Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1996)
wn ir w ‘ wSfsbi&fcé P age B4 (Elje ^jJortlanb (Dbsemer Parenting For Education 24 ways to strengthen a weak memory in classroom learning What if memory wires were like ropes? Imagine a strong, sturdy rope capable of holding a few tons, and then imagine a frayed, frazzled one unable to hold more than a few ounc es. To some extent, school children experience this sturdiness or weak ness every time they attempt to tie together learning and memory. Memory is far more than memo rizing spelling words or stanzas from Dunbar’s poetry A child needs to remember how to divide fractions or how to mix paints. Sometimes he needs to remember to do homework, and at other times she has to remem ber where she left the social studies book necessary to do her homework Like anyone, older children find themselves in situations where their memory seems weak. When parents notice a continuous display of week memory, they should take action. Try the following ideas yourself and share them with your child. 1. W riteawordornum berdownon a card. Refer to the card frequently. 2. Recite silently the number or word several times before putting it away. Return to it later for another recital. 3. Recite "it" orally several times. 4. Orally discuss “it" with some one else who is also interested ir. the details of your topic. 5. Study "it” and make associa tions which stimulate instant recall. 6. Sing “it” and create a jingle. Rehearse the song at every available opportunity. 7. Remove distractions and allow yourself time to concen trate when you need to memorize or remember something. Give yourself a noise-free environment if possible, or a soft music setting if you know music helps. 8. Worries and anxieties handicap memory. Rid yourself of worries before you set about a memory task by writing the worries down on paper and sticking the worry list into a brown paper bag. Set the bag outside of your work door and accept per mission to return to it, after you've concentrated on your needed topic. 9. Consider good nutrition as es sential to a good memory. A slug gish, over-fed body does not func tion well, and neither does an under fed body. Adequate proteins in food promote alertness. 10. A good night’s sleep or a cat nap in the late afternoon will give the brain the rest and restoration it needs to perform for you. 11. Read and reread an item you want to remembers. Reading gives you the connective tissue necessary ridge building contest The holiday season is upon us. Kids are leaving school for winter vacation—a break for everyone but parents, who are frantically search ing for ideas to keep kids produc tive. Why not harness that youthful creativity and energy into building a bridge? GTE is sponsoring a bridge building contest open to the resi dents of Clackamas, Ore.; Mult nomah. Ore.; W ashington, Ore.; and Clark, Wash., counties—to cel ebrate the first telephone directory to combine the Portland and Van- couver markets. Bridges may be constructed of any material and may be any size. Each bridge must incorporate a GTE The Everything Pages telephone di rectory. (One directory per team may be obtained by calling l-8(X)-888- 8448). First prize is a Circuit City gift certificate worth $3,(XX), second prize is a gift certificate worth $ 1,8(X) and third prize is a gift certificate worth $1,200. All entries must be received by January 15, 1997. Send photo(s) or video of your creation, along with your name, address, and a daytime phone number, to "GTE Directo ries Bridge Building Contest”,c/o 4(X) SW Sixth Avenue. Ste. 600, Portland OR 97204. Prospective entrants may call Cathie Ericson at (503) 226-6855 with any questions and for official contest rules. For more information, please contact Greg Ness, GTE Directo ries, (206) 670-6006; or Cathie Ericson, The Rockey Company; (503) 226-6855. What better gift than a book As a child I fell in love with read ing. Our home was always full of good books because my parents con sidered them necessities, not luxu ries. Through them. I was able to visit faraway lands, meet famous histori cal characters, and learn about my culture and the world around me. The Christmas and Kwanzaa sea son is a perfect time to introduce your children to the joys of reading. We are being flooded with advertise ments for high-cost, high-tech games and gizmos that will be obsolete and forgotten in a month or two. But books last forever. The same books that captured my imagination as a child are as vivid and exciting today as they were then The books we share with children in the Black Com m unity C rusade for C h ild re n ’s (BCCC) Summer Freedom Schools are designed to teach powerful les sons about self, family, values, com munity, country and the world. The Freedom School reading list is a great place to begin looking for gift books for the children in your life. Give books as gifts, and as your children become adults, they will thank you for sparking their love for reading-and for giving them the chance to pass this wonderful tradi tion on to their children. Marian Wright Edelman is presi dent of the Children's Defense Fund and a Working Committee member of the Black Community Crusade for Children, whose mission is to leave no child behind. For more informa tion, write the BCCC, 25 E. Street, N.W. 20001, or call 202-628-8787. for recall and link. 12. Eliminate medical reasons as a cause for weak memory. Often, poor memory in children or adults arise from medical conditions, which can sometimes be corrected. 13. Develop systems for memo rizing names, faces, numbers, po ems, long lists, short lists, facts, pro cedures, or other items by using as sociation techniques. 14. Develop a method which links one item to something very vivid in your imagination, allowing you a quick and easy retrieval. 