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LOSING = a poor memory, the inability to organize information, sitting passively, being bored, nothing to say, ineffective listening, "education isn't for me."
WINNING = making full use of your brain.
LOSING = underusing your brain.
WINNING = the ability to focus and speak clearly about ideas.
LOSING = unorganized speaking, with nothing to speak about other than pop culture.
WINNING = being familiar with the major topic areas of our time.
LOSING = discussion being limited to what's on television.
WINNING = being able to tackle new problems with confidence.
LOSING = fearing new problems.
WINNING = starting on time, staying on task, completing assignments.
LOSING = starting late, neglecting to have your materials, loosing focus, blaming others, failing to complete your work.
Because reading, writing, listening,
speaking, information organization and the ability to study are
essential skills for all students, all types of learners, Accelerated
Learning is a technique to teach each as part of an integrated whole.
All skills are accelerated simultaneously. Let me know immediately
if you know of any other program that is more successful at having
students accelerate their ability to read, write, listen, speak,
organize information or practicing high-level study skills.
THE TYPICAL CLASSROOM: zero-zero-zeros
There are some serious problems occurring in many classrooms (K through post-graduate university, corporate training, classrooms of all types). Most students simply aren't learning very much; what they are learning is taking far too long; too many students report being "bored" and frightened of failure and embarrassment. After many hours of classroom instruction the tests usually indicate that virtually nothing of significance has been learned. Students have not improved their skills very much, they haven't really increased their knowledge, they haven't significantly altered their behavior.
When the typical classroom is reviewed, the overwhelming amount of every period (often in excess of 50%) is taken up with administration and negative discipline. The remaining time is taken up with what are, often, rambling, poorly constructed lectures, editorials and side-bar discussions that involve only a fraction of the students. No wonder students report their classes being "boring," often frightening. No wonder so many teachers resign themselves to quiet desperation -- most teachers were never taught how to teach, most students were never taught how to learn.
In many classrooms the information flows too slowly. Not enough new material is presented. The class is allowed to go off task just as soon as any student chooses to ask a "helpful" question. Students are continually allowed to act poorly. The teachers are not clear about exactly what is important for the students to learn, how they are supposed to learn it, how they are to be tested.
THE FIVE, FIVE, FIVE CLASSROOM
The Five, Five, Five Classroom provides solutions to these common problems. These accelerated solutions are appropriate for all classes, all ages, where new skills and behaviors need to be learned. The format, called "five-five-fives," has been thoroughly field-tested and involves the brain in new and challenging ways. It involves all members of the class, all of the time. In a Five-Five-Five Classroom all students listen, write, speak, organize information, read, solve problems. Portfolios balloon. Fifty-five minutes out of every sixty are used for the benefit of the entire class. Please show me a classroom where a higher percentage of students are involved.
Step One - Begin by recording what you want presented on tape
This may be done by reading the textbook aloud, or by typing up lectures and reading them onto a tape before class begins. Excellent prerecorded tapes (CDs) are listed in "Other Ideas / Resources." In lieu of taping, simply read from the text. Once a lecture is recorded it may be used over and over, saving considerable preparation time and allowing additional time for interaction with students.
This article is an excellent one on which to practice because it explains the program while allowing students to develop the skills required. Students need to know that memory only works well when they Retell, retell, retell; Restate, restate restate; Repeat, repeat, repeat. When information is written down there is a chance of remembering it. If it is not written down the brains probably will overwrite the information immediately.
Accelerated Learning allows students to interact with the same material as many as ten (or more) times. "Repeat repeat, repeat. Restate, restate, restate. Retell, retell, retell."
This is the way learning is drilled to mastery:
Listening the first time (first five minutes);
- Writing memory outlines furiously (first five minutes);
- Organizing their outlines into quick tell-backs, (second five minutes);
- Listening to their partner's tell-back (second five minutes);
- Taking additional notes (second five minutes);
- Organizing a five minute fast write (third five minutes);
- The organization of five or six fast writes into a longer paper (homework);
- Reading fast writes to the class;
- Class feed back;
- Counting and graphing of data;
- Portfolio organization;
- Portfolio review;
- Testing;
- Test review;
- The daily report card.
