REview:How to Teach So Students Remember by Sprenger, Marilee

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The book starts off telling a story about two young students, one who is really good at chess and the other riding a skateboard. The writer asks these two boys how they got to do what they do so well?
It seems both first of all saw someone else with the skill which made them want to have it also and so were motivated to set about getting it for themselves. This involved a series of steps simplistically put,
Have a target. Picture themselves doing it, make mistakes (this they realize from not winning or falling over and hurting themselves) while doing all of this they will be getting lots of practice.
The author gives us seven steps for learning and remembering namely:
Reach – engaging students in their learning. If you can engage them you are helping them reach for their target.
Reflect – give them time to think while they are learning
Recode – students make the information their own by organizing it in their brains using their working memory and accessing prior knowledge. (Constructing)
Reinforce – This is giving feedback from both teacher and student
Rehearse – that means practice
Review - look at the whole thing again
Retreive – Bring out the information when you need it. It will be there if it has been stored in long term memory.
So we need and want their attention. It is necessary for thinking. Andreason (2001) says that attention is the cognitive process which allows us to control irrelevant stimuli. And it there are five types of attention; sustained, directed, selective, divided and focused. The brain is always attending and it is quite an art to turning it off. (through types of meditiation). Luckily the attention process can be instructed and fortunately the anterior cingulate will focus on what we bring it’s attention to. (Now don’t ask me about that as do not want to go into the biological aspects as my brain won’t cope with those aspects at this point in time).
So whether the information is retained in memory depends on the individuals love for the subject matter and its dramatic, emotional, auditory and visual impact. (Shaun Kerry (2002). It is through these elements that we can get the students attention and interest.
I can see how presentation is important and as a teacher I must be aware of this so that I can use the most effective methods/activities possible to engage the students.
Some thoughts. We really want to make the most out of our time teaching. What I mean by that is;
To make the experience optimally worthwhile we need to make it memorable, for both oneself and the student so that both parties get the most out of the experience. Of course, for this to happen means not only that we must know what we want the student to learn but also be adaptable and skillful enough to use the appropriate resources, which includes oneself, to teach them so they will become engaged in the lesson itself. Learning Outcomes need to be clearly and explicitly laid out so that the student will also know what it is they are learning. I cannot afford to become complacent regarding teaching matter. I must always have a learning outcome in mind before I set out to present it to a student or class. This will either give them enthusiasm for the Outcome or disinterest. If it is something they want to learn or is necessary in order to achieve a higher goal they will be motivated to do it.

Now the way we go about facilitating the student to achieve this goal is also important. Scaffolding the learning will enable the student to build on the knowledge they already have on the subject. If it is completely new information the way we present it will be crucial. We would not want to start at the end without then tracing back to the beginning.
For example, if I want to teach the student how to apply for a job I would need to teach them how to find and read the advertisement first, or I may need to teach key vocabulary first.