Mr. R.'s Reading Review

When Dr. Blumin listed off the strategies that we could use to improve our reading skills, only MR. R. jumped off the page. This strategy is designed for people like me, who have much to read and a little attention span to read with.

In Mr. R, the reader is instructed to do three things in order to spread out the reading to a level where you feel comfortable reading it. Before even reading, I have to measure the size of my readings, in other words, see how long they are. Even before I heard of this strategy I would do that, especially with the longer readings. I started that during AP US History junior year because I had to read long chapters with small words, and by finding out how long the chapter was, I was easily able to split the chapter into manageable chunks. Once I found out that I only had to read one article over ten pages I was pretty excited, since usually the reading is a lot more dense for this class.

Next, I read the articles, and took it section by section, making notes in the margins to help try to retain the information. Luckily for me, I learn best through reading-and rewriting so this strategy really proved helpful for me. By also chunking the reading into sections, I am able to take a break and go back and try to absorb any info I had missed. When I finally finish the reading, I then go back and recite the key words from the margins. This final act of reciting the key words solidifies the information I had just read in my mind. This strategy is really good, but I also have felt like I have been doing most of it my entire life. The idea though of going back and reciting the key words like the twenty-minute test prep is very helpful. I definitely feel as though I will use this strategy again and possibly try to tweak it to make it even more personalized.