Dare to Read

Be in control of your reading. With the Read Through It Strategy, you will be empowered to make decisions while you read. You will gain confidence as you decide how much you learn from any given passage. There are no tests of comprehension or word pronunciation. Essentially, you are on a diet of reading whatever it is you would like to read. You are also free to change it if you are not having fun. You are in control!

When 16-year-old student, Karen, read the word "little" as "small," she had no awareness of her error because there was no error in her comprehension. Her teacher, Wade McJacobs, asked himself, "Is that truly an error?" Did she get the word wrong? Yes. Did she fail to understand because of the error? Absolutely not. With guidance Karen learned to have confi dence in her reading abilities and in herself. She learned to trust her capacity to perform and to work with the power of her mind.

From this Positive Error came the Read Through It Strategy. Dare to Read: Improving Your Reading Speed and Skills provides a systematic set of guidelines that will build your confi dence as a reader and as a thinking person. By following simple steps and practicing controlled exercises for just a few minutes each day, you will become a
more confident and capable reader. Take the quick-start route or get a thorough explanation before you begin-you are in control of your reading journey.

Wade McJacobs created the Read Through It Strategy while working with struggling readers in alternative schools in Tigard, Oregon. He discovered that people often avoid reading because they are frustrated with the physical mechanics of reading rather than the ideas presented. The Read Through It Strategy guides the reader through practice exercises that will improve reading speed and comprehension. Readers will feel better about their reading skills and themselves generally.

Wade lives in an empty nest in Beaverton, Oregon with his wife of 34 years, Martha. Martha is the founder of Life By Design, an organization that empowers parents to use self-awareness as a means of raising autonomous children.

In retirement, Wade and Martha embrace this new beginning as an opportunity to better themselves and their communities.