Pooja K. Agarwal's Blog, page 7
January 29, 2020
Here are the four most powerful tools for long-term learning
This week, we feature a roundup of the four most powerful tools to boost students' long-term learning, backed by cognitive science research: retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition.
How do you use these four strategies? Share with us on Twitter and Facebook!
Click here to download this image
In Powerful Teaching, we highlight four Power Tools that make a big impact on students' long-term learning, even raising grades from a C to an A. Here are the four Power Tools, with our four favorite teaching strategies for each:
Retrieval Practice: Get information out of students' heads, not in
Download our Retrieval Practice Guide
Spacing: Spacing learning over time; don't cram it all at once
Download our Spacing Guide
Interleaving: Mix up related information to foster discrimination
Download our Interleaving Guide
Feedback & Metacognition: Help students reflect on what they know and what they don't know
Download our Transfer Guide (Metacognition Guide coming soon!)
Supported by a wealth of research and featured in the book Make it Stick, these strategies don't require more prep or grading (because no one wants more of that, right?). We write about each of these strategies every week, but we thought it's long overdue to summarize all four Power Tools in one update.
Want even more about the four Power Tools? Check out these summaries from Cult of Pedagogy and Edutopia.
In case you missed it, download our free professional development slides and click here for more free resources from Powerful Teaching. Have you found Powerful Teaching helpful in your classroom? Help us share the science of learning with a quick review on Amazon. We really appreciate your support.
Want to access info about each Power Tool quickly? We have direct links:
retrievalpractice.org/retrievalpractice
retrievalpractice.org/interleaving
retrievalpractice.org/feedback
Download More from Powerful Teaching
Download Our Free Guides!
We have FREE practice guides for download. All written by cognitive scientists, 10 pages or less, including practical teaching strategies and links to research. All Creative Commons access, too. Share them, please!
Our 5 guides: Retrieval Practice, Spacing, Interleaving, Transfer of Knowledge, and Early Childhood Education. We have a guide on feedback/metacognition on the way and even more in the works. Is there a guide you'd like to see by leading cognitive scientists? Reply and let us know.
Help us reach educators around the world and share our Retrieval Practice guide translations in Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin (more on the way, too!).
Download Our Free Practice Guides
January 22, 2020
Download our free slides for your professional development
Want to create your own research-based professional development? View and download our free professional development slides.
You must unleash the science of learning. We can't do it alone. Use our slides and strategies, share them with your colleagues, and transform education. Our slides are available under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND). To use our slides, please provide credit to retrievalpractice.org.
Our book, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, includes two entire chapters dedicated to professional development–empowering you to lead your own PD at your school or university. Want even more professional development? Email us at ask@retrievalpractice.org for more information.
Download Our Free Slides!
Are you facilitating professional development workshops? Use our slides! Our professional development slides are also available in Spanish.
In Powerful Teaching, we share four Power Tools in four critical ways:
Research-based strategies
Keeping it real and addressing classroom challenges
How to have conversations with students and parents
Powerful professional development
We've even included 100+ discussion questions in the last chapter of the book! Make sure you join our Facebook group and follow @RetrieveLearn on Twitter.
View and Download Slides on Google Drive En Español Meet the Authors of Powerful Teaching
The authors of Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D. (cognitive scientist) and Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S. (veteran teacher) offer professional development workshops and consulting around the world. Would you like Dr. Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain to visit your school, college, or university? Email us at ask@retrievalpractice.org and let us know.
Request A WorkshopDownload our free slides for your professional development!
Happy 2020! To kick it off, view our free professional development Google Slides and make a copy for your own Google Drive.
You must unleash the science of learning with Powerful Teaching. We can't do it alone. Use our slides and strategies, share them with your colleagues, and transform education. Our slides are available under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND). To use our slides, please provide credit to us.
Check out the Powerful Teaching professional development workshops we're offering around the U.S. this spring and summer, too. Join us in person!
P.S. Powerful Teaching is currently 31% off on Amazon. Kindle and audiobook are also available!
Download Our Free Slides!
Are you facilitating professional development workshops? Use our slides!
In Powerful Teaching, we share four Power Tools in four critical ways:
Research-based strategies
Keeping it real and addressing classroom challenges
How to have conversations with students and parents
Powerful professional development
We've even included 100+ discussion questions in the last chapter of the book! Make sure you join our Facebook group and follow @RetrieveLearn on Twitter.
View Our PD Slides
Download for Google Drive
Meet the Authors of Powerful Teaching!
The authors of Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D. (cognitive scientist) and Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S. (veteran teacher), are hitting the road for powerful workshops this spring and summer!
Would you like Dr. Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain to visit your school, college, or university this fall? Email us at ask@retrievalpractice.org and let us know!
