It’s been 4 weeks of classes, zoom fatigue has hit, and we are already tired of all of our readings… 

Can your hundreds of pages of nightly reading become slightly more enjoyable, and even fun?  

For those looking to spice up their readings while gaining a deeper understanding…look no further: 

• Read it aloud to yourself. Do an accent (especially if it’s bad) or practice your theatrical emotions.
  • Alternatively: Read it aloud to your pet and every so often scream the next word in the sentence at them so you see what they think of it. 
• Try reading out loud in iambic pentameter (kinda serious, kinda really not here). 
  • You’ll feel like Shakespeare crafting a masterpiece! 
• Divide your reading into really small segments. Add a checkbox at the bottom of each small segment and check it off once you finish reading it. 
  • This is a good way to track progress and it will help you avoid feeling like you’ve been reading forever! 
• Try working toward small ~rewards~ while reading!
  • ex. “after five pages I’ll refill my tea” or “after five pages I’ll stretch” or “after five pages I’ll put on chapstick/lotion”
• If you’re reading something dense, like theory or a textbook, read a page and then summarize the contents for yourself, either in the margins or on a separate piece of paper. It doesn’t have to be long–even a few words or equations will do. 
  • Alternatively: Summarize what you just read but in a fun, new, creative way for every page/chapter. 
    • First, summarize as if you were a robot, then a pirate, then a princess, a cowboy, Kim Kardashian, an astronaut, an alien, PrezBo, and so on! 
      • It will get your little-kid imagination flowing and will make your notes and content more memorable later on. And it will make sure you are actually processing the material and not just mechanically reading the words. 
• When you’re reading fiction or a philosophical text, pretend that the author of the piece is your friend, so in the margins, write “lol stop being stupid” and playfully make fun of them (instead of holding them to such a high standard). 
  • This actually helps a lot when you need to make an argument for or against the author, as you’re naturally challenging their view!
• Find a picture of the author beforehand to assign a soul to the text.
  • This is can be especially fun for reading theory and philosophy.  
• For PDFs or digital readings, scroll through the page at a consistent but slow pace so that you can keep up but can’t zone out.
  • This will help you get through readings quickly and stay on task. 
• Break readings down! 
  • Don’t go head first into 75 pages of reading, space it out over a few hours or days (ex: say 25 pages for today, 25 for tomorrow, etc.). 
• If you’d rather listen than read, utilize free full-length audiobooks on youtube! 
  • Or use the text-to-speech function to listen to your readings!
• For dense theory, read the abstract and the conclusion, and then skim for who they cite or what examples they use. Write this all down in a couple of sentences so that you don’t forget, and then go do something fun!  

This is the sign you’ve been waiting for to finally start your readings! Best of luck!

Catch me actually enjoying my readings in the near future via. Bwarchives