Additional retrieval ideas

The learning log is not an in depth assessment tool but more of a snapshot of what the students have or have not understood in their lesson material.   Each learning log is a like a diary or journal and is a unique record of the child’s thinking and learning.   Learning logs can be used at the end of a lesson during the plenary to record what has been completed during the lesson, what concepts/skills pupils have learned and also to record the next steps to be taken and any feedback received on how to achieve them.  Questions should be given as prompts such as – what have you done in ....... today? What have you learned in ........today? and what feedback have you been given and how could you improve your work next time?   Learning intentions should be displayed during this activity and perhaps key words used in the lesson.   Writing down the answers to these questions allows pupils to focus their attention on how the activity which has taken place within the lesson has achieved the learning intentions. 

An exit pass can informally assess pupils learning and can promote immediate individual responsibility for learning.  Teachers can use the responses on the exit cards in order to provide differentiated teaching to meet every learners needs. At the end of the lesson index cards or even post-it notes can be distributed to pupils with instructions to explain a certain point or concept from the lesson, summarize the lesson, or formulate an answer to a question about the lesson.   Teachers should explain to pupils that this is the exit pass from class and stand at the door and collect each one as pupils leave. Students do not have to put their names on the pass unless you think it will be useful. You do not need to mark the exit pass and can discard them once you have finished using them. 

Using Find the fib can assess pupils understanding of facts.   Pupils or the teacher writes down 3 statements, 2 facts and 1 fib based on the contents of the lesson. Pupils either individually, in pairs or in teams then identify which of the 3 statements is a fib.   Cards that say #1 is the fib, #2 is the fib or #3 is the fib can also be used as well as using mini whiteboards to write down the number or letter that they think is the fib. . Pupils must explain why the statement is a fib and why the other two are true. 

These cards are a quick assessment of student learning.   They can be used at the end of the lesson by asking pupils to write down 3 things they have learned 2 questions they still have and 1thing they would like to learn more about or you might want to swap these around. Alternatively, the cards can be used by asking pupils to write on it 3 things they want to practice, 2 things they would expect to be in a test and 1 thing they enjoyed from the lesson. 

A hinge point question can be used at the beginning or during a lesson to check on students understanding of a concept before continuing the lesson. The lesson can then go in one of 2 directions depending on student responses.   These questions should provide a glimpse of students’ thinking and at the same time give the teacher some ideas on how to take the students’ learning forward.   They should be asked so that the teacher can gauge the understanding of the whole class therefore students can write answers down on mini white boards or by using ABCD cards.   They are basically smarter multiple choice questions where instead of one right answer, each response relates to a particular level of understanding.   Each question can test a key learning intention from previous lessons. Hinge Point questions should be carefully thought out in advance of the lesson and should; take no longer than a minute to ask, take no longer than 2 minutes for students to respond, students can all respond simultaneously, teacher can collect and interpret the response in less than 30 seconds and students who get the answer right, get it right for the right reasons. 

In the real world can be used to help pupils relate what they have learned during a lesson to  a concept in the ‘real world’ or possibly to another subject. Ideally pupils would write their responses on a post-it note and display it on the white-board as they exit the class. Alternatively, the post-it notes could be displayed on the board and the pupils could do a gallery walk whereby they view each others’ responses in order to build on existing ideas. This allows their learning to be relevant and can help them make cross-curricular links. 

This strategy allows pupils to take the role of the teacher in the sense that they write or say what they think a specific learning intention should be. This can either be for the lesson that has just been taught (i.e- a variation on the learning intention already displayed) or they can guess what the learning intention for the next lesson might be based on what they have learned during that period. This allows pupils to see a relevance in their learning and also to plan next steps.  

Put an A3 poster with 4 sections on the wall. The four sections are; “What is going well? What can we improve? What are the questions? What are the issues?” Give each pupil 2 post-it notes to write on their views for two of the sections. Pupils can then place this on the sections relevant to them. 

Students work together in groups to write one good question for the class to answer on mini white boards. At the end of the lesson one group asks the other students their question and answers are then written on the boards and held up. The group then respond to the answers. If there is enough time other groups can ask their question. 

Students stand and you pass a soft ball to one of them. This student gives one main idea from the lesson. The student then passes the ball to a second student who has to state a different main idea and pass the ball to a third student. Once a student who has taken part they sit down and cannot be passed the ball again. This continues until you think that all the main points of the lesson have been given. 

One student summarises what the whole class learned during the lesson. You select the student at the start of the lesson randomly e.g. using names on sticks, randomiser, name card or other method.