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Reference/Reading Skills

™
g Easier!
The fun and easy way® to Making Everythin
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ding
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Rea

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Speed
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 18 Part I: Introducing Speed Reading

Practice Text 1-1a (continued)

Why Does Formal Reading Education Stop after Third Grade?
Because the “end goal” of the current reading curriculum,
per No Child Left Behind, is to have children read at the third
grade level by the end of third grade, producing children who
are only skilled as fluent oral readers. Federal funding support-
ing reading-to-learn education is drastically reduced after third
grade; hence, silent reading skills are not taught.
The Solution: Oral reading fluency should be redefined as the
No Child Left Behind Act’s interim-goal of reading education.
The Act’s end-goal should now be defined as requiring stu-
dents to demonstrate mastery of silent reading skills — seeing,
reading, and processing more than one word at a time without
vocalizing (lip or subliminally).
Technology to Accomplish the Solution: Our company utilizes
scientifically sound principles to dramatically teach how to
unlearn the habits of slow readers (oral readers) and learn
the habits and skills used by fluent readers (silent readers).
Mastering silent reading skills arms children, as well as adults,
with skills needed in the real world, where all reading is done
silently.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Silent Reading Skills? Our com-
pany guarantees that individuals of any age can double their
reading speed with increased comprehension and recall by
spending a minimum of 15 minutes every other day for three
weeks with our software. Greater improvement will come with
additional practice.

When you read the selection a second time, take to heart these
speed-reading basics:

✓ Read aggressively. Part of being a speed reader is reading with

more intensity, focus, and concentration. This time, devour the
words as you read them. Be an active, not a passive, reader.
✓ Don’t vocalize. As best you can, glance at the words and take
in their meaning without hearing them. (Chapter 2 offers tech-
niques to keep from vocalizing.)
✓ Widen your vision. Instead of focusing on a word at a time,
focus on four, seven, or ten words. Trust yourself to be able
to see the most relevant words at a glance and fill in the rest.

Follow these steps to complete the second half of Exercise 1-1:

1. Take note of the time you start reading the second pre-
sentation of “The Need to Revise the Nation’s Reading
Curriculum” (Practice Text 1-1b).

05_457443-ch01.indd 18 6/23/09 8:35:11 PM

 Chapter 1: Of Course You Can Speed Read! 19

2. Read the following presentation of the essay silently; try

to resist the urge to vocalize.
Notice how this second presentation is divided into one- to
five-word clumps. You’re now reading the essay as a speed
reader would read it. You aren’t vocalizing, and you’re
reading several words at a time. Notice how much faster
you read.
3. When you finish reading the second presentation of
the essay, write down how long you took to read it in
Appendix B and compare your first reading time to your
second reading time.

Practice Text 1-1b

The Need to Revise the
Nation’s Reading Curriculum

Call to action: out loud —

To revise what we call
the nation’s reading curriculum “oral reading fluency.”
in order to create • None of the necessary
a more literate society read-to-learn skills —
where the potential what we call
and productivity “silent reading fluency.”
of the citizenry We propose four revisions
is not limited to the nation’s
or constrained reading curriculum
by ineffective, slow reading. that incorporate
This revision is needed teaching children
because formal reading education, the silent reading skills
the learn-to-read stage, necessary to become
officially stops effective and efficient readers.
after third grade, To achieve
at which time silent reading fluency,
children have learned: children must be taught
• Only to read to see, read, and process
one word at a time, groups of words or
(continued)

05_457443-ch01.indd 19 6/23/09 8:35:11 PM