REVIEWS: LEARNING TO REMEMBER TOUR is “Positively brilliant”.

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 The ‘Learning to Remember’ Year 9 Workshop is an interactive course which shows students how to improve their memories by introducing them to effective encoding and recall methods. Students who recently experienced this powerful learning experience are virtually unanimous in their praise, describing the course as “positively brilliant”, “genius”, and “incredible”.

Commissioned and sponsored by Aimhigher Suffolk, the workshop is part of the Learning to Remember Tour (which includes a teacher training event called Teaching to Remember) created and delivered by Positively MAD’s senior presenter, Alan David Pritchard.

The aim of the tour is expressed in the title of the course: to show students how to remember things more easily in ways that are highly memorable and fun.

Alan returned from Suffolk yesterday after delivering the course to  10 schools across the county, and is delighted with the very positive feedback he received.

99.9% of the students who experienced the course would highly recommend it to others.

And this is what they had to say about the event: 

•  I was able to remember more things than I thought. Our group managed to remember almost 140 things without writing it down. It shows that this strategy works. – CM
• It is a good way to learn because you don’t write loads of facts. You learn by doing drawings or using your body and I learn a lot by doing this. – AW
• It was exciting and it helps you to remember. – G.D
• It was more interesting than writing things down. – VH
• To start off with, I didn’t believe him that I would remember 100 things but I did. – S.M
• It was very good and interactive! – G.M
• It was good and interesting. – SB
• It involves everyone, no writing and also keeps you alert with different, interesting things, but not a 5 stars because sometimes it was confusing. – JTC
• It is interesting and fun. – JC
• It was very helpful to remember over 100 facts. – CW
• It was helpful to remember facts easily. – KP
• We learnt a lot more than we would than in a normal lesson and it was much funner which made us want to listen and learn more. – BE
• It was very good.
• It was fun but really helpful at the same time.- Liz
• It is outstanding how many words you can remember without writing them down. – SM
• It’s fun and really easy to remember random facts. – CH
• It’s very entertaining and helpful! I will use these techniques again. – CAP
• It was really interesting and informative and taught me loads, but wasn’t boring. I run a website and this will really help me remember stuff to do on it and help in school. – DF
• It helped us learn how to remember things and showed us that we don’t need to write things down. – NM
• It does help you to remember and is a lot of fun
• It was helpful for exams. And it was fun. – LC
• It gives you other helpful ways of revising. It’s fun! – AT
• It was interesting. – TY
• It makes you think of lots of crazy things. – JD
• It was good but it could have been a little bit better – like more interesting things to help you remember. – OMB
• I remembered a lot of things. It was enjoyable and it annoyed Lois muchly. – CC
• It was a very effective way of remembering things for a test. – GM
• I actually managed to remember things and it can help other students remember facts for their exams. – GR
• It showed me ways to remember things in a lesson. – LA
• At first I was apprehensive but as the presentation progressed, I began to realise I have a better memory than I thought. It really helped. – CTG
• It was fun, funny and we learnt things. VR
• Funny, interesting. – UU
• Very funny. Learned much. – MK
• It was fun. It worked! He related to things that we would actually like and laugh about. – JA
• It was funny. – M
• It was interesting and surprisingly, I learnt a lot. – ND
• It’s a really interesting way of remembering things, and it was funny. – EH
• Easy to understand. Made it fun. Definitely would do it again. It made me trust my memory. – LO
• It’s fun and helped you learn ways of remembering things. – PR
• It was funny and I learnt a lot. It’s useful for school in Germany too. – SP
• It’s very funny and interesting. It isn’t boring. – Cara
• It was fun, energetic and interesting. It helped develop my studying and memory skills. – HM
• I always thought I had a bad memory but I was surprised at how I can remember all these things. – MC
• This course helps you remember 100 facts. This course is beneficial in every lesson. – MC
• It was funny and I learnt a lot about how to revise. – KB
• It was interesting and I actually remembered everything he said. It’s also fun. – DC
• It was funny and interesting and the man was cool. – TW
• It was unbelievable that we remembered 100 facts. It was very funny. – RK
• Very funny and useful. – TM
• It was funny and interesting. I think now I can learn my vocabularies faster and better. Thanks! – V
