There are a variety of ways to achieve fluency. One such way is called SAFMEDs ("Say All Facts a Minute Each Day"). This method relies on making up flashcards with the material that a child is supposed to memorize. It is a quick and easy method to ensure that a child masters the information he is supposed to memorize.
The first step is to decide what you'd like a child to master. Then flashcards of the material are made up with one possibility being that both the concept and answer are put on one side and just the concept on the other side. When a child is ready, he times himself for a minute while flipping through the cards. The total number of cards should be limited to 50 because that is the most that a person can easily handle in a minute. If a child is having problems flipping the cards, he can set out all the cards on the floor or a table. Then instead of having to handle the cards, he can just point to the card he's on while saying the answer.
A funny incident involving SAFMEDS occurred during a professor's (Lindsley) final evaluation of his student's knowledge. Professor Lindsley set as a requirement that each of his students had to achieve a fluency of vocabulary definitions at 20-30 per minute. Each student was required to meet individually with Lindsley and go through vocabulary flashcards in one minute. If a student didn't achieve fluency, he would have to go home and keep practicing until he was in the fluent range. One day another professor approached professor Lindsley's door and heard a student speaking really quickly and loudly. He thought better of going in thinking that Lindsley was being berated by this upset student.
The reason for doing SAFMEDs is that it is an easy method for obtaining quick results in memorization. A child will most likely see it as a fun and challenging activity that takes very little time and helps him to memorize the necessary material.
Author Info:
Isa Skrobola received her teaching degree at the University of Michigan. She has taught in various settings and has studied the best methods of education for over 10 years. She is currently homeschooling her six children, and wants to offer you more free information about achieving fluency at http://www.childfluency.com
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