February 10: Basking Ridge, NJ
February 14: Indianapolis, IN
February 18: San Francisco, CA
February 20-21: Easton, PA
April 9: Boston, MA
May 27-28: Longmont, CO
June 5: St. Louis, MO
June 10-11: Lubbock, TX
June 15: Murphysboro, IL
June 15: Andover, MA
June 22: Boston, MA
July 19-22: Potomac, MD
July 23: Walkersville, MD
August 20-21: Mercersburg, PA
View All Workshops
Request A Workshop
December 30, 2019
We can't contain our excitement for Ditch Summit!
We're sending a special edition update. We just have to share!
ICYMI, Ditch Summit (free professional development videos a la Netflix style) is going on right now and we are so thrilled with all the excitement for Powerful Teaching.
Get involved:
Register at ditchsummit.com for updates (once you register, you can view the 2019 and 2017 videos with the authors of Powerful Teaching!)
Follow on Twitter with @RetrieveLearn and #DitchSummit
Join our Facebook group, now with more than 1,000 members
Check out 15+ sketchnotes from educators around the world
A big thank you to Matt Miller and the Ditch Summit community for unleashing the science of learning!
P.S. We'll be back with a new update on Wednesday, January 22. Happy New Year!
There is a whole lot of discussion about Powerful Teaching and retrieval practice going on with the Ditch Summit community right now, including 15+ sketchnotes on Twitter! Watch more than 50 free videos, including this year's video with the authors of Powerful Teaching and the 2017 video with Pooja Agarwal. It's powerful professional development at home in your pj's. All the videos disappear on January 8, so register and start watching soon.
Below are just a few of the fabulous sketchnotes of Powerful Teaching from Twitter. Check out our Twitter moment for our growing list! Do you have a Powerful Teaching sketchnote to share? Make sure to tag us on Twitter @RetrieveLearn!
Using powerful teaching to remember and thrive with @PoojaAgarwal and @PatriceBain1 on @DitchThatTxtbk’s #DitchSummit. #sketchnote pic.twitter.com/oCUYjLphWE
— Jen Giffen (@VirtualGiff) December 28, 2019
Discover the Power Behind the Tools. Sharing my #sketchnotes of Chapter 1 of #PowerfulTeaching by @PoojaAgarwal and @PatriceBain1.
Go ahead and add this one to the list.
December 16, 2019
Four quick activities to help students retrieve and reflect
Looking for no prep and no grading retrieval practice to encourage student reflection? Here are my four favorite activities:
Start, Stop, Keep
From teaching 80 college students and releasing Powerful Teaching, to keeping up on research and getting to know educators from around the world, it's been a whirlwind 2019 for me. I'll be back January 22, 2020 (after devouring these books). Thank you for all you do to unleash the science of learning. You are making the world a better place. See you next year!
What do you want to start, stop, and keep?
When it comes to your class, what do you or your students want to start, stop, and keep? This activity can be used by students to reflect on their progress throughout the semester or provide course feedback for the instructor. You can also use start, stop, keep during professional development workshops, after each lesson, or even to set resolutions for the new year.
For example, perhaps you want to start using Brain Dumps more often, stop reviewing what happened in previous classes, and keep providing elaborative feedback. Your students might want to start making flashcards powerful, stop studying while listening to music, and keep using Retrieve-Taking.
What do you want to start, stop, and keep next semester? Share on Facebook!
One of our favorite discussion prompts is rose, thorn, bud. It works well for professional development, class reflection for students, and in everyday life.
Rose: What is one concept you've learned really well?
Thorn: What is one concept that has been a challenge for you?
Bud: What is one concept that has sparked new ideas?
Reflecting on learning with the rose, thorn, bud framework engages you and your students in retrieval practice, spacing, and metacognition.
Reflect On Your Rose, Thorn, and Bud What do your students want to remember?
Want a quick retrieval practice activity? Ask your students to Flash Forward! Simply ask them one thing they want to remember 10 years from now.
How: Ask students to Flash Forward on a written entry or exit ticket, via FlipGrid (a personal favorite), or during think-pair-share.
Why: Flash Forward engages students in retrieval practice, spacing, and metacognition.
At the start and end of the semester (or school year), ask students these two questions:
What are five words that come to mind when you think about [subject area or name of course]?
What is [subject area or name of course]? Write a description in your own words.
Five words is an opportunity for students to space what they know, it's flexible for grade levels and content areas, and it's adaptable with tech tools, apps, Google Forms, and more.
Learn More About Five WordsFour end-of-semester retrieval activities (no prep, no grading!)
Looking for no prep and no grading retrieval practice before winter break?
Here are my four favorite activities for end-of-semester reflection (in fact, I'm using all four in my classroom this week):
Start, Stop, Keep
From teaching 80 college students and releasing Powerful Teaching, to keeping up on research and getting to know educators from around the world, it's been a whirlwind 2019 for me. I'll be back January 22, 2020 (after devouring these books).
