Recommended Tools:: The Memory Palace, Sensory Details

This is one of my favorite lessons. I call this a guided visualization because it is the best name I can think of. It fits. You will guide the students to visualize images in a specific order, giving the images details and movement that will help them remember them. Regardless of what we call it, the difference I see between the students first attempt to recall the images in the poem compared to the second time is always a treat to see.

Prior to this lesson, I have the students pick a memory palace. I usually have them use their own homes or a place they know very well. This is a lesson in itself, so please make sure you have that set before you begin. You may be able to use the body peg list or the classroom peg list as well. As usual, there are few hard, fast rules to engaging memory, so experiment.

For this lesson, I use “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All” by Maya Angelou. I like this poem because there are vivid images that fill each short stanza. I am sure you will find others that work just as well or better, but this works well for me.

Step One: Instruct students to have a piece of paper in front of them. I recommend having them make a line dividing the paper in half or folding the paper. I prefer this so they can see for themselves the difference between the first and the second attempts at recalling the poem.

Step Two: Have students listen to the poem first. Tell them you are going to test them on it, so they better listen closely. I find that this really helps get authentic feedback on how effective this process can be. (I use a YouTube video that features pictures by Jean-Michel Basquiat.)

Step Three: Test the students. That’s right. Tell them to write down everything they remember from the poem. You will, undoubtedly, get some groans and some exclamations of disbelief. Don’t worry, it will work out just fine. Just have them write as much as they can remember in any order.

Step Four: Now you are going to turn down the lights. You do not HAVE to, but I like to set the mood. Have the students bring up their memory palace, or whatever place they are storing the poem, in their mind. If they are using the classroom, they can look at the areas of the class as you are speaking.

You are going to read two images for each location. You will read them in order from the poem. For example, as you have the students bring to mind the first location, tell them that they see shadows on the wall. Ask them details about the shadows. What are they doing? How big are they? How many are there? Then tell them as they are looking at the shadows, they hear noises down the hall. What do these noises sound like? Are the shadows reacting?

You continue onto the next location. Have them imagine Bad dogs barking loud. What kind of dogs? Are they stinky dogs? (adding different senses strengthen memorization).

At this point, since I have two images per location, I tell them that the dogs are barking at the ceiling. On the ceiling where there are Big ghosts on a cloud. What are the ghosts doing? How do you know they’re ghosts? What are they wearing?

For the refrain, Life doesn’t frighten me at all, I may use a box of Life cereal that goes from room to room and tries to scare the student. It is really up to you. You can leave this part out if you want. This line is stated so frequently, it is the most likely to be remembered.

I have done this routinely in under 10 minutes. When you are done, have them write down what they remember this time. For most students who were following along, there will be a noticeable difference. I have had students recall every image. Though this is usually not the case, students who paid even half attention will be writing for much longer than they were the first time.

One of the features of this technique that I like so much is that it slows down the process of using a memory palace. Anyone looking to memorize information in a hurry, such as a memory athlete, will use this same basic concept, just much quicker. I have found it to be a great introduction to the memory palace technique.

Thank you!