Forgetfulness
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue
or even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart – Billy Collins
In the above poem, Billy Collins writes about the ways in which the human brain remembers things and then slow forgets them, replacing some old knowledge with new. In this age of Google and easy access to technology, we often feel that we do not have to truly remember much. This, Kevin Horsely, the author of Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More, and be More Productive, explains to us is a problem:
“Learning and memory are the two most magical properties of the human mind. Learning is the ability to acquire new information, and memory holds the new information in place over time. Memory is the foundation to all learning. If memory is not set in place, all you are doing is throwing information into a deep hole never to be used again. The problem is that many people are not recalling what they know, and they are constantly learning and forgetting, and learning and forgetting, and learning and forgetting… When you improve your memory, you improve everything. You can access information more quickly and more easily – creating greater opportunities for connections and associations.”
So, what can you do to improve your memory?
Memory skills are essential tools for elementary school and beyond. Even adults need memory strategies to remember important details in their personal or work lives. A great way to ensure successful studying is to provide your students with a RIP toolbox. RIP stands for Repetition, Imagery, and Patterns. These three strategies can help students (and adults too!) better recall the information they are trying to retain:
Repetition:
Repetition and rehearsal of information enhance a process called consolidation, the process by which memories are moved from temporary storage in the hippocampus (a small structure within the brain) to more permanent storage in the cortex (the outer layer of the brain). Multiple repetitions can be boring – and therefore people might turn their brains off, negating the positive effects of repetition. Here are some tips for repetition:
Set the information to music. Singing a song can make the material easier and more fun to recall.
Develop silly mnemonics to help remember the information. For instance, if you are working on state capitals, for Ohio, sketch a picture of a person saying, “oh, hi, oh Columbus.” This associates the word “Columbus” with the word “Ohio.
Use flashcards. Creating the flashcards provides another opportunity for repetition and then flipping through them links the information to a motor skill.
Imagery:
Creating or studying images can help your brain better store the information. Some types of images can even include motor images which translate the information into muscle memory. Here are some tips for study strategies that include imagery:
Use graphic organizers. Graphic organizers can use key words, pictures, or icons. These mental images can help arrange the information in a coherent and streamlined manner.
Develop motor images. Using air writing or imagining seeing letters can be a powerful memory tool for students learning to read. For some, these visual or motor images are easier to recall then the simple words on the page.
Patterns:
Our brains seek meaning through patterns. As we receive new information, we need a system to organize it – and patterns are an excellent resource for this.
Utilize rhymes. Because rhymes rely on rhythms, they have built in patterns. Using this rhythm to integrate important information will help the material stick in your brain.
Invent mnemonics. Mnemonics, or a short sequence of letters or words that help you remember the information can be very helpful. For instance, if you are learning the order of the planets in the social system (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto), she could use the sentence: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.
You might simply need to understand the way memory works in order to develop more efficient study or memory habits. In his book, memory expert and International Grandmaster of Memory Kevin Horsley, provides many different methods and techniques to help you learn and remember the information that you have learned. Just remember to praise your own effort and persistence – after all, as Horsley writes, “Learning and memory are the two most magical properties of the human mind.”