Speed Reading is...

… a farce.

There seem to be a slew of applications (you know them as apps) that purport to increase one’s reading speed. Worse, there are even more blogs and articles out there eating the concept up. Wish I could be as enamored but my years of experience as a reading teacher struggle mightily to be as excited about these products as others seem to be. I’m actually dubious that any of those writing about these apps have actually used them for more than an hour or two or taken the time to reflect on their efficacy.

I’m of the opinion that speed reading apps, especially the older you are, are akin to buying snake oil and hair tonic –loads of promises with nothing more like to occur than a placebo result and a sense of being swindled.

I downloaded and tested two apps, Fastr and ReadQuick, several months ago. (I picked these two simply because they were free the day I discovered them.) Both programs are fundamentally the same in their execution: you see words flashed quickly on the screen, you “read” them, and then hope to keep up. Where they diverge is in what materials you can use to practice your reading speed. 

ReadQuick will let you read articles from sites like The Morning News, The Feature, and Longreads, though you’re not really limited because you can import from any site. You can set the rate of words displayed from 100 to 800 words per minute (WPM). ReadQuick displays one word at a time once you turned it on. The program also provides stats for you such as the number of articles and words you’ve read in a week, month, or year.

Fastr works more with existing books, ones without DRM. Unlike ReadQuick, you have the options of seeing one word at a time on the screen, or several. Fastr also predetermines, based on book length and the rate of reading you choose using an adjustable meter, how long it will take you to speed read the book you’ve selected.

For this blog, I’m going to stick with my experience using Fastr as my example.

I downloaded Treasure Island as my practice book. I was shown that, set to 100-words per minute, I would complete “reading” chapter one of Treasure Island in 24 minutes and 46 seconds. This time remains the same whether choosing to have one word at a time presented to me or several. Sounds okay to me, but then again so does a miracle hair tonic.

I started with method one, trying to read one word at a time. The weakness to seeing one word at a time becomes fabulously apparent when seeing the first sentence of the book. It follows:

Chapter 1 The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral, Benbow, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of the gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17-, and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first tool up his lodging under our roof.

In case you missed it, that’s a chapter numeration, a chapter title, and the first sentence of the book. Even with it presented before me in its entirety, it’s a daunting series of information to retain and understand. And yet… Fastr would have you believe that in seeing one word at a time, and with continual practice, you will eventually be speeding through such densely written text. Pi-shaw, I say. Pi-shaw in my language means: Yeah, you may read more quickly, but you’re grasp of what you’ve read will be its inverse.

More amazing, or is that ridiculous, to me is that you can ramp up the program to a reading speed of 1,600 WPM. That’s not a typo. One thousand and six hundred words per minute. The program informs you that at this speed you will have finished chapter one of Treasure Island in a tight 1 minute and 32 seconds! Even better, you’ll have more hair on your head than you did when you were eighteen! (Special note: I may have made that last part up.)

At 1,600 WPM you cannot see but a few words between the blur of everything else claiming to be words. I tried reading this way using the multiple words aspect and met with the same issue. Namely, what level of Dante’s Hell does this activity take place? To be somewhat fair, only somewhat, you’re supposed to work your way up to this level. No go 100 to 1,600 in one sitting. I’m on the verge of writing pi-shaw again. 

Now, before I get assailed by the individuals behind these apps, let me note a few things. Yes, you can increase your rate of reading. I work with a handful of students every year specifically in this regard. These are students reading around a rate of 60-70 WPM when I first start with them. 60-70 WPM is generally regarded as too slow for their age (11-12) and academic setting. With a lot of repeated and timed reading of short passages, nearly all improve their reading rate. Most will find themselves reading closer to 100-125 WPM after half a year of guidance. There are of course the usual outliers.

What differentiates what I’m doing, when compared to the hollow promises of speed reading apps, is how I approach the task. I work with the entire text before the student, not one word at a time, or even a few words at a time. Students need to see words in chunks and sentences. Many troubled readers already tend focus on one word at a time, which both slows them down and impacts their comprehension. (By the way, I haven’t even touched this critical component yet.)

