Learning
Question:
I just completed my junior year at college, and it was difficult because I had little concentration and poor memory. When I sit down to learn something, I can focus for about 5 minutes before I become restless. What tips do any of you have on increasing concentration, or at least working around tourettes to learn? I’ve tried "multi-tasking" in learning (focusing on several topics at once), but I have had limited success with this. Thanks –Ryan.
Response:
I always learned more, by absorbing everything around me. I used to soak up so much stuff in class, that teachers never knew that I never read any of the material. Thankfully I had the ability to do that. I was always very literate, that is to say I tested very very high from early elementary on, but ironically, I simply could not concentrate on any of the textbooks or assigned novels. Especially the social studies books. ick. I couldn’t just stare at the books and learn things, like most people seemed to do when they said they were "studying." What i had to do was make things a game. More like asking myself questions, rather than just reading the information. Flashcards, papers with one side folded other to keep quizzing myself until I knew it all, anything like that. Also, I learned by ridiculous association, and pneumonics. For example, I couldn’t remember the damn metric system letters in 8th sciene grade, so I made up a stupid sentence. We were allowed to write it at the top of test papers, so that we could easily move decimal points, just as long as it was purely from memory. So, dumb as it was, I came up with, "Kids Hate Dumb and Ugly Dogs Cause Many (Bark) I would say the sentence to myself, slap it on top of my test paper, and voila, finally I could get the metric system questions right. To learn the capitals of Europe, I came up with all sorts of silly things. They make you almost laugh during tests too. For example I had trouble remembering that Bern was the cap. of Switzerland, so my mother told me, "what happens if you make a grilled swiss cheese sandwich in the toaster oven and you touch it with your hand" You BURN (Bern) yourself. Sounds complicated, but for me in junior high, I had an association with it and that’s all I needed. You just have to come up with stuff that means something to you. Now, when I was in nursing school, I was actually doing rather well, and my teacher used to let me tutor a group of the class that was having trouble. Being in High School at the time, as a bunch of girls, I figured out that the best way to retain information, was try to relate everything somehow to sex. (sorry if this offends anyone, but it’s effective) That worked wonders! Some things you tend to remember lol When I got stuck just reading textbooks, provided you have your own and can mark them, I had to use a highlighter, make markings, and even write out outlines of imfo that seemed important to retain. By writing it, it reinforced it in my head, whereas just reading over it went right back into space. My best advice is to find some way to make it interesting. Especially when the material is anything BUT! Hope some of my crazy rantings help:) Robin "Ryan" <rgtur…@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:a7b4e5b9.0205141755.2c64c4ea@posting.google.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I just completed my junior year at college, and it was difficult > because I had little concentration and poor memory. When I sit down > to learn something, I can focus for about 5 minutes before I become > restless. What tips do any of you have on increasing concentration, > or at least working around tourettes to learn? I’ve tried > "multi-tasking" in learning (focusing on several topics at once), but > I have had limited success with this. > Thanks > –Ryan.
Response:
>>Also, I learned by ridiculous association, and pneumonics.
You’d soon get tired of that. Derek
Response:
"Derek Wills" <o…@astro.as.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:absipu$nup$1@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu… > >>Also, I learned by ridiculous association, and pneumonics. > You’d soon get tired of that. > Derek
Not to mention short of breath.
Response:
>Subject: Re: Learning >Path: >From: "Sandy L" hlm…@mindspring.com >"Derek Wills" <o…@astro.as.utexas.edu> wrote in message >news:absipu$nup$1@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu… >> >>Also, I learned by ridiculous association, and pneumonics. >> You’d soon get tired of that. >> Derek >Not to mention short of breath.
OK you silly boys… Robin great advice… what really caught my attention regarding your post is how much your learning style sounded like mine… I almost never cracked a book in school, rather I’d absorb the conversation in the classroom, and the dialogue of fellow students cramming for tests. And I didn’t even notice "mnemonics" misspelled, (but then again, I’m the Queen of misspellings/mistypings!) But I never let that stop me from being heard, (perhaps understood! LOL) M
Response:
‘Twas Tue, 14 May 2002 22:48:13 -0400 when all alt.support.tourette stood in awe as "Robin Sue" <gom…@spamsux.bellsouth.net> uttered: >Also, I learned by >ridiculous association, and pneumonics.
It took me a few hours to decipher this word. It’s spelled "mnemonics". pneum- = lung mnem- = memory But if they’ve developed a way to learn by inhaling, I want to know about it. I could hook it to my CPAP machine. It gives a whole new meaning to sleep learning. — RB |
