Retrieval practice has been a complete game-changer for me as an educator. Retrieval practice is a learning strategy that focuses on the students retrieving information that they have previously been exposed to. It focuses on getting information out of our students' heads. In the past, I have been so focused on covering every single topic in my class that I didn't have time for anything else. Now that I have incorporated retrieval practice into my class my students are learning more, even if that means I am "teaching" them less. If retrieval practice is new to you, I highly suggest you check out this article by The Cult of Pedagogy.
Retrieve-Taking in the Flipped Classroom
Retrieval practice is research-based, effective and pairs perfectly with the flipped classroom. You probably already use retrieval practice in some form in your classroom. Some popular examples include brain dumps, mini quizzes, and even popular tech tools like Quizlet or GimKit. All of these tools can be combined with a flipped classroom. For example, the students could complete a short google quiz after watching a flipped video.
Another option is Retrieve-Taking. Haven't heard of it? I hadn't either until I read the book Powerful Teaching. Retrieve-Taking is a strategy that combines content delivery and retrieval practice. Typically, when students are taking notes during direct instruction they have to divide their attention between the content and their notes. As a result, many students compensate by writing the notes verbatim and do very little processing of the information. Then, at the end of class they put their notes away and usually don't look at them until the test. Does that sound familiar?
This is where Retrieve-Taking comes in. What if instead of students taking notes during direct instruction, they took them after? Consider this...
- Students receive the content. For the purpose of this post, they access the flipped content.
- The content is STOPPED after each topic is covered. If you are teaching remotely, EdPuzzle would be a great tool to stop the content delivery.
- While the video is STOPPED, the students write down what they now know about the content. You can determine where and how this would look. It could be on paper, a class handout or within an app like EdPuzzle.Once the students retrieve the information, they can restart the video.
- The next step is crucial! The students must be provided with feedback about their notes. In the brick and mortar classroom, I prefer to have students partner up and share their responses. They can then share out as a class. In the virtual classroom, they can share via apps like Padlet and FlipGrid or the teacher can review the big ideas in the flipped video before moving on to the next topic. Do you want to learn more about Retrieve-Taking? Click here.
Learning is a Science
I am a strong proponent of sharing research with my students and telling them the "why" behind how we are learning. I am honest with them, I tell them in advance that retrieval practice is hard! It would be really easy for them to not write down any notes and wait for another student to tell them the big ideas. I like to let them experience the difference that retrieval practice makes and what better way to demonstrate the power of retrieval practice than to prove it!
Recently, I had a student who really struggled on summative assessments. I met with her a number of times and we talked about how she studied and why she studied that way. It turns out she wasn't utilizing spaced rehearsal or retrieval practice on a consistent basis. Like a lot of students, she usually crammed the night before the test. I needed to show that the tools that I had been preaching actually worked. During our next unit, I built in time for retrieval practice for 10 minutes every day for the week leading up to the test. We used GimKit, Quizlet, a Brain Dump and Mini Quiz. Her score went up by two letter grades for the next test. She was so proud of herself! This weeklong demo provided her with the confidence and tool that she needed to be successful. In addition, she was able to apply these tools to her other classes. Do you teach AP Psychology? If so, I included a potential demo to use in class at the end of this post.
The upcoming school year is going to present significant challenges. Probably like you, I am preparing to teach in the physical classroom, virtual, synchronously and asynchronously all at the same time. This is overwhelming for me as a seasoned educator, I cannot imagine how overwhelming it is for our students. In this situation I honestly believe that a strong defense is the best offense. It is imperative that we model the skills and strategies necessary for success in our respective classrooms from day one. In other words, model early and model often.
As always, I hope you found this post to be helpful. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to add them in the comments below.
See you again next week when I'll be sharing what I learned from The Modern Classrooms Project,
Cori
Bonus Content for AP Psychology Teachers:
Unit 1 The Scientific Foundations of Psychology offers This the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of retrieval practice and retrieve note-taking strategies! Divide your classes into an experimental and a control group. Provide each group with a different note-taking strategy (Retrieve-Taking, guided notes, Cornell notes etc). Give the students a formative assessment on the material during the next class period and compare the results. Who remembered more and why? The students can then apply what they have learned about research design to the class demonstration by writing a hypothesis about the relationship between retrieval and learning, identifying the independent and dependent variables and even graphing the results. Not only is this a great application of their knowledge it will also increase student buy-in!
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Great thanks
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