How I Came to Teach Courses on Effective Reading Strategies
Avil Beckford 
In this blog post, you'll learn how I can to teach effective reading strategies. In the end, you'll get more from your reading time.
After yesterday’s post, 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Reading Nonfiction Books, you probably want to learn about how I came to teach courses on effective reading strategies. Years ago, to work my way through the grieving process, I decided to do something I loved. And that was reading. I created a reading challenge for myself to read the world. In four months, by way of the books I had read, I visited over 30 countries. I learned so much about intercultural awareness and developed empathy along the way.
The problem with most nonfiction books
But I also learned something that many people do not talk about. As I was reading many of the nonfiction books during my healing journey, I started experiencing déjà vu. Haven’t I read this before, haven’t I read this before. In addition, I discovered that a lot of the information in some of these books did not contribute to my understanding of the text. It was a very frustrating feeling. I started to notice this phenomenon while reading other nonfiction books, so I decided to do something about it.
Over the course of a few years, I read several books, took a few courses, and attended some workshops, hoping to discover more effective reading strategies. There had to be a better way to read nonfiction books. After evaluating what I learned, I identified what worked and wouldn’t work for me.
During the research and investigation process, I learned that publishers have word counts, so authors often needed to add a few more case studies and examples. And sometimes they repeated the information to get to the word count. This meant that many books were longer than they needed to be. I also learned that on the average page of a nonfiction book, only four to 11 percent of the text on a page carries meaning. That’s about one sentence.
A course on effective reading strategies was born
I developed a course, but I wasn’t quite satisfied with it. Yes, professionals will no longer experience déjà vu while reading nonfiction books. They’d get a system to read to learn what they needed to know, instead of reading books cover-to-cover. But I wanted to do so much more.
Professionals frequently told me that the reason they didn’t read more books was because of lack of time, focus, and the inability to remember what they learned from the books. The training program solved their lack of time and inability to focus. And to a certain extent, it solved not remembering what they read.
I think that if people applied what they learned from the books they read, it would be a more active form of learning. And they would likely remember more of what they learned. The training course has evolved and morphed into a few courses. On the Art of Learning Leadership Academy membership site, you’ll learn effective reading strategies in a course on reading. Members learn how to read like a leader.
Book summaries have their place and is part of an effective reading strategy
I always explain to my readers and students that to read effectively, it’s essential to read a good book summary before you read the actual book. Doing this, helps you to read the book faster because you’re familiar with the content. Book summaries also focus you on the essential information in the book. With that in mind, I developed Bookish Notes. A Bookish Note includes a summary of the book, discussion questions, book pairings and groupings, big ideas, insights and a lot more. I group Bookish Notes based on a theme to create a course on a specific topic.
The courses I teach on the Art of Learning Leadership Academy membership site complement each other. And members learn effective reading strategies while they work their way through the courses. Because each Bookish Note has discussion questions, readers get tested, which moves the information to their long-term memory. Working your way through a Bookish Note is an effective reading strategy, because you’ll get a good understanding of what the book is about, so you’ll end up reading the book faster.
Applying what you learn from books is another effective reading strategy
As I mentioned before, professionals have told me that they often forget what they learn. In one of the courses on effective reading strategies, members are advised to take notes as they read a book. When they finish reading the book, they’re asked to review their notes a few times. After doing this, they’re invited to pick out the big ideas from the books they read. They get the opportunity to connect the big ideas across the different books they read to generate bigger and better ideas.
No other course on effective reading strategies goes that far. People are able to solve problems in their workplace when they read this way. This is a very active type of learning and members take full responsibility for their professional development.
Next Steps
Would you like to learn how the Art of Learning Leadership Academy membership site can help you?