Students hear me read the passage in question aloud. This is done to build their understanding of how to read different types of writing, to develop their ear for reading. There is such a thing as having an ear for reading. We teach, for example, the very young to elevate their voices when learning to grasp how to read a question mark. The same work goes into helping slower reading students understand how to read a light-hearted poem versus a straightforward passage in science. You simply don’t read them the say way or at the same rate. Faster is not going to help a student one darn bit in an unfamiliar reading situation or when a text becomes too complex. (Refer to the excerpt of Treasure Island.)

Reading is not about speed, it’s about understanding. I’ve worked with dozens and dozens of accurate, fast-reading, student over the years who’ve not a clue as to what it all meant. Teachers commonly refer to these types of readers as word callers. Programs like Fastr and ReadQuick amount to the same thing. Call out words faster and you’ll be a better reader. Nuts. 

Most reading WPM charts suggest that students top out at 199 WPM by grade 8. And, those students who are reading aloud that quickly are in the 90^th percentile as oral readers. The 50^th percentile, which is where some 80% of us fall, is 150 WPM. Silently we can and do read more quickly, but not by much. Again in grade 8, the average rate of silent reading per minute falls somewhere around 185-205 WPM. At the college level, 250-270 WPM is regarded as an adequate average. Keep in mind that all of these averages include a measure of understanding on the student’s end.

The key, for this teacher of reading, is always final understanding; and I don’t see how speed reading apps -with their extremely narrow approaches- help in that regard. Even in my work with helping improve a student’s rate of reading, I’m working constantly on their flow of reading and comprehension.

In my experience, readers who finish first in class and maintain great understanding are not the norm. I’ve also learned, again through years of observation, that those handful of students just happen to have spent a lot of their idle time reading, from books, not speed-reading apps. That’s why they’re generally quicker. Lot’s of actual reading having occurred.

Think of it this way. You want to become a wine aficionado, which means spending a lot of time learning about grapes, soil content and rainfall patterns, to name a few things. It also means sampling a lot of wine. Does gulping sample after sample of wine, out of context and as quickly as you can, make you more experienced and knowledgeable about them? I sincerely doubt it. And yet, programs like Fastr and ReadQuick would have you believe this.

Reading is the same way. You need to savor at points what you’ve read, to roll the information and language around in your mouth for a while before you pass judgments or draw conclusions about it. 

Speaking of wine…

These are the sources I used as supporting data for this post.

http://www.readnaturally.com/pdf/oralreadingfluency.pdf

http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/post/2010/07/19/Optimal-Silent-and-Oral-Reading-Rates.aspx

http://www.gio.co.za/Documents/FluencyInSilentReading.pdf

Common Core Standards: Close Reading

Man oh man do I wish I could be as excited as so many of my colleagues seem to be about close reading, the practice of examining short, complex texts until your brain hemorrhages. (No, wait. That's beyond the standard. I think...)

Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time feeling the passion for close reading because I can't figure out how it's anything new. Most strange too because people are certainly acting like it's new. (Not that my inability to figure out something that everyone else seems to innately get is anything new either.)

Yet, last I checked, taking a written passage then pulling at it like your making taffy has been every teacher's modus operandi since the Greeks sat in a circle to chew the literary fat.. Hmmm.. maybe that's what all the hullabaloo is about -teachers grasping that they have free license to do what they like doing best (not so much the fat chewing.).

Anyway, I'm doing what I always do begining from a point of non-sense in the hope that it leads to some form of clarity for anyone reading. Here's the skinny. I was asked to present my understanding of close reading as is connects to the Common Core State Standards. I did what we all do. Went pale, tried to get out of it, accepted my fate, told myself it's nothing we're not doing already (not true in too many ways to list), and scoured the top 10 listed links to all of my Google searches. (I may have gone to page two, links 11-20 a few times even. Shows resolve.) Then, lacking any creating, which you already concluded from my Internet only research, I slapped together a PowerPoint.  Hey! If I have to suffer making this, then we will all suffer together watching it.

Below are the slides for that presentation. You'll be missing out on all my blank stares, errs and umms because there is no audio for it. Be very thankful for that.

