Reading Strategies

Ever since I was a child, my father has told me to: read, read, and read some more. "You can learn anything from a book" is his favorite saying. 10 years later I really wish I heeded his advice. Being able to read and effectively absorb the information in the text is essential to nearly all of my courses. reading textbooks is the complete antithesis of riveting and often times is tiring and monotonous. The inherently boring nature of textbooks is why certain reading techniques are designed.

The first technique I used was Mr.R. This technique emphasizes reading comprehension, attention span, and recitation; which are all areas I need to improve in. The steps included in this technique are as followed: measure, read, then recite. The measuring part includes determining the length of the passage, and then estimating the length of one attention span. The next step is to break the reading assignment into reasonable chunks. The reading step is defined by jotting down key terms in the margin to recall the information that was just read. The recitation step is achieved by using the annotations in the margins to create flash cards to memorize and recite. I used this strategy for my contract law class. I did so because the chapters are very boring and there is a large amount of key terms; which makes it the perfect class to make note cards for.

The next strategy I decided to implement was X Minute Reading, which has slightly more steps then the Mr. R technique. The steps include: survey, read, summarize, review, and reward (I like this one already). The survey aspect is essentially just grasping the reading assignment as a whole. The read step is deciding what you are going to read and for how much time. The summarize step is best when you make a study aid (in my case I decided to make a list of key terms). The review is essentially just studying the key terms you just established by using your designated study aid. The reward is up to interpretation. I decided to use playing video games as my reward. After I finished reviewing my key terms, and I felt comfortable, I played a game of FIFA. The class I used this strategy for was my Law and Public Policy class for the simple fact that there is a substantial amount of reading for this course.

I picked these strategies because I am a visual learner. Creating study aids that are visual such as note cards or a list of key terms expedites my learning. My application of these strategies was pretty easy because the steps are laid out in the textbook. I applied this strategy to my courses that require the most reading. Both materials were subjects that encompassed law; which makes sense. These courses have a lot of key terms and force you to apply them to actual cases; which makes knowing the terms thoroughly imperative. These strategies worked extremely well for me. I believe they did because of how they match up with my learning styles and because of how easy they are to apply.