Here's a nice short article by Leigh Lowe from Memoria Press with some practical tips for teaching memory. I especially like her advice on Parsing the Passage. My son loves knowing information about what he's memorizing so this usually happens by default, but I like the idea of making a point of it:
Parse the passage for lessons of all kinds. Who is the author? Where did the passage come from? What is its purpose? What is the theme? Are there any unfamiliar words? Any connections to other subjects? Any Latin derivatives? Any interesting grammatical elements? Any interesting stylistic elements? Attaching meaning to the passage in several ways gives a student many more ledges to cling to when a word or line escapes him.
Hi, all. I'm discovering that memory differs greatly between Timmy and Kiahna. What works for one doesn't always work for the other. Kiahna prefers songs. She is constantly singing, and has been busy singing the "Southern Border of the United States" this week. Timmy constantly needs to hear verses repeated. So, like Lisa, memory said a few times throughout the day is more beneficial for him. I'm discovering with both kiddos, though, that they get stage fright when having to say memory in front of someone other than me.
ReplyDeleteAnd, in case you didn't notice last Wednesday, my kiddos can be stubborn (not sure how they inherited that gene). So, there are times when Timmy will pretend not to know something even though he has practiced and recited it flawlessly throughout the week (i.e. house address and telephone number).
Any suggestions from you would be helpful. Thanks so much.
Rachel
Great article!
ReplyDeleteI love using memorization in teaching my girls, and I can't believe how much they are improving since last year. We've been working on John 1:1 and Eletelephony this week, and both girls are adamant that they want to be the first to recite from memory. A little twin competition goes a long way! (Sometimes too far.)
I agree that parsing a passage can add meaning and joy to the memorization process. But I also think this can be easily overdone. Students may be memorizing content that they cannot fully understand or appreciate until a later age, and that's okay. It seems that trying to glean history, Latin, grammar, etc. from one piece could really bog a student down.
Rachel, Timmy did beautifully his first week in class. He needs time and grace, just like all the rest of us. He is truly a joy.
One thing I started doing last year was having my kiddos recite in front of their Dad at least once a week. I know it's not exactly a room full of people, but it's someone besides you. Also, I know Lisa usually has the kids practice reciting in front of the kids as a way to get them used to reciting in front of other people. It will get easier as they get more comfortable with everyone. Kids certainly can be stubborn, but they'll warm up to everyone before you know it.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure others will have some advice that might be more helpful.
I'm so glad you're a part of our group, Rachel. It's so nice to have such great women in a homeschool group together. We are very blessed.
I agree Chrissie, while it can be helpful to give some additional information, it certainly can be overdone.
ReplyDeleteHi all!
ReplyDeleteGreat points! I've found that Amelia is doing much better with memory this year as well. For the last two years we've been working on memorizing poetry and songs with A&O. What I learned from last year is that once Amelia had memorized something, she felt some pride about it. Now she and Audrey get big smiles on their faces when they sing the hymn we worked on all summer to learn -- "God's Own Child I Gladly Say It." And when they hear the tune in church, they sing loud (a little too loud), but it's because they are happy to be able to sing with the rest of the adults. Maybe it makes them feel grown up, or maybe they like to feel like they're really in on the party on Sundays.
Because we memorized a dozen poems with Alpha Omega last year and the year before, we now stumble across poems Amelia knows in poetry anthologies. This summer when we were reading a poetry anthology and came to the RLS poem "Time to Rise," Amelia interrupted my reading with an exuberant (and bossy)" I LOVE this poem, and I already know it." She proceeded to recite it for me and Audrey. Even though she was a bit Junie-B-Jones in her attitude, I'm still thrilled that she's storing a few favorite poems away and that she claims to LOVE them.
These little fruits of memorizing songs and poetry have given us some momentum this year as we memorize. I can't say that she loves to practice her memory work, but I can say that she *likes* having poetry and songs memorized. It makes me realize that the habit of memorizing is well worth it, even though it's hard work.
So, would you say that knowledge mixed with a sense of accomplishment helps build self-esteem?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, but with many of the subjects that can seem a little tedious to the student, math, spelling, reading, the results of the student's effort take a LONG time, sometimes years. With memory, they have to do a little work to learn it, but then see the benefit of memorizing within a few days as they have something to recite and share with others.
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