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| How to Teach so Students Remember by Marilee Sprenger | |
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Reviewed by
Memory Strategies to Improve English Content Knowledge A neuroscience text might not appear to be a high professional priority for teachers of English. But consider this: much of classroom instruction is wasted time for students who cannot transfer information and skills to long term memory. The author of How to Teach so Students Remember, Marilee Sprenger, has impeccable credentials in the field of brain-based education. HTTSSR is her fourth book on the subject, and her most explicit distillation of recent memory research, research which we summarize in the next few paragraphs before turning to Sprenger’s book. For a comprehensive overview of cognitive mechanics
without hokum readers need to look no further than the landmark
neurodevelopmental text by Eric Kandel and Larry Squire, Memory: from
Mind to Molecules. This book
provides the reader with a micro-cellular tour of mechanisms that
interrupt and control memory. More remarkably, however, the authors
articulate a theory of individuality that posits, like the film Memento,
that individuality is constructed by those things that can be remembered. Readers seeking an explanation of how specific memory
systems activate to help us succeed in different social contexts and
discourse systems should explore Harvard psychology professor Dan
Schacter’s Searching for Memory. Labeling memory by function,
Schacter describes explicit memories as
associations we make at the conscious level. Explicit memory empowers
us—a few of us, anyway—to recall the seven rules of comma usage. In
contrast, conceptual memory allows us to assess the multiple and
conflicting nuances of terms like "literacy" or
"honesty." Autobiographical
feelings can also be traced to neuron activity in an explicit region
of the brain. Moreover, these emotions can be cued by savvy English
instructors to activate schema—memories
and experiences. For example, try to recall your feelings reading To Kill
a Mockingbird in the 9th grade. You might bask in the warm
sepia memories of Scout’s idealization of Atticus, and then, in a
realization that can only occur in present adulthood, reflect that no father
can live up to such an ideal. This tension between nostalgia experienced as
an adolescent and contemporary analysis
of those feelings helps us experience literature as resonant and
multi-dimensional. As F. Scott Fitzgerald famously suggests, educational
sophistication involves holding “two contradictory ideas in the mind at
the same time.” In the last three years, a number of books have popularized brain exploration and introduced a hybrid: inner-travel writing mashed up with self-help literature two of the most notable books are Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and Steven Johnson’s Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life. Both books engagingly illustrate the neural activity that accompanies consciousness and experience. Gladwell argues, counter-intuitively, that consciously excluding extraneous information can sometimes lead to better decision-making. For example, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra believed that men were simply better musicians. But when they had cello players audition behind a screen, surprise, the selection committee unwittingly determined that the best cello player was female (Gladwell 252). Gladwell’s anecdote highlights that the brain is more vulnerable to irrelevant information than they would like to believe. In Mind Wide Open, Steven Johnson enters an MRI brain scan machine with a copy of Yeats to graph what happens to his neural activity when he reads classic literature. When the author reads Yeats inside the scanner, little brain activity is stimulated. However, Johnson’s brain lights up like a Christmas tree when the author reads his own manuscript (170). This vignette’s implication for English pedagogy is cautionary: when reviewing our own compositions, neuro-connections may fog logical thinking. We are too distracted by autobiographical recollections to spot our own mixed metaphors (an error we would identify instantly in a student paper). Peer feedback, however, can be a remarkable brain defogger. In contrast to this neural-anatomical tourism popularized by Gladwell and Johnson, Marilee Sprenger emphasizes classroom application. In an email to the authors of this review, Dr. Sprenger explained her overall objective of writing HTTSSR: I
really wanted to connect the educational neuroscience with the
scientifically-based research for educators that have been around since
2001. I was hoping to fit it together, showing teachers where in the
learning and memory process some of those strategies would fit. So many
theories are thrown at educators that they tend to lump them into ‘this
too shall pass.’ I want them to see how it all fits together, from
backward design to retrievable memories (Quoted
by Finley). In the introduction, Sprenger reminds the reader that memorization should occur only after the conceptual target is established. Part-to-whole drill and kill goes against the brain’s working systems. Sprenger itemizes knowledge tools that help learners categorize and retain information such as graphic organizers, analogies, and decision-making steps. Later, she describes in depth seven learning/memory cycle steps: reach, reflect, recode, reinforce, rehearse, review, and retrieve (9). The format for each “R” chapter is helpful and
formatted in a sequence familiar to Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development (ASCD) readers:
In addition to a helpful format, brain-boosting strategies are abundant in HTTSSR. The information is useful, but about as entertaining as weekday morning C-SPAN. As a visual break, the text is interrupted every few pages with a push quotation. Unfortunately, many of these memory aids are written without regard to how important sound and rhythm are to retention. “Mental Note: Feedback provides the reinforcement students need to remain motivated” (85) or “Homework provides multiple rehearsals and raises student achievement” (111). Although Sprenger is never lyrical, like linguist/brain-guru Steven Pinker, that is okay. She makes up for lack of poetry with useful information. For example, many elements of the language arts curriculum (as currently taught in our community) bore the Facebook Generation. The solution? According to Sprenger, students need norepinepherin, a chemical that activates focus and higher order thinking (23). Activities that trigger emotion, like dramas or debates, are more likely to cue more successful cognition. Another helpful idea in HTTSSR was Sprenger’s
discussion of transience (126),
the idea that neural connections fade over time when they aren’t used. In
fact, only 8% of textbook material is remembered after 21 days, and 10%
of lecture material can be recalled. Such studies would have to vary,
depending on the subject, teacher, and student population, of course.
Nevertheless, Sprenger inspires us to spend a far greater time in classes
reviewing previous concepts, dispelling misconceptions, and attempting to
activate students’ norepinepherin before conducting summative evaluations.
Introductory activities, strong transitions, tickets out the door,
and jot-writing can help students remember important concepts. More technical descriptions of brain operations,
definitions, and theories are relegated to Sprenger’s Appendix A. Appendix
B contains a skimpy menu of eleven warmed over graphic organizers especially
when Googling “graphic organizers” online offers a far superior and
extensive list. The reference section and index are exemplary.
Unfortunately, the book’s companion web site, www.brainlady.com/ (Sprenger),
is little more than a publicity site in need of a face-lift. Nevertheless,
Sprenger’s responses to correspondence are thoughtful and generous. So, what can the discerning English teacher learn from HTTSSR?
Here are a few of our favorite strategies:
Sprenger’s thesis is boldly simple.
Explicitly teaching memory strategies improves student achievement. With
conscientious application of the memory principles in HTTSSR,
English instructors will enhance their
instruction. Works Cited Finley,
Todd. Email Interview with Marilee Sprenger. Gladwell,
Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking. Keeley,
Meg. (1997). “Breaking
Tasks into Meaningful Chunks.” Johnson,
Steven. Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life.
Memento.
Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Guy Pearce. DVD. Morrow,
Lance. “Family Values.” Time Pinker,
Steven. How the Mind Works. Schacter,
Daniel. Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind, and the Past.
Sprenger,
Marilee. “Brain Lady.” Sprenger,
Marilee. How to Teach so
Students Remember. Squire,
Larry and Eric Kandel. Memory: From Mind to Molecules. |
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Todd
Finley and 
Anthony Dralle