Sunday, March 9, 2014

The Mnemonic Device: A Tool to Remember

I'm a fan of F.A.N.B.O.Y.S.  In addition to being kind of cute and funny looking (see visual below), they help me recall the seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, not, but, or yet, and so.




If not for F.A.N.B.O.Y.S., I would be a lost cause in recalling these seven grammatically significant words.  (Especially since the part of my brain that is supposed to store such information seems to be shriveling up to a raisin, as I enter into my [ahem!] early thirties).  See visual below:
  
My 30-something-year-old brain


God bless the mnemonic device!  Come on!  You know you use them, too.  Remember I before C, except after E?  Or how about, Thirty days hath September.  April, June, and November?  Mnemonic devices were used by the Ancient Greeks, and I think they were definitely onto something.  Now that it's standardized testing time, my students and I are preoccupied with mnemonic devices.  My students love them, and as their Language Arts Captain who wishes to reach Literary Proficient Land - so do I.  See examples below:

Author's Purpose = P.I.E. - Persuade, Inform, Entertain

Reading Comprehension = R.A.F.T.  = Role, Audience, Format, Topic

Proofreading = C.O.P.S. - Capitalization, Overall Appearance, Punctuation, Spelling


Or just handy little one-liners, such as


Desert v. Dessert = I'll have seconds on dessert.

Further v. Farther = Further exploration takes your farther.  


Mnemonics rule!  If there isn't already a Mnemonic Device Holiday, I think there should be.  I wish there was a mnemonic for everything.  But I will settle for the aforementioned helpful ones, and a few more that I present in this handy little PowerPoint available on the wonderful website: TeachersPayTeachers:



Happy Mnemonic-ing!!  



Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Adult Education, Staff - TeachersPayTeachers.com

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