As I get older, my memory gets worse. I really don’t think it has to do with age. I believe it is from lack of use. Memory is like a muscle and if you don’t use it, you lose it.
When we are in school, we need to memorize things in order to learn new skills. These skills may be academic or social. As a student, we are constantly learning and using our memory skills to recall information.
As we get older, we take things we memorized for granted. Now we have the ability to look things up if we forget. We don’t worry about not being able to recall things and blame it on our age. We keep lists so we don’t forget things.
As we get older, we need to challenge ourselves to continue to grow and to learn.
We need to keep exercising our brains. I try to do puzzle games every day. This makes me try to find the strategy to get to the next level. I try to practice a new language using Duolingo. I may never become fluent but I am giving my brain exercise so my memory stays sharper.
Students need to be made aware of this so they can learn to sharpen their memory skills at a young age. I like to teach them mnemonic strategies that they might use when they are older. I have used these skills many times over the years.
I like to play games that exercise student’s memories. One game is We Are Going On a Picnic. The first student says, “We are going on a picnic and I’m going to bring ____.” The second student repeats the sentence and adds an item. The next student repeats the sentence with both items and adds one to it. This continues until one student misses and that student is out of the game. This continues until there is only one student left. The students enjoy this game and we get a lot of laughs at what they bring.
What games do you play with your students to help their memory? Please share.
Photo by Jesse Martini on Unsplash
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