The New York Times Magazine featured a story by Joshua Foer about his experience training for and competing in the U.S.A. Memory Championship. In Secrets of a Mind-Gamer: How I Trained my Brain and Became a World-Class Memory Athlete, Foer recounts one technique commonly used by "memory athletes."
What distinguishes a great mnemonist, I learned, is the ability to create lavish images on the fly, to paint in the mind a scene so unlike any other it cannot be forgotten. And to do it quickly. Many competitive mnemonists argue that their skills are less a feat of memory than of creativity. For example, one of the most popular techniques used to memorize playing cards involves associating every card with an image of a celebrity performing some sort of a ludicrous — and therefore memorable — action on a mundane object. When it comes time to remember the order of a series of cards, those memorized images are shuffled and recombined to form new and unforgettable scenes in the mind’s eye. ...[A]n entire deck can be quickly transformed into a comically surreal, and unforgettable, memory palace.
Foer used this technique to memorize a random sequence of playing cards in the process of becoming the U.S. record-holder in the speed card competition (I didn't make that up).
A graphic accompanying the article offered that the best way to remember people's names is to associate images with them. If someone's name is "Cooke," imagine them as a cook, etc.
When I first started teaching, I was able to learn all of my students' names within the first two weeks of class. I generally teach courses with 80 to 100 students, but by spending a few minutes with the seating chart and arriving early to class a few times, I was able to associate names and faces relatively easily. I definitely "mapped" the students' names and faces onto their physical location in the classroom. Recently I received a phone call from an alumna who wanted a referral to a specialist in my field. The alumna, who graduated 7 years ago, started off with, "You probably don't remember me, but I was in your class..." I immediately could recollect her name, face and where she sat in the class. (I think I freaked her out a bit when I said, "Of course I remember you. You sat on my left in the second row, third seat in from the door.")
In recent semesters, I've noticed that students' names aren't coming to me as quickly as they once did. Yes, I'm 8 years older than when I started teaching, but I don't think it is just age (heck, I'm only 41). Suggestions I've heard over the years are flashcards, group photos of the class in their seats, re-writing student names onto seating charts. Does anyone else have useful techniques?
I hate to admit it, but one reason I think I'm not as good with student names now is I haven't made it a priority to learn them. I've been allowing myself to say, "Hi, how are you?" in the hallways in place of, "Hi, Mr. X, how are you?" I don't want to be a memory champion, and I certainly don't need to remember where students sat many years ago, but I should know my students' names better. Learning them takes only a small effort on my part and could be a factor in helping a student feel more connected.
How about this as a fundraiser for public interest scholarships? All of the professors who teach the school's first year students participate in a speed memory test. Photos of first years are projected onto a screen and the professor who takes the least amount of time to name the most students is the law school's Memory Champion for that year. Bets taken!
On the first day of class, I bring my camera, which has a video function, and record the students saying their names as they walk out of the classroom. It takes less than 5 minutes. Then, throughout the next several days, I watch the video over and over. By the second class I know 2/3 of their names, and by the third class I'm usually up to 100%, and it doesn't matter where they sit. This also helps with tough pronunciation.
I agree that it's a small amount of work on our part for a huge reward.
Posted by: Josh | February 22, 2011 at 09:09 AM