How to Use Mind Mapping to Enhance Speed Reading

Increase your students' reading speed and comprehension with mind maps. Reading experts admit that students who learn the principles of speed reading correctly become better and more satisfied readers. Mind maps enhance the learning of speed reading by encouraging students to quickly take in many words at once rather than one word at a time. The steps below explain how you can create mind maps quickly and effectively.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Start the mind map on a blank sheet of paper or blank document in a word processing computer program. Select a book or article to focus on. Place the title of the book or article within the text box in the top center of the document.

2. Tell students you are going to flash the mind map in front of them for a second or two before taking it away. They must read the entire title of the book or article within that brief moment.

3. Ask the students to write down the titles they read. Review their responses for accuracy. Continue practicing with reading titles only on the mind maps until students' perception is correct each time.

4. Move on to using complete sentences on the mind maps. Select one or two sentences from the same book or article. Split the sentence into two or three text boxes on the mind map. Flash the mind map in front of the students, now instructing them to read the words within each text box as if they were just one word.

5. Test students' comprehension of the sentences by having them explain in writing what they read. Encourage them to anticipate, also in writing, what they believe the following text they read might say.

6. Advance to creating mind maps with text boxes that contain entire sentences. Have students practice reading the sentences all at once, trying to assimilate the separate words into one main idea.

7. Complete the speed reading lessons with the most advanced mind maps. These have text boxes holding several sentences, clustered around one main idea. Encourage students to quickly read the text within each box, looking for the one main idea the text contains.