A learning challenge that I’m continuously working to overcome is my reading comprehension. My main issue with learning is not comprehending the text beforehand and working with what I think I know rather than what I should know. As obvious as it may seem, reading should come more easily now as I’m older. For some reason, I feel the complete opposite. 

Reading comprehension is critical as it defines whether or not you understand the meaning and purpose of the written words that the author/text is trying to portray. Recognizing words on a page is different from having the ability to understand said written words. It is the ability to extract the information and alter the concept to make it more easily comprehensible. 

I find it challenging because when I would read academic articles, I found myself skipping over certain words throughout sentences, therefore, preventing me from having a complete understanding of what I was reading. When that occurs, it makes it difficult to achieve the whole purpose of reading. Additionally, when reading academic articles, the context of the article would sometimes be incomprehensible due to my lack of understanding and the immense amount of information packed in one article. Thus, making me lose focus on the important information and have to reread the text again. 

There are multiple practices as to how I can have better reading comprehension. One strategy that I find helpful is to read aloud. As simple as it may sound, it does help with applying more meaning to words rather than just looking at them written on paper. There’s much more clarity when I read aloud, and I’m enunciating word for word, understanding the words themselves and the sentence structure. Once I read aloud, it allows me to really think about what I’m reading, therefore allowing me to understand and connect to the text better. 

To better understand what I’m reading, I like to use active recall of the information I’ve read from what I have learned in the past. Connecting the two helps to make learning the words/concepts better. Successful learning is when you’re able to retrieve information from the past to reference what you’re currently learning. Making these connections is critical as it’s part of the learning process. As mentioned, learning occurs when information can be retrieved after a period of disuse and applied to new situations. 


Being motivated to read encourages better reading comprehension. If you’re feeling motivated, you will feel more inclined to focus and be persistent with the reading. As stated by the Motivation and Learning page, designing for motivation increases the potential for student success, and it should come from wanting to learn. Humans are wired to maintain curiosity, therefore encouraging ourselves to strive to find answers that will fulfill that curiosity and feel successful.