15. Distinguish between those items that require memorization and those that require familiarity. 16. Know what type of memory you need for an item. Do you need a detailed, replica of an item, or do you need a flashback recall? Do you need a short term or long term memory for a particular item? 17. Learn to observe. People ob serve with the mind and see with the eye. Teach children to observe as they see. Ask them questions as they look at things, requiring them to look for detail in observation. Point out details which they might overlook. ,8. Reduce absenlmindedness by becoming aware of what you’re do ing during at a given moment. Re quire yourself to consciously observe where you put something. 19. From routines or habits for certain actions in order to eliminate some forgetfulness. 20. Have a place for everything and keep everything in its place. 21. Mind sounds. Allow sounds to help you remember things. 22. For numbers, practice the art of grouping or sequencing particu larly if you have a long list Set a rhythm to these numbers. 23. Play games For an evening of People are standing for children all over America by M arian W right E delman Many of those who journeyed to Washington, D C. on June I to Stand For Children, are keeping their prom ises now that they have returned home. Incommunities from California to New York and from Alaska to Florida, they’ve formed Stand For Children Action Teams (CATs) to improve the lives of children. Here are examples of what some CATs have been doing around the country since June I . •The Philadelphia School District’s Olfice of Curriculum Support devel oped and distributed a Stand For Chil dren Activity Guide for Teachers, which urges teachers to focus class room work on children and their con cerns. * Guilford County, N.C. residents are publishing a quarterly Stand For Children newsletter, keeping citizens aware of children’s needs. •In Ft. Myers, Fla., the CAT is organizing a Children's Summit titled “Let The Children Speak,” to provide an opportunity for children to talk about what is important to them; host ed aChildren s Sabbath, which brought together ministers and families of var ious denominations to address how people of faith can act to protect chil dren; created a legislative action group to identify areas of crucial need and to meet with legislators to keep them informed about children's needs and citizen’s expectations; and started a child policy group that sends volun teers to every local government meet ing, wearing their "Stand” T-shirts. * The Rochester Red Wings, a mi nor league baseball team, and the Roch ester Area Children's Collaborative joined forces to plan a local Stand For Children Day on August 18. A proces sion of children marched around the stadium displaying banners that por trayed what standing forchiIdren means to them. * A Children’s Policy summit held in Sacramento, Calif., on Oct. 9-11 was designed to set out a vision for children for the 2 1 st century. The sum mit was attended by more than 500 people. * The New York Office of the Chil dren’s Defense Fund, co-sponsored a Stand For Children Conference on Oct. 25 with Columbia University, to w t=l n r FAIR H O U S IN G IS THE LA W ! If you suspect unfair housing practices contact HUO or your local Farr Housing Canter U S Department ol Housing and UrOen Development ,400489-9777 • TOO 1400-927 » 7 5 hel p grassroots leaders, advocates, and other concerned citizens plan and im plement their next action steps. * The Mahoning County, Ohio, CA Ts hosted a Candidates' Forum Night. In April 1997, the CATs plan to host a local telethon to help child serving agencies recruit volunteers. Ohio has been holding a number of candidates' forums, along with other states, such as Maine and Delaware. •In Michigan, children's advocates sponsored a Stand For Children rally on Oct. 5 that drew more than 3,000 people. Using a variety of Stand For Chil dren products—including T-shirts, but tons, and stickers-as fundraisers to help support local efforts. Stand is encouraging people to constantly think about ways to help local children. Whether its through mentoring, tutor ing or voting, we can create safe neigh borhoods lor children. To learn how you can join or form a CATs group in your community, write Stand ForChil- dren, 1834 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009, call 1-800- 663-4032, or visit the Stand For Chil dren Web site at www.stand.org. Holiday Savings Prices Effective 12/18/96 thru 12/24/96 at your nearby Safeway store The Greatest Disaster is Being Underinsured. If this were you r home, would your insurance company rebuild it? Chances are the answer is OU - if you live in an African American, la tin o o r iniegraied neighborhood, and your home was built before 1950. If your homeow ners insurance company refuses to provide full replacement coverage, that could be insurance discrimination. Chec k your policy. family socializing try this: With all family members sealed in a circle, one person starts a story with names and events, and the next person re tells the story up to that point and continues by adding another part of the story. The story continues with each family member adding another piece after he/she has retold all of the previous pieces. Continue this for two rounds. Use this same technique for number practice or learning Cap itols of the United States or other long lists. Also, engage the family in store bought games of various types, including cared game specially de signed for young children. 24. D on’t confuse situations that require reasoning for situations that require memorizing. For example, you reason in problem solving and will not understand a particular prob lem by memorizing the steps of a given sample. 000000089180