Thank you for all you do to unleash the science of learning. You are making the world a better place. See you next year!
When it comes to your class, what do you or your students want to start, stop, and keep? This activity can be used by students to reflect on their progress throughout the semester or provide course feedback for the instructor. You can also use start, stop, keep during professional development workshops, after each lesson, or even to set resolutions for the new year.
For example, perhaps you want to start using Brain Dumps more often, stop reviewing what happened in previous classes, and keep providing elaborative feedback. Your students might want to start making flashcards powerful, stop studying while listening to music, and keep using Retrieve-Taking.
What do you want to start, stop, and keep next semester? Share on Facebook!
Start With Our Powerful Teaching Facebook Group
What's your rose, thorn, and bud?
One of our favorite discussion prompts is rose, thorn, bud. It works well for professional development, class reflection for students, and in everyday life.
Rose: What is one concept you've learned really well?
Thorn: What is one concept that has been a challenge for you?
Bud: What is one concept that has sparked new ideas?
Reflecting on learning with the rose, thorn, bud framework engages you and your students in retrieval practice, spacing, and metacognition.
Reflect On Your Rose, Thorn, and Bud
What do your students want to remember?
Want a quick retrieval practice activity? Ask your students to Flash Forward! Simply ask them one thing they want to remember 10 years from now.
How: Ask students to Flash Forward on a written entry or exit ticket, via FlipGrid (a personal favorite), or during think-pair-share.
Why: Flash Forward engages students in retrieval practice, spacing, and metacognition.
Watch Flash Forward in Action
What five words come to mind?
At the start and end of the semester (or school year), ask students these two questions:
What are five words that come to mind when you think about [subject area or name of course]?
What is [subject area or name of course]? Write a description in your own words.
Five words is an opportunity for students to space what they know, it's flexible for grade levels and content areas, and it's adaptable with tech tools, apps, Google Forms, and more.
Learn More About Five Words
December 9, 2019
Say thank you to a teacher with our favorite books!
As the semester winds down and the holidays are around the corner, thank a teacher with these books! This week, check out:
Our top 15 books on the science of learning
Why you should read the Powerful Teaching + Make it Stick duo
A random collection of my all-time favorite books
Add these books to your wishlist and buy one for your favorite educator. Teachers love to learn! And what's a better gift than a book?
P.S. Which of our favorites have you already read? Tweet and share!
Want a book on the science of learning? We've got 'em. Our top 15 books have been curated for you, with quick summaries on our website. Get started!
Access Our Top 15 Books on Learning
Powerful Teaching and Make it Stick
Not sure which you should read first, Powerful Teaching or Make it Stick? It depends on what you're looking for. (Both are available in hardback, audiobook, and Kindle, FYI.)
Powerful Teaching, written by a cognitive scientist and an educator, presents practical teaching strategies for the classroom, with the research to back it up.
Make it Stick, written by cognitive scientists and a novelist, delves into the science of learning using storytelling for a broad audience.
Want to start with specifics and then expand your research understanding? Read Powerful Teaching first. Want to start with the big picture? Read Make it Stick first. Click here to see this discussion from our Powerful Teaching Facebook group (we have nearly 900 members from around the world!).
Buy Powerful Teaching on Amazon
My All-Time Favorite Books
As my family knows, I only buy books for gifts. Why? Because books inspire, soothe, and amuse. Here are a few of my random favorites (all $15 or less!):
All-time favorite: The Giver (don't watch the movie!)
Humor: Hyperbole and a Half
Productivity: Essentialism
Thought-provoking: Thinking Fast and Slow
On writing: Bird by Bird
For kids: Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Fiction: Waiting for Snow in Havana
Historical non-fiction: Devil in the White City
Graphic novel: Calvin and Hobbes
Currently reading: Becoming
Two websites/blogs I highly recommend when shopping for children's books include Books for Littles and A Mighty Girl. (Hello to my nieces and nephew!)
Let's do some quick retrieval practice: What's one thing you remember from your favorite book? Tweet with #retrievalpractice and share!
Share Your Favorite Book on Twitter
Say thank you to a teacher with my favorite books!
As the semester winds down and the holidays are around the corner, thank a teacher with these books! This week, check out:
My top 15 books on the science of learning
Why you should read the Powerful Teaching + Make it Stick duo
A random collection of my all-time favorite books
Add these books to your wishlist and buy one for your favorite educator. Teachers love to learn! And what's a better gift than a book?
P.S. Which of my favorites have you already read? Tweet and share!
Want a book on the science of learning? We've got 'em. Our top 15 books have been curated for you, with quick summaries on our website. Get started!
Access Our Top 15 Books on Learning
Powerful Teaching and Make it Stick
Not sure which you should read first, Powerful Teaching or Make it Stick? It depends on what you're looking for. (Both are available in hardback, audiobook, and Kindle, FYI.)
