" Homework is not done until your homework is in its proper folder or notebook, the folders and notebooks are packed into your backpack, and your backpack is on its launching pad. "
- Joyce Cooper-Kahn, Ph.D. and Laurie Dietzel, Ph.D. authors of Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning
MEMORIZATION TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Memorizing facts, dates, and lists can be challenging. It’s helpful to have options of various ways of memorizing. The following is a description and example of different options for memorizing.
Alphabetized:Break up large lists into alphabetical order or simply by the first letter of the word.
Example: In memorizing all of the states, group them together by the first letter of each state. T = Texas, Tennessee
Power of 7:Break down long lists of items to be memorized into groups of seven (7). People tend to remember up to 7 items best.
Example: To memorize all of the states, first alphabetize them and then break them into groups of 7.
Rhymes and Poems:Use a rhyme. Make up a rhyme even if it is silly and nonsensical.
Example: In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue; I before E except after C.
Lyrics/Songs:Remember a list of things by singing it in the same tune of a song that is very familiar, like "Happy Birthday" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".
Example: Make up a song to remember the president's names to the tune of the "ABC Song". Songs work very well for History.
Key Word Linking:This concept is a little more complex than some of the other strategies. To use Key Word Linking, you need to memorize a set of key words that you create and then ‘link’ the words or the list you are trying to memorize with each of your key words. The ‘key words’ can be anything you want them to be but they always stay the same so that running the list through your mind becomes routine.
Here is a set of 10 ‘key words’ : 1=Sun 2=Shoe 3=Tree 4=Door 5=Hive 6=Sticks 7=Heaven 8=Gate 9=Sign 10=Hen.
Example: To memorize a list of foods high in vitamin C using the Key Word Linking strategy, connect each food with one of your ‘key words.
Memorizing a list of foods high in vitamin C: papaya; mango; tomato; orange; grapefruit; peppers.
1 = tomato (picture the sun turning a tomato from green to red
2 = orange (imagine squishing an orange with your shoe)
3 = mango (mangoes grow on trees)
4 = red, green, and yellow peppers (imagine trying to push a door open with a pile of peppers blocking the way)
5 = grapefruit (imagine bees using a grapefruit as their hive) etc.
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