World's fastest reader at a speed of 80,000 wpm with 100 % comprehension - Prof. Schale

THE WORLD’S FASTEST READER IS NOW DEAN OF ARELLANO UNIVERSITY’S GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Maria Teresa F. Calderon, Ph.D. ON JULY 17, 1968, Professor Florence Schale, Director for Rapid Reading Program of Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, told the whole world that her prize pupil established a score of 50,000 words per minute for the record books with one hundred percent comprehension in her final exams.      Prof. Schale's prize pupil was the "petite, smiling, warm and unassuming" 15-year old Maria Teresa Fabros Calderon from the Philippines.      In subsequent tests given by the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois, the Purdue University and Northwestern University, Maritess reset the record books with her reading speed of 80,000 words per minute with 100 percent comprehension.      Newspapers across the world bannered her name, paid tribute to her exceptional ability, and gave her an honorific title: "World's Fastest Reader." Phenomenal "EXPERTS SAY, we ordinarily read at about 250 words a minute with 70- percent comprehension," declares The Asia Magazine in an article about Maritess Calderon in its Dec.14, 1969 issue. "Anything over 350 words a minute borders on the phenomenal."      Maria Teresa Calderon is the fastest speed reader in the world, the Guinness Book of World Records also declares.      Today, the world's fastest reader, who has been featured in the Encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 19, 1971) and in numerous other newspapers, magazines and academic journals all over the world since she established her world record, prefers to go by her new title as Dean Graduate School of Education at Arellano University's Florentino Cayco Memorial School for Graduate Studies in Manila. Gifted "HOW CAN one learn to read as fast as you do?" an avid fan once asked Maritess.      "Oh, but it's a gift," she quickly replied.      "Most university students read as fast as they speak," Hilarion M. Henares Jr. wrote in his column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 1988, "about 250 words per minute with 60-percent comprehension. Trained in speed reading these students can read 2,000 words per minute with 70-percent comprehension. 'Gifted' are those who can read over 20,000 words per minute at more than 70-percent comprehension."      Who are these gifted people? In the list are famous names: John Kennedy (6,000 words per minute), Ferdinand E. Marcos (reportedly 8,000 words per minute), John Stuart Mill, 19th century economist, (timed at 37,000 words per minute), and Theodore Roosevelt (who, historians say, "astonished his constituents by glancing at a page, and speaking accurately of its contents").      Maritess Calderon's 80,000 words per minute with 100-percent comprehension remains the world record to beat until today. The second highest recorded speed in reading is 54,825 words per minute with 90-percent comprehension. Turning Around AU Graduate School  ON REGULAR SCHOOL days she is in her graduate school office at the Paulino F. Cayco Hall on the main campus of Arellano University on Legarda street in Sampaloc, Manila. Here, she goes about steering graduate studies with her trademark good-naturedness, candidness, hard work and passion for excellence, which has turned around Arellano University's Graduate School of Education into a world class program.      At the Arellano University's Graduate School of Education, which offers the degrees Master of Arts in Education and Doctor of Education, she took steps to introduce new programs and promote as well quality research.       For starters, she instituted a rule that before a graduate student starts working on his or her thesis or dissertation, he or she should submit the proposed study to the scrutiny of specialists in a colloquium. Here, three to five faculty specialists go over the student's proposal to make sure that the research topic is timely and relevant, the problem is stated clearly, adequate related literature are reviewed, the research design and instruments are well chosen, and the methods or research are sequenced accordingly. If these conditions are met, only then can the student proceed with her research study.      This school year (2008-2009), Dean Calderon has lined up graduate studies enhancement programs. Together with Dr. Remedios L. Fernandez, Dean of the Graduate School of Nursing at Arellano University, they insist on excellent communication skills and are set to instill in the minds of every student the need to continuously improve in this. Students who are enrolled in the masteral thesis writing are required to undergo the Writing Dynamics Program, specifically to enhance their written communication skills in English, focusing on grammatical skills.      The educator in Dean Calderon has not lost her self-defined life-long mission. She continues to carry out programs that complement classroom lessons to help students read right and comprehend well. "Reading is the key to greater learning and a progressive and mature citizenry," she says.       Some reading teachers assert that most students to whom English is a second language read rather slowly. Other students even find it hard to master silent reading.       She says: "Slow reading and poor comprehension are usually due to bad reading habits. Vocalizing and verbatim reading—or word by word reading—doesn't help increase one's reading speed nor improve comprehension."      