Class reading Speed
No matter what level of schooling students are at, all are under pressure to attain high levels of reading comprehension and assignment completion
Elementary school students up to graduate students are pressured to get their reading assignments finished and to understand everything they have read. Some students are totally overwhelmed with the amount of reading they are assigned to complete. Whether they pass, fail or doing really well in school is directly correlated with their class reading speed.
Different people read at different speeds. While some people read rapidly and have good comprehension, other people struggle and may have trouble remembering what they read. Still other people read at erratic speeds and variable comprehension. Most educators feel that a comprehension rate of at least 50% is needed for learning to occur.
If students are having a problem reading as fast as they are required and aren't doing well in class, they may look into a speed reading course. There are many infomercials that boast that their graduates have unbelievable breakthrough reading speeds. Students may buy computer software, books that deal with reading problems, or CD's. Many students may enroll in tutoring classes to increase their reading comprehension and speed.
No matter what the form, all speed reading courses use similar techniques to increase reading speed and retention. These methods subconsciously relate to common day to day skills, such as skimming a text to find its keywords and get a basic idea of its contents. The brain then constructs a summary of the content from these key points. Speed reading courses can speed up this ability and teach the student tips to retain a greater quantity of a text's information.
When we are learning to read, we are also learning to become familiar with larger amounts of information. First, we learn the sounds of letters. Then, we learn actual words and phrases. Speed reading courses teach us to recognize longer and wider series of words which processes the information faster. The term subvocalization means moving your lips while you are reading silently. There is disagreement on the value of this in speed reading courses.
The most popular program that increases class reading speed uses techniques that previously you may have been told are not good. It involves using one finger as a guide to run underneath a line of print. This acts to lead the eye along the page. This is a very useful technique for those who suffer from dyslexia, as well as others, to improve their reading speed and overall comprehension.
On average, an untrained adult can reads at around 120 words per minute or two words per second. This can be easily tripled through training with good comprehension. If your reading speed is three times faster, then obviously assignments based on reading will take a third of the time! You would still save a third of your time even if you could read at twice the speed.
Students read to learn. Faster reading leads to faster learning. Making sure you read as well as classmates, known as the Class Reading Speed, while retaining comprehension is important. There are a number of simple techniques such as skimming or sweeping text for key words and phrases, sub vocalization or even scanning text with your finger that can help you meet the Course Reading Speed of your class and keep up with the teacher.