Memory Series: Make it
Personal/Authenticity
For years I
taught History of the Eastern Hemisphere to sixth grade students. Part of the
curriculum was the study of World War II. My students were always interested.
Most of them had mental connections through older family members, movies they
had seen, and some with books they had read. The more connections the brain
makes, with a topic, the greater the retention. So, this was a study that had
an advantage from the outset. The motivation and interest were already
present. I utilized many brain-based
strategies to reinforce this, so by the end of the unit, students had a
good overall view of the era. Towards the end of the study, I invited a
special guest to speak to my classes.
Ms. May was
a holocaust survivor. She was a German, of Jewish faith, whose family had
escaped to Holland when things became dangerous. Her family thought they were
moving to a safe haven. Of course, this was an illusion. Ms. May’s family was eventually taken to a German prison camp. Most of her family were killed. For a brief
time, Ms. May and Anne Frank were imprisoned together. Since my students had
read Anne Frank’s diary, here was another connection. Because Ms. May
experienced this when she wasn’t much older than my students, they could
imagine being there themselves. When she spoke, a pin could have been heard
dropping. We all listened with bated breath. It was always a day of shared tears,
because we could feel Ms. May’s heartache.
Before Ms.
May came, my students had already learned more about the war than was expected
for their grade level. Most of them were prepared to do well on the unit test.
They had already been exposed to learning that would almost certainly insure
long-term memory. So, why did I invite this Ms. May ? She could
provide authenticity and make it personal. She provided something I
couldn’t, because she lived it. There was power in her story.
Whenever
possible, authenticity should be introduced into lessons. Our experience with
Ms. May is not one that can be duplicated in most school situations, so we must
search for other ways to create a personal understanding. Because of reading The
Diary of Anne Frank, my students already had some sense of authenticity.
Biographies and autobiographies are a good way to bring realism into the
classroom. Visits to museums, introducing relics, old news accounts, or photos
are also means that can be utilized in a study. Sometimes, older family members
can share memories of days gone by to help students strengthen their
understanding of another time. This provides a personal understanding and develop a bond of respect.
There are
many advantages to injecting personal authentic stories into the
teaching/learning process.
- It makes the required material real for the student, providing relevance.
- It creates empathy.
- The emotions that are evoked, from it, are memory stimulators.
- Stories are a major way to insure retention.
Whether you
are a classroom teacher or a home school mom, you want the best for your
students. You want a meaningful learning experience that will impact their lives. You want long-term memory. Make it real. Make it personal. I predict that you will both benefit from the experience.
