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of the day. Self-evaluation is a tool for higher thinking: reflecting,
analyzing, synthesizing, then judging.
Peer-evaluation and instructor-evaluation are also
important parts in culminating a lesson, but the most important is self-evaluation.
Another way to review is to skim over your Mind Maps or
"highlighted" notes, or both:
* Before
you go to sleep on the day you've been studying; * The next morning;
* A week
later;
* A month
later;
* And just
before you need to use it - or before an exam.
If you're on a one-week course with an examination at
the end, spend at least 15 minutes a night on that day's Mind Map and highlights, and at
least five minutes on each of the previous days.
Or if you're writing an article or even a book, it's
amazing how much you can recall by skimming your Mind Maps and underlined books.
And always remember to celebrate every victory - just
as any sporting achiever would celebrate. Praise the entire class effort, and whenever
possible turn that praise into a recap of the main points learned.
Putting it all together
And how does all this theory work in practice? Let's
look at four examples: an entire school that has switched to integrative accelerated
learning techniques; a high school class that has done the same for one subject; a special
foreign language project in the army; and a teacher who's made the change, with
outstanding results.
The Simon Guggenheim School experiment
The first is an example of the great potential changes
that can come from innovative schooling. It is also a sobering example of how that
potential cannot be fully realized unless the entire social climate of a community
changes, too.
Simon Guggenheim K-8 School is in one of the poorest
districts of Chicago, Illinois. Nearly all families are African-American, 85 percent are
officially below the poverty line, with annual incomes between $9,000 and $11,000 and a
large proportion live on social welfare.
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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