Spring 2 Newsletter Publish - The Evolve Trust

Webinar PLD:
@teachertoolkit
By Hally Lockwood Page 6
@MissLockwood_PE
During the lockdown, I decided to book myself onto the online webinar on ‘Retrieval Practice’ last
Tuesday (24 th ). The webinar was run by Ross Morrison McGill (@TeacherToolkit).
The webinar discussed the meaning of retrieval practice bringing in the theories of Rosenshine (which
we had covered during school PLD), the issues with retrieval practice as well as outlining different ways
to use it in the classroom.
The webinar reminded me that the more information we give our students, the more important it is to
use retrieval practice regularly. In addition, it reminded me that there are so many different and
innovate ways to use retrieval practice to keep learning fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I will definitely consider using the examples given such as using ‘Dual Coding plus retrieval’; giving
students verbal or written instructions and asking them to draw what they hear/read followed by giving
them further instructions to develop their drawing to recap prior learning. I would also like to trial using
a ‘curriculum plan’ where students get a 2x2 grid and as a plenary once a week they will write a response
in each box stating the following: what they learnt last month/last topic, last week, last lesson and
today.
Overall, I thought the webinar was interactive and engaging. I would recommend to anyone who wants
to revisit the importance of retrieval practice and grab some new ideas, all from the comfort of their
living rooms.