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Retrieval Practice
Ideas to use in the classroom
Inspired by the book Retrieval Practice by Kate Jones
Céleste Robillard – May 2020
Key points about retrieval practice
• No notes, textbooks or support should be allowed during retrieval
practice activities
• Prioritise low effort, high impact activities
• Involve everyone in the process
• Vary the activities from lesson to lesson
• Keep it generative
• Specify the knowledge
• Pupils should be able to test/quiz themselves instead of using re-
reading strategies to revise
Brain dump
• Very low effort, high impact task
• Can be a do now task
• Only requires a piece of paper/post-it note/back of their book/mini
whiteboards depending on whether you want to go back to it later or
not
• Best to be done on their own rather than in pairs
• You can give the pupils a prompt such as a title or show them a
picture (but it’s not a description task, it is meant to help retrieval,
description is different from retrieval practice)
Quiz, quiz, trade, trade
• The aim is to give each pupil a card/mini whiteboard/post-it note with
a question on one side and the answer on the other side.
• A pupil will ask another the question on their card, the testee tries to
answer and their partner tells them if they are correct or not. Then
they swap roles.
• Once both pupils have asked their question they swap card and they
have to find another pupil to ask their new question to.
• You could make the pupils create their own questions but it could
create some problems of some questions being too hard/easy.
Cops and Robbers
Your own knowledge and recall Information you have stolen from your peers
 Cops and Robbers for younger pupils
Fact Your own knowledge and recall Information you have stolen from your peers

How to form the passé

composé in French

Conjugate the verb

jouer in the passé
composé

List 10 words for items

that can be found in a
bedroom in French.
Walkabout Bingo – ideal for GCSE-A
Level
Q: Tu utilises souvent Internet ? Q: Quel est ton acteur préféré ? Q: Qu’est-ce que tu as fait le
Pourquoi ? Pourquoi ? week-end dernier ?

A: A: A:

Name: Name: Name:

Q: Tu aimes la musique ? Q: Parle moi du dernier film que Q: Préfères–tu Instagram ou

tu as vu. Snapchat, pourquoi ?
A:
A: A:
Name:
Name: Name:

Q: Que penses-tu des réseaux Q: Où habites-tu ? Q: Tu aimes ton collège,

sociaux ? pourquoi ?
A:
A: A:
Name:
Name: Name:
Retrieval relay race
La fête de la musique La fête de la musique

C’est une fête qui a lieu tous les ans en Elle a lieu le 21 Juin et il y a des
France pour célébrer la musique. concerts dans la rue.

La fête de la musique La fête de la musique

Elle a été créée par le ministre de la C’est très populaire pour les jeunes de
culture Jack Lang en 1982. sortir avec leurs amis. A Paris c’est une
très grande fête.
List it!
• Simple free recall task
• Involves asking the pupils to list as much as they can in an allocated amount of
time
• This could be good if we give the pupils a wide topic such as « Ma maison », they
could list:
la chambre
Le jardin
La cuisine…
• Once pupils have listed you could ask them to swap with the person next to them
so they can add things to it/find out things they didn’t think about/peer-mark.
List it! - suite
• You can provide the pupils with a grid with different topics which
could encourage spaced practice as well.
Food (la nourriture) Clothes (les vêtements) Animals (les animaux)

- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday
• At the end of a lesson, ask pupils to create a series of ten questions
based on the lesson content, either from that lesson or that week.
They should include the answers too.
• Pupils will go back to these questions a week later, or longer and test
themselves.
• Best way to do it: write questions on the left side of an A4 sheet with
answers on the right. Then pupils can fold the paper in two to have
one side for the question and one side for the answers, a bit like a
flashcard system. That way, they can self assess.
Mini-whiteboards
• Best to encourage pupils who are quieter/reluctant to put their hands
up during retrieval practice tasks
• Easy way for the teacher to check the understanding of the class on
some specific points at the start of the lesson
• Use this opportunity to ask the pupils why they wrote that, to engage
in a discussion with them.
• Pupils like mini-whiteboards!
Retrieval grids

Les avantages de la Le patrimoine matériel et

La vie de couples. Le bénévolat
technologie. immatériel.

Le patrimoine et le Problèmes de La diversité de la Les cybernautes.

tourisme. générations. musique francophone.

Les familles en France Sauvegarder la musique Les dangers de la cyber

Le cinéma francophone.
aujourd’hui. francophone. société.
 2 3 4
1 point
Challenge grid points points points

Les avantages de la
Le petit copain. Faire confiance à. Le déséquilibre.
technologie.

La carrière. S’engager à. Elever. Avoir envie de.

Se mettre en couple. Un célibataire. Apporter. Vivre en concubinage.

Ideas for online Retrieval Practice
• Quizizz: free and easy to use, records information for the teacher, teleport
feature allows you to take questions from other quizzes that already exist.
You can remove the question timer, the leaderboard and the music in the
background.
• Plickers: ideal if the pupils are not allowed to use their phone in the
classroom or if the lesson can’t be done in a computer room. Only one
device is needed to scan the answers. Pupils all have their own card with a
different pattern on them. They will hold it up in a certain way to show
their answer, as a result they can’t copy from one another.
• Google/Microsoft forms: easy process to create quizzes that can be
marked automatically.
 Snake and Ladders

Link to the
template.
Retrieval raffle

2. J’aime manger de la 3. J’ai parlé avec mon 4. Je danse tous les

1. Je vais à la patinoire.
salade. amie. samedis.

5. Nous avons fait nos 6. Elle regarde la 7. Ils se brossent les 8. Quel âge as-tu?
devoirs. télévision. dents.

11. Tu portes un 12. Ils sont allés en

9. Vous avez trois chats. 10. Où habite-t-elle?
chemisier blanc. vacances en Espagne.
Retrieval Starter
Last lesson: Last week:

List as many words in French on the topic of holidays. How do you form the passé composé in French? (three
things)

Last term: Last year:

Conjugate the verb aller in the present tense. Introduce yourself in French (name, age, where you
live).
 Retrieval Practice Pyramid

4
Points

3
Points

2
Points

1
Point
 Go for Gold: Retrieval Practice
structions: Write what you can recall from memory about our topic and aim to include the keywords belo
Go for gold!

Bronze: Keyword Keyword

Keyword

Silver: Keyword Keyword

Keyword

Gold: Keyword Keyword

Keyword