College Reading: The Science and Strategies of Expert Readers

We learn what is important to us. Students' brains can be in a state of low arousal which is not conducive to learning unless their minds are engaged. Tip from the Brain Doctor introduces students to some of the research behind learning in a very user-friendly way while also suggesting how the students may use this information to improve their learning and reading. Brain Strength Options provides many projects for diversifying strategies and reaching diverse learners; students to self-select according to their strengths. A variety of high-interest, multi-length, college-level practice readings are provided throughout the book. Many students have never experienced reading as an enjoyable activity. It's critical that students are exposed to interesting and controversial readings, in order to fully engage in reading related activities.

The frontal lobes develop in response to experience. The frontal lobes are still developing until around age 25. Then throughout life good frontal lobes help you make good decisions. If you engage in activities that stimulate the frontal lobes you can make them better. If you want students to be better thinkers, then they must be provided with those activities. Comprehension Checks are classroom assessment techniques embedded in every chapter to ensure what students are learning and how well. Various activity types are designed to stimulate multiple avenues toward natural learning, thus reaching a greater range of learners, especially diverse ones.

Fire it until you wire it! Repetition is important because the more a group of neurons fire together the more likely they are to fire together again. Learning involves the strengthening of these neural networks. Making Connections activates the students' existing network of knowledge in order to help them make connections to the new material introduced in that chapter. "Practice with a Reading Passage” allows the students to reinforce what they have learned in the chapter to solidify the learning. Skills are also referred to and revisited in later chapters, building and strengthening them over time. Post Tests at the end of each chapter serve as a cumulative critical reading activity for all the critical reading strategies presented in the book. These tests require students to do more than just fill in the blanks, thus encouraging students to expect more from themselves and their reading course.

Memory has to be actively stored and is stored in multiple places, needing to be reassembled for recall. Many times what appears to be reading comprehension problems are actually working memory problems. Chapter 2 is completely devoted to teaching students about how the memory works and providing strategies for addressing working memory problems that can hinder them when test-taking or comprehending what they read.