Deep Reading Matters: Brain Whisper Study Strategy #2

Does your reading load feel like you are swimming through hardening cement?

Are time and volume already closing in around you?

Here are some solid ideas to make the most of your reading time to avoid feeling overwhelmed and instead develop critical background knowledge to forge new paths of thinking and insight that will gain you marks.

Brain Whisper Strategy #2: Deep reading matters.

Make each reading of any of your texts, meaningful. Make the most of your invested time by ensuring the quality of your focus. Without this you may be wasting your time and jeopardising not just potential marks but critical growth in your brain. And that matters.

Time is of the essence now that you are in Year 12 and Year 11 with a workload that is only going to become greater. Do the right thing by yourself by investing in each study session, no matter how short. If you are going to pick up a book or tablet or read anything that will contribute to your academic year, do so without distraction. A little bit with full attention is superior to a lot with only partial focus and maybe one eye on social media or text messages.

Deep reading is an active process. It is about being thoughtful and intentionally deliberate in reading to enhance one’s comprehension and enjoyment of a text.

The Stanford Centre for Teaching and Learning defines?deep reading?as "an approach that uses higher-order cognitive skills such as the ability to analyse, synthesize, solve problems and reflect on pre-existing knowledge in order to understand the author's message”.

Deep reading processes require considerable attention, time, and effort to get a result. This process is significantly superior to scanning or skimming.

How we choose to read will affect what we read and that will determine how we think and feel and behave.

How we choose to read affects the brain reading circuitry.

Ponder this: the quality of attention we apply to reading is the basis of the quality of our thought. It is worth reading this sentence again.

With every reading we want to hone our discernment, enhance our analogical reasoning and build a base of knowledge that will support us, forever. Our brain changes with every reading of any book or article, so too, the choice of medium matters.

Too many students think that they can skim read, scan or read a summary or synopsis of a text and be able to understand the complexities of a piece of work sufficiently to write an essay or solve a problem. This is a fool hardy way to approach anything that matters, especially in the senior years.

The Risks of Skimming/Reading Too Quickly:

• By trying to read too quickly or skimming, one risks much. It is a gamble that time may dictate but is not worth it.
• Results in little retention.
• Introspection is sacrificed along with other ideas which help to create memory and support application.
• Creates false confidence and a notion that ‘winging it’, even once, will be enough to be successful in a major exam or assessment.

Neuroscience Fact: Digital reading has changed the way we read by encouraging non-linear methods with scrolling, skimming, jumping, and clicking on hyperlinks. Despite what we might like to believe, the brain still processes attention demanding tasks in a linear way – multitasking remains a myth.

This manner of reading on digital technology is flowing over to how we read?physical books because the screen and its demands are changing our reading brain circuitry. For example, the act of scrolling on a screen causes an interruption to the brain’s ability to process information into short-term memory which is a vital step in deep reading. Scrolling is a greater distraction than turning a page because it forces the reader’s eye to search for a new starting point each time.

A phenomenon called 'screen inferiority' exists for learners of all ages who work predominantly on screens. This results in research show that screen learners performed worse and were more overconfident about their success. We absorb less information in a way that is less meaningful, and short term memory is not able to be turned into long term memory for successful recall at a later date. To boot, we falsely believe that we have achieved a positive result when the opposite is true- an outcome of overconfidence and an inferior retention ability.

Reading deeply, the first time, in handling a text will support this.

An example: I advise my students to read their Shakespeare plays in short bursts – 15 mins - then take a short break to allow their brain to consider, reflect, absorb, analyse, debate what they have just read. Shakespeare cannot be devoured and digested in three large gulps; instead, it is to be savoured in bite sized portions allowing for the flavours and contexts of our world, four centuries past, to be appreciated and understood.

Taking the time to read the foot notes is imperative for full understanding. If we don't read the footnotes, we can mistakenly assume we have the right understanding when what we have done is adopt current meaning to Shakespeare's English of the time, although we do not use that style of language today. This leads to a greater lessening of appreciation of Shakespeare's wonderful language and a potential misunderstanding of the depth of meaning, as Shakespeare intended.

To avoid the footnotes is to only half-read Shakespeare.

The footnotes offer legitimate 'insider trading' knowledge of what was meant in Shakespeare's day.

Why would we give up that scoop of information to miss original meaning and risk marks in an exam?

And be prepared, as in true form Shakespeare often leaves us with more questions than are resolved at the end of a play. He makes us think and it is here that we may also question how little, or how much, human beings have changed in character and values over the centuries.

Themes and concepts take time to develop, which is why starting early in the prescribed reading list is essential. You can reduce your study time by reading more deeply in the first instance.

It is worth remembering that anything you do trains the brain, both now and into the future. Make it matter.

Investing in purposeful reading, deep reading, has a short and long term ‘return on investment’. Done without distraction, with application, will save time studying closer to the exam period and give you greater confidence in all your subjects.

"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." Mortimer J. Adler

To book a coaching session for your child, email [email protected]

For more articles by The BRAIN WHISPERER ?, Jill Sweatman, visit www.jillsweatman.com??

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Select bibliography:

Delgado, P., & Salmerón, L. (2021). The inattentive on-screen reading: Reading medium affects attention and reading comprehension under time pressure.?Learning and instruction,?71, 101396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2020.101396

Lauterman, Tirza & Ackerman, Rakefet. (2014). Overcoming screen inferiority in learning and calibration. Computers in Human Behavior. 35. 10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.046.

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