Powerful Teaching, written by a cognitive scientist and an educator, presents practical teaching strategies for the classroom, with the research to back it up.
Make it Stick, written by cognitive scientists and a novelist, delves into the science of learning using storytelling for a broad audience.
Want to start with specifics and then expand your research understanding? Read Powerful Teaching first. Want to start with the big picture? Read Make it Stick first. Click here to see this discussion from our Powerful Teaching Facebook group (we have nearly 900 members from around the world!).
Buy Powerful Teaching on Amazon
My All-Time Favorite Books
As my family knows, I only buy books for gifts. Why? Because books inspire, soothe, and amuse. Here are a few of my random favorites (all $15 or less!):
All-time favorite: The Giver (don't watch the movie!)
Humor: Hyperbole and a Half
Productivity: Essentialism
Thought-provoking: Thinking Fast and Slow
On writing: Bird by Bird
For kids: Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Fiction: Waiting for Snow in Havana
Historical non-fiction: Devil in the White City
Graphic novel: Calvin and Hobbes
Currently reading: Becoming
Two websites/blogs I highly recommend when shopping for children's books include Books for Littles and A Mighty Girl. (Hello to my nieces and nephew!)
Let's do some quick retrieval practice: What's one thing you remember from your favorite book? Tweet with #retrievalpractice and share!
Share Your Favorite Book on Twitter
December 2, 2019
Download ALL our free guides, research, and resources!
We're here to make your life easier. In order to unleash the science of learning, we strive to make it easy to access and quick to implement.
That's why we really want you to download everything from our library, including free practice guides, book club resources, research, and more.
Help us spread the word! Could you tell just one friend about retrievalpractice.org? Thank you for unleashing the science of learning. We can't do it without you.
P.S. Register now for the 2019 Ditch Summit! Learn more about Powerful Teaching in your pj's.
Download our free practice guides, all written by cognitive scientists and all actionable in the classroom (more coming soon). Our Retrieval Practice Guide is also available in Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin, with more translations on the way. All the research and strategies in one place, just for you.
Download Our Free Practice Guides
Download free book club resources!
Download free book resources for Powerful Teaching and Make it Stick, including lesson templates and discussion questions. Powerful Teaching includes 100+ discussion questions and we have 50+ discussion questions for Make it Stick on our website. We've done the work for you, so your book club and professional learning communities can jump right in. Join our Facebook group, too!
Download Powerful Teaching Resources
Download free research reports!
Download free research reports, brought to you by leaders in cognitive science and education. We've tracked down the best research on the science of learning currently available – all for educators, all free!
Download Free Research Reports
November 25, 2019
What's your rose, thorn, and bud this year?
Whether you're reflecting on your teaching, or reflecting on the year coming to a close, use one of our favorite discussion prompts: rose, thorn, bud.
Try this simple discussion prompt from Powerful Teaching with your students, in professional development, and over the holiday dinner table. Enjoy!
P.S. A very special hello, and thank you, to my new friends from the Learning & the Brain conference!
In Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, we've dedicated two entire chapters to professional development – empowering you to create your own powerful workshops at your school, college, or university.
One of our favorite discussion prompts is rose, thorn, bud:
Rose: What is one success you’ve had with Power Tools?
Thorn: What is one challenge you’ve had with Power Tools?
Bud: What is one new idea you have with Power Tools?
It's a simple approach to discussing what's going well in the classroom, what could be improved on, and one "budding" idea to explore. To get a little "meta," reflecting with rose, thorn, bud also engages you in retrieval practice, spacing, and metacognition – boosting your own learning in the process!
In Chapter 11 of Powerful Teaching (Powerful Professional Development for Teachers and Leaders), we provide a step-by-step plan for developing a workshop at your own school with even more discussion prompts, including "start, stop, keep," your "now and next," and "challenge, power, action."
In Chapter 12, we created a Do It Yourself (DIY) Retrieval Guide – full of more than 100 discussion questions for book studies and faculty learning communities. We've done the work for you, so you can focus on unleashing the science of learning and transforming teaching.
Liza Coffman, an educator attending the recent Learning & the Brain Conference in Boston, tweeted that she uses rose, thorn, bud with her family.
My family uses this, but @PoojaAgarwal helped me think about it in a new way. Thanks #LatB54 pic.twitter.com/UvnPWsEkqG
— Liza Coffman (@CoffmanLiza) November 23, 2019
This holiday season, use rose, bud, thorn at your school and at your dinner table to engage everyone in learning, remembering, and retrieving. (Want another discussion prompt for the dinner table? Read our Thanksgiving 2018 update.)
What's your rose, bud, and thorn this year? Comment below and let us know!
Learn More About Powerful Teaching
