Heidi: This is episode 246 of Teacher Approved.
You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
the show.
Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
episode, we are redefining what test prep actually is, because
it doesn't have to mean packets and stress, and we're sharing a
teacher approved tip for adding a little bonus prep time to your
week.
Heidi: But let's start with try it tomorrow, where we share a
quick win that you can try in your classroom right away.
Emily, what's our suggestion for this week?
Emily: This week, try using intentional think time. So when
you ask a question, instead of immediately calling on someone,
ask students to just think about it for 10, even 30 seconds
before you take any responses. Now this will take some
training, because some students are going to shoot their hands
in the air immediately, since that's what they're used to
doing.
Heidi: Right. So when that happens, you just gently remind
them, you know, have this in your brain ahead of time,
because this will happen, I just want you to think right now. I
will let you know when I'm ready to hear your ideas.
Emily: And what's great about this is it improves the quality
of responses. When kids aren't racing to be first, they
actually have time to form a complete thought. And you'll
probably find that way more students are prepared to
participate, because it's not just the fast processors who get
to answer anymore. I think some kids, once they see everybody
else's hand is shot up, they stop even trying to figure out
the answer in their mind.
Heidi: Absolutely. This is such a simple shift that can make a
really big difference. If you try it, come tell us how it goes
in the Teacher Approved Facebook group. And if you like this tip
or anything else we share here on the podcast, would you please
take a second and give us a five star rating? Ratings and reviews
help new listeners find us, and we really appreciate every one
of them.
Emily: Okay, we know it's still February, but yes, it really is
time to talk about test prep.
Heidi: Ah, the two little words that make most teachers
shoulders tense up a little bit.
Emily: Yeah, just a little bit, maybe, a lot a bit.
Heidi: A lot a bit.
Emily: Test prep makes our minds immediately jump to packets,
worksheets, Jeopardy games, drilling skills, over and over,
and maybe stopping real instruction so we have time to
get kids ready.
Heidi: And when you assume that that's what test prep has to
look like, it's no wonder it feels overwhelming. But we are
here to tell you that test prep does not have to be an intense
slog. You can help students get ready for assessments in a way
that everyone enjoys and still prepares the kids for what's
ahead.
Emily: That's what we're digging into today, we want to challenge
some assumptions about what test prep is and offer a different
way to think about it. And that's why we're starting with
this now.
Heidi: Yeah, February is probably not the moment you
usually start thinking about state testing. You are probably
nowhere close to being done with teaching your curriculum.
Emily: Yeah, because it is still really early. Most people
probably haven't even had Spring Break yet. But even though you
haven't taught all your units yet, some of what you taught
back in September and October is already just a vague memory for
your students, because that's just how brains work.
Heidi: And what happens if we wait until April to start
reviewing is we end up in that frantic cram-everything-in mode,
which is stressful for everyone, and it's honestly not that
effective. All of the worksheets and repetition that we call test
prep are not really test prep. They're tools we use to help
with test prep.
Emily: And they're not even very effective tools, which means we
need a different definition of what preparation actually is.
It's not about showing students the material again. It's about
helping them remember what they've already learned.
Heidi: That's really a different goal, and it requires some
unique strategies.
Emily: Yeah. So let's start by taking a look at something we
call the recognition trap. This is sneaky, and it's why a lot of
traditional test review doesn't actually stick in your kids'
brain.
Heidi: Think about what review often looks like in an
elementary classroom. We pull out the anchor charts, we
rewatch a video, we play a Kahoot where kids can look at
their notes, and it feels productive. The kids are saying,
Oh yeah, I remember this. They're engaged. They're
participating. It seems like it's working.
Emily: But that oh yeah feeling isn't really remembering. It's
recognition. And we might use remember and recognition as
synonyms, but they are not the same thing. When students
recognize something, they're thinking, this looks familiar.
Heidi: But tests are not asking students to recognize
information, they need to remember it. That means pulling
information out of their brains with nothing in front of them.
Emily: When we plan our review activities, it seems logical
that offering extra support, like letting students reference
their notes or a textbook should make review extra effective, but
that little safety net completely undermines the
effectiveness of the review that we spent so much time and energy
putting together.
Heidi: So what actually works? The short answer is practice
remembering. Give students low stakes opportunities to pull
information from their memory without any support. This is
called retrieval practice, and it is the most effective
strategy that we have for helping learning stick.
Emily: And I have to tell you something funny. I was listening
slash watching the Good Hang podcast with Amy Poehler the
other day, and she was talking about something, I don't even
remember what it was, like they were trying to remember someone
who was, who played something in a show, something like that. And
she went to reach for her phone, and she goes, Oh, wait, no,
you're supposed to try to remember what it is before you
ask, or before you search, before you look it up. You're
supposed to try to remember. It's better for your brain if
you do that. I was like, Yes, that's true. Good job, Amy!
