Do you struggle to remember and retain information taught in class? Try these tips to help you remember:
1. Draw or create vivid pictures depicting information that needs to be memorized. Since memory is enhanced by exaggeration, emotion, action, and color, the more ridiculous and detailed the image, the better. For example, to remember the meaning of the word felons (which sounds like melons), make a picture of melons dressed in prison clothing marching off to jail. For more examples, see vocabularycartoons.com.
2. Learn memory strategies. Mnemonics are memory devices that help learners recall larger pieces of information, especially in the form of lists like characteristics, steps, stages, parts, phases, etc. Some popular mnemonics include HOMES (the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior) and Dead Monsters Smell Bad (steps for long division: divide, multiply, subtract, bring down).
3. Create acrostics or whole sentences. “Every Good Boy Does Fine” is an excellent way to recall the sequence of lines in the treble clef (EGBDF).
4. Try melody and rhythm to remember a series or sequence. There are raps, rhymes, and songs to help you memorize multiplication tables, days of the week, presidents of the United States, and so on.
5. After a lesson, list all the things you remember. Do this as fast as you can, to increase memory recall.
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Adapted with permission from sandrarief.com, How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD, Second Edition, Copyright 2005, and The ADD/ADHD Checklist, Second Edition, Copyright 2008; Sandra F. Rief;
www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/6605.html