Making Up Crap!
(What Professional Staff Say About MUC)
"I had the opportunity, recently, to attend and observe two sessions which Richard Giordano conducted for student athletes at our university. As a Learning Specialist responsible for working with academically challenged student athletes, I was gratified and very impressed with the way our athletes responded to Richard and to the techniques he showed them. A number of our student athletes, from a variety of sports, including football, softball, volleyball, basketball, swimming, and track and field, took part in Richard’s very engaging sessions. He was able to make them laugh, participate, and truly focus on the methods he was teaching them. Although the sessions took place right in the midst of the most intensive part of the football season, with its requisite grueling schedule, those football players who attended reported immediate positive results in test-preparation and note-taking techniques. One freshman football player who had struggled significantly through the first half of his first semester, but who sat in on both of Richard’s sessions, saw up to a 30% jump in his grades over the subsequent three weeks. The majority of the athletes who attended reported finding the techniques they had learned about very useful, and the sessions very enjoyable. While presenting, Richard was very engaging, and his chosen material was very effective for his 18 to 20 year old audience. I would highly recommend Richard’s sessions as a supplement to the Academic Support that college athletes receive. He enhanced their understanding of learning and made my job that much easier."
Lainey Brottem, MA
Learning Specialist
Student Athlete Academic Success
University of Northern Colorado
Greeley, Colorado
"We brought Dr. Richard Giordano to campus to work with our Men’s Basketball and Football freshmen.
He taught them how “Making up Crap” can be an effective learning tool that anyone can use. It is easy
to comprehend and very effective. He was able to teach them how their own personal experiences and
real life examples will help them in studying/memorizing techniques. He did a nice job helping the
athletes understand how this method works and can be used in the classroom. Making up Crap not only
helps students to become better learners, it’s just fun to use! Thank you Richard Giordano for giving our
students a gift!
Cindy Tozer
Eastern Illinois University
Director of Academic Services
217-581-7059
cltozer@eiu.edu
"Finally, an educational and entertaining program that facilitates learning and eases the stress of college student athletes. I have seen programs come and go but 'Making Up Crap' is the real deal. Dr. Giordano has constructed a program that not only gets results, but is fun to use. The fact that
he intersects learning science with fun activities is what makes this program so powerful and user
friendly. Student athletes embrace it and the scientific foundations are solid. Partnering with him was
the next logical step!"
Gary Sailes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College/Professional Sports Performance Consultant
Department of Kinesiology
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
www.garysailesphd.com
Dr. Richard Giordano volunteered to come into my Introduction to Sport Management Course of 105 students (mostly freshman) and offer his seminar. Introductory courses, like the one I teach, are usually made up of underclassmen that aren’t quite sure what they want to do with their careers. “Making up Crap” is an effective tool that can help them in any educational and career path that they choose to go down. By making learning a “personal” experience, the concepts that once seemed so outlandish and difficult now make sense. I have noticed a change in the students since the seminar in the fact that their grades are better and they get excited to share their personal learning and techniques! This course is a benefit to ALL students who have the privilege of taking it. Thank you Dr. Giordano for making learning FUN for my students!
Rebecca Allen
Indiana University – Bloomington
Assistant Instructor
(812) 855-6172
reballen@indiana.edu
"I absolutely agree in 'Making up Crap' as an excellent teaching tool. As a college football coach, we often had our players make up words or phrases to use in calling our offensive signals. In today's game of no-huddle/ fast-paced football, effective communication is essential. By having our players come up with the code words to use at the line of scrimmage, it gave us a real advantage. The OB could quickly call out the code words that described our run plays or pass protections and our players easily remembered the words because they had ownership in their origination. For example, our pass protections were 50's, 70's, and 90's. Our players called the 50's 'Elvis,' the 70's 'Disco,' and the 90's 'Clinton.' Only our players knew their meaning. This was a good example of 'Making up Crap' in the learning process."
Bill Lynch, Head Football Coach, Indiana University, 2007-10. Current Head Football Coach, DePauw University
“Richard was able to engage our students in a unique way that I have not seen before. The students were attentive and engaged to his presentation and received applicable solutions to their various learning hurdles. His learning strategies are easy to apply and in following up with the students we found that most of them had applied these strategies to their study routines almost instantly and have continued to use them after they experienced success. I strongly recommend Richard’s program for anybody looking to advance their educational experience as it is not only effective but Richard himself shows a great deal of care and interest in the growth of the participants.”
James Henderson
Director of Student Athlete Academic Success
University College
University of Northern Colorado
www.uncbears.com
"Richard's presentation was a success on several levels. Most immediately, he connected with the 19 students, keeping their attention not only for the entirety of the first session, but also through the subsequent evening's talk. During the two sessions, Richard was able to pass along several very practical and accessible techniques that can immediately improve the retention and recall of names, dates and specific facts, etc. Beyond the techniques, students are introduced to the broader and often overlooked concept of using graphic images, rhyme and familiar paradigms as a way to enrich one's memory. I'd like to believe that Richard's presentation will compliment the more traditional academic interventions we use to help this population find academic success."
Adam Sargent
Associate Director
Academic Services for Student-Athletes
University of Notre Dame
574-631-3850
"Dr. Giordano came highly recommended by other colleagues and after bringing him to campus to work with a select group of freshmen student-athletes, we highly recommend him as well.
Dr. Giordano had the ability to make our student-athletes understand the concept of using personal experiences and real life examples to aid in their studying/memorizing techniques. After putting the student-athletes through two different workshops, the student-athletes were able to develop their own original slogans and methods that worked for them, justifying that 'Making Up Crap' really works!"
Year Two - "The audience that Richard worked with this year was a combination of first year student-athletes as well as returners who were able to participate in his presentation last year. In addition, we had a variety of student-athletes from various teams which made for a very diverse population. Fortunately, for all participants, Richard was able to incorporate some techniques which were new for all of those involved and could be useful resources for success both academically and athletically. If we had the ability to bring Richard in various times throughout the semester, it would be even more advantageous to our student-athletes."
Tera L. Albrecht
Associate Director Student-Athlete Services
Central Michigan University / Intercollegiate Athletics
IAC 228 / Engberg Academic Center
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
Phone: 989-774-1959
www.cmuchippewas.com
"Richard helped us shine a new light on our 2010 academic orientation. We wanted to do something new and innovative and the synergistic thinking method of using CRAP gave everyone a chance to have some fun learning in an unconventional manner."
"He did a nice job of helping the student-athletes understand how and why this method works and then put it on display in a couple of different forms. Through a combination of rhyming words and numbers along with some creative visuals, many of our student-athletes were able to grasp the concept and felt they could apply it with other material. One young man even mentioned using it on a final for a summer course he was taking at the time."
Dustin Swanson
Assistant Director of Academics for Football
Center for Academic and Student Engagement
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
"We invited Richard to our campus to present his 'Synergistic Thinking' model to a group of student-athletes taking summer classes. The model is simple, effective and easy-to-comprehend, regardless of one's particular learning style. Richard's off-beat and unconventional approach to learning, coupled with his dynamic personality, makes 'MUC' a fun and useful tool."
"To emphasize the practicality of 'MUC', one of our student-athletes reported using the 'one-bun, two-shoe...' rhyming pattern in class the day after the material was presented to him."
Western Michigan University
Athletic Academic Services Staff
