It is March 10th, and every single day in March I have been sick. It actually started on Saturday, February 29th with a low grade fever. By the next day, I was running a 102.8, and Tylenol could only get me down to a 101.5. I went to the doctor on Monday still with the fever and a new cough. I walked out with prescriptions for Tamiflu, an antiobiotic (I tested positive for strep), and some hefty cough syrup. I then proceeded to miss work all week long as I fought my recurring fever for the next six days. The past two days I have thankfully been fever-free, but I am still lethargic, weak, dizzy, coughing, missing an appetite, and feel like my head is glued shut with rubber cement. My instructional design project stopped in its tracks.
Method of Loci
In the midst of my illness, one task given to me this week was to explore use of the Method of Loci and see how it fits in with my future instructional design. Akin to Paivio’s conceptual peg hypothesis (2006), the Method of Loci seeks to ease memorization of concepts by linking them to a concrete location or item within a room. The premise is that as the items in a familiar room are recalled, then the linked concepts will be recalled as well.
Most likely because I am not well, I ran afoul almost immediately. According to the assignment, the first step is to “picture a small room that is EXTREMELY familiar to you in your mind.” What room did I picture in my feverish state? My tiny powder room under the stairs. As the exercise progressed, it commanded envisioning a “community of learners” peering out from my small room. Needless to say, I did not get very far in the activity because I wanted all of those people out of my very small bathroom – – – they were being exposed to germs, after all, and I might make them sick.
Seriously, this type of mental exercise has never been popular with me. I am a much more straight forward, pragmatic person. I am the type of teacher that shows up for staff development PRAYING that nobody will make us role play or pretend or immerse ourselves in hypothetical scenarios. Give me real life, not envisioned life.
I found more common ground with an oddly placed link also found in this week’s work about David Sedaris’s Crumpet the Elf. Sedaris recounts being surrounded by overly cheerful role-playing coworkers in Santaland at Macy’s. Sedaris himself seems to be dismayed by their fake glee, and his apparent discomfort with pretending to be something he was not resonates with me. What did I draw from Sedaris’s account? I must be true to myself, even when considering the Method of Loci in my instructional design. I am much more likely to teach relevant applications of information to improve memory of concepts rather than forcing random memory pegs. Real life. That’s me.
Refocusing: real life
And my current real life of being ill has put me much further behind than I intended. Development of my project is behind schedule, and implementation is on hold. I have not been able to have contact with my client due to her own health concerns, and my attempts to create suitable instructional videos do not feel quite right. I am just not firing on all cylinders. Something will need to change. It’s time to step back and refocus.
Paivio, A. (2006) Dual coding theory and education. Draft chapter for conference: Pathways to Literacy Achievement for High Poverty Children. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan School of Education.
Grrowing Ideas 