Reading Strategies

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”.

 

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

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!