Painless Reading Comprehension - Darolyn “Lyn” Jones Ed.D. 2021

What should i do before i start reading?
Preparations for reading

There is an old saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” What does that mean? The more you do ahead of time to prepare, the easier the task will be. The more you do before you start reading, the easier reading will be.

Think about this. When a famous singer like Taylor Swift is about to perform for thousands of fans, she doesn’t just run onto the stage directly from her tour bus and begin singing. She arrives at the concert venue before anyone else shows up and warms up with vocal exercises, has her hair and makeup done, gets dressed, and then runs onto the stage and begins singing. If Taylor Swift didn’t do all that, her show and singing wouldn’t be as good as her fans have come to expect. And because she wants success, she prepares. The same is true for reading.

Determine, decide, and deduce

If you want to be a successful reader, you have to determine, decide, and deduce!

1. Determine your purpose. Why are you reading this? The teacher told me isn’t a purpose. Try again! Do you have to explain the information you read for a quiz or test? Do you have to summarize or retell what you read as a written response? Do you have to write a report explaining the events in the plot or the motivations of your characters? Do you have to analyze by explaining how to apply the words or terms in a new context? Do you have to create a multimedia project where you compare and contrast what you read to something else you read? Do you have to act out a scene? The possibilities are endless, right? If you aren’t sure, reread the assignment or ask your teacher to explain what your end goal is for reading this text. To be a successful reader, you must understand why you are reading what you are reading: What are you trying to learn or do with the reading?

2. Decide what kind of material you are reading. Is it informational—just facts and dates? Is it fiction—a story? Is it a word problem you will have to solve? Is it a process—like how a piece of wood becomes a fossil? Just as you speak in different languages in different situations, you read differently depending on what you are reading.

3. Deduce how much time you will need to do the reading. Deduce or make an educated guess as to how long you will need to do the reading, and then add some extra time to that. Have you ever tried to read a fifteen-page chapter in study hall thirty minutes before it is due? Were you successful? Probably not. Give yourself plenty of time. Some people need longer than others, and that is okay. You won’t be given an award for speed-reading. People who say they can read really fast may be able to, but they may also just be saying the words and not really understanding what they are reading. You know the difference, so don’t feel pressured to read faster. The reward for slowing down is that you understand what you have read. Only you know how long it takes you. So, you set aside that amount of time and some extra time in case you run into some words or ideas that are harder to understand. For example, I can read only about twenty pages at a time. When I have a lot of reading due, I read a little; I take a five- to ten-minute break, setting a timer on my phone and working on something else like answering emails or checking my social media pages; and then I come back and read more until the reading is completed. As you read more and practice the techniques in this book, you will discover that you will be able to read faster. But remember, reading is a process. You need to start at the beginning with these three steps:

Step One: First, determine your purpose. Why are you reading this?

Step Two: Second, decide. Are you going to be reading fiction (a story) or nonfiction (like a textbook chapter or an article)?

Step Three: And finally, deduce. Deduce how much time you will need to do the reading. Schedule time to read just like you schedule your sports, music, or karate practices and lessons!

Let’s practice!

Try this exercise. Imagine you just received your driver’s license. You take your mom’s car out for the first time. You take your eyes off the road for just a second to change your music, and you rear-end the car in front of you. No one is hurt, but both cars have some damage. Write down or type what you would say about what happened to:

✵ The police

✵ Your mom

✵ Your best friend (you can even text her or him)

The descriptions are very different, aren’t they? Your description to the police would read as an information piece because that is all they want to know: who, what, where, and how fast. Your description to your parents might have some fiction blended in with the facts in the hopes you won’t get in as much trouble. You may not tell them that you were concentrating on the car stereo and not on the road. Your description to your best friend might be an even more dramatic account, giving greater details about what you were really doing and how it felt when you hit the car and had to tell your parents. (Just so you know, they will find out the truth. It’s better to be honest ahead of time.) Reading material also presents itself in different languages. By deciding ahead of time what kind of reading it is, you can prepare your reading brain to make sense of the words.

Let’s practice!

An English and social studies selection about a Holocaust survivor, Agnes Vogel, appears at the end of this chapter. Read about the required assignment before you read about Vogel’s life.

DETERMINE:

First, determine. What is your purpose for reading this selection?

DECIDE:

Second, decide. What kind of reading is it?

DEDUCE:

Third, deduce. How long will it take you to read this?