A child can read every word on a page and understand none of it. Comprehension is a separate skill — and it can be taught.
Reading has two engines. The first is decoding — turning letters into sounds and sounds into words. The second is comprehension — turning those words into meaning. A reader can be fluent at the first and lost at the second.
Strong comprehenders do something invisible as they read: they predict, question, picture, and connect. They notice when a sentence does not make sense and go back. These strategies can be taught directly.
Each of these turns a passive reader into an active one — and active reading is where understanding lives.
Sleep is not downtime — it is when the brain consolidates what you learned.
The most common way people study is one of the least effective. Here is what works instead.
Memorising word lists is slow and fragile. Meeting words in living context is how real vocabulary grows.