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Thanks so much Lily and Andrea for all your hard work today. So happy that we were able to do a run-through and our handout is done - wohoooo! Here we come Seattle!♡♡♡

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Thanks so much Lily and Andrea for all your hard work today. So happy that we were able to do a run-through and our handout is done - wohoooo! Here we come Seattle!♡♡♡

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

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Key Points to Reading Success Speed reading

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Article from State Dept. ESL journal-- lots of promising-looking citations 

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Article from State Dept. ESL journal-- lots of promising-looking citations 

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https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/english-teaching-forum-volume-53-number-3#child-1983

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A Thesis on Lit Circles and Participation

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A Thesis on Lit Circles and Participation

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https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/bitstream/handle/1951/66599/Balone_Erika_MastersThesis_Fall2015b.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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Whether you're hitting the textbooks in philosophy class or reading the morning newspaper, reading can feel tedious. Train yourself to speed read to get through these tasks much faster. Reading faster does lead to less understanding, but with practice you can overcome some of this effect.

1. Stop talking to yourself. Almost every reader "subvocalizes," or moves their throat as they imagine speaking the words.[1] This may help the reader remember concepts, but it's also a major barrier to speed.[2] Here are a few ways to keep this habit to a minimum:

Chew gum or hum while you read. This occupies muscles used to subvocalize.

If you move your lips as you read, hold a finger against them.

2. Cover words you've already read. When reading, your eyes often move back to earlier words. Most of the time, these are short movements that probably don't improve understanding.[3] Use an index card to cover words right after you read them, training yourself not to overuse this habit.

These "regressions" also happen when you've failed to understand something. If your eyes jump several words or lines back, that's a sign that you may need to slow down.

3. Set a pace faster than you can understand. Many programs claim to increase your reading speed by training your reflexes first, then practicing until your brain can catch up. This has not been thoroughly studied. It certainly increases the speed you move through the text, but you may understand little or nothing. Try this if you want to aim for extreme speed reading, and you might understand more after a few days of practice. Here's how:

Move a pencil along the text. Time this so you can say "one one thousand" at a calm pace and finish just as you reach the end of a line.

Spend two minutes trying to read at the pace of the pencil. Even if you can't understand anything, stay focused on the text and keep your eyes moving for the entire two minutes.

Rest for a minute, then go even faster. Spend three minutes trying to read at the pace of a pen that moves across two lines every time you say "one one thousand".

4. Try RSVP software. If you can't reach your goals with the techniques above, try RSVP, or Reading Rapid Serial Visual Presentation. In this approach, the phone app or computer software flashes text a single word at a time. This lets you choose any reading speed you like. Raise it too high, though, and you won't be able to remember a large percentage of the words. This may be useful to get a rapid summary of a news article, but not when studying or reading for fun.

1. Know when to skim. Skimming can be used to gain a shallow understanding of a text. It can be used to scan a newspaper for interesting material, or to get the important concepts out of a textbook in preparation for a test. It's not a good replacement for thorough reading.

2. Read titles and section headings. Begin by only reading the chapter titles and any subheadings at the start of large sections. Read the headlines of each newspaper article, or the table of contents in a magazine.

3. Read the beginning and end of a section. Textbooks usually contain introductions and summaries of each chapter. For other texts, just read the first and last paragraph of a chapter or article.

You can read quickly if you're familiar with the subject, but don't try to speed read as fast as possible. You're saving time by skipping most of the section, but you do need to understand what you're reading.

4. Examine pictures and diagrams. These often present a lot of information without much reading required. Take a minute or two to make sure you fully understand each diagram.

5. Read the first sentence of each paragraph, if confused. If you've lost track of the subject, read the start of each paragraph. The first one or two sentences will teach you the main points.

6. Study using your annotations. Go back and look over the words you've circled. Can you "read" these and get a general sense of what the text is about? If you get confused at a certain word, try reading a few sentences around that word to remind yourself of the topic. Circle additional words as you do this.

Set yourself goals. Your reading speed should improve if you repeat one or more of these exercises daily. Many people can double their reading speed after several weeks. Set yourself milestones to motivate yourself to keep practicing:

200-250 words per minute is the expected reading speed for someone age 12 or older.

300 wpm is the reading speed of the average college student.

At 450 wpm, you're reading as fast as a college student skimming for the main points. Ideally, you can do this with almost total comprehension.

At 600-700 wpm, you're reading as fast as a college student scanning to find a word. Most people can learn to read at this speed with about 75% of their normal comprehension.

At 1,000 wpm and above, you're reaching the level of competitive speed readers. This usually requires extreme techniques that skip over most of the text. Most people can't remember much at this speed.

Add New Question

How do I train my eyes to make fewer movements when I read?

Read from further away. Then you won't need to make that many movements, and you can also take in sentences and even paragraphs at a time.

Can I train my brain to read more than 17,000 wpm?

Probably not. Claiming to be able to read that fast is extremely rare. In the movie, "Rain Man," the title character could read up to 20,000 words a minute. His left eye read the left page, right eye read the right page, but that is something very rare. It is not associated with neurotypical people.

What can cause someone to no longer be able to improve their reading ability?

When a person has little or no desire or patience, the willingness to read and improve their reading wanes. If you want to improve, you can.

See more answers

Reading material

Earplugs (if in a noisy area)

Stopwatch

Index card

This article was co-authored by Carlee Rasmussen, MA. Carlee Rasmussen is the Assistant Principal at South Junior High in Anaheim, California. She's also served as an Education Specialist, Professional Development Coordinator, and Special Education teacher at various schools in the Colorado and California. She received her MA in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado-Denver in 2014. She is certified in Administrative Services and Education Specialist Instruction in the State of California. This article has been viewed 2,664,801 times.

If you want to learn speed reading, train yourself not to move your throat or your lips as you read, since this can slow you down. You can also use an index card to cover words you've already read so you don't keep reading the same thing over and over. To start speed reading even faster, try reading the text more quickly than you can actually understand them, which may eventually train your brain to process the words more quickly. Read on to learn tips for efficiently skimming through large portions of text!

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 2,664,801 times.

El Habib Choukri

"As too old trying to spend a nice time with what you said for me that help me. Best wishes."

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How to Learn Speed Reading: 15 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

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Download Article Download Article Whether you're hitting the textbooks in philosophy class or reading the morning newspaper, reading can feel tedious. Train yourself to speed read to get through these tasks much faster. Reading faster does lead to less understanding, but with practice you can overcome some of this effect.