What one teaching technique can transform classroom learning?
I recently hosted a livestream with Patrice Bain, co-author of Powerful Teaching, to explore what actually improves learning without adding to teacher workload.
What is retrieval practice?
Retrieval practice is the act of bringing previously taught knowledge to mind to strengthen long-term memory and improve later learning (view this retrieval practice database).
In this video, we use five sharp questions each to get to the practical stuff: what to stop doing, what to replace it with, and which routines are worth protecting long enough to become a habit.
Watch this to see what questions we asked each other.
How to do retrieval practice tomorrow?
- Write 5 short questions: 3 from last lesson, 2 from last half-term.
- Set a timer for 4 minutes (no books, no notes).
- Self-check or cold call to surface misconceptions.
- Give whole-class feedback and reteach one key point.
- Repeat 3 times a week for 30 days and track one simple metric.
Key takeaways
- Keep retrieval low-stakes and brief (2–6 minutes).
- Make it cumulative so students revisit past content.
- Use whole-class feedback to correct misconceptions without heavy marking.
- Revisit content after days and weeks (spacing).
- Build it into routines so it stays workload-light.
A consistent thread running through Patrice’s work is retrieval practice: not as a quiz-for-data exercise, but as a memory-strengthening routine built into everyday teaching. The evidence base is clear: bringing information to mind improves later retention more than re-reading or re-teaching alone.
In other words, if you want pupils to remember your curriculum, retrieval isn’t “extra” — it’s part of the learning process.
References:
- Powerful Teaching (Patrice Bain, Pooja Agarwal)
- Retrieval Practice Database
- 5 Retrieval Practice Tools
