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This series of articles will show how a simple memory system can be used as a basis for teaching, learning and remembering key aspects of the play Macbeth.

In my previous blog, I wrote about the need to teach students a more efficient way to remember the plot details for Macbeth, and in this, the 2^nd blog in this series, I will explain how I taught my classes a simple memory hook system to improve their recall.

My aim was to teach the students the hook system and then to show them how to attach vivid and memorable images that encapsulated key moments in the play.

How it works: The Cloakroom Analogy.

A good way to understand the use of memory hooks is to think of a cloakroom in a nightclub. Imagine there is a nightclub that can hold 1000 people. It is winter, and when the people arrive, they are all wearing coats and jackets. For a small fee, the people can hand in their jackets and coats and then collect them when they leave.

If there was no system in the cloakroom, and the jackets were just chucked onto the floor in an unorganised heap, then finding a specific jacket or coat will take ages at the end of the night.

So each person has a coat hanger which has a specific number. Each person is given a ticket with his/her coat hanger number on it. This will allow the attendant to simply read the number on the ticket and then go to the corresponding coat hanger which has the corresponding number on it. That way it is easy for people to collect their coats and jackets, without any confusion.

Well, using memory hooks is a very similar process. Each number has a specific image attached to it. Information to be learned (coats and jackets) is placed on the number (the coat hanger), so in order to recall specific information, all you need do is go to the number and collect the information.

To teach the play Macbeth using memory hooks involved a simple 5-step process.

The Process Overview

There were 5 main steps or ‘visits’ as I called them, each followed by a confirmation exercise, so the entire process had this structure:

·         Visit 1: Establish the hooks + confirm

·         Visit 2: Attach the images + confirm

·         Visit 3: Develop the images + confirm

·         Visit 4: Embellish the images + confirm

·         Visit 5: Consolidate the images + confirm

 

Visit 1: Establish the Hooks + confirm

 

This process involved using visual, auditory and kinaesthetic methods to establish the hooks into our short-term memory, and then, through revisiting and embellishment, into the long- term memory. The hooks for this system are based on pictures which rhyme with numbers.

In order to show you how it operates, I am going to teach you the hook system the way I taught it to my students.  (Obviously because I would have been talking to them, when I say ‘close your eyes’ the bits that follow are the words they would hear. For this blog, though, you do not have to close your eyes when instructed or else you will not be able to read what is written! My suggestion is to read the instructions first, then close your eyes and see what you are asked to imagine in your mind’s eye.)

Close your eyes.

In your imagination, ‘see’ the number 1 and watch it rise and move away from you to gradually become THE SUN.  Feel the heat of the sun burn your skin and when you look up, ‘see’ the number ONE written on the surface of the sun.

Thus, the hook for ONE, is SUN. Whenever I ask you what the hook for ONE is, you will automatically say “SUN”.

Now open your eyes.

Look down at your feet. Most people have two feet, so ‘see’ the number 2 written on your shoes.

Close your eyes.

In your imagination, mentally ‘stamp’ the number 2 all over your shoes. See the number being stamped all over your shoes so that it forms a pattern. See the 2’s appear in different colours.

Thus, the hook for TWO is SHOE. Whenever I ask you what the hook for TWO is, you will automatically say “SHOE”, because two rhymes with shoe.

Now open your eyes.

The hook for THREE is TREE. The way we will remember that is by doing the following:

Close your eyes.

Imagine you are in a meadow and you can see a tree. In front of the tree, see the word THREE almost like a fence in front of the tree. Now mentally ‘push’ the letter H away, then step back to see what word remains. You ‘see’ the word TREE and a real TREE behind it.

Now open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for THREE is TREE. Whenever I ask you what the hook for THREE is, you will automatically say “TREE”, because two rhymes with three.

The next hook is number FOUR and to embed this hook, we need to go to your house.

Close your eyes.

Imagine you are standing in front of your home and you are looking at the FRONT DOOR. Mentally see the number of your house turn into a FOUR.

(If your house really happens to be number 4, then see the number grow bigger and bigger until it covers the whole door.)

Watch the number 4 repeat itself all over your DOOR. Soon the door is covered in number 4’s.

Now open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for FOUR is DOOR.

Right next to the front door, someone has placed a BEEHIVE to help you remember the image for number 5.

Close your eyes.

‘See’ a BEEHIVE next to your front door. See the bees pour honey onto the outside of the hive so that the honey forms the shape of the number 5. Now hear yourself shouting, “Hey! You poured 5 on my beehive!” Now watch the 5 bees dive into the honey-shaped 5.

Now open your eyes.

Thus the hook for FIVE is BEEHIVE.

Let us pause to confirm what we have learnt.

1.    What is the hook for ONE?

2.    What is the hook for TWO?

3.    What is the hook for THREE?

4.    What is the hook for FOUR?

5.    What is the hook for FIVE?

 

 

Let us move on to the next 5 hooks now.

 

Close your eyes.

 

Imagine that you can see a pile of STICKS. See yourself picking up the sticks and rearranging them on the ground so that they form the number 6. Now stand back and admire your handiwork. ‘See’ the number 6 and see yourself bending down to move the sticks so that the number is more clear.

 

Open your eyes.

 

Thus, the hook for number 6 is STICKS.

 

Now, the hook for number 7 is HEAVEN and we are going to use the image of an ANGEL to help us remember this.