Step Two - Five-minute lectures
Begin to play the tape two full minutes before class is scheduled to begin. This sends the message that when students enter your classroom they are to sit down and get to work. They are no longer allowed to ask, "What are we going to do today?" They are no longer allowed to cause the first five minutes of every class to be wasted. At the official "start time" of class, the tape may be rewound to the beginning of the day's lecture and begun again.
If you want new information to be learned, break it into its small component parts and teach each part to mastery.
Step Three - Begin immediately
Train your students to enter your classroom with their voices off, to have a seat, to clear their desks of everything other than writing paper and pencils, to begin listening and creating memory outlines immediately. Class has begun. All late students need to be marked tardy. Students should no longer be allowed to disrupt class with rude, inappropriate, disrespectful and off-task behavior.
The goal of this classroom is to start on time, stay on task, complete assignments. This is the way high-achieving students and employees behave. I want you to continue your educations and hold jobs with a future.
Students should format each page in line with your classroom requirements. Each page should include the student's name, the name of the class, the date and the page number. These pages will be organized neatly, and sequentially, into a portfolio at the end of the class.
Discourage looking around or keeping eyes on the teacher. Eyes should be on the paper. The students should always be writing. When students fail to interact with the material being presented, when they sit, feigning listening, virtually nothing is being learned. Students who are not able to follow or comply with the instructions should be ignored, not allowed to slow the class (bring them in for a special training session after class). Find those students who are complying, writing furiously, and reward them with your attention: quick eye contact, a smile, thumbs up. Catch those students who are acting appropriately and reward them immediately, "Good job starting on time Bill." "Good job writing furiously Linda." "Good job listening and writing Joan." Be very specific in describing the behavior you are rewarding. Make eye contact, look away, turn your back, do not allow anything but the briefest eye contact to take the student off task.
Step Four - Begin again
At exactly the time class is scheduled to start, rewind the tape and begin playing it from the beginning of the day's lesson. Ask students to write down any questions they may have and let them know that you will be answering questions later.
Step Five - The Memory Outline - the first five minutes
Start a timer and play the tape for five seconds to five minutes. Since this is a new experience, five seconds is appropriate for novice students who need to learn how to listen for a single idea and get it written down. Practice grabbing one idea and writing it on the board. Tell your students, "Here's the idea, write it down." Listen to the same few seconds a number of times until everyone has the main idea written across the top of his or her paper.
Stand next to students who are having difficulty, put your clipboard down on their desk and model what it looks like to construct a memory outline. Remember, most students do not know how to take notes, or how to outline material, so you are going to have to teach them. Encourage them to listen, to grab an idea, to answer the questions "who, what, why, when, where, how." Teach them how to write down brief phrases that capture a brief notion; discourage complete sentences; catch students doing the right thing; reward them immediately.
Since the tape moves quickly and without interruption, they are going to have to learn to move quickly and without interruption. This is the information age. Data is rushing by at an incredible speed. They must be trained to stop, listen, organize, write, listen while writing, move on. Assure them, "There will be no time to get it all." No longer allow them to procrastinate with helpful questions. Train them to write their questions down and provide five minutes at the end of class for answers and discussion. Have them hand in questions and answer them tomorrow. Teach them to understand that all questions do not have immediate answers. Most questions are not even worth asking. Most questions are really saying, "I'm too lazy to figure this out for myself. You figure it out for me and give me an easy answer."
Someone told you, "There's no such thing as a stupid question," and you believed it. There are many stupid questions, asked at inappropriate times, that have nothing to do with the subject at hand. What many questions are really saying is, "What I have to say is more important than what you are saying. I have the right to interrupt you any time I feel like it."