Dean Calderon places enormous faith in education. Her programs for improving English proficiency for both the faculty and students of Arellano University are getting desired results. Her belief that correct reading habits result in better comprehension, if followed by the students, should lead to greater learning which, undoubtedly, is the competitive advantage every student can enjoy in any global setting or marketplace. How to Succeed in Nursing Courses  DEAN CALDERON revealed that in an English vocabulary and comprehension assessment study she conducted recently on nursing students of Arellano University who failed their Course Audit subjects showed very significant results. Almost all of those who failed to pass Course Audit had English vocabulary and comprehension stanine scores equivalent to lower grade school. Thus, it is next to impossible to expect these students to answer test questions in English correctly because they do not understand the questions, in the first place. It is even worse to expect them to understand and comprehend their nursing textbooks which are mostly published in the United States.      "To be successful in nursing courses, students must be able to read and comprehend a large volume of information," says Dean Calderon. "This requires different types of reading and study skills from other courses to which they have been exposed. The formal teaching of these skills in a nursing course takes second place to the teaching of required nursing skills."      What about their teachers?      "Because nursing teachers are not academically prepared to teach reading and the related skills, they have no knowledge of what to do or how to do what is needed," she explains. English Intervention Program: Improving College Students' Reading Skills "MOST HIGH SCHOOL and college students have learned that for every hour spent in class, they are expected to spend three hours on preparation for the class. This includes reading assignments. A chapter in an average college textbook is approximately 50 pages or more in length. Many college instructors assign two or more chapters of reading per week. This means a student taking three academic courses must read more than 300 pages per week. This is a tremendous load for students who have inadequate reading and study skills.      According to Dean Calderon, reading instruction in most schools often ends in the fifth or sixth grade. Thus, "the reading skills that were adequate for junior and senior high school classes will not suffice for the amount and level of reading and studying required at the college level. A significant number of first-year college students commence their studies with less than adequate reading comprehension strategies."       To address this problem, Dean Calderon initiated an English intervention program for the same batch of nursing students at Arellano University. After the program, a significant number of these students passed their Course Audit. Thus, her English intervention program is now an integral part of the Arellano University Nursing curriculum.       Since school year 2007-2008, she has been giving diagnostic tests at the beginning of each semester to all college freshmen of Arellano University to determine their reading proficiency, math proficiency and learning styles. All incoming students are taught more effective study skills to compliment their learning styles.  The results of the diagnostics for reading and math proficiency determine the type of teaching strategy to be applied.       Says the dean: "The challenge for every teacher is to apply the Marva Collins maxim, the good teacher makes the poor student good, the good student superior." Reading as a Fundamental Learning Skill AN ADVOCATE for reading as a fundamental learning skill not only among schoolchildren, high school and college students and teachers, but even among top corporate and government managers, Dean Calderon has relentlessly conducted reading workshops since 1969. She also extends consulting services in education and communication skills to multinational businesses, government organizations, and educational institutions not just here in the Philippines but also in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States. Her stature as an educator won her affiliations with three prestigious professional associations in the United States, such as the National Honors Society, International Reading Association, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.      In 2004, she initiated a program called DEAR, for "Drop Everything and Read" at the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities in Tanauan, Batangas to inculcate the habit of reading among teachers and students on that campus. Complementary to DEAR, which encouraged uninterrupted reading time at a certain period during the day, was her vocabulary building program where new words are flashed on screen when students and faculty switch on their computers. Her program for training primary grades teachers to enhance their effectiveness in teaching reading was pilot-tested in Cebu City Division of Public Schools in 2005. She trained 350 public school teachers of Grade I in that division and in school year 2005-2006 her reading program for Grade I was launched to 19,000 pupils.      Dean Calderon has also written three Phonics workbooks. "These books are guaranteed to make every child a reader," she says.      