How often have you been on a course or watching a presentation and remembered everything you were told? Most likely, never. That’s because of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve. Professor Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who pioneered the development of experimental methods for the measurement of rote learning and memory. Basically, he studied the speed at…
Understanding how to put together assignments in a clear concise way is another important skill for all pupils, whether they are dyslexic or not. Our struggling children, in particular, often find a blank sheet of paper incredibly off putting and stressful. They take so long to even start that they run behind and regularly don’t…
Does your child blindly jot down notes from a lesson? How many of them never refer back to those notes until revision time, only to discover they don’t make sense? We have all done it. The problem is that when we actually need the information, when we need to try to move that information to…
There are very few pupils who simply sail along and get top grades with little work. They might manage it for a while but, once you get to GCSEs and above, it is hard work and persistence that wins out. Intelligence (whatever that may be) is not the be all and end all; there are…
Do you like what you see in the mirror? We can all have help from other people to assist us in achieving our goals. But, ultimately, the person most interested in how we get on and most in control of our destiny is us. Encourage your child to look in the mirror to look at…
Are you set in your ways or looking for ways to improve? Identifying the mindset of your child is a useful technique to employ at the beginning of the year. Understanding what makes your child tick is essential. It will not only make your life easier, as a parent or home educator, but will help…
Forming conclusions is one of the most satisfying parts of an essay. Here, you’ll wrap your points into a short, neat, concise summary. You’ll need to do this regularly throughout the essay as part of your PEE (point, evidence, evaluation). Some vocabulary you can use to state conclusions includes: In conclusion In short To summarise…
It’s often necessary to state the consequences of events. This applies to virtually all subjects, e.g. there could be a consequence of a scientific theory, a historical event, a political decision, etc. The vocabulary you can use to state consequences includes: Therefore Accordingly Consequently As a consequence For this reason This is why This is…
Not all points and evidence are made equal. While the essay writer’s job is to compare and contrast points fairly and objectively, they also have to assign weight to stronger arguments. Also, some points are worth emphasising to aid comparisons. At some point, you’ll probably need to re-highlight key information from earlier to interweave your…
We’ve touched on this a few times, but essays are about comparing and contrasting various viewpoints, perspectives, evidence, facts, figures, etc. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, so you’ll have to judge how you compare and contrast arguments. Different subjects and topics demand different levels of critique and analysis. For example, some topics are heavily debated with…