NOTE: There is something nearly magical about five minutes, it is a very manageable period that the brain can actually handle. You will find that limiting your time to five minutes is the maximum amount of time most people are able to organize new information without much of it being overwritten (forgotten and replaced) by new information. However, when students are new to the format the period may be shortened considerably -- try a time period as short as five or ten seconds, just long enough to grasp ONE single idea.
Step Six - The Tell-Back - the second five minutes
At the end of the first five minutes your timer will sound. Students are to stop writing immediately and pair up with a partner instantly. Have them pair up with different partners. Don 't allow students to keep pairing up with the same familiars. Move them around, involve everyone. If there is an extra person, pair up with the teacher. This entire transition, once trained and drilled, takes less than ten seconds.
Each student takes a minute or two to tell back to his or her partner what was just heard. While one student is speaking, the other is to keep his pencil in hand, eyes on paper, continuing to write down missing information and filling in her memory outline with data she may have missed. Redundant information may be written down again.
No questions. The student who is speaking is afforded full respect by being allowed to speak without being interrupted. There will be plenty of time for questions and open discussion, later. Students are encouraged to include in their tell-backs additional information about the subject that they may know from other sources.
At the end of five minutes the timer sounds and students transition back to their own desks.
Step Seven - The Fast-Write - the third five minutes
Students have listened and created memory outlines for five minutes. Students have been involved in two tell backs (theirs and their partner's) for five minutes.
For the final five-minute-section each student is to write a short essay on what he or she has been listening to and organizing.
Early in the game, in order to teach and drill the format to mastery, the teacher may replay the same five minute section from the tape and repeat the exercise in its totality. The teacher should give examples of capturing a good idea. The teacher should pass out samples of a good memory outline, previously prepared. Demonstrate a good tell-back. Pass out an example of a good fast-write.
Once students have the idea, upon the completion of the first five-five-five (fifteen minutes), the teacher simply pushes the start button and begins a second five-five-five. In a 45 minute period as many as three five-five-fives may be completed and collected in the student's portfolio.
Step Eight - the daily report card
At the end of a five-five-five students put their papers in a manila folder that was handed to each student upon entering the classroom. Do not take the time to read or correct papers at this time.
Stapled to the front of each folder is a "Daily Report Card" upon which students and teachers may record points for complying with the three fundamental academic behaviors: starting on time, staying on task, completing assignment.
Step Nine - portfolios, graphing and charting
The final five minutes of class are used to organize portfolios (one-inch three-ring binders which may be left in class), to pass in portfolios, to ask questions ,to graph results, to clean up.
Portfolios contain plenty of graph paper. Count and record how many words were captured on the memory outline and graph them. Graph the number of words written during the fast write, graph them. Graph how many points were earned. Graph how long transitions take. Graph how many pieces of trash are left on the floor, or how many chairs aren't pushed in. Graph how many words they are writing, how many pages. Graph how many minutes they are on task and how often each one speaks. Graph how often they start on time. Graph how often they come to class prepared. Graph how many students use the correct format. Do you want to change behavior and accelerate skills? Graph the data, one piece at a time, until you start to recognize patterns. Share the data.
Take the time to graph important data over a 3 week period. You will begin to have a real armory of data upon which to make important decisions. If you want to increase behavior, count it and graph it. If you want to decrease a behavior, count it and graph it.
Points need to be awarded regularly to portfolios. Points may be earned for neatness, completeness and format. A one inch three ring binder, when full, contains approximately 200 pages. When binders are full they should be dated and stored on a classroom shelf. They may be taken home quarterly for parents to see just how much work is being accomplished. They should be shown off to parents during conferences. Portfolios represent an enormous amount of work, and should be used as pride pieces.
One inch, three-rind binders, cost about one dollar each and should be a light color so that students can clearly write their names on the outside cover and spine with a magic marker. Inexpensive notebook dividers may be created by turning sheets of notebook paper in the odd direction, so the ends stick out.