Driven by zeal and purpose to further improve education, she tirelessly conducts seminars, workshops, and training programs to improve teachers' methodologies in teaching reading and enhance as well schoolchildren's reading capacities. "Learning begins with reading," she points out. "Good reading comprehension leads to better education." Differentiated Instruction SHE HAS ALSO designed a program called Enriched English Curriculum. This school year, Arellano University is launching the adoption of the program in the elementary level. All pupils in the grade schools of the University will be subjected to diagnostic tests at the start of classes and based on the results of the tests differentiated instruction will be applied in their English subjects. It is a teaching strategy which Dean Calderon has used for over 30 years since she has started teaching students from different levels across different cultures.      "Differentiated instruction is about using teaching strategies that connect with individual student's learning strategies," says Dean Calderon, "of which ultimate goal is to provide a learning environment that will maximize the potential for student's success."      She points out that in differentiated instruction it is important for the teacher to remember to hold on to the effective teaching strategies that lead students to positive learning outcomes and to make adjustments when necessary.      "It's about being flexible and open to change. It's also about taking risks and trying teaching and learning strategies that you would have otherwise ignored. It's about managing instructional time in a way that meets the standards and also provides motivating, challenging, and meaningful experiences for school-age children who are socialized to receive and process information in ways that require differentiation of experience."      She concludes: "These are very exciting times for the teaching profession. We are faced with a generation of learners who are challenging us to think about new ways on how to deliver instruction." Family of Achievers MARIA TERESA F. CALDERON belongs to a family of achievers. She is the fifth in the brood of seven of Jose Calderon of Candon, Ilocos Sur and Betty Fabros Calderon of Batangas.       Her father served under President Diosdado Macapagal as the Chairman of the National Marketing Corporation (NAMARCO), then ran and won in the election for delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention. After the EDSA Revolution, he was appointed a member of the 1981 Constitutional Commission.       Her mother, Betty Fabros Calderon made history in the Manila Stock Exchange as the first and only woman member from 1967 to 1983. She taught at the Arellano High School in the 1940's. After EDSA I, she was appointed as OIC governor of Nueva Vizcaya. During her stint, she donated her salary to support her scholars. She organized activities for the voluntary and charitable organizations she headed, including the Settlement House Foundation, Assosacion de las Damas de Filipinas, YWCA, PWU Alumni Association, Zonta Club, National Red Cross of Nueva Vizcaya, and the Order of the Eastern Star, Sampaguita Chapter.       Her eldest sister, Lilia Calderon-Clemente is chairperson of Clemente Capital, Inc., a New York money manager and specialist in emerging markets. She is described by the U.S. media as the "Wonder Woman of Wall Street."  Ms. Clemente has managed multi-billion-dollar funds in New York for many years, and is now a Beijing-based investor in China.       Another sister, Dr. Norma Calderon-Panahon, is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the APA, a Diplomate in Psychiatry, and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She is the Medical Director of the Outpatient Services Department of Buffalo Psychiatric Center, Buffalo, New York. She is also a clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry of the State University of New York at Buffalo and a recipient of the prestigious George Tarjan Award given by the American Psychiatric Association as the Most Outstanding International Medical Graduate in 2004, for implementing the integration of IMGs into American Psychiatry.  Dr. Panahon, a recent visitor at Arellano University's College of Nursing, received from the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines in Manila the "2007 Most Distinguished Alumnus Overseas Award."       Her youngest sister, Maria Victoria F. Calderon, is the Director of the Child Development Center at Erie County Community College. She recently received double prestigious awards as one of the top five best professors at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Gillette-Brouser Community Award for the empowerment of women and as a role model in the community.       Dean Calderon holds an A.B. in Political Science (1974), M.A. in Education (1976), and Ph.D. in Education (1984), all from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Before sitting as Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Arellano University, she was the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities in Tanauan, Batangas. She still continues to run the Calderon Reading Workshop, Inc. which she established in 1969 and indefatigably carries on her lifelong mission of making a difference in the life of all her students across cultures.                            The World's Fastest Reader, Dr. Maria Teresa F. Calderon, chats with Arellano University Chairman & CEO Francisco Paulino Cayco (left) and Vice President for International Affairs Mario F. Sales (center) during a book launching at AU recently.                           Dean Calderon with students and faculty attend the blessing of her new office at the AU Graduate School of Education during the celebration of the 60th foundation day of Florentino  Cayco Memorial School of Graduate Studies.