We hear from many teachers who encounter lapses in short-term memory, also referred to as working memory. Kids who have stronger short-term memories are able to stay focused and on task, follow step-by-step directions, and apply their prior knowledge to new situations.
But as kids get older, their working memories can be negatively affected by distractions or information overload.
To combat this memory phenomenon, today on TeacHHUB.com, frequent contributing writer Janelle Cox, who is a veteran teacher based on the East Coast, offers up some classroom games and strategies that will impact your kids’ memories.
Janelle’s ideas include:
- Card Recall
- Mix Them Up
- Teach Students to Visualize
- And More!
Janelle sums up her article like this, in a paragraph with the subhead Teach Students to Visualize: “Encourage students to use their visualization skills. For example, let’s say that students are learning about Rosa Parks. Have them close their eyes and visualize Rosa Parks sitting on the school bus. Tell them to come up with a picture of what they think that looks like in their head. Then have them draw the picture that they came up with on paper. Once students get used to visualizing, they will be able to use their words to describe what they are imagining instead of drawing you a picture.”
Do your students have any issues with their memory? What kinds of strategies and games to incorporate in your classroom? Please share your thoughts!
Our Top 10 Songs About School
Songs about school have been a pop culture touchstone since the early 20th century. Indeed, although the specific topics vary from song to song (love, cars, emotions about various items on the curriculum), you can bet that at any moment, there’s probably a song about school live on the airwaves right now (or on a closer friend’s playlist).
In a fun piece today, frequent TeachHUB.com contributor Jordan Catapano (who’s also a high school teacher in Illinois) calls out the most memorable tunes about school, including:
• Van Halen, “Hot for Teacher”
• The Police, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”
• The Beatles, “Getting Better”
• And More!
Overall, songs about school culture have been a staple in popular music forever. The themes these songs address are universal – perhaps that’s why songs about school are always close to the top 10.
What other songs should be on our list? What will songs of the future sing about school?
