Better Reading (1952)

[Music] where does the person's community end it all depends it depends on his willingness to share in the mixture of progress and problems that go to make up the modern world yet willingness alone is not enough for there is a fundamental skill without which no one can share in the development of society that skill is the ability to read whether we want to share in the affairs of our neighborhood or our world we must know how to read and what is more how to read well with the speed and understanding that a complex fast-moving world demands the reading is always among the first things taught in school sometimes reading skill fails to develop when that happens difficulties arise which extend into almost every phase of life [Music] hey come on girl let's go oh hey it was good meeting tonight I guess not more I have to stay on the study study what we doing just now history all this time yeah gee I finished the history assignment and had time to work on algebra besides gosh I didn't even get through the whole assignment why don't you try and make that meeting well fellas ever get a chance to see any more hmm better not Morse but I'll make connection for sure Wow all right hey come on let's get out of here Harold Wilson didn't know just what his problem was all he knew was it wasn't very pleasant to be making low grades and to have no time for fun the teacher finally asked his mother to come in for a talk I'm glad you could come in to see me mrs. milk well I have been worried about Harold's grades lately well they aren't very good for a boy of his ability I've been wondering if Harold had many outside activities well he used to but that just did later he's been spending so much time studying mrs. Wilson suppose I arranged to send Harold to the reading clinic they'll test him to see whether he's reading efficiently and help him if he isn't the next time the clinic came to his school Harold was there the first thing they did was test his vision no trouble there next they measured his reading rate fairly slow for this type of material 180 words per minute and then Harold took a battery of tests designed to measure his vocabulary his understanding his general knowledge of the world and to bring out his own particular interest they check to find out just how quickly Harold's eyes could see words and phrases after the testing Harold card was completed he sent on to the clinic director yes it all ties in with Moomin reading rate fairly slow vocabulary below average eye span short gee that sounds pretty bad all it isn't too bad but your tests show that you have above-average ability and reading is far below your general level so what can I do mr. winters oh there's a great deal you can do Harold it's all summed up in this little path that I'm going to give you to read you follow the reading Improvement Program set down here it won't be long before you notice the results now the first step is to find a good place to do your regular reading Harold started his reading improvement program by moving furniture well what's going on here part of my reading improvement program are what is moving furniture to do with reading well look it says right here the good reader finds a place to study and read that is free from distracting noises and interruptions I have to study 15 minutes every day oh I see I'm going to move this chair an hour I can be comfortable and have plenty of good light I don't think this lamp will do you much good why don't you get that old reading lamp out of the basement gee mom that's a good idea I'd forgotten all about it I'll get it right away it didn't take care of long to set up shop but it did take him some time to learn one of the first and basic requirements of reading concentration there were some temptations and there was some distraction but after a while Harold was able to get down to the real work he looked over the pamphlet the clinic had given him skimming at first skimming was a technique he was to learn more about later then he settled down to work on the first major point how to read rapidly it wasn't easy at first Harrell had a hard time trying to keep from moving his lips lip movement slows down your reading because it forces your eyes to take in one word at a time your mouth your eyes take in at one glance is called eye span he had a hard time too trying to keep his eyes moving ahead trying not to look back even when there were words he didn't recognize at first but slowly he learned to control his lips and slowly - he found that his eye span was improving his eyes were now taking in more words each time they move and he was able to keep his eyes moving forward now Harold could sense that he was reading faster to make sure he began to keep a close friend of his reading rate first he timed his reading of a short passage it took 9 minutes then he counted the words in the cottage there were about 1820 1820 / 9 minutes Harold's reading rate was about 202 words per minute that was about 20 words faster than the rate he had first gotten at the clinic Harold was improving and every new calculation told him that as he continued to practice he would continue to improve but Harold was careful not to expect the same reading rate with every type of material newspapers elearn can be read faster than stories and stories can usually be read faster than study material some textbook passages just have to be read over and over again slowly and carefully on the other hand II found out that you can skim through some things before you read it get a general idea of what is inside and to find out what you might want to come back to in the course of a few weeks Harold discovered that his reading rate for all kinds of materials had jumped considerably though it varied with different types of reading but meanwhile other improvements were being made - Harold came to the second point of the reading program and so he began to learn to use study aids to look up names and words he didn't know and to record his newfound information so that it became a permanent part of his knowledge as these new habits became part of his life Harold found that he had more time to think while he was reading to ask himself questions about his work and to understand things more thoroughly as he came into the third phase of the program words began to spring together in phrases and phrases came together in pictures pictures and ideas about the world that Harold Wilson had never experienced before [Music] you the many days Harold had spent learning to control his lip movements to increase his eye span and improve his vocabulary and read with greater understanding all this was beginning to change Harold's attitude toward things yet Harold himself hardly knew what was happening until one day when he was reading to the family reading aloud was part of the program to speaker went on to point out that though Lincoln never had the opportunity for a much formal education he was a voracious reader ancient mean that means he read everything he could lay his hands on and that's true too Lincoln was a voracious reader how do you know oh I read it somewhere I read it somewhere a statement that Harold Wilson could now make with confidence and with a definite show of pride for now he began to feel a certain friendliness with all kinds of written material a friendliness based on his ability to read faster and to get more out of every word hi I'm Arden hey your older kids are gonna close down the recreational center yeah I heard about that they don't seem to think we can take care of the jukebox and other equipment they say it costs too much yeah see you guys there was an editorial about this in last night's paper but it didn't cost camp the amount the council claims oh yeah I read that you what Harold the club wants to write a letter to the council you know study up on the history of the thing and find out how much it really does cost and what other recreation centers cost too of course it'll mean some library works okay by me I'll do it anyone can improve his reading if he is willing to work at it businessmen may learn to read in one-hour reports that used to take three hours to read farmers may find through better reading a wealth of information in material they didn't have time to read before lawyers often want to improve their reading to keep up with new laws and Court decisions even our fighting men are learning how important it is to be able to read well and easily acquiring this important skill as Harold Wilson learned is largely a matter of practicing a three-part program of reading improvement the first phase is learning to read rapidly this means learning to read without lip movement to keep your eyes moving forward and learning to increase your eye span to take in whole phrases quickly without causing improving your vocabulary is the second phase among other things this means using study aids such as the Atlas and dictionary the third phase is understanding what you read learning to get the meaning in what you are reading reading improvement doesn't come easily it requires constant and careful practice but keeping at it brings a worthwhile reward the vast treasure house of man's printed knowledge exciting stories of travel books on hobbies and crafts stories about people places and times most important of all as harold found better reading shows the way to a fuller enjoyment of the everyday adventures of life [Music]