Not to say that I am good at doing that before I go and
Google things, I should try harder. But I loved that she
said that. I was like, Oh my gosh, that's amazing. And of
course, like here on the podcast, we are not going to go
super deep into the science today, but the basic idea that
Amy is talking about is this. Every time you work to recall
something from memory, you strengthen that memory. The
effort of trying to remember is what makes information stick.
Heidi: And what maybe Amy realized is is that you don't
even have to get the right answer for this to benefit you,
even if you're wrong, just trying to come up with the
answer, is enough to boost understanding. The struggle to
remember is what builds the pathway.
Emily: Which totally feels opposite, like it doesn't feel
good to try to remember something and then get it wrong.
Heidi: Yeah, when it feels hard, we think something's wrong, but
the hard is actually the goal.
Emily: So if you're new to retrieval practice, don't let
the official name scare you. It really can be as simple as
flashcards.
Heidi: And another simple strategy that I love is a brain
dump. You just pause your lesson or activity, ask students to
write down everything they can remember about what you've been
teaching to that point, and then you just continue with the
lesson.
Emily: And you don't have to grade these. You don't even have
to collect the papers. Students can keep them to look back on
later. It's kind of cool to see how much they know after a few
weeks. Or they can just go straight in the recycling bin.
Heidi: Brain dumps are so versatile, they work for any
grade and any topic, whether your students are drawing
pictures in kindergarten or writing full paragraphs in fifth
grade, the concept is the same. And bonus, there is no prep
involved with this.
Emily: Oh, such a win. Another retrieval practice comes from a
book called Powerful Teaching by Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain.
This book is chock full of helpful learning routines, and
they share one that I really love called Two Things. You give
students a simple prompt, like write down two things you
learned so far today, or two things you remember from
yesterday, or two things you'd like to know more about.
Heidi: And like with a brain dump, you can drop this in the
middle of a lesson and then just move on, or you could use it as
an exit ticket or as a warm up the day after the lesson.
Emily: With strategies like brain dumps or two things, the
key is helping students see this as a learning tool and not a
form of assessment. Cheer them on if it feels challenging, let
them know that struggle means their brain is working hard,
which means they're learning.
Heidi: Meaningful review really does not have to be complicated.
Keep it short, keep it consistent, and keep it as low
stakes as possible. Do not grade these.
Emily: No, please do not grade these unless you are absolutely
required to, and then just make it pass fail so the focus stays
on the learning and not the points.
Heidi: This really couldn't be easier. The hardest part is just
remembering to actually do it. When you are in the flow of
teaching, it's really easy to forget to pause for some
retrieval practice.
Emily: And that's why we created a resource called Power
Questions. It's designed to make this kind of practice painless
and easy to maintain. The idea behind this is simple. After you
teach a lesson, you jot down a question from the lesson on a
slip of paper and drop it in a basket. Over time, you build up
a collection of questions that cover a bunch of different
topics.
Heidi: And then when you have a few minutes, maybe you do this
as part of a warm up, maybe you save it for before lunch, or as
a transition, you pull a question from the basket and you
have your students answer it. Because the questions come from
lessons that you have taught days or weeks ago, your students
have to work to actually remember, and that's our
retrieval practice. And that's where the learning happens.
Emily: Now Power Questions is currently only available inside
the Teacher Approved Club, because that is this month's
bonus tool for our club members. We have included blank question
slips that you can print and cut out so they're ready when you
need them. There's a label for your question basket to make it
a visual part of your routine. Plus it has a cute, super cute,
superhero theme.
Heidi: It really did turn out so cute. When we're designing
stuff, like, we don't have a design background, so there's
always a little bit of like, I'm not sure how this is going to
go. But it came together so cute.
Emily: Yes.
Heidi: The question slips provide a great structure for
your review, but we know that structure always needs a little
bit of spark to balance it out. So we included some fun bonus
prompts that we called power ups. These are all desk friendly
activities that can be done in a minute or less, think things
like tongue twisters or slow motion movement challenges like,
pretend to be a melting snowman.
Emily: I love that.
Heidi: They're quick, but just a little sprinkle of fun can go a
long way toward keeping your kids engaged. And the more
engaged the kids are, the more they can learn.
Emily: We had so much fun thinking up these prompts, and
we also include a seven page Teacher's Guide that walks you
through how to fit this in your day without it becoming one more
thing to manage, plus every possible thing you might wonder
about setting this up. We really thought about it for you, common
problems you might run into, troubleshooting, all of that.
It's all in the teacher's guide.
Heidi: And if paper isn't your thing, we included digital
slides too. It works the same. You just record a question after
a lesson and then come back to it later. But with the slides,
you can display the question for students to see.
