The art of memory is the art of committing to memory in such a way that whatever is committed brings later benefit and usefulness. A developed memory is not one filled with an assortment of “Trivial Pursuit” facts, nor is it one filled with vague remembrances. A good memory is one that can recall the right knowledge clearly and at the right time. Correlation is closely linked to memory, but distinct. Correlation is the ability to recognize true relationships between things-to see how they are connected. This may be to understand how a changing ending on a word affects its meaning in a sentence, for example.
One vivid example of memory practice was the “Items On A Platter” activity. Students were shown a platter, upon which lay about 25 items. These items could be anything from a paper clip, to a stapler, to a piece of a plant. After one minute, the platter was covered and the student attempted to remember and write down every item he could remember. Then, items were removed and replaced and students had to determine what had changed compared to what they had seen on the platter before.Another memory activity, but one later in the day-one more correlative, was the activity that saw the students divided into teams for the memorization of strings of ideas. Each team was given a card containing a grammar question and answer. Each time they believed they had memorized it, they were to turn in their card to be tested. If it had indeed been memorized, they would be given the next card, with a related grammar question.