How to Improve Memory with Tracing Activities

How to Improve Memory with Tracing Activities

The use of Tracing activities is usually limited to students or groups of students with identified Learning Challenges. However, they may be used with any student during initial instruction or with those who demonstrating difficulty remembering sounds or words.

Tracing Activities utilize kinesthetic, visual and auditory learning channels to memorize letters and word shapes, letter and word sound patterns. Tracing also reinforces the development of associations between letter sounds and shapes.

The essential element in tracing is that the student sees, hears and does. When students are having difficulty remembering  a particular sound, letter shape, or word pattern,Tracing activities should be repeated until memory of the skill is learned.

Tracing may be done

• in the air using an imaginary blackboard
• on the blackboard using chalk
• on the desk, floor or other hard surface using a foot, finger or eraser tip
  
• on large unlined paper or newspaper using a finger or pencil
• on lined handwriting paper using a finger or pencil
• in shaving cream sprayed on a hard surface
• using a finger or the whole handin sand or on the grass
• in other words almost any surface can be used to assist in multi-modality learning.

Following are examples of tracing activities used in Rhoades to ReadingRevisited 

(To be published in 2016)

-Air Tracing For Letter Sound Retention

The form of the letter is traced in the air on an imaginary blackboard as the student says the key word

followed by the letter sound.

-Air Tracing For Word Retention

The form of the word is traced in the air as the student shapes the letters as it is spoken.

-Back Tracing For Sound Retention

The form of the letter is traced on the back of another student as the student says the letter sound. This activity should be used if students are having difficulty memorizing sounds. The student who is the recipient of the back tracing is also an active learner in this multi-sensory process.

Variation- The letter can be traced on the student’s back. The student must guess the letter.

-Back Tracing For Word Retention

The form of the word is traced on the back of another as the student. This activity should be used if students are having difficulty memorizing words.

-Desk Tracing For Sound Retention

The form of the letter is traced on the desk or table as the student says the letter sound.

-Desk Tracing For Writing

The form of the letter is traced on the desk or table as the student describes the process for forming the letter.

-Tracing For Letter Formation

After hearing the instructor describe and demonstrate how to form a letter, students repeat directions for letter formation as they write the letter. Tracing may be completed in the air and/or on a desk before writing the letter on paper, i.e., up, down and around, shaping the letter as it is spoken.

For example, when forming the letter “a” in the air, the student begins by imagining a large chalkboard in front of him and pretends he has a piece of chalk in his hand. He then moves his outstretched hand in the air following the verbal directions as he chants: “Up, over, back around to the top, and down.”

Each letter should be introduced one at a time using the following steps:

-Students complete air tracing.

-Students write the letter on their papers, horizontally across the line in the order they are introduced.

-The teacher introduces the next letter.

Variations

-Place shaving cream on a desk or table and complete selected tracing activity.

-Place sand in a container and complete selected tracing activity.

From: How to Teach Reading Using Rhoades to Reading Revisited. If you would like to receive notification of publishing, please follow this blog by email or google+.

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