So as context, I am a part of a small proto cadre organization, with around a dozen members. We study theory together, and are heavily involved in organizing in our local area. Some of my comrades really struggle with reading comprehension, to the point they really struggle to understand even essay length texts-- and not for lack of trying, these people genuinely do want to learn and study. They are just people who have been severely failed by the American education system. I am in a strange position; I am looked to for help as I read a lot and have more of a background in theory than most of them. But I don’t really know how to help. I was a terrible student and I barely graduated high school. Reading is just something I’ve done a lot of for as long as I can remember. Does anyone have any advice on how I can better support my comrades?
If you have the bandwidth, giving them pre-reading really helps. A few paragraphs of context (and maybe a vocabulary/terminology list) and background to start with, and then some questions. Write the questions so that they know what to pay attention to, and make them as specific as possible (e.g. “in section 3, when x says y about z, what does that mean?”) to call their attention to the important bits and help them scaffold their understanding. A lot of reading comprehension issues come from not knowing how to prioritize information: if you’re not used to dense texts, it’s really hard to know what’s important and what’s background/filler. Some signposting about what to think about and look for can be very helpful.
ETA: Here’s another suggestion. Give them annotated copies of the things you’re asking them to read (either your annotations or someone else’s). That is, give them copies of the readings in which important passages are highlighted, and in which margin comments call attention to or explain particularly interesting (or tricky) passages. You could even invite all of them to read a single shared copy of the text and contribute their own annotations/comments to it. Anything that increases engagement is good, and seeing what other people have to say about a text can often be really helpful.