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 Printable Version for your convenience!
Title - Expanded Reading
By - George Stancliffe
Subject - Language Arts
Grade Level - Age 8-16 (about 3rd grade to 10th)
(Children with ADD and Dyslexia often do quite well with this).
LESSON PLAN
EXPANDED READING
Double or Triple Reading Speed for 8 to 16 year old children in 15 Minutes
OVERVIEW:
Students will learn to use their Natural Vision while reading books. This will allow them to see up to several words at a glance while reading. They will then learn visualizing techniques to help them to gain increased comprehension at faster reading rates.
MATERIALS:
1) Easy reading books for each child. Anything that is at or below their grade level is fine.
2) A watch with a second hand.
3) A pen to tap with.
OBJECTIVES:
--Help children to see that there is more than one way to see all the word on a page of print.
--Show them how to immediately double their reading speed, while maintaining good comprehension.
--Help the children to learn visualizing techniques to help them to gain greater comprehension.
--To give Dyslexic and ADD children an alternative reading skill that often allows them to read with
greater comprehension than normal reading does.
PROCEDURES:
Step 1. The first thing I do is explain Natural Vision:
NATURAL VISION: Take a minute right now and look out the window at a tree (or imagine you are looking at one). Do you only see one leaf at a time, or do you just look at the tree, as a whole? Most people see the whole tree in one or two glances. This is what we call Natural Vision. When we are seeing almost anything, we are using Natural Vision, except when we are looking at a page of print.
You see, in first grade we were taught how to have tunnel vision. Most people can only see one word at a time. You may as well read through a straw.
Tunnel vision is unnatural and fatiguing to the eyes.
You need to look at a page of print with more Natural Vision so that we are seeing several words at once. In fact, let's pretend that each page of print is just a picture of a tree, with each word being a 'leaf.' With Natural Vision, you use your whole field of view (peripheral vision) to catch SEVERAL words at a glance.
For about one minute, have the children practice seeing all the words on a page of print as fast as they can (they are not to try to understand anything at this point. They are just to SEE the words. If they pretend that they are written in Chinese, or if they turn the book upside down, this sometimes helps them to see the words without trying to understand anything). Some children are able to see all the words on a page in less than 10 seconds. A few in less than 5 seconds.
Step 2. Next I tell them thy have one second to see each line of print. They only get to have two glances, (or three [at most] in some materials), to see the whole line. This requires seeing several words at a glance.
Ready, go.
I tap my pen every second to make sure that they are keeping up with the one line per second rate. I remind them to make two glances per tap, seeing half of the line per glance. (It's normal for understanding to be really poor for the first few minutes. At first the focus is just on SPEED. Comprehension will naturally start to pick up within a few minutes for most kids).
Tap, tap, tap....
After a minute or two, I tell them to go just as fast, but that now I will only tap once per page instead of once per second.. Each tap will be 20 to 30 seconds apart, depending on how many lines of reading material are on each page.
Step 3. I now explain how to Visualize:
VISUALIZE: When you read a good book, can you picture in your mind's eye what the characters look like and what they are doing? Most likely so. That is what Visualization is.
With speed reading, the Visualization must be developed to a greater degree. This takes effort. For some people this is difficult. But everyone can get better with practice. Following is one exercise that may help:
Open an easy-to-read storybook. Let's say you see the word 'house.' Can you picture a house? [I can] What color is it? [I picture a LOG CABIN, so it is brown]. Does it have a lawn? [Not mine] Do you smell any smells? [Yes, I can smell smoke from the fireplace] Can you hear any sounds? [Yes, the sound of someone chopping wood] The more detail you can imagine in the picture that you build in your mind, the more alive and real the story becomes. Sure you are filling in some gaps in the story, but most people do that anyway. As you add more pictures to the story, the picture becomes a movie in your mind.
Your ability to Visualize well, will determine your reading speed. People who have difficulty Visualizing don't achieve great speeds. Great Visualizers achieve phenomenal results. Many of my students have told me that it IS like watching a movie in their minds.
Visualization will aid in retention.
Now, let's give it a try.
Ready, go.
Tap.....tap.....tap......
After about 2 or 3 minutes, I stop and ask how well they are understanding. Usually it is quite a bit. But even if they aren't understanding very well yet, comprehension is usually better at the end of the drill than it was at the beginning. This indicates that their brain is beginning to catch on to the faster rate.
Step 4. Now I let them read for 5 or more minutes uninterrupted except for the tap every 20 to 30 seconds. A couple of minutes into the drill, I may quit doing the taps to see if they can maintain the speed without any prodding, only occasionally tapping when I see that someone is starting to slow down to more than 30 seconds per page.
You now have taught most (if not all) of the kids in the class to double or triple their reading speed, with decent comprehension.
EXTENSIONS:
1. If you want the children to maintain their ability to read rapidly, here's how to make their new ability become a normal, natural and permanent part of them: Practice Step 3 for 15 minutes each day for 5 days. After that, set aside 15 minutes per day to practice Expanded Reading, on a continuing basis for at least 4 or 5 months, without any taps at all. (Only tap when kids start slowing down to 30 seconds per page or more). This will help the accelerated rate become more internal.
2. Children should be allowed to go faster than the 20 to 30 seconds per page that the taps indicate, as long as they are getting enjoyable understanding at it. Some kids get EXTREMELY fast at this.
NOTE: The information in this lesson plan has been adapted from Chapter 4 of SPEED READING 4 KIDS by George Stancliffe, and has been used WITH permission from the author. Teachers may make and share copies of this lesson plan as long as it is not for commercial gain.
E-Mail George Stancliffe!
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