Something to Try: Repetition, repetition, repetition

Okay - it might sound basic, but I cannot tell you how many lessons I observe where instructions are given once and students are expected to remember what was said. I then watch the teacher field question after question about what they should be doing. I have to confess, that has been my classroom too, in the past.

I am now a reformed teacher and my classroom is full of repetition, repetition, repetition. So what does this look like in practice?

Scenario One:

This is something new or something students have done in a while. I give/recap a set of instructions, I repeat it again. I cold call a student (not just the ones I think weren't fully listening!) to tell me the first thing they will do. I cold call a second student to give me the next set of instructions... and so on until we have broken down the steps. I would then get another student to repeat it all back in one go.

Scenario Two:

I think this is a learning activity they should be familiar with. I start by cold calling a student to remind us how we should start... cold calling ensues and is passed around to break down the activity into chunks with different students offering different steps. I will either summarise or get another student to summarise before setting them off.

Most importantly, I like to make sure that the students tell me WHY they are doing whatever I have asked them. I know this might not be novel, but I mention it because it is quite easy to bumble through lesson after lesson without really explicitly discussing why on earth I am making them do it all. It can reveal a lot about what I haven't said when I ask the simple question 'why do you think I am getting you to do this'. A lot of misconceptions have been headed off at that point.

So is it working?

YES - although the instruction phase takes me possibly twice as long, I find that students are on task a lot quicker and the volume of questions is significantly reduced. By allowing the student to articulate the steps (and why it matters) I find holes in my own instructions or can address misconceptions before they develop.

I am also really interested in working memory and the impacts on my classroom. I believe that this may support my students cognitive load by giving them more time to process the instructions and to hear them in different formats. Particularly for those students with slow processing speeds or auditory processing needs, this gives them more time to understand what they task is, reducing the need for them to panic that they are being left behind.

Are you a repetition master?

Does it feature high on your 'must do' list of teaching tools?

Do you think you naturally do this or is it something you have to consciously focus on?

Can you reflect on your next few lessons, are you doing it effectively?

Are you investigating what they think they are doing?

Are you explicit in explaining why this matters?