HALLWAY GREETING
You have two hippocampi
located in your brain. The
hippocampus controls the
consolidation of memory
from short-term to longterm memory and spatial
navigation. It also controls
EPISODIC MEMORY.
SAY IT- Hallway
Greeting
A Hallway Greeting is a short
piece of text posted outside the
classroom door. It can be changed
every day or every week. The
purpose is to enrich the hallways
with text that is meaningful to the
classroom or school. It can
frontload a piece of curriculum,
connect to character, or be
something that is interesting for
everyone to read as they walk by,
therefore building community
across all grades.
SAY IT- Welcome Message
A Welcome Message is posted
inside the classroom, usually
projected. It connects to the day’s
curriculum. It has two parts; text,
and task (something to read,
something to do). Its purpose is
to kick off the day or period with a
short reading task about the
objective and engagement or
connection with it. Messages can
be processed with Literacy Links
for spiral review of curriculum.
Welcome Scholars!
Dog Haiku
Pugnacious heavens!
My human is upside down
Poor, stupid creature
Task: Can YOU write a haiku
from the voice of a dog you
know?
WELCOME MESSAGE
Welcome Neuroscientists! In this
session we’ll explore how to
use EPISODIC MEMORY LANE
in your classroom. This
memory lane is incredibly
strong and is connected to
LOCATION. Location can have a
strong imprint on how you
remember things.
Let’s give it a try… Tell your
table group where you were
and who you were with when
9/11 happened.
Episodic Memory
• Located in the
hippocampus.
• Location driven memory
– Where were you?
– Where was it?
– Going back to where you
received the information
– Using locations to
jumpstart important
memories
– Strongly connected to
vision
SAY IT- Smart Charts
(Episodic Memory)
Smart Charts, or anchor charts,
are an incredible tool for tapping
into episodic memory. The
teacher creates the chart with
students detailing important
information they will be
accountable for; steps to solving
an equation, great leads in
writing, etc. Students are
expected to use the chart. They
will train their brains to recall that
information by looking at the
location where the chart hung in
the classroom…even if it has been
taken down.
Let’s experience it…
• Make a quick list:
– (1 minute) of memorable
experiences
-Choose one to develop into a
narrative.
-Quickly tell your partner
about the memory.
-Begin your quick draft of your
narrative (3 minutes)
-Climbing the Great Wall of
China
-My daughters’ births
-Seeing The David in Florence
-Loch Ness /Boat Driver
-Helping rescue a woman in
the Smoky Mountains
-Art Journaling in a café at
5:00 am
-Kidney stones
-Death of my father
Now we have use for a Smart Chart
Good writers GRAB
their readers with a
great lead (or hook).
Each of you have two
leads from an amazing
novel or picture book.
-Read each lead aloud to
your table group.
-Look at the lead
categories on the anchor
chart and decide
together where they
should be posted.
-Send a representative
up to post the leads.
Use the Smart Chart…
Take a second look at your
personal narrative.
Using one of the
categories on the chart,
revise your lead to see if
you can make it more
interesting or
memorable.
Smart Chart Thoughts
*Use it… or lose it.
*Can you add a non-linguistic
representation?
*Don’t let your charts become visual wallpaper…or
they’re useless.
*Train students to use charts.
Charts are great for
:
-Strategies
-Processes
-Patterns you want
them to learn
SAY IT- Where With Flair
(Episodic Memory)
“Where with Flair” is a technique
that connects curriculum to a
location. Students go to a
location to actually experience the
curriculum they are learning. This
could mean going to the
playground to study angles, the
outdoor lab to study patterns or
parts of a plant, or a hallway
greeting walk to find word wall
words. The brain will associate
that location with the curriculum
taught there. Students only need
to put themselves in that place
mentally to retrieve the
information.
We Don’t Need To Plan a Giant Field
Trip!
More Brains= Diverse Answers
Work with your learning
club table to come up
with places in and
around the school and
concepts, skills,
standards, or strategies
you could teach at those
locations.
Be ready to share.
SAY IT- Space is the Place
(Episodic Memory)
This tool is incredible. It
deals with creating sensory
images connected to areas
around the classroom in
order to remember
information. Students can
remember important
information just by seeing
the imaginary images from
around the room.