In the fifth grade, we had to learn our multiplication facts. All of them. From zero times zero to twelve times twelve. Every day we practiced them in class, and every night I had to practice them at home with my mom. This was not a fun time. I remember a lot of crying as I sat on my parent’s bed going over the times table again and again until, somehow, it finally stuck.
Flash forward a couple of decades and the scene repeats itself, only this time it is my daughter and instead of math facts, it is this week’s spelling words. For a few weeks, we struggled with this. Me giving her a random word from the list and waiting for her to try and spell it and then both of us getting upset when she got it wrong. I could tell that this approach was not working, so I tried something different.
What we had discovered by accident was a method called “Cover Copy Compare”. I am not claiming to have invented it, we just stumbled upon it probably because it makes sense. Instead of endlessly writing the same word over and over, we forced her brain to start having to go and fetch the word and, this is probably the most important part, if she got it wrong we immediately corrected it and did it the right way.
Research shows that the Cover Copy Compare method works. It works for spelling words and math facts and probably many other things. The magic of it, in my opinion, lies in the fact that making a mistake seems to actually help. If the brain gets a word wrong and then is immediately told how to fix it and then does it correctly, then that word seems to stick.
And, it’s completely free and super easy to implement. All you need is something to write on, something to write with, and something to learn.
Let’s try it. Do you know how to spell fuchsia? A fuchsia is a purple flowering plant, in case you didn’t know and it’s kind of tricky to spell. So grab a piece of paper and write it correctly 2-3 times. It may help to say each letter as you write them. Pay attention to the word, trying to keep it in your head.
Now, cover up the word and write it once from memory as best as you can. Did you get it correct? Great! Now cover it up and do it again at least two more times. Did you get it wrong? That’s perfectly okay! Write it two times again correctly, cover it up and try writing it from memory again.
That’s the basics of it. There are all sorts of recommendations on how many times you should repeat this process. What I think is most important is that you do it at least a few days in a row. Practice today and then again tomorrow and the next day. Give your brain time to build up all those wonderful neural networks that will keep fuchsia in your brain for a long time.
Will you remember how to spell fuchsia forever? Probably not, unless you use that word every so often. I had not used it in years before making this video, and will probably not use it again for a long time. Check back in five years and see if I remember how to spell fuchsia or not.
Now, Cover Copy Compare does not work for everything, mind you. But it does work for things like spelling, math facts, formulas, names of countries, that kind of stuff. Research has shown that the knowledge you gain using this method sticks for a considerable period of time, unlike when you cram for a test by simply repeating the facts over and over again until they get embedded in your surface memory and then fly away after the test is over.