• It was interesting and funny. You learned a lot of things about remembering and it wasn’t boring. – JW
• Very funny, interesting, we learned a lot. – HK
• It was funny and interesting and I learned very much. – MP
• It was fun and very funny and really did work. – J
• It was very effective and will help to make revision easier. – D
• I learnt a lot and didn’t get bored. I think other people should get a chance to listen to you.- DK
• It was interesting and you learn lots of things. There were also some jokes, which made the presentation funnier.- M
• It was interesting and funny and fast-paced. –LR
• We learned much about learning for our study and it was fun. – VK
• This could help people with their test and could help remember things. – JM
• Interesting. We learnt a lot. Funny. We could understand everything. – AS
• He is very funny and he explains very well. – SK
• It was genius! - FK
• It was fun and enjoyable. – ZH
• It was fun and enjoyable. – TG
• It was fun and very enjoyable. – RH
• I learnt loads of things but we couldn’t do everything. – JM
• It was fun and funny. It helps you to remember stuff, like remembering the first 20 of the periodic table. – BP
• It was interesting and a different way of learning. – HF
• We didn’t only learn, it was fun and enjoyable too! – RW
• It is very effective and you can remember everything. – JL
• It helps you remember stuff and it is fun. – XG
• Fun and very interesting and effective. – HPR
• It was interesting and I remembered things without even realising. – MB
• It is fun and has helped me remember different facts. – GB
• It was easy to remember in a short amount of time. – HG
• The man (Alan) is funny and smiley and we understood him. He said no big words and showed us good reasons to revise. We learnt 103 facts! Wow! – JS
• It is a very good way to help you remember. – JM
• It was a lot of fun and we learnt a lot of facts and how to use it to help exams and stuff. – HB
• It is fun and Alan made me laugh and we learnt loads of things. 103 to be exact. Wow! – SF
• You were funny and made it interesting. – K
• I learnt over 100 facts without writing them down. It was fun! – TK
• Learnt and remembered a lot. Helped methods to revise without reading notes. It was fun! – KB
• It actually worked. He said that we can ‘remember 100 facts.’ I thought, ‘No way.’ But in the end, we remembered 103!  Amazing! Can’t believe it! – RC
• Funny, very educational and interesting. – D
• I can remember things in a more efficient, fun way.
• It was funny and helpful.- DF
• I was actually surprised at how much I can remember and I also found the videos funny. – FS
• I was amazed by how many things I learnt today. – JR
• We learnt 116 facts in about 100 minutes and we remembered them. – ES
• In the end we remembered 116 facts in total. – ST
• It helped me realise that my memory isn’t as bad as I thought it was. – G
• It helped quite a lot and I think it will help me remember! – GP
• I would never have believed that I could have learnt 116 facts in 90 minutes. Incredible! – CB
• I learnt a lot and you helped me to remember. – JT
• It was fun and helped me remember stuff! The videos were good. – ZM
• It’s interesting and enjoyable and it works.
• It’s fun and it really helped. – H Davies
• It was very funny and it simply amazed me. I loved it! – LS
• It was really fun and we learnt loads. – JM
• It was incredible. I never thought it was possible to learn so many things in one lesson. – HS
• It was fun and I learned a lot. – BT
• It was fun and I learned a new technique to help with my GCSE’s. – JH
• It is helpful. – JF
• This course is a lot of fun and you can remember a lot of things. – CM
• It was very fun and interesting! – LF
• I learnt 116 facts today without writing them down. I was really impressed! Thanks. – KM
• It didn’t feel like we were remembering things. – BGS
• 5 stars
• Alan is just brilliant! Made me laugh so much, and I actually remembered everything! – Cheers Alan. – BB
• It is absolutely amazing because I remembered 105 facts!!! And I still remember 20 of the elements. Thank you. – CS
• It was very fun. You wouldn’t think that you would be able to remember 105 things. – CG
• It actually does help you with remembering things. Plus it has been fun and enjoyable.- LW
• I understood a lot and learnt a lot. It helped me. – BC
• It was a fun and creative process which was very helpful and the ways to remember were positively mad. – SN
• It opened my mind to new opportunities, understanding new ways to achieve when in my GCSEs. – WES
• It was interesting and very simple to learn. – JAM
• It was really fun and amazingly I remembered over 100 facts!!! JCM
• I found it very interesting and very helpful. – BRG
• I gave you 5 stars because I didn’t actually know that I was remembering over 100 facts. – EJL
• It helps you remember loads of facts easily which can be useful for revision. – HLK
• It was weird and wacky. I loved it! I will also use these strategies to help me with my GCSEs. – PMB
• It was quite strange but helped me and was quite fun. I will be using these methods in the future! – LGS
• The course was very useful for remembering things and helping in the exams. – JD
• Well, I didn’t really enjoy it because I am in a mood and he was too hyper for my liking but if I was in a better mood, I probably would have enjoyed myself. – HL
• It was educating and enjoyable. – TJ
• It makes you realise that in the exams you can remember things using pictures.- CMC
• It was really funny and we learned a lot of stuff. – TY
• This could help you a lot in your exams and it’s really easy to remember things. And it was fun. – AF
• It helps you to remember things to help with your exams and stuff. – MAB
• It helps you to remember things for GCSEs and is very useful. – SD
• It is fun and very very effective. – RA
• It was fun. I had fun. It helped me. – MV
• I found it really useful and it was really fun. It helped me remember 107 things without writing them down. – CA
• I really enjoyed this course and I realised my memory is a lot better than I thought. – Ellen D
• It was entertaining, funny and helpful. I managed to remember all of the answers. – SJ
• It was positively brilliant. I really enjoyed it. We were learning 100 facts but we didn’t know it. – JB
• It was fun but really inspiring. It improved our confidence, our creativity and addressed our ability to memorise things. I remembered 107 new facts. – EL
• It’s fun, inspirational and teaches new learning techniques that can help with education. – DOG
• At first, I didn’t think I would remember 100 things in 2 lessons, but using Alan’s techniques, it helped in many ways. – GB
• At the start I thought I had a rubbish memory. After doing this course, I know I can remember loads. – ME
• It is amazing what you can remember if you think about it. – DK
• Very enjoyable. Made me laugh all the way through and it’s taught me how to help remember things. – JK
• I learnt more facts without writing them down than I have ever learnt. And it was fun! – Geg
• It was funny and it made me laugh. It also helped me learn techniques to remember facts. MDWS
• It was interesting and fun how easy remembering stuff etc can be. – HH
• It helped me remember a lot of facts easily. – DS
• It helped me a lot and I am feeling much more confident for my exams. – KS
• It taught me a lot about how to remember things. – RBN
• He explains and shows the fun side of learning. – Peter H
• I memorised 115 facts which proves it helps you to remember. – LC
• It helped me remember more than I am used to and it was fun. – CL
• Learnt more facts without writing them down that I have every learnt. And it was fun! – G
• It was funny and it made me laugh. It also helped me learn techniques to remember facts. – MS
• It was interesting and fun how easy remembering stuff etc can be. – HH
• The course was fun and we learnt how to remember stuff for our exams. – M
• He is funny, helps people learn simple things a lot easier, increases creativity. Lots of knowledge. – KB
• It was very interesting to watch and it has really helped my memory. – PB
• We learnt to remember 100 facts without writing them down and it will help people learn. – CR
• The videos were great and we remembered 115 things and my memory is as good as a goldfish. – JS
• It really boosts your confidence and helps you to do things you thought you couldn’t do before. – JCM
• He made learning fun. He broke it down into little bits that made us learn loads. And we all learnt and remembered 115 facts without writing them down. – CH
• This session has taught me a good way to remember more things for my exams. So it is actually helpful.- LP
• It was very funny and I learnt so much more than I would in a normal 2 hour lesson. –SB
• It helps you find out more things. – Lola M
• I learnt easy ways of remembering things and how much you can remember without much effort. – CB
• I normally find it hard to remember stuff and in the space of 2 hours, I’ve remembered 115 things. – LH
• I learnt a huge amount of facts that I feel will really help me with schoolwork and exams. – KH
• You learn things easier than school work and I learnt easier ways to remember things. – MB
• We learnt about 100 facts in2 hours. It was fun and I learnt more in 2 hours than I do at a whole day of school. – AH
• It was interesting and helped me learn how to remember things easily. – CO
• It helped me and surprised me that you can remember so much stuff just from having fun and no writing. – LD
• It helped boost my memory and was very entertaining. And surprising when he showed us how much we learnt. – JP

(These comments are from students at: Deben High, Ipswich Academy, Leiston Community High School, Chantry High School and 6^th Form Centre, Stowmarket High, Sudbury Upper School, The Benjamin Britten High School)

Alan would like to thank all the pupils for their excellent behaviour and the way they made him feel welcome and appreciated. He would also like to thank Helen Full at Aimhigher Suffolk for the opportunity to develop and deliver this event.