Memory Tricks
Debbie Cargill
May 03, 2010
So...they (students) got it! They have made some connections and made some sense of the new learning. Now...how do we help them remember it? It is certainly easier to remember things that we understand. But, sometimes we just need to rely on rote memory.
On a recent visit to a bookstore, a unique little book caught my eye. The title was intriguing - Thirty Days Has September - Cool Ways to Remember Stuff, written by Chris Stevens. The very first sentence piqued my interest - "Information is easy to remember when you use every trick in the book - well, in this book actually! It's full of really useful memory devices called mnemonics. Some are mental shortcuts, some are catchy rhymes, and there are even some silly jokes, but they are all designed to send quick reminders to your brain." (p. 6) What a great tool for teachers to have in their toolbox!
Some of the memory tricks were familiar - acrostics, acronyms, pictures, rhythm and rhyme, etc.
Everyone remembers -
I before E, except after C,
Or when sounded like A,
As in neighbor and weigh.
Or - Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November.
All the rest have thirty-one
Except February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear,
With twenty-nine in each leap year.
Or - ROY G. BIV and Spring forward, fall back.
Many of the tricks were not as familiar to me, but could be really cool for kids! There are tricks for spelling rules, punctuation, grammar, homophones (you hear with your ears, but here is where you are), and figures of speech (alliteration is littered with letters). In history, you remember - "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." To remember the points of the compass for geography - Never Eat Slimy Worms. My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles is a good way to remember the planets (without Pluto). For Math, there's help in remembering the times tables - "Nasty nines are fine and fun if you just fold your fingers and thumbs."
Thirty Days Has September - Cools Ways to Remember Stuff would be a great addition to every teacher's toolbox. Other resources for memory tricks can be found at these web sites:
