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| Reading is Fun |
I received a lecture about
reading strategies on last Wednesday. The lecturer was awesome, since no one
was sleeping, and we just laughed a lot. So I think that’s pretty much an
indication that he is great lecturer. In his lesson we learned about how to
read well. For me, it was really useful. It made me know the reason why I never
actually understand what I have read. HaHa. I was a bit offended though when He
pointed out that the low achiever reader is the one who actually doesn’t ever
catch what she/ he has read, reader who forget the things after several days. I
guess he got me.
Ok, what I perceived about
reading strategies is the fact that no such a thing as fast reading/reader. The
only thing exists is strategic reader. Bingo! No wonder that western people
have no difficulty during reading and they always know what they have read. The
knowledge sticks longer and they never spend lots of time on one book. There are
some strategic ways to make our reading efficient, useful and “quicker”.
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| I wanna know...uhm..uhm?? |
He said the first thing we have
to do is be clear with our purpose of reading. Quite often when I had
assignment to read something, it would take me forever to finish it. And worse
I didn’t get anything after. I got confused how the hell I managed finish a
book and I still had no clue what it was about. I ended up lost interest and
got bored, and The end!. Haha
The thing is I didn’t have a
purpose when reading a book. I was not clear with the reason what made me read
the book in the first place. The interesting thing he told me was I don’t have
read word for word or the entire pages from now on. I just have to decide what
I am gonna look for, just what I need to know.
Moreover, the next step to do
after we have our own purpose is we just gotta read the important parts;
general information about the book (the author, preface, introduction and
conclusion if it’s a journal or research), table of content (absolutely
necessary) and index (shortcut to get what you wanna find). And there you go, you
won’t waste your time coz you have clear vision about what you want to figure
out.
Next! This one is my favorite.
During reading, to make you understand well, you have to connect what the book
say with your prior knowledge. You put everything together and BAM you get the
new information. So, the process of relating what you know and inquiring what
you don’t know are really happening. That’s what it’s called as good reading.
You comprehend faster. Well maybe. Haha
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| I got it, I got it |
In addition, during and after
reading (this one is not my regular thing to do actually) we have to make
reflection, evaluation and explanation. We gotta be critical with what we read.
He said we have to form lots of questions to train our critical thinking and comprehension,
make comment or summary. We also have to able to explain it, express what we
have absorbed. You can say it out loud if it’s necessary. Not only is it to make the inquiring process
more enjoyable, and can have your mood under control, but also it is to make
the knowledge stick longer. I thought that’s what makes everything different.
Finally, it brings me toward my
conclusion that reading is the process of thinking. My lecturer said that if we
are not thinking when we read, it is just the process of passing words. You
will forget it in no time. I think that makes sense coz that’s what has been
happening to me so far. Read and forget! Totally wasting time! So just so you
know, remember to have purpose; what makes you wanna read the book in the first
place and be critical. It is totally required during the reading process. And
one more thing, be open-minded, be open toward the new possibility it provides.
Have a nice reading!
