Reading and note-taking. Reading is important, but for many people watching this, reading is also work, hard work. Pew Research conducted a study in 2016 and found that the typical American reads four books a year. I know that some of you might say that they've read more or less than that. Either way, it's okay.
We'll be talking about this throughout the course. In 2018, a survey of CEOs by the publisher Fast Company found that the chief executive officers read 60 books a year. That's over a book a week. I like to push my students a little by reminding them that we all like to think of ourselves as special or amazing or exceptional.
Whatever you want to call it. Well, maybe part of being amazing is doing things that the average person doesn't. As you know, reading is one way of learning new things.
So again, if you would like to be special or amazing or exceptional, you'll have to start doing things that most people don't. Let me ask you this question. If you do what everyone else does, are you special?
Let me ask you that again. If you do what everyone else does, are you special? You know the answer to this, and I hope it motivates you a little to read more and learn new things. After completing this module, you'll be able to do the following.
Discuss the way reading differs in college and how to successfully adapt to this change. Demonstrate the usefulness of strong note-taking for college students. Let's go over the content that you'll encounter in this module. Number one, the nature and types of reading. I tried to demonstrate the importance of reading at the beginning of this video.
You understand that being able to read is a requirement for many areas of our lives. When you were younger, you may have heard that you read above, at, or below grade level. So in sixth grade, you may have read above grade level. This means your understanding of what you read was higher than expected for a sixth grader. You were a good reader.
Or maybe you weren't. Now that you are in college, some of your classes may require you to read more than you've ever read in the past. They might ask you to read a lot. Number two, effective reading strategies.
For this part of the module, you will see a variety of strategies and techniques to help you grow your reading skill. First, you should figure out how fast you are able to read in order to plan your time for studying. How long will it take you to read 20 pages, or 50, or 100 pages? Be prepared for this and plan to budget your time accordingly. Next, you'll have to recognize when you need to do active reading.
Active reading means that you are slowing down, thinking about what you're reading, asking questions, solving problems, doing more than just following along with what is written. You're thinking about what is written. It also means stopping and taking notes.
Active reading takes more time than reading romance novels or science fiction on the beach. This may also include learning unfamiliar, discipline-specific terms, course vocabulary, evaluating what you are reading, applying what you're reading to other learning and life situations you encounter. This last one has been useful to me. This is when I read something and then I think about how it compares to my life.
Active reading is probably what most of your college reading will look like. Slow down, pay attention, ask questions, and please, please, please turn off your cell phone while you're reading. Number three, taking notes. This may be a drawing of Leonardo da Vinci. We don't know for sure what he looked like.
He is famous for the many skills he mastered and the width of his knowledge. He knew a lot, and he could do a lot. When he died, he amassed almost 30,000 pages of notes in his famous notebooks. Today, approximately 7,000 pages still survive. The fact that we're still talking about this guy 500 years after his death says a lot.
The process of taking notes engages our mind. brain and body to strengthen our connection with the information. The extra effort helps us better own the material. The Cornell method of note-taking has been an effective tool since the 1950s and was created by Cornell professor Walter Palk. This system can be described as organized simplicity.
Ideas are separated as you encounter them and rewritten in your own words. This last part shows that you can internalize or own the material. You get it. You understand.
Other note-taking techniques include outlines, charts, or tables of related material. I'm sure you remember the student posters that you or your classmates made in grammar school for your math or science classes. This was a graphic representation of your understanding and interpretation of what you learned back then.
Mind maps show how pieces of information are connected in a graphical form. And just so you know, these are used in the business world. Sometimes they're called brainstorming charts. I've used them. These are annotations.
These dissect complicated reading into better understood and useful material. It pulls stuff out that you don't understand and helps you figure it out. On a final note, sorry for the pun, if you want to get more out of your notes, you must review your notes over and over. You can't just write them down and forget about them.
The more you review, the more likely you are able to recall the material during a test, and maybe more importantly, use this information beyond the classroom. Maybe use it in your career, in your life. That's it for this video. See ya.