Bruce Wilkinson, 7 Laws of the Learner: Law 4 Retention_b maximisers

Law 4:
The Law of
Retention
Method & Maximisers
Sunday 7 November 2010

The essence of the Law of
Retention is in these three
words:
“master the minimum.”
The teacher should enable all
students to enjoy maximum
mastery of the irreducible
minimum

Wilkinson introduces the Walk
Thru the Bible approach to speed
teaching - which as been used
successfully all over the world. It
has 5 stages and will be followed
here by 7 universal ways to make
all material “mind easy” so
students can memorise the
irreducible minimum easily and
enjoyably.
Retention Method

Material
Research
Survey
Prepare
Minimum
Reduce
Select
Prioritise
Mindeasy
Rearrange
Simplify
Package

Master
Retain
Skillful
Proﬁciency
Memorise
Review
Solidify
Practice
Mindeasy
Rearrange
Simplify
Package

Teacher does research and
gathers material - they
survey the entire subject.
The more painstaking the
preparation the better the
results
Stage 1: Material

Get a birds eye view of the
subject.
No in depth study here - glance
at things and get an idea of them.
Expose your mind to the major
sections of material
1. Overview the subject

Categorise the subject into
major units of thought. Look at
the best sources and see how
they divide the material, make a
list of possible categories. Then
evaluate what you have done,
giving a code to each subject
area.
2. Organise the subject

A = must be required
B = very helpful but not
required
C = might be of help but
somewhat optional
D = minimal help to
students
F = not helpful, maybe even
confusing
List your categories in order
of priority - you now
should feel comfortable
with the broader concepts

Review categories and
construct a logical order of
presentation for them.
You might review your A, B
and C categories at this
stage.
After doing this for major
categories construct minor
ones.
3. Outline the subject

Now boil down your content
to a minimum - reduce it by
selecting the appropriate
material - prioritise what you
want.
Be careful: we wrongly
believe that a greater quantity
of content covered is better
than a greater quantity of
content learned - what do you
want the student to have
learned?
Stage 2: Minimum

You will discard some
material you had prepared -
not all content is equally
important. Great teachers
know what to exclude and
include. Eliminate average
material!
How do you choose?
1. Audience
2. Time
3. Purpose

You will discard some
material you had prepared -
not all content is equally
important. Great teachers
know what to exclude and
include. Eliminate average
material!
How do you choose?
1. Audience
2. Time
3. Purpose
When a student asks,
“Do I really need to
know this” they are
really asking, “How
important is this
material?” - is it
important enough to
memorise?

There are levels of
awareness:
Surface - I have heard of it
and know a little
Average - I learned that and
generally know how it
works
Thorough - I know all
about it, here are the key
points
Each level is taught, and
assessed differently.

In the law of retention the teacher is
responsible for:
1. Selection of information to be
taught
2. Determining which level the
material should be learned.
3. Communicating material to the
student at the right level.
4. Presenting selected information
in a way that it is learned at the
right level.
5. Examination of material at the
level of understanding announced.

Identify the facts and concepts
required for an acceptable
level of comprehension - the
irreducible minimum. Review
this repeatedly.
By the end of the minimum
stage the content has been
reevaluated and reprioritised -
large areas of fat have been
ruthlessly trimmed off.
More space is now given to
the important and have been
very careful about secondary
material.

Now you have to go from the
material to the minds of your
students!
“Too many teachers believe that
teaching is the presentation of facts
by the teacher rather than
memorisation by the students.”
We have to be student orientated in
our approach.
Stage 3: Mind-Easy

If the teacher is responsible for
causing the student to learn
they have to identify and use
the most efﬁcient methods so
the students learn in the class.
You rearrange and simplify
your material - moulding the
package so it slips effortlessly
into students minds
Wilkinson likens this to
cramming for an exam -
except the teacher does it,
taking the randomness out of
the process.

He suggests 2 steps in moulding
content in this mind-easy stage:
1. Easy to understand
2. Easy to memorise
Consider ﬁrst the degree of
understandability required
Different Bibles require different
levels of English reading ability
NIV - 7th grade, KJV 12th grade.
Simplify material without harming
its nature - a great teacher makes the
complex appear simple.

Secondly look at the degree of memorability -
having made it easy to understand make it easy to
memorise.
Don’t expect students minds to memorise if there is
no logical connection or relationship - prepare the
facts for quick permanent entry into their mind -
you will see this more in the maximisers section

Stages 1-3 take place outside
of the classroom.
Now you come to transferring
the truth - which is the goal of
this law - enable your students
to memorise by reviewing it
where it is solidiﬁed into their
minds as you practice it over
and over again.
Stage 4: Memorise
Memorise
Review
Solidify
Practice

Good teaching is not about lots of
new concepts.
Christ in the Gospels is seen to
review his main content repeatedly
simply in different ways - e.g. a
conversation then a parable
followed by a miracle, all making
the same point.
The key to memorisation is review.
Review is either, “The mother of all
learning” or “the father of all
boredom”

1. Review is the primary method by
which people memorise
2. ...is effective only if the students
understand the material
3. ...should be practiced in the same
order and with the same words
until the IR is fully memorised
4. ...should be most intense and
frequent when the facts are ﬁrst
taught
Principles for effective review

5. ...should be regularly
practiced but spaced less
frequently over time
6. ...should continue until all
students demonstrate a mastery
of the IR
7. ...should be done using a
variety of methods

This stage leads us from
memorisation to application of
material - now they have to
develop independent proficiency,
to have mastered the material.
As masters they will retain the
material and be skillful and
proficient in their use of it.
There are 4 parts to this:
Stage 5: Master
Master
Retain
Skillful
Proficiency

