Practice 10: Weekly and Monthly Review
More effective teachers routinely engage students in a variety of forms of retrieval practice, which is recalling and applying previously learned material (Sherrington, 2019). Weekly and monthly review practices ensure that the previously secured learning is not forgotten. Weekly and monthly review are processes for ensuring that we are spacing practice over time, attenuating forgetting and strengthening retrieval. The main purpose of weekly and monthly review is to build more connections to other learned material (schemas) and work to develop well-connected networks of ideas in long-term memory. When we practice using the information over again, it strengthens the learning and we grow the ability to apply the knowledge in different ways.
Teachers who utilize weekly and monthly review practices, do so with a clear sense of purpose, judiciously, for a reason, knowing why, using the information to inform next steps.
Another example of Retrieval Practice is utilizing the memory-building power of narrative structures. It’s not all about simple recall tests.
Watch the video below to see an explanation of how students could review their understanding and recall of the water cycle in a new and creative way. Here, students are asked to tell the story of a water molecule, starting in the sea, using the correct terminology for the changes of state (Sherrington, 2019). This strategy shows the generative process of this strategy.
Please use the button below to access: 10 Techniques for Retrieval Practice…
Let’s explore some more strategies to use in the classroom for Retrieval Practice to help your students bring information from their memory to mind. These strategies can be used either daily, weekly, or monthly.
