Reading Skills

Reading Skills

Reading is a very critical thing at school and even in overall life of an human being, In the last 40 years reading researchers have been studying the link between the reading process (what goes on in the brain) and how to teach reading. From the idea I also wanted to study how university students read, and I also studied how bruin memory work.

I have done this study because I realized that many university students or many students find themselves failing their courses but reading more that those who are passing. I came up with recommendations to students which I have been preaching since 2006 at university of Limpopo. Below is diagram of a brain and its memory function adapted from www.scienceblog.com

Below are the steps that I have recommended to students in relation to how the bruin memory works. This strategy of reading has worked and I encourage all students to try it maybe it can also work for them.
01. Make sure that you start reading from the first day of your school
Most people do not take care of their school work, they attend classes without revising their notes or visiting their textbooks, and this is unhealthy behavior of a student. Students should revise their work everyday after school to avoid last minutes piles of books to be read. If you are not revising your work everyday after class then you are increasing your work day by day.
02. Use less time to study and more time to refresh
Your mind need more time of refreshment, it need to be always fresh because if it is not fresh it will not do what you want it to do, and the minute it start that you will force it and it will teach you a lesson. Inside your brain there are two types of memories named short term memory and long term memory. How does this memories work? Let us start by a short term memory which sometimes is called working memory. There is something that we also need to touch before going too far:
Brain concentration
How long does your brain concentrate when doing serious matters, after how long do you feel tired when trying to concentrate on doing something? After how long do you feel tired when reading? According to psychologies a human brain can only concentrate for 25-35 minutes not more than that. What does this means, if you are reading and your exceed your brain concentration time limit which is 30 minutes you are not doing fair to your self because you need a rest.
Many people spent more than 04 Hours reading, and I wonder what their brain concentration time limit is. There is a thing called crossnighting, the process where by student spent the whole night reading or studying. That it totally unhealthy because one has spent the whole day going up and down, your brain never got a time to rest. As a student you must learn when and how to refresh your brain so that it can work effectively for you.
03. How your brain memory work
Your brain has two memories named short and long term memory. Let us discuss about them one by one:
Short Term Memory
This memory is also called working memory, its role is to memorize anything that happens within a short period of time. Earlier we spoke about brain concentration, and when saying a short term period we mean the brain concentration time. Your short term memory will memorize everything that happens within its concentration time limits e.g. 30 minutes. If you continue reading or studying after your brain concentration time limit it means the short memory will start afresh memorizing new things that it acquires and also start deleting all information it memorized earlier before reaching its concentration time limit of 30 minutes.

Long Term Memory
It is also known as a reflective memory, its role is to permanently save information or save information for a long time. For information to be in this type of memory it needs to be saved in the short term memory first and the short term memory will transfer the information in to it if it is important. There is a good relationship between the two memories and people should also build a good relationship between these memories in order for them to work for them.
04. How to make a brain work well for you
Everyone should make sure that he/she know and understand his/her brain concentration time limit. If you know that, it means you will make sure that when you reach the concentration limit you stop what ever you are doing, so that it can be refreshed. Calculate the time that you use for academic everyday, and also calculate a time that you use for refreshment everyday out of 24hours. How many hours are for sleep, reading or studying, refreshments, classes and exercising?
Have a good sleep
Students should make sure that they have a good sleep, that is were your brain and your memories will also have a good time to rest. 6-7 hours of a sleep is enough for a student, do not sleep less than 5hours never and never. Sleeping is good for your brain and your body.
Reading and studying time
Four hours for studying is enough for the day, do not use this four hours consecutively, divide them times four. E.g. In the morning, during the day, afternoon and in the evening. Use one hour for one subject, 30 minutes them a break and another last 30 minutes.
Check time you spent in lecture halls attending classes
Mostly a student attends six or less than six classes per day, which means he/she may be using only five hours for attending lectures. Did you ever ask why classes do not spend more than one hour? It is because they have calculated the average brain concentration time limit. And between classes there is a fifteen minutes break.
Do you have time to exercise?
Exercising is a very exciting thing that its role is to maintain your body temperature and to keep your body healthy and fit. It also help to keep your mind open and refreshed, most people after exercising they feel like new and fresh. As a student spent 30 minutes everyday for exercising. E.g. Running, going to gym or having a pushups.

Refreshment is very good for you
Have time to be with your friends, go shopping, have a walk, cook for your self, go for sports, maybe seven hours. This also means going to parties, movies and church and attending university events in general. Divide this seven hours according to things to do, do not use it consecutively.
Let us now do mathematical calculations:
24 hr per day = 07 hr for sleep + 06 hr for classes + 04 hr for studying + 06/30 for refreshments + 30min for exercising.
This is how students should try to use their time in order to manage their school work and in order to read effectively.
Good luck with your reading.

©Copyright@Kgobalale Peter Mortuthane 2007-2025