REMEMBERING THINGS YOU LEARNED BEFORE

You might find that when you see or hear something similar to what you think you’ve forgotten, it comes back to you. Your memory was triggered by something.

The only way you’ll find out what triggers your memory is to try different strategies for remembering. You can begin by continuing to do any (or any combination) of the things in the list above that work for you. You can also:

• Draw charts. Make each one a category of your design. As you learn something new in each category—or remember something from the past—add it to the chart. Look at it frequently.

• Make audiotapes. As you learn something new—or remember- something from the past—talk about it into an audiotape. Use dif-

• Prepare index cards. Keep your notes on 3x5 cards. Experiment with different labels and ink colors to organize by subject. Store cards by categories and review them frequently. If you’ve also recorded audiotapes for the material, store the cards with the tapes in shoeboxes with color-coded labels.

• Create timelines. In a world history class, for example, you could put large sheets of paper on your bedroom wall to begin timelines. Since you’re studying different countries during similar time peri- ods, you could write each country’s timeline in a different color. Use the same colors to make notes of events and people in those countries. Or maybe you could designate a different color for each era; that way you could keep track of what was happening when. If you’re using tapes, you can similarly categorize by having one tape for each country or one for each century.

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When you pack a heavy bag of groceries, you double up on bags to ensure that the contents stay inside. In the same way, your memory needs reinforcement to hold on to, or remember, a great deal of information. There are many ways you can make something you’ve learned hold in your memory.

Keep in mind your learning styles:

• Use it. If it’s a new word or new idea, use it with friends and fam- ily. Keep using it!

• Think about it. Think about what the new material means to you, and to what you have learned in the past. How you think about it depends on what works best for you. This might mean making pic- tures in your head as you think about your instructor’s words or putting the new material in a kind of order.

• See it. Write the word you want to remember and its definition in big letters on a sheet of paper. Make several copies. Put them where you’re sure to notice them—on your bedroom and/or bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator, next to the telephone. Experiment with different colored markers and paper to see which works best for you. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.

• Hear it. Talk about the new material (even to yourself), read aloud, listen to tapes of a lecture or of yourself reading notes or a text.

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After you learn something new, you need “sink-in” time. Pause. Think about what you read, who you met, what you heard, what you saw.

Think of one thing you learned this week. It could be something you learned at work, at home, on your own, or with friends. Take a piece of paper, and write your answers to these questions:

• What was it I learned? • How did I learn it?

• What did I get out of learning it? How will it be useful to me? You just made the memory of what you learned much stronger. By thinking and writing about it, you’re more likely to remember it.

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When you stand in front of a mirror, there are two of you—the real you, and your mirror image. By reflecting the real you, the mirror lets you see yourself in a way that you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. You see all of yourself head on; you see yourself more clearly.

When you think back on something, you’re reflecting. You’re “seeing” it more clearly. When you asked yourself the questions above, as you were pausing to let what you learned sink in, you were reflecting. Every time you reflect on what you’ve learned, you reinforce that memory.

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Before you go on to something new, review what you know already. You’ll be reinforcing what you’ve learned and making it easier to find connec- tions with what you are about to learn.

Jeff, who we met at the beginning of this chapter, learned how to study more thoroughly. He found the more he used his Spanish—talking to the mirror, singing in the shower, listening to a Spanish-speaking radio

WRITE ON!

Whatever your learning style, you’re more likely to remember what you are learning if you write about it. (You may want to review Chapter 7, “Knowing What You Know.”)

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This can make the notes easier to read—and easier for you to remember them. This also gives you a chance to reorganize the notes so what’s important to you will stand out. You might want to use colored markers for certain sections.

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If you are learning something complex from a pamphlet or book, choose a few paragraphs you feel are most important. Copy them exactly. Then read them out loud. Copy them a second time, and then read them aloud again. Copy a third time, read aloud a third time. If you are still feeling challenged by the material, continue copying and reading aloud. This really works!

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Each time you review your reading log, class notes, or a text, you probably see something a little differently than the time before. This is because you’re getting more involved with what you’re learning. Write down your more experienced viewpoints. Write how you feel about the material now, and see the progress you make with each study session.

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Without looking at your notes or text, write what you got out of studying

this time. Also write how you studied, how you used your learning styles.

You’ll find the more aware you are of what you do, the more likely you’ll be successful at getting material to stick in your memory.