe. Your spine erect, your posture comfortable, and your breathing is relaxed.
• Mentally state your purpose for reading.
• Place an imaginary mandarin at the top back part of your head.
• Become aware of yourself from head to toe, as relaxed and alert. Bring a slight hint of a smile to the corners of your eyes and the corners of your mouth to relax your face.
• Even with your eyes closed, you can imagine your visual field opening up. You have a direct eye- mind connection.
• Now, at a rate comfortable for you, maintaining this state of relaxed alertness, gently open your eyes, and begin reading.
More about the Mandarin Technique.
• The Mandarin technique has a long history in a variety of forms :
• If you study pictures of Merlin the Wizard, you will notice he wears a pointed hat that corresponds exactly to the specifications given in
Ron Davis’ picture.
• During my seminars, I use the conical party hats available from the 2$ shop to drive home this point. I also point out that the Pope wears a skull cap, Rabbis wear a hat and that the Dunce Cap was originally a hat devised a Franciscan priest to help children focus on their reading.
• All these devises cause part of your attention to fixate at a place above and behind your head.
• Other ways of fixing your attention to the place above and behind your head: Imagine wearing a cone shaped hat with a bird on top of it. Feel the weight of the hat on your head – the feel of the brim on your scalp and focus your attention on the bird.
• Another way is to imagine standing outside your body and looking over the top of your head.
• If you are an auditory person, hear the click of your fingers above and behind your head.
• AS you do these, notice the shift in the way you feel.
The Visio Awareness Epicentre is the point at which the three lines meet.
Application to Reading
Once you have a sense of being able to change your point of attention to the Visio Awareness Epicentre, look at the passages included in Module Two. ( The first passage is : Otago Peninsula..)
You will be able to “see “ a whole paragraph rather than one word.
Continue to “see “ the rest of the passages.
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