Students know the content so
well it is stuck in their memory
forever.
This happens through regular
review; resulting in recall not
being a chore, it is always
there.
1. Indelible memorisation

Beyond surface meaning and
understanding -
understanding meaning and
signiﬁcance of facts.
2. In-depth comprehension

When a class senses how the
facts can be used beyond the
immediate context.
One person said, “Now we
read books for answers, but
we just don’t think”
This is a move from
knowledge to wisdom - you
know the facts and can apply
them in a real and useful way.
3. Intuitive integration

When the teacher is not there
and there is no external
pressure - did the students use
the content you taught them?
Not did the student know it
for a test but did it shape or
change their lives?
Did they change their
behaviour as a result of the
content?
4. Independent utilisation

Wilkinson suggests you use
class and homework to
compliment each other, “as
memorisation and
comprehension of the facts
should be a class function,
integration and utilisation
should be the primary focus of
homework”

Retention Maximizers

Speed teaching enables speed
learning.
No matter how much the student
desires to learn quickly and
thoroughly in class the teacher
holds the key to the process.
How quickly does the teacher
cause students to learn, How
skillfully has the teacher
prepared?
Now we shall see the 7 methods
Wilkinson says will double, treble
or quadruple your speed.

These methods are the primary
means a teacher uses to make
material memorable and easy for a
student to memorise.
They are God given ways that men of
all cultures and times learn - because
God has created man with universal
patterns of thought and universal
receptors of stimuli.
Music is a common form of
communicating content - built into us
by God

Music has been used in speed
teaching across every age - the ABC
song - nothing else compares with it
because God put it in each of us.
In fact God has put a number of
universal patterns in each of us - 7 of
which we shall learn.
Additionally God has implanted in us
universal receptors - our senses,
physical ports through which we
receive new information.
Teachers have to interface through
these, sight, smell, hearing etc.

Most experiences blend different
senses.
We don’t describe the experience
using our senses - but as a result of
using those senses - “a terrible din”
“a foul smell” “a beautiful person”
Select sensory inputs wisely with
students and learning can be
memorable and accelerated learning
takes place.

Why do you take pictures
and put them in an album or
on facebook? Because they
are an incredibly effective
sensory lever into the
memory. One picture can
bring many vivid memories
back into your mind.
Maximiser 1: Represent the
facts in a picture

To be really effective develop
one picture which links all of
your content.
Many different things are
remembered by using pictures
- Bible verses, speeches,
shopping lists, cartoons...

For many years stories were
the paper upon which facts
were written for the next
generation - extended
families gathered and
listened to stories which
would teach values,
principles etc. for the future.
Much of the Bible is written
as a story - God chooses to
reveal himself that way.
Maximiser 2: Express the facts
with a story

Stories are very effective for passing
on information in preaching, teaching
and normal conversation. Often you
might remember a story rather than
the 3 points of a sermon!
God created an inbuilt mechanism in
man to tell and hear stories.
Jesus used stories more than any
other form of teaching - prodigal son,
sower, good Samaritan...

Easiest and most used of the 7.
Maximiser 3: Transfer the
facts by alphabet

Popular uses of this method include:
1. Using all the same letter:
Romans outlined using the letter S
1. Salutation 1:1-17
2. Sin 1:18 — 3:20
3. Salvation 3:21 — 5:11
4. Sanctification 5:12 — 6:23
5. Struggle 7
6. Spirit-filled living 8:1-27
7. Security 8:28-39
8. Segregation 9 — 11
9. Sacrifice & service 12, 13
10. Separation 14, 15
11. Salutation 16

2. All the same last
letters which rhyme:
The doctrine of scripture;
Inspiration
Revelation
Illumination
Preservation
This is called an acrostic
Deuteronomy 25:11-12
If men get into a ﬁght with
one another, and the wife of
one intervenes to rescue her
husband from the grip of his
opponent by reaching out
and seizing his genitals, you
shall cut off her hand; show
no pity. (NRSV)

3. All the ﬁrst letters form
a word.
The 7 Laws of the Learner
Learner
Expectation
Application
Retention
Need
Equipping
Revival

God used memory objects
such as; the tabernacle, the
ark, tablets of stone, a pile of
stones
and, memory actions like;
the Lord’s Supper, OT feasts.
We use ﬂags, rings,
memorials, statues
Maximiser 4: Associate the
facts with objects and actions

Real life dramatic
moments are very
powerful - violence,
passion, loss etc. - they
can be ones we try to
remember or forget.
Biblically - the
handwriting on the wall,
the sheet from heaven,
feeding 5000, cock
crowing...
Maximiser 5: Impress facts
with drama

This is useful for some
information - it is limited
and best for just one point
- a person bringing a lamb
and laying their hands on
its head as it was
slaughtered for their sin...

People listen to music all the
time - we pick up many
songs, adverts, jingles
through music.
The book of Psalms
Eph 5:18-19
Can you put a message to
music for your students.
Maximiser 6: Note the facts
through music

Very good for relationships,
ﬂow, direction etc.
Maximiser 7: Summarise the
facts with graphs and charts

1. Why do so few teachers boil down their content
to the minimum?
2. How do you make cramming for exams most
effective? Can you teach these techniques?
3. If retention is obtained through repetition -
what can you do to help a students retention? List
20 ways you could use to review a subject.
Questions

Bruce Wilkinson, 7 Laws of the Learner: Law 4 Retention_b maximisers

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