If you know the author well, you will probably find it easier to find the topic sentences as they typically write in the same manner each time.
Each topic sentence will contain a topic and the main idea, which indicates the path the paragraph will take. Examples are as follows: Topic Sentence: Certain characteristics are required to be an effective CEO.
The topic is ‘to be an effective CEO,’ and the main idea is “certain characteristics.”
Topic Sentence: There are a lot of possible contributing factors to global warming.
The topic is ‘global warming,’ and the main idea is ‘contributing factors.’
Topic Sentence: Improved education my help prevent teen pregnancy.
The topic is ‘prevent teen pregnancy,’ and the main idea is ‘improved education.’
Recognizing Word Shapes
Have you noticed that you can read multiple words in one glance? This ability to read up to sixteen words is because you aren’t looking at the letters. You’re looking at the shape of the terms, and experience will identify what the word is by its form. If you have only seen a term a few times, you may find it harder to detect by its shape. But once you have learned the word and used it in your vocabulary, it will become easy.
Nottingham University researcher Graham Rawlinson created an experiment in 1976 to determine what information is gleaned from
words and letters while reading. He wrote sentences where the letters were jumbled up apart from the letter at the beginning and the end of each word.
He discovered that those who were good readers could not only read the sentences but understand them as well as if they weren’t jumbled at all. Readers looked at the word as a whole rather than individual letters.
CHAPTER SIX
How the Brain Learns and How To Do
It Effectively
Every day we are learning new things, most of the time without us even realizing it. But some things take more time to learn, and being able to increase the speed at which you learn can allow you more time for other things. Reading and learning faster go hand and hand, and mastering one will eventually lead to the other.
Once you start learning faster, you will find it hard to stop because you will gain so much more knowledge about a wide variety of topics without it taking you months or years to do so. Often we are put off because it seems it will take too long to study something, but with faster learning, that isn’t an issue, so you can stop procrastinating and start broadening your horizons.
For existing students, this skill is invaluable and will help them wade through the tons of educational material they are handed, especially in college. Learning faster reduces stress and improves productivity. The possibilities and benefits are endless, and in today’s society, the more knowledge you have, the better you can move forward in your day to day life and in your chosen profession.
Benefits of Learning Faster
There are some benefits of being able to learn new information faster and store it for later recall, for your professional life or personal life.
They can be broken into sections, Aspiration, Self-Awareness, Curiosity, and Vulnerability.
Aspiration
For most people, they either aspire to be better, or they don’t. Some are quite happy to carry on without moving forward. But through faster learning, it is possible to raise a person’s aspiration level.
Instead of being resistant to change, you start to get excited about it and look forward to new challenges.
It is too easy to get stuck in a rut, not wanting anything to change because it’s challenging to learn new things and will take ages.
However, learning faster enables you to pick up new skills quickly, so instead of focusing on the negatives, which slows or stops aspiration, you can move forward positively.
By focusing on the positive such as what is going to be the gain by learning the new knowledge or skill, the future can look much brighter, and the rewards will be higher. The ability to look forward positively through learning motivates us to keep learning and to take on new challenges.
Self-Awareness
Many people in the position of leader know about self-awareness and the role it plays. They have a good understanding that feedback is necessary to see how others perceive them. But, with learning, we are often too insecure, lacking confidence, thinking about what we can’t
do, or what we don’t know. This produces a state of self-deception and prevents the urge to learn more and go forward.
Those who have an excellent reliable sense of their self-awareness understand that it all has to start in their mind. Once they accept that their opinion or perspective can have flaws or bias, they are more willing to hear what others have to say. Instead of responding to criticism in a defensive manner, they can think more clearly, reflect on their thoughts, and seek answers to the problem.
Curiosity
From early childhood, humans have a great sense of curiosity, always asking questions about anything and everything because when we are young, we are continuously learning. But, once we reach adulthood, this curiosity can slow down or come to a complete stop for some.
Faster learning encourages you to take what may not be very interesting or exciting and ask questions about the topic. All they have to do is find one exciting thing, and that curiosity will lead to more reading and learning. Those who can learn faster develop a more significant curiosity about the world around them.
Vulnerability
It is an unfortunate and common habit to develop hesitancy or fear to learn something once we have become good at something else. We don’t want to go back to that point where we aren’t as good at the new thing, and that can bring up feelings of inadequacy, dumbness, slowness, and awkwardness.
Some things can take a very long time to learn, and nobody wants to be in that position for an extended time. But by allowing ourselves to accept that we can be vulnerable enough to go back to the beginning, it is a great advantage. With faster learning and the use of that vulnerability at the start, we can dramatically shorten the length of time needed to learn the new skill or knowledge. In this rapidly changing society, being able to learn quickly is crucial.
Other Benefits of Learning Faster
Quicker to finish assignments.
Gaining more knowledge.
