Reading fast vs reading slow and does it even matter?

I'm a fast reader. I don't try to read fast, I just go at what seems like a natural speed for me. My daughter is also a fast reader. She sprints through books and I often question if she actually reads every word on the page.

Since this post is about reading, I thought the one and only selfie I have of me reading would be appropriate. Side note: I love the Maisie Dobbs series.

I have a point here, I promise.

My husband and son are slow readers. I've read over both their shoulders and get bored waiting for them to turn the page. They are so slooooow. But they remember just about everything they read. It's like they soak all that content up and are able to spit it out whenever they want. Those guys are fountains of knowledge.

My daughter and I? Not so much. We forget what the main characters' names are (when I formally review books, I have to keep notes) and within a few weeks we have to search our minds to remember plots. We don't try to be this way, it's just that we've read a dozen books since the one we're asked to remember.

At least, that's our excuse.

Get ready for a change of subject before I tie everything together.

I try to be a good mom. I volunteer at my kids' school at least once a week. One of the things I do in my son's class is conduct reading assessments. I have a little station in the hall outside the classroom with a desk and two chairs. I sit in one chair and students come out one by one to sit in the other chair. I instruct them to get comfortable and, when they're ready, to read passages on a piece of paper. While they read, I time them for 60 seconds. the goal of this exercise is to see how fast they can read. After the 60 seconds are over they go back to class and send the next student out. I record their words per minute.

Now, I'm not the only parents who does this. It's done several times a week. Yeah, almost every day students are timed to see how fast they can read. Over and over and over again.

One student usually takes a deep breath and then, when he exhales, practically vomits words out as fast as he can. I can tell he really cares about improving his word speed.

Another girl reads practically monotone because she's concentrating on reading so fast.

One boy, who seems really sweet and nice, reads so quietly I can barely ever hear him. He's one of the slower readers in the class and I'm pretty sure he knows it.

Every week, for several weeks now, I've endured this exercise and have wondered, "Why on EARTH am I doing this to these sweet little kids? Why the heck is the teacher and administration doing this to the kids? What good does it do?" I'm never supposed to ask them what the passages are about, I'm just supposed to see how many words they can blurt out in 1 minute. Reading comprehension has never been mentioned, just speed.

Earlier this week, the kids had to read phrases, instead of a short story. There were three-word phrases on the paper like, "his big smile," "the yellow umbrella," "answer the phone." And then, the one that made me cringe, "none was got."

I'm not the greatest grammatically correct person, the published stuff I write is often edited by grammarians. But even I know that "none was got" isn't grammatically correct. Ever.

I keep wondering, what are we teaching our kids in Utah classrooms? Do they know the goal of reading is to gain comprehension? What about kids who are slower readers, but retain 99% of what they read? Do they understand how great that is? I hope so.

At first I worried about the kids thinking, "none was got" was an okay phrase to use in their writing. Then I realized they probably don't even remember reading it. They were too busy trying to read faster than the day before.