Final Reflection

Schemas and scripts, long term memory and semantic memory are all very important in both our daily life and in our careers. If theories about these are known, it can greatly affect how you deal with certain situations.

Schemas and scripts are used in everyday life, even if you are unaware that you are using them. Most of the time we are so used to doing things a certain way that we do not even realize what we are doing. This is really apparent when it comes to scripts. When you go to subway and place an order, you know the exact routine you are suppose to go through to get what you want. This script was encoded into our memory and for the most part it is a constant every time we go. We also use schemas often in everyday life. An example of when we would use schemas is if we came home and saw that all of your belongings were thrown all around. Our schema, or our knowledge of situations or events, would tell us that someone had broken in and might even still be there.

If you wake up in the morning and only catch the part of the weather forecast that says it’s going to be chilly, you would still know to grab a jacket because it might be cold. You can thank your semantic memory for this. Semantic memory helps us connect related words together, so when you heard chilly, you knew it was going to be cold and you would want to dress accordingly.

As important as schemas, scripts and semantic memory are in everyday life, I would have to put long-term memory as being the most important. What good is it to have scripts if you are going to forget them in an hour or less? Long-term memory allows us to keep this information and recall it for later use. Referring to examples in my literature review, long term memory allows us to recall what to do at a red light or to avoid touching a hot stove.

The information from the theories of scripts, schemas, semantic memory and long-term memory are invaluable to teachers. To be a teacher and understand how children learn and encode that information into their memory is a great tool. Teachers need to understand how students encode knowledge into their memory so that they can find better ways of presenting the material. Scripts can be taught to children so that they are aware of how and what they are suppose to do during the day. If a child does not know the script of how we line up for recess, then how can you expect them to do it correctly? Eventually students will get the picture or idea of what you are expecting of them in the classroom. Although this might take awhile, you have to develop the children’s schema of what you expect from them. After practice they will begin to know how to act in different situations (recess, rest time, center time, etc.) because they will have developed a schema for these situations. As teachers you are always trying to build up the semantic memory, or knowledge of the world, of your students. You are teaching them important facts and material that will help them in the future. I know as a kindergarten teacher that there are times where I forget that I am teaching children with very little semantic memory. I have to provide some of the building blocks for this memory because of their inexperience in the world. When everything is said and done, we hope that our students are able to convert the information we are giving them into their long-term memory. We hope to make a strong enough connection in their memory so that they can recall the information they need when they need it. When a child leaves my room at the end of the year, they should have a schema of the way a classroom looks and how to behave in a classroom. They have to convert this into their long-term memory, and when they return for first grade the next year; they should still remember the basics on what a classroom looks like and how to behave in a classroom.

At times during this class I was wondering why any of this information was relevant and why we had to take a class like this. After doing some research, listening to workshops, and reading the book, I now understand how valuable this information can be. I have already thought of new methods to try to reach my students. We can now look at our students and better understand how to reach them. Everyone should have a better understanding of how our brain works and how we encode information into our memory. I am looking forward to next year when I can take some of the information that I have been taught and apply it to my classroom.