From Becoming a Master Student By Dave Ellis Muscle Reading From Becoming a Master Student By Dave Ellis

What is muscle reading? A technique that will help you stay focused as you read A way to decrease effort and struggle by increasing energy and skill

How does Muscle Reading work? Muscle Reading is a three phase technique you can use to extract the ideas and information you want

Phase 1: Before You Read Step 1: Preview Sets the stage for incoming info Look over table of contents or chapter outline Read chapter headings and subheadings Look for summary statements Look for familiar concepts, facts, ideas Examine photos, charts, graphs, etc.

Step 2: Outline Helps organize your thoughts Study chapter outline if provided or write a brief one of your own Step 3: Question Involves your brain in the assignment Write down a list of questions that resulted from your preview You may want to turn headings and subheading into questions

Phase 2: While You Read Step 4:Read Be conscious of where you are and what you are doing Divide material up and take short breaks Reward yourself To stay focused Visualize the material Read the material out loud Get a “feel” for the subject Try to answer your questions from phase 1

Step 5:Underline/Highlight Emphasizes important info you will need later Uses kinesthetic sense of touch and motion Step 6: Answer Write down the answer to your questions in Phase 1 Fill in your outline Write down unanswered and new questions to ask in class

Phase 3:After You Read Step 7: Recite Helps you combine individual ideas and facts into a whole Helps improve your ability to summarize Talk to yourself (verbal rehearsal) or to someone else about the material Form a study group to discuss the material Teach a classmate the material –one of the best ways to learn anything is to teach someone else

Step 8: Review Step 9:Review Again Do your first complete review within 24 hours This moves information from short term to long term memory Step 9:Review Again Review weekly/monthly to help you recall the info Review text and notes, recite difficult information

Muscle Reading Step 1: Preview Step 2: Outline Step 3: Question Step 4: Read Step 5: Underline Step 6: Answer Step 7: Recite Step 8: Review Step 9: Review Again

4 Smart Ways to Highlight a Text Read carefully first Read first-highlight last

Make choices up front about what to highlight Look for answers to your questions from step 3 of Muscle Reading Highlight individual words, phrases, or sentences rather than whole paragraphs

Recite first Recite first then go back and highlight

Use highlighting to monitor your comprehension Stop reading periodically to check what you have highlighted If you are highlighting more than 10% of the text, your are picking out more than the main points

Ways to Mark A Text Place an (!) by important words or terms Circle key terms and words Write short definitions of key terms in margin Place (?) in margin by possible test questions, things you don’t understand, and questions to ask in class Write personal comments in margins

More Ways to Mark a Text Write mini-indexes in the margin Write summaries by listing main points or key events Rewrite chapter titles, headings, and subheadings to make them more meaningful to you Draw diagrams, pictures, tables, or maps Number each step in a list or series