Boost Your Memory and Concentration: Unforgettable Strategies

1. Boost Your Memory and Concentration: Unforgettable Strategies Academic Success Seminar/Workshop College of Veterinary Medicine University of Minnesota Deb Wingert, Ph.D. Director of Educational Development

2. Preview content Set specific goals Study in a good area Vary your activity (read, take notes, recite aloud, create questions) Prevent daydreaming (review what you’re studying,stand up and walk for a minute) Connect what you are learning to what you already know Set a time limit for studying Pace yourself (not too much in one sitting) Organize assignments/study time into specific tasks (previewing helps!) Utah State University, 2008 Build Your Concentration:

3. Hunger Fatigue Internal distractions External distractions BUSTING BARRIERS: Hunger: _______________________________________ Fatigue: Regular routine of ________________________ ______________________________________ Internal distractions: ______________________________ External distractions (Away from noise and stimuli) University of Waterloo, 2008 Barriers to Concentration:

4. Ask yourself questions How does this relate to what I know? What’s the evidence for this? What’s a good example of this? Any unique points? Designate a study place.....for studying only! Good lighting Ventilated Comfortable (not too comfortable!) Divide study time into goals/blocks (such as.....finish 3 chapters, 4 case studies) University of Waterloo, 2008 Concentration Tips:

5. To remember terms, __________________________ The items you study first, you remember the longest.....start with ____________________________ Overlearn ______________________________ Make your own examples Create many associations with the content you need to remember......the more associations leads to ________________ Describe content to peer without using your notes Virginia Tech, 2008 Concentration Tips:

6. Listen between the lines (anticipate what’s next!) Take good notes Sees lecture like a chapter Avoid _______________ _______________ Judge content, not ____________ “There is no such thing as an uninteresting subject; there are only uninterested people.” G.K. Chesterton Kishwaukee College, 2008 Habits of Good Listeners:

7. Interrupt (with a question, etc.) in the middle of an explanation. Share worthless info Believe that _________ is more important than _____________ Avoid difficult explanations Find fault with _______ ___________________ Dismiss content as not interesting Show impatience Utah State University, 2008 Good Listeners Do NOT:

8. Screen out distractions Background noise Language mistakes/accents Speaker habits Irrelevant info Daydreaming Organize info into main ideas and supporting details Avoid hasty judgments Remain neutral (not emotional) Prune ___________________ _______________________ Maintain alertness (eye contact with speaker) Ask ‘what’s in it for me?’ (find areas of interest) Listen for central ideas (not facts) Write only ______________ Exercise mind with difficult material Utah State University, 2008 College of Saint Benedict, 2008 Listening skills:

9. Listen Actively The more you think about what you ______, the more you will understand and remember

10. Summarize Analyze Predict Mentally review what has been previously said Compare lecture to text Apply to your own experience Select most important Ignore ________________ Listen Actively (c’d):

11. Memory and Learning Styles:How do you remember best? • A few stats: • We remember ____ of what we read • We remember ____ of what we hear • We remember _____ of what we see

12. Memory and Learning Styles:How do you remember best? • Visual learners make up about _____ of the population • Use notes, diagrams, color (!), printed materials.....charts...study guides/sheets.........images.......anything visual! • Visualize these images

13. Memory and Learning Styles:How do you remember best? • Auditory learners make up about _____ of the population • Auditory learners remember best • by listening and taking/using notes • review notes by reading them out loud • study partners.....teaching each other.. • consider taping class sessions • When you teach someone else, you remember ___ of what you ______ • When you teach someone else, you remember ___ of what you ____________!

14. Memory and Learning Styles:How do you remember best? • Tactile/kinesthetic learners benefit by ___________!!!! • Create the notes, charts, etc. • _________________! • Study partners

15. A Few ‘Unforgettable’ strategies • Take notes in class • Review (even rewrite/organize.....the Cornell method is good here!)

16. The Cornell System: • Step One: ______________ • Write notes during class in a record column

17. The Cornell System: • Step Two: _________________ • After class, reduce ideas into a few words and place them in a recall column

18. The Cornell System: • Step Three: _________________ • Review notes after lecture. Connect main concepts in left (recall) column with details in the right (record) column.

19. The Cornell System: • Step Four: _______________ • In the bottom summary section, jot a few sentences , summarizing all main points and why this is important. Students are 31% more likely to remember content by doing this step!

20. Choose techniques to help you remember Associate.....with personal memories or the meaning of the content Visualize...form mental images Apply Repeat Rhymes, abbreviations Acrostics/Acronyms.....words to help you remember terms (such as: very active cat to remember veins, arteries and capillaries) Repetition...use the senses Read term out loud Read, `rite, recite Study right before sleeping...wake _______ minutes early and review material one more time. _______________________! This simple memory strategy helps you keep your cool and prevents panic from taking over. This also keeps your blood pressure down, your system oxygenated, and your mental stress protectors from overheating due to frustration. Cuesta College, 2008 Softpedia.com, 2008 http://www.memory-improvement- tipster.com/memory_strategies/ A Few ‘Unforgettable’ strategies :

21. Look: See the item, write the name in your palm; Overstate:Think something ________________; Visualize:______________________________ ___________________________ on the movie screen right inside your forehead; Engrave: ____________________ ______________ ________________ until it's firmly stored in your brain. http://www.memory-improvement-tipster.com/memory_strategies/ Another ‘Unforgettable’ strategy : The LOVE Method

22. A Few More ‘Unforgettable’ strategies : • ______________ practice/review! • Chunk your info......study in chunks • Review notes _____________ • ___________ what you are learning....mental pictures......_________ your notes • Visualize the lectures

23. One final ‘Unforgettable’ strategy: Link Technique - make a link or association between pairs of words to be remembered by visualizing in one’s mind an unusual or ridiculous association between the pair, e.g., to remember the _______________ lamp, typewriter, truck you need to form an unusual visual association between lamp and typewriter, e.g., picture a lamp with arms typing on a typewriter, then a link between typewriter and truck, e.g., picture a pickup truck hauling an enormous pile of typewriters. In this way, when you lamp this will trigger the mental image involving the typewriter which in turn will trigger the image of a truck and so on.

24. Questions? Thank you!! Deborah A. Wingert, Ph.D. Director of Educational Development College of Veterinary Medicine (108 Pomeroy) Preparing Future Faculty Program Coordinator Early Career Program Facilitator Center for Teaching and Learning University of Minnesota 315 Science Classroom Building 222 Pleasant St. S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455 Phone: (612/626-2995 at Pomeroy) or (612/625-3405 at CTL) Email: winge007@umn.edu