Common Core Standards: Close Reading from RLagana

Graphic Novel Reporter Interview

In August, I had the great fortune of being interviewed by John Hogan from the website Graphic Novel Reporter. He was interested to know how I use graphic novels in my classroom. 

The article, "Ghost of a Chance: How One Teacher Explores Comics in the Classroom", has been out for several months, and I am only now getting around to posting links to it. 

The interview is located on two sites -each of which are listed below. Select either image to read the article.

Common Core Strategies

I'm going to do something I struggle to do all the time. I'm going to try, try, try to be brief with this post.

The skinny: Attached is a PowerPoint presentation I've shared with colleagues at the school where I work. I expect it will make the most sense to those who are in the profession of teaching, but anyone who is interested in learning what one reading teacher's take is on the Common Core standards and what kinds of activities would do well to support it, are more than welcome to view it too.

Goal: My aim in putting this together was to use the ideas within the presentation to begin a short series of round table discussions with colleagues as what we can do cross-discipline to begin meeting the Common Core standards coming our way very soon.

Several notes to know:

• There is no narration. I've been using the slides as the backdrop to my talks with colleagues. So, I expect some of the threads in the video may be confusing.
• There are numerous links and attachments that come with the PowerPoint which won't be available in this video. If you want a copy of the PP, email me or post here and I will figure out how to get it to you. 
• I do not profess to be the guy when it comes to, well... anything. I think I have a decent handle on the Common Core standards and approaches (mainly from a Language Arts angle, of course) and I do know something about reading and writing strategies. Still, there are far smarter people at work on these things than I. So take what I've slapped together with that in mind. 
• Finally, like anything in teaching, there's really nothing new here. I borrowed from many sources to put this together and it's far from all inclusive either. Again, the aim was to put something together quickly for my colleagues and I to begin the process of discovering what we want to do collectively to meet those Common Core standards. I'm sure this video will go through several alterations before I finally put it to bed.

OK, I'm running off at the keyboard again. Enjoy.

Common Core State Standards -Reading & Writing from RLagana

Ghostopolis: Good for 12 & 44-Year-Old Readers

                Ghostopolis has been floating around for a couple of years now and for some strange reason –strange because I very much enjoy graphic novels- I hadn’t turned my attention to it until recently. Even then, I trotted the book out for use with a group of my students thinking to use it as a bridge to more “serious” texts. Well, shame on me -especially, me! I’ve been a fan of words married to pictures, comics and graphic novels, my entire life and I fell into the prevailing bias so many seem to have for these authored works –that they’re something to pass the time, not worthy of heavier examination and reflection. Ghostopolis set me right. More importantly, it connected with many of my students, helping them go below mere surface reading.
                Ghostopolis is the story of Garth, a boy who has an incurable disease, and is accidentally pulled into the world of ghosts. There he meets his grandfather who looks almost as young as he does. His grandfather provides Garth with the lay of the land: how Ghostopolis came to be, why many ghosts sneak back to live among the living, how Vaugner (our villain) rose to power, and how Garth as a living being among the non-living has amazing abilities as long as he employs his imagination.
                While the plotted events in the novel are straightforward, the story message is less obviously given; and those students who opted to read Ghostopolis soon learned to become careful examiners of what was depicted and what was repeated. Ghostopolis, because of its illustrations, helped my developing readers examine the literary elements of theme and symbolism more readily. They were able to identify the repetition of loss in the story and eventually connect it to character redemption by the end. Characters clothed in pilot outfits were looked at much differently once they began to consider the symbolic qualities behind such uniforms. (These are people we trust to help us reach a destination.)
                While much of this may seem heady and dour, Doug Tennapel did a terrific job of weaving in plenty of humor. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if younger or less scrutinizing readers mistook the book for simple, comedic adventure. Better still, the novel left my students clamoring for more. Each wanted to know if there was a sequel. Is there a better complement for a book than having readers desiring to read more of it? I think not.

Workbooks -Worth the Time or Time Wasting?

Arghhh...technology!

I'd written a -well I thought it was- sound composition on the merits and pitfalls of using reading comprehension workbooks with your child over the summer, but thanks to a slip of the finger and the autosave feature on Blogger I've nothing left of it for you to read. 