Step Ten - a useful homework assignment
A useful homework assignment (one or two days a week) is to have students take home three or four days of their recent memory outlines and fast-write and organize them into final draft essays (of varying length), to be turned in for a grade. Have the final draft stapled to the original memory outlines and fast writes when they are turned in. Be very rigorous in your grading and graph the number of errors.
Once you have turned the essays back to the student, make sure students integrate them into their portfolios. Every 200 page portfolio earns extra points (a double dip), and is taken home to parents for Show-and-Tell. Portfolios are excellent for teachers to show parents during conferences.
Step Eleven - show me
Show me an instructional technique that has students listen, write, speak, organize information, read, practice study skills, stay on task more in an hour than five-five-fives.
While not appropriate for all teaching situations, at all times, whenever you are contemplating a lecture, consider employing this Accelerated Learning format. Watch your classroom accelerate and get more done in 45 minutes than you ever believed imaginable. Watch every student become involved and interact with the material. Notice how there are no more excuses. Notice how they start on time, stay on task, finish every fifteen minutes with massive amounts of completed work. Watch their portfolios grow. When 200 pages are added to their portfolio, have them number every page so they are forced to look at each page one more time. Collect the portfolios. Grade them, add them to their accomplishments. Periodically, when you are through with a portfolio, send it home and encourage the students to file them away in a safe place (after they have shown it to mom and dad, sister and brother, grandma...)
COMMENTARY
I am really impressed with the results I have seen using these accelerated skills. To supercharge the technique even more, review the material from Inteliquest that is included in "Other Resources / Ideas." I have used this material extensively (100 Greatest Books, 100 Greatest People, Great Thinkers) and find it perfect for five, five, fives because it accomplishes numerous objectives.
Using this material as background, students listen to appropriate tapes (using five-five-fives) before undertaking further study on the subject; before undertaking a new book (for instance). They might repeat the same tape a week or so into the subject, and again towards the end. This constant and continual repetition and interaction with the material provides the rich background required for memory, extensive discussion and writing. It provides an invaluable background should the material be revisited in later life.
Accelerated Learning (five-five-fives) covers so much material, so quickly, that complete textbooks may be taped and completed in a single semester, leaving the additional semester for enrichment projects rather than the typical continuation of classroom lectures, typically dominated by the same small percentage of verbal students (while the rest sit idly by). Five-five- fives may be used for the first 30 minutes of every class, allowing the remaining minutes to be used for supplemental exercises, discussions and class projects.
If you have any hope of becoming a generally educated human being by the end of your life, you must be exposed to the basic ideas and issues that dominate our world. Nothing of the ten major divisions of human knowledge, and the issues they raise, should escape your understanding. The ten major divisions of human knowledge are:
- History
- Life
- Mathematics
- Matter and Energy
- Religion and Philosophy
- Science
- Society
- Technology
- The Earth
Take a chance. Break out of your old classroom formats. Risk learning a study skill that will enrich your academic and professional lives for the rest of your life. With skills and rich backgrounds you have a fighting chance of successfully continuing your educations and holding careers with a future. The greater your exposure and participation, the greater the chance that you will win.
Think, participate, start on time, stay on task, complete assignments, write furiously, repeat, repeat, repeat, restate, restate, restate, retell, retell, retell. And, never, ever, ever give up.
In short, Save the brains!
Your friend in the trenches,
Rory Donaldson, chief brain (what makes him so smart?)
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: ACCELERATED LEARNING STUDY SKILLS (five-five-fives) © July 2001 by Rory Donaldson. All rights reserved. In order to help reverse the tide of academic failure and optimize success, individuals may copy brainsarefun solutions for non-commercial use at no charge. Contents may not be sold or repackaged in any manner without the written permission of Rory Donaldson. Since all material is copyrighted, please ensure that this entire copyright notice and contact information continues to be attached to each article you download. Mr. Donaldson appreciates the feedback. Additional solutions may be viewed and downloaded at no charge by logging on to brainsarefun.com. Titles are being updated, edited and added regularly. To view most recently added titles you may click here.
Suggestions and comments encouraged, email: roryd@brainsarefun.com.
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