“Practice makes permanent, not perfect” – Hamza Yusaf.
Learning causes a change in our memory. While new information is processed in our short-term memory, with repeated encounters over time, this information transfers as knowledge in our long-term memory. Once consolidated, knowledge in our long-term memory has the potential to be stored and retrieved indefinitely.
At Ipswich Grammar School, our Explicit Teaching pedagogy systematically embeds knowledge from short-term to long-term memory.
A critical component in the success of our Explicit Teaching model is the Warm Up. The Warm Up methodically reviews prior learning through a three-step process: recite-recall-apply. Our boys say the self-talk required for success, retrieve the self-talk from memory and use the self-talk in context. Our boys also understand the consequences of not engaging in the Warm Up - if we don’t say it, we can’t remember it and we won’t be able to apply it. The Warm Up is more than rote learning or a repetition of facts. It is the pivotal platform that provides spaced and varied opportunities for our boys to strengthen their memory connections. More specifically, the Warm Up enhances our boys’ ability to absorb, retain, retrieve and apply knowledge, understanding and skills for learning mastery.
A growing body of research also recommends embedding metacognition – thinking about thinking - into instruction to promote students’ active participation in learning.
By providing a boy with the building blocks of metacognition, we know we also build his belief in his capacity as a learner.
This is a powerful motivator for our boys.
Together with our boys, we articulate– the what, the how and the why – of the Warm Up, we describe our short term ‘forget’ memory and our long term ‘remember’ memory and we explain how our engagement in the Warm Up impacts our learning.
If we are to make learning permanent, we must encourage our boys to optimise every opportunity to practice.
Anja-Lee Caldwell
Junior School Curriculum Leader