1. Chapter 6 Building Your Reading Skills

2. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Sharpen Your Reading Skills What kind of reader are you? What do you like to read? What’s your reading style? Read for retention, not speed –Reading too fast decreases comprehension –Choose to read for understanding, not speed 6-2

3. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Building Your Reading Skills - Prepare Use advance organizers –Outlines, overviews, section objectives Know your goal for the reading assignment –Test material? Secondary material? Personal information? Understand the point of view of the material itself 6-3

4. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Building Your Reading Skills - Prepare Start with the frontmatter –Preface, table of contents –This identifies what the author considers to be important Use advance organizers –Chapter outlines, section headings, end-of- chapter summaries –Use guidance from your instructor on how to approach the chapter and what to focus on 6-4

5. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Building Your Reading Skills – Organize Gather what you need to read –Highlighters, pens, a copy of your reading assignment, paper or index cards for note- taking, a dictionary Determine how long your reading assignment will take –What is your per-page reading speed for comprehension? –How long is your assignment? –What is your attention span? –Allow for interruptions 6-5

6. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Building Your Reading Skills - Work Stay focused –Read in small bites –Give yourself enough time for the assignment –Take a break –Deal with mental distractions –Manage interruptions 6-6

7. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Building Your Reading Skills - Work Write while you read –You own your text…make the most of it by writing in it while you read –Rephrase key points –Highlight or underline key points (read the whole paragraph through first) –Use visuals to help recall information Use a reading system that works for you 6-7

8. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Dealing with Learning Disabilities Difficulties in processing information in reading, writing, listening, or speaking, such as: –Dyslexia –ADHD Learning disabilities do not mean a lack of intelligence and bear no relationship to IQ 6-8

9. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Dealing with Learning Disabilities Seek help if you have trouble processing information –Specific treatments are available –Colleges have a legal obligation to help students with learning disabilities by providing accommodations Trouble with reading assignments does not necessarily mean there is a learning disability 6-9

10. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Building Your Reading Skills - Evaluate What does it all mean? –Identify main themes and apply them to you personally –Prioritize the ideas –Assess the author’s points –Summarize the material aloud –Reread passage, if necessary –Congratulate yourself for finishing the reading 6-10

11. © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill Building Your Reading Skills - Rethink Rethink what you’ve read within 24 hours of initially reading it Reread more difficult passages, skim less difficult ones Think deeply about the material Use concept mapping to graphically group and connect main ideas 6-11