Powerful Teaching Quotes

“From here on out,
if a student says,
“My brain hurts,”
you’ll say, “That’s a
good thing!”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“Part of why this occurs is what's referred to as the illusion of fluency. Typically, when current learning feels fluent or effortless, students think that learning and retention will be effortless and easy in the future.3 In this example, it is precisely the repeated re-reading of material (an easy learning activity) that gives students an illusion of fluency, resulting in much higher JOLs for final test performance. In contrast, when learning activities are challenging, students' predictions of their own learning are more realistic and accurate.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“So far, we've focused on retrieval practice – improving learning by bringing information to mind. There are many ways to define it and many ways to foster retrieval in our classrooms. But when and how often? Is more retrieval practice better than less? Here's the key to unleashing retrieval practice: Don't have students simply engage in retrieval once or even repeatedly. In this chapter, we feature research and strategies for two more powerful teaching approaches: spacing and interleaving.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“Scientists are currently exploring whether Brain Dumps are more effective if written by hand versus typed; include structure (organize as you go along) vs. no structure; or include prompts (“describe how clouds are made”) versus no prompts. So far, there are no hard-hitting winners when it comes to optimal structures compared to a simple “write down what you can remember” approach.7 We encourage you to do what's practical for you and your classroom and focus on retrieval, not format.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“When it comes to teaching, we might lecture, show videos, and encourage note-taking during class. When it comes to studying, students might re-read their textbooks, highlight information, and review their notes before an exam. We've all had the experience of feeling like these teaching and studying methods work. So what's the problem? The problem is that these methods only lead to short-term learning. Have you ever asked students about material you covered months earlier, only to find that they've forgotten everything? This common situation arises because of an assumption we make about learning. We assume that when information comes to mind easily and it feels fluent, we'll remember it.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“Even if you're already using Power Tools, how learning works isn't always intuitive. Consider these myths about learning, which you'll read more about throughout the book: Myth: When students learn something easily, they will remember it well. Myth: Forgetting should be prevented as much as possible. Myth: It's better for learning if we give feedback before students make errors. Unleash these four Power Tools your way, with your content, in your classroom. In this book, we focus on how students learn, not what students learn. While we give examples from teachers in a variety of content areas, we don't focus on content-specific knowledge because research demonstrates that Power Tools are effective for all content areas. Because you know your classroom best, we will help you take these flexible research-based strategies and unleash them your way, with your content, in your classroom.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“THE FOUR POWER TOOLS: RESEARCH-BASED AND CLASSROOM-PROVEN As we all know, we could fill warehouses with all the books, blogs, and worksheets out there promising to transform classrooms. Powerful Teaching is more than just another promise. Powerful Teaching is different. How? It's based on rigorous research by cognitive scientists. It's based on decades of experience by classroom teachers. In Powerful Teaching, we show you how to harness four evidence-based strategies, which we call Power Tools:”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“Feedback-driven metacognition is another Power Tool that significantly boosts learning. It isn't new and you probably give students feedback all the time; the difference is that how you give feedback has a large impact on encoding, storage, and retrieval.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“This brings us to the first Power Tool that will serve as the foundation for our book: retrieval practice. Retrieval practice is the same thing as the retrieval stage of the learning process: It's when we practice bringing information to mind. We tend to think that most learning occurs during the encoding stage, but a wealth of research demonstrates that learning is strengthened during retrieval.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“few days later, I wanted to return to the same coffee shop. And yet again, I couldn't remember how to get there! It was literally four blocks away from my brother's house, but the directions had vanished from my head. This is a perfect example of a quirk when it comes to learning: Just because you know something once doesn't mean you'll always remember it.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“Instead, it's our responsibility to ask for evidence. Evidence for which strategies are effective, not just which strategies are popular. Evidence for why we teach the way we teach, not just because we've always taught that way. Most importantly, after reading this book, we hope that on the first day of the school year, you won't be asking, “What should I teach?” Instead, you'll be asking, “How should I teach? How can I turn my teaching into powerful teaching?”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“With Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, you will: Develop a deep understanding of powerful teaching strategies based on the science of learning, whether you are a past, present, or future educator. Go behind the scenes and explore key findings from cognitive science research. Gain insight into how scientifically-based strategies are effectively implemented in a variety of academic settings without additional preparation, classroom, or grading time. Think critically about your current teaching practices and classroom environment from a research-based perspective. Develop tools to share the science of learning with students and parents, ensuring success inside and outside the classroom. Identify next steps to transform teaching and unleash the science of learning in your classroom. As”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“When it comes to retrieval practice, spaced practice, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition, the combination of being research-based and classroom-proven is paramount.”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

“When we think about learning, we typically focus on getting information into students’ heads. What if, instead, we focus on getting information out of students’ heads?”
― Pooja K. Agarwal, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning