Studying

I wrote the following when i was a TEFL teacher.  Below are a number of ways to learn faster and retain knowledge for longer.

Free recall - after studying have students write down /say everything that they can remember learning in class. This helps them remember the most important points and reminds them of anything they did miss, before leaving.

Teach focus by getting kids to focus on breathing before class. Start small and slowly work up to focusing for longer.  If younger get them to point out 'red' objects they can see.

Students need to teach a friend /family member what they learned. This puts their skills to use (If it's not useful we soon forget) but also helps spread the word and lead to more customers.

Ask students to think about words associated to a professor/scientist/doctor ect. Prime their minds for thinking smart before the test.  

Instead of taking notes take questions. When looking at these question based notes you'll have to think a little harder making it easier to remember in the future.  What type of notes should you be taking?

Have the kids explain /teach the lesson at home. We tend to think more and simplify when we explain /teach. This process will help us understand.

Read numberplate in order to review letters and numbers.  Ask what colour random objects are, ask 'what is this?' the more you use it in real life the more it will stick.

Let them know why it's useful and how they can use it in their lives.  This is important for everything you hope to learn.  If it's not useful you'll forget and if it's useless and you won't remember it, what's the point?  It's a waste of time.  Good news is that everything can be useful, find out how and you'll take in and remember a lot more.

Talk to the students about what being good means. At the end of class ask them what they did was good and reward them if you agree that it was good. If being good is too easy, set out values (truthful, hardworking, kind ect.) and ask how they showed those values during class.

Shoot hoops to count numbers.  Useful and fun.

Play pool to learn colours.  Useful and fun.

Early wins are critical for momentum.  Start by reviewing old material, they already know, easy wins.

We build on success so start off easy. When you succeed you feel good and want to try more. When you fail you feel bad and try less.

Have kids write the reasons why they're studying. If they know why they'll be much more productive in learning the language.

Linking makes remembering easier. So ask lots of questions and link the new vocab to as many previous things as you can. 'The fat, grey animal with big ears who's very slow' will make remembering Elephant.  It links appearance, colour, size, body-parts and other attributes to the animal.

Make it meaningful. When they have a reason, an aim they'll work harder to achieve that aim.  I'm learning so i can visit America and make new friends.

If you want your kid to get better at reading have lots of books and encourage reading in there free time. Reading increases their vocabulary and as most people don't read, doing this consistently will amount to a huge gap by the time they are adults.

Is it possible to use the subconscious to learn? Ask it a difficult question. Rest and get a big insight when it works out the answer.

Students don't want to spend any longer than 2 minutes on a problem. Give them small 30 second tasks (or less) daily to get them into a good habit pushing their problem solving time to a higher number.

Stakes - donate money to something you hate. Unless you achieve your study goal.

Draw - it forces you to focus and think. The more you focus the more likely you are to remember it.

The best way to learn a skill is to teach it.

The more effort you put into something the more you will remember it.

Get as many of your 5 senses involved as you can.

When reading highlight. This gets your arms involved, your eyes. You can read it out loud to get your hearing involved.

What does it remind me of?

Encouraged practice in all fields. Composition. Praise.if they get praise for doing good they'll do more good. Avoid punishment as this might scare them off even trying.