Hmmm....maybe this is to your benefit, as it was long and most of us are pressed for time. Being too lazy this fine Saturday afternoon to recollect my thoughts, I present a list of reading comprehension workbooks you may want to use this summer. Each has a picture and a thumbnail review. While I'd rather see your child reading from authentic literature each day, there is a place for reading shorter, controlled, passages and responding to comprehension questions during a period of the year when so little focused reading and thinking often occurs -what with swimming to do, sports, travel, video games to master...

a challenge but above average

Reading Detective: Using Higher Order Thinking to Improve Comprehension by Cheryl Block (Author), Carrie Beckwith (Author), Margaret Hockett (Author), David White (Author), Susan Giacometti (Illustrator)

I've used this workbook on and off over the years and I like it. The book, as the title suggests, shoots to develop higher end thinking. It does have some straight-forward questions too. There are numerous excerpts from well-known authentic books like Island of the Blue Dolphins and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. There are also original pieces, which vary in terms of student interest. It's not perfect, however, as there are no attempts to collect materials under a theme and there's no attempt to incorporate useful graphic organizers. This workbook is also the priciest of the lot, but I would recommend it in tandem with some of the better liked workbooks below.

more of a companion, workbook

Kumon Reading Workbook Grade 6 Reading by Kumon Publishing

The cheapest of the bunch and that so often means it’s synonymous with poor quality. It’s not wholly true here as I liked much of what was in this workbook. Most of the passages are of quality and interest. I’m a fan of theme related articles that have different written forms and the writing was generally good. My knock on this book is that, like many workbooks aimed at parents, it tries to provide everything without developing enough well. Their idea is that certain skills are learned first and lead into the next, more challenging it’s presumed, skills until the reader is a dynamo by the end of the workbook. Well, that’s simply not reality. I can see this appealing to kids and the price (6.95 on Amazon) is solid, but I’m not sure it’s enough on its own.

Steck-Vaughn Core Skills: Reading Comprehension: Grade 6 by author Resnick

take a pass on this one

This was one I thumbed through in a local book store and ended up putting back on the rack. The articles were not terribly appealing and there seemed to be a shotgun method to assembling them. There weren’t examples of fiction and non-fiction articles related by theme, for example. The workbook also tried to hit at least once on every type of skill: main idea, inferring meaning, using context, etc. This gave it a diluted feel and would most likely not be of much benefit to a developing mind. I’d pass on this one.

 

Spectrum Reading: Grade 6 by Spectrum Publishing

easier fare and serviceable

I’ve used this item in class a few times. It’s important to know that it’s targeted for students ages 9-12, which is appropriate considering idea behind it is to help struggling readers. I like the variety of materials in this workbook. There are fiction and non-fiction articles ranging from recipes to science experiments. There are also often 4-6 articles at a time related by theme, bees and finance as examples. The writing is highly-controlled, again good for a student who struggles, but not so good for someone looking for authentic reading. Questions that follow each chapter tend toward the literal which disappoints me. I often had to add another layer of questions myself for deeper meaning. This is decent, but not something to run out and snap up. If you want something you can more or less give to a child to work on independently, then this could suit your needs.   

 

a firm buy, small reservations

Paired Passages: Linking Fact to Fiction Grade 6 by Ruth Foster

In all, I like this workbook.  As the title notes, there are two passages paired together each time. One is fiction and the other is non-fiction. After reading both, there are multiple choice questions hitting on each separately and both taken together as in what does each article share and how do they differ. I mainly appreciate the use of graphic organizers throughout and the fact that any part of the book can be read, it's not sequential. Most articles are interesting too, like the one on why most castles in Ireland have uneven steps. The aim, as the author, notes is to improve standardized test taking, which is one detractor for me. Not that I don't want student scores to improve but this means the collection of articles are not excerpted from authentic sources. There were also no examples of poetry, which is used in many standardized tests. While, by comparison, this book is the priciest option, it’s still a recommended buy.

IF you happen to buy and use these something, possible this very summer, I'd love to know what you think.