 

Close your eyes.

 

Imagine you can see an ANGEL with a T-shirt that reads, “Seventh Heaven”. See the ANGEL hold out his/her arms. Now gasp when you notice that he/she has 7 fingers on each hand. Hear the angel say, “Seventh Heaven”.

Now open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for 7 is HEAVEN (angel).

The hook for number 8 is gate, so when you close your eyes, try and see a gate that is near your house (or school if you don’t have a gate).

Close your eyes.

Think of a gate that is near your home or school. See it vividly in your mind’s eye. Now watch it morph into the number 8. Hear the strange noise it makes when doing so, and then, walk over and trace the figure 8 with your hand and then your foot.

Now open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for 8 is GATE.

Close your eyes.

Imagine hanging up your favourite clothes on your WASHING LINE. As you do so, you notice something odd. All of your clothes have the number 9 stitched on them. See yourself pegging the clothes to the line and seeing 9’s everywhere. Even your socks have number 9 sewed onto them. Hear yourself shout, “Number 9 on the washing line!” a few times.

Open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for number 9 is WASHING LINE.

Our final hook is a HEN because it rhymes with TEN.

Close your eyes.

Imagine you are writing a Maths test, but every time you write the number 10, a HEN appears on your paper – a real hen in 3-D. Stare at the hen and hear it cluck “Ten! Ten!” at you. Then write the number 10 again, and watch as another HEN just appears out of thin air on the page.

Now open your eyes.

Thus the hook for number 10 is HEN.

Let us, then, confirm that the first 10 hooks have been embedded.

1.    What is the hook for # 1?

2.    What is the hook for # 2?

3.    What is the hook for # 3?

4.    What is the hook for # 4?

5.    What is the hook for # 5?

6.    What is the hook for # 6?

7.    What is the hook for # 7?

8.    What is the hook for # 8?

9.    What is the hook for # 9?

10.  What is the hook for # 10?

 

The hook for number 11 is a person called Kevin.

Close your eyes.

See the number 11 on a baseball cap worn by someone called Kevin. You know this because he keeps saying, “I am number 11 and my name is Kevin” to you. Hear him say this slowly and then get faster and faster the more he says it. Listen to his voice get louder and louder.

Now open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for number 11 is KEVIN.

Close your eyes.

Imagine you are working in a library where all the books have the same title: TWELVE. See the number 12 written on the front covers and the word TWELVE written on the spine of the books. Now see yourself placing 12 books onto 12 SHELVES. Hear the librarian say, “Stack all the 12’s on the SHELVES.”

Now open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for 12 is SHELVES.

For our next hook, I would like you to imagine you are going to the cinema.

Close your eyes.

Imagine you are at the cinema. You are going to watch a movie about a mother and her teenage daughter. The movie is called HER TEEN. See the title of the movie appear on the SCREEN. Then watch as the girl who plays the daughter jumps up near the screen and shouts, “I’m 13!”

Now open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for 13 is HER TEEN on the movie SCREEN.

The next hook relies rather heavily on near rhyme because it was difficult to find an exact rhyme for this number.

Close your eyes.

Imagine you are looking at a plate of beans. The beans have been arranged to form the number 14. Now watch the beans get broader and broader until each becomes very plump. Now watch each one softly explode with a noise that sounds like ‘Broad Bean!” See yourself counting 14 BROAD BEANS.

Open your eyes.

Thus, the hook for 14 is BROAD BEAN.

As you can tell, my attempts at rhyming the –teen numbers are somewhat corny and quite odd, but be assured that these are the qualities that make it unusual enough to be remembered.

Close your eyes.

Imagine you are 15 years old and you are standing in a LIFT on your birthday. In your pockets, hands and bag are various birthday cards, all with number 15 written on them in big shiny letters. See yourself reading them as the LIFT goes up. Then read them again as the LIFT goes down. You never leave the lift because (please don’t all moan at once), you are a LIFT-TEEN.

Open your eyes.

Thus the hook for 15 is YOU in a LIFT when you were 15 and spent the summer as a LIFT-TEEN.

These, then, are the 15 MEMORY HOOKS that will be used as locations to place the memorable images for the play Macbeth.

Let us now go through all 15 hooks to confirm that we have embedded them properly. Your aim is to remember the image that we ALWAYS associate with each of the 15 numbers.

1.    What is the hook for #15?

2.    What is the hook for #14?

3.    What is the hook for #13?

4.    What is the hook for #12?

5.    What is the hook for #11?

6.    What is the hook for #10?

7.    What is the hook for #9?

8.    What is the hook for #8?

9.    What is the hook for #7?

10.  What is the hook for #6?

11.  What is the hook for #5?

12.  What is the hook for #4?

13.  What is the hook for #3?

14.  What is the hook for #2?

15.  What is the hook for #1?

 

If you don’t get it straight away, trust your memory. If you closed your eyes and imagined the scenarios, then the information is in your short-term memory. It’s there – you just need to trust your memory and you will find that you will recall them all without error.

In other words, if you don’t recall a specific hook straight away, instead of telling yourself that you forgot, just say, “It’ll come” quietly. Then close your eyes and ‘see’ the numbers. The associated image will then pop into your mind.

In my next blog, I will explain how the play Macbeth was broken down into 15 key images and how I taught students to attach the images to their memory hooks.