SONGS AS MNEMONICS

People in my generation know what year the battle of New Orleans was fought. We simply remember the first line of a Johnny Horton hit song. “In 1814, we took a little trip along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.”

Johnny Horton had an entire album of songs about history, “October 1871, that’s when this great big fie begun.” It was easy to learn history from Johnny Horton.

Many years later Tom Lehrer sang about the “Elements.” Hundreds of kids memorized the lyrics and the elements. Gosh that was fun. And while singing along with Lehner or with their friends, kids didn’t even have to use chaining or pegging.

In my record collection, I have an album that includes campaign songs from each president and another album that includes campaign songs from some of the presidential losers. Google songs about history. A huge list will come up.

There are songs about adverbs, adjectives, nouns and even pronouns. On the old "Mickey Mouse Club" television program, Jiminy Cricket sang about the "ENCYCLOPEDIA." He spelled out the letters.

The days of having to buy these albums are over, thanks to Youtube, where you can find most of the songs I mentioned and more.

Learning Hack of the Day: Tweak

Find a system that works for you. When I studied writing, all the books and teachers said a journal should be hand written. It was the best way of getting in touch with feelings. One could sit on the bed, legs swinging, and pretend to be a child again as one scribbled down one's thoughts. Thoughts flowed more smoothly from hand to pen to paper. But computers and on-line journals quickly became popular. As a writing instructor, I taught as I had been taught. Write your journal in a notebook. But I quickly discovered, it is more efficient to type the material directly into the computer. It can be cut and pasted into the stories where fits.

In time planning, I would set aside special hours for cleaning house, exercising and writing. But cleaning and exercising are boring. Writing is hard work. I learned to take fifteen minute cleaning, eating or exercise breaks.

Longhand journals and blocks of time make sense to some people and to lots of writers. I still journal and plan my time, but I tweak it. I make the adjustments that are right for me. You can do the same thing. Shop Amazon - Textbook Trade-In - Get Up to 80% Back Shop Amazon - Find the Value of Your Video Games