Emily: Yeah, which is super handy. And then club members
also get access to a bonus training this month that goes
deeper into the learning science behind all of this. We explain
how the different pieces work together to help create durable
learning and share some practical tips to help keep it
manageable.
Heidi: Okay, now you've got some good tools for incorporating
retrieval practice into your regular schedule. So let's talk
about another layer to this process, which is helping
students recognize what they actually know.
Emily: It might not sound like much, but this is actually a
really important part of test prep, because students often
think they understand more than they actually do. Researchers
call this the illusion of knowing, and it happens to all
of us, not just kids.
Heidi: Oh, for sure, I do this all the time, even on just a
small scale. Like, how many times have I scanned the
directions on the back of the frozen food box, confident that
I knew what to do, because I have cooked frozen food before?
But then I have to retrieve the box because I already have
forgotten the temperature it needs to be cooked at. You know,
honestly, it might happen every time I cook.
Emily: I know, I'm always scampering back to that trash
can, wait, what did that say? Because it seems so easy you
don't pay close attention, and that's why you can't remember if
it's 375, or 425, for your chicken nuggets. I know you're
eating a lot of chicken nuggets, Heidi.
Heidi: Well, for chicken nuggets, it's gotta be what, 400
at least, I would think.
Emily: I mean, probably. But do either of us actually know? We
just think we know. And that's exactly what happens to
students. When something feels familiar, when we recognize
that, our brain interprets that as understanding. We think,
yeah, I've got this. But recognition is not mastery, and
that false confidence can really trip students up.
Heidi: That's how everyone sits through a review, nodding along.
You think everyone's got this, and then they get to the test
and realize they were not as solid as they thought.
Emily: And so that's why feedback is so important.
Feedback interrupts that false confidence. It gives students
real information about where they actually are.
Heidi: And just like retrieval practice, feedback is so easy to
add to what you're already doing. With brain dumps, for
example, after your students write down everything they can
think of, have them swap papers with a neighbor and try to add
something new to what their partner wrote. That quick
comparison helps both students see what they remembered and
what they missed.
Emily: With the two things strategy, you can have students
share one of their two things with a partner or with the
class. Hearing what other people wrote helps them confirm they're
on track or realize they need to revisit something.
Heidi: In the teacher guide to our Power Questions resource, we
walk you through how to lead a quick discussion about students
thinking. Questions like, who tried it a different way, or
what was tricky about that question, get students
reflecting on their learning.
Emily: Even if you don't pair reflection with retrieval
practice, it can still impact learning all on its own. In one
study, college students who simply rated their understanding
after a lecture and reflected on how they could improve, ended up
scoring nearly a full letter grade higher than their
classmates who didn't do the reflection.
Heidi: That is huge. Just the act of pausing and thinking
about your own learning makes a measurable difference. So here
are some reflection questions you can use with your students.
You might ask which part felt easy, which part made you pause?
Emily: Or what would you tell a friend who missed this lesson?
Rate Your confidence from one to five. Now let's check and see
how you did. Or what's one thing you're solid on and one thing
you need to review?
Heidi: These questions help students become aware of their
own learning. They start to notice what they actually know,
versus what just feels familiar, and that self awareness is
powerful. When students can name what they're shaky on, they can
do something about it.
Emily: Okay, so let's pull this all together. Test prep doesn't
have to mean packets, pressure or pausing instruction. Oh, look
at the alliteration. Real preparation is helping students
remember and reflect.
Heidi: Start now, even though it is only February, with short,
frequent, low stakes practice. All your kids need are
opportunities to pull information from memory without
support and increased awareness of what they actually know.
Emily: And if you want to go deeper, inside the Teacher
Approved Club this month, we're diving into the learning science
behind all of this, how recall, spacing and reflection work
together, and exactly how to use them without overwhelming your
day.
Heidi: Club members get the Power Questions resource, which
includes everything you need to start this kind of intentional
practice right away, plus the bonus training that walks you
through all of the whys and the hows. If you have been thinking
about joining our club, this is a really great month to do it.
We will drop a link in the show notes.
Emily: Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where
we share an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters
and simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is
to add a bonus mini prep to your schedule. I bet everyone's
excited to hear about this one.
Heidi: Yes, and we have talked about this idea before, but it's
been a little while, so it bears repeating, because I think this
can be so helpful. So in a related discussion, back in
episode 242, we suggested planning some independent
activities for students at the end of the month as a little
bonus planning time. That way you can effectively plan the
month ahead, and, you know, maybe catch up on some grading.
Emily: Hopefully your end of month bonus prep can be an hour
or two, or maybe even a whole afternoon. But today we want to
look at how to