With Jill Lawday last week, we had a day at Woodlands School, Great Warley, in the Essex, teaching Mind Maps and memory skills.
The whole of year 6, took part in the day, and with their two teachers, we went from the basics of mind maps through to making Mind Maps versus using lists, using a Mind Map as for revision, planning with Mind Maps and more.
For memory we learned how to remember facts, lists of fifteen random words, and recall them in order after only being told the words once. Not only were they able to recall the list of words given them in the order I gave them, but they could repeat the list backwards.
Mrs Harding, the Head Mistress came into the classroom at the end of the day, and the children were able to demonstrate to her what they had learned during the day, plus being able to count from 1 to 10 in Japanese. I am still struggling to count up to 7 in Turkish after over five years of giving training there, and up to the number 5 in Italian after over ten years delivering training there. I think I must apply what I teach to my own learning.
It was a wonderful experience shared with Jill to deliver the training to the twelve year olds, but also to go back in my memory to my school days, sharing the school lunch with some of the youngest pupils at the school sitting at tables designed for their body size, and trying to squeeze into a vintage school desk without success.
Jill and Phill trying to fit into a desk at the Woodlands School, Great Warley.
It was after lunch that Jill and myself walked around to the playing field, where children were playing, and we were approached by some young pupils who were preparing for a competition of hoola hoops (also spelt hula hoops). A hoola hoop is a large plastic ring, which you spin around the waist. The last time I had tried it successfully was when I was these children’s age, using my cousin Glynis’s hoop, now my physic, my body shape is not conducive in spinning the hoola hoop around my tummy when encouraged to have a go.