Retrieval PRactice

Special thanks to Jennifer Gonzalez for this infographic.

I am going to try retrieval practice out for myself and retrieve what I learned from Cult of Pedagogy with Jennifer Gonzales' blogpost and podcast with Pooja Agarwal, Ph.D. :Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You’re Not Using (Great title, right?)

Ways to use more retrieval practice in your classroom:
1.  Think Pair Share
2.  Small low-stakes quizzes (exit tickets, etc.) 
(Went back to the article to check...)
3.  Brain Dumps: This reminds me of the K in a KWL chart.  
4.  Flashcards

But can I remember some of their POINTS?  Here goes...

1.  Students need to be trained to use flashcards.  I'm thinking of Quizlet being a good resource here.  Sometime students "cheat themselves" and are like, "Yah, I know that," and flip the card over when they haven't really mastered the idea or vocabulary word.  Students need to say it outloud to make sure they are securing it in their minds.

2.  Just the plain and simple idea of having them PULL from their brains instead of trying to PUSH more things into their brains.  I think one good way to do this would to have them draw.  Thinking of good tech tools for retrieval, I think of Padlet.  They mention Plickers, etc. as a tool that can be useful, too.

3.  With writing they talked about how students can "pull" information out by deciding what an exemplar sentence is and explaining why.  Also, discussions like mood and tone and what sets that, how did the author do that.  

4.  Kids who have regular low stakes tests/quizzes have lower anxiety on the test.

I mean, really.  It's kind of crazy that we have 4 week units and then at the end we have a 5 POINT test.  Is anyone else uncomfortable with that?  It just niggles at me (is that even a word).  This strategy helps me think of more ways to intentionally use formative assessment along the way.  

Action steps:
I already have a form created for before and after lessons.  I got that idea from John Hattie's book, "Visible Learning for Teachers" (see earlier post).  I think it will most definitely be one of my big 5 for the year.  I think that will keep me accountable.  My hope is that it becomes "routine" for my students.  I think it will be powerful for my students to learn about this strategy and help them on their learning journey.

I love hearing other peoples' wisdom, contributions, and encouragement.  Thanks, COP and Dr. Agarwal!  Check out Dr. Agarwal's site, retrievalpractice.org