Speed Reading Phone App for the iPhone

I was recently contacted by the developer of an iPhone app that could be useful for our speed reading program practice. Called Quickreader, it comes with 25 full copyright free books to practice on. You can select your desired reading speed and practice! No Android or Windows app yet, but hopefully in the future. See the app in action in a video at the site.

Speed Readers Don't Use Laptops In Class

There has been considerable discussion lately about the use of laptops in the classroom. Sadly, many students are using them to surf the web and as an excuse to not pay attention. Some have said that if the teacher is not engaging them, they feel justified doing other things. This attitude is not only sad, it is disrespectful of the instructors' time and their own as well. Why would you want to pay thousands of dollars for a college class and then not pay attention?

This attitude also reflects the classic misconception in education that it is somehow the instructor's responsibility to get the student to learn. This has never been true. The student, especially the older adult, is completely responsible for the success of their learning experiences. You decide what you want to get out of a class and how you want it to contribute to your life. The teacher gives you the means, shares examples, explains concepts, but you are responsible for using a system of information capture that facilitates your learning.

The laptop may seem like it is a help, but it is actually a hindrance. Even if you are using it to take notes, it takes you out of the discussion. You cease being engaged with the teacher and the other students. It also locks you into to a linear, left-brain notetaking technique that is rarely useful. When you try to study notes taken in this way, you find them of little use.

Teachers are finding that students who bring their laptops to class perform as poorly as students who didn't bother to come to class at all.

Speed readers from our program learn a powerful right-brained note taking technique that serves them in any situation. It turns them into very  active listeners and they are always very present for the conversation. Many students have said that the note-taking method alone is worth the price off the class.

The best part of the method is that you do not need a computer. In fact, it doesn't really work with a computer - you hand write the notes in such a way that you can fit an entire day of lectures or create a study guide of excellent notes on an entire book on just one page. Teachers who see notes taken in this way after their lectures often ask the student for a copy!

It doesn't matter if you think your teacher is boring or doing a good job. This note-taking technique transcends all of that and makes you the engaged listener and thinker you need to be for your education and your career to be successful.

New Practice Website

Hi Speed Readers,

I came across a new website that could be useful as you practice, especially in building that "seeing and knowing" muscle and your peripheral vision. It is called Eyercize. You paste the text you want to pracftice with into the box at the bottom of the page and then you get to pick a reading speed, number of words you want to see in a group, and other parameters. It they will underline the number of words you selected at the pace you chose. That site is apparently going to put out more speed reading tools.

I hope your practice is going well and that you are working through any resistance or doubt. Keep it up, be patient, always do the Overview and push yourself to see and know the words. Build your excellent page of notes and watch your comprehension grow.

Good luck!

Jackie

Speed reading training brings up interesting issues

Students are often surprised at how many seemingly unrelated personal growth issues arise as they are learning speed reading. Why would studying how to read faster bring up issues of self-esteem, how much one believes in oneself, and the degree to which we have been conditioned to certain ideas? When you look below the surface, it starts to make sense.

We were taught to read in kindergarten through the third grade, very impressionable times in our lives. Often we were asked to read out loud by our teacher who then said, "now read to yourself." That speaking outloud to yourself is called subvocalization and it slows down your natural ability to read by as much as 50 percent. It limits you to reading at the speed of sound when you mind is quite capable of reading at the speed of sight.

You do not have to say the words aloud in your head to understand them. Do you say "stop" to yourself when you approach a stop sign on the road and think about what to do next? No. You recognize the pattern that is the word "stop" and through your learning and experience, you do what is necessary.

The same is possible for your reading. You don't have to think about the word. You know what it means and your mind can create all you need to experience the thought that the word generates. Then a gestalt experience is possible where you experience the ideas behind the words.

It is interesting to see how many people find an inner voice that tries to hold them back, to convince them that there is no way they could possibly know a word by just looking at it and generating the thought.

We were taught in school to slow down if the material is hard so that we would remember it better. Yet when people slow down in tough material, comprehension drops to barely 50 percent. This is not just a result of the material being difficult. It turns out that the slower you read, the LESS you remember. Yes, the faster you read, the more you will remember. It is the way your brain is wired.

Yet speed reading students will struggle at first as their minds try to hold them back, trying to make them believe that there is no way they could read fast. Often, after a practice session reading at a rate of about 3,000 to 5,000 words per minute (the average reader reads at 250 words per minute), I will ask a student what they got out of the section they were reading. Often, the initial response is "well, I didn't get anything - I was moving too fast." I'll say, "OK, sure." Then I will ask again, "but tell me what you noticed, anything at all." The student will start describing all kinds of information that they picked up. Even though they did comprehend quite a bit, their minds are so convinced that only by saying the words aloud in their head and reading them one at a time could they possibly get anything.

Our powers to disbelieve even that which unfolds before our own eyes is very strong. Years of doing or perceiving things a certain way can result in strong resistance to change. We often have a fear of change as well, especially of those things we have held dear for many years, even if they haven't been working for us!

But that voice of self-doubt can be soothed and ultimately quieted. Just tell yourself "you know brain, I get why you think we didn't comprehend anything, but the fact of the matter is that we did. I understand your disbelief, but let’s be open to new realms of possibility."

What if you tried this in other areas of your life as well? When self-doubts arise, when you believe that options are few, what if you decided that you might not be right? What if you left open the possibility that your perceptions might be influenced by your lifetime of experiences, observations, and conclusions, not all of which are valid? It's kind of freeing, when you think about it, the idea that you have more control over your emotions and perceptions than you have previously believed?

Always be on the lookout for wonderful discoveries about how you could change your perceptions, alter your way of being, and challenge the assumptions that have created your ideas about how the world works. It is an amazing journey.