How to Teach Power Reading

Power reading techniques can benefit students of all ages. Using these strategies will help your students to read faster with more comprehension and with less effort. Power reading is all about reading smarter, not harder. Have your students practice the following techniques on a book of your choice. Before long they will be able to effectively cover a greater amount of material than ever before.

Things You'll Need

• Book

Instructions

1. Read the front, inside and back cover of the book to get a sense of its contents. Back covers typically contain summaries of books as well as review blurbs that can give insight to a book. Who is the author? What are the author's credentials? Answering these questions will help you to make educated assumptions about the book.

2. Look over the table of contents to get a feel for the layout of the book--the topics that will be covered and the way the author groups information together.

3. Turn to the index and scan the topics listed. In comparison to the table of contents, this will give you a more detailed look at the subject matter covered by the book.

4. Skim chapters that seem to relate to your particular reading needs for that book--you might not need all of the information that the book provides. If the book is a textbook, pay attention to the headings and bold words. These are usually the key points of a given chapter.

5. Closely read any section of the book that contains the exact information you need.

6. Read in groups of words rather than single words to increase your reading speed. Also, do not sound words out in your head (subvocalization) while you are reading. Your brain can read much faster if you don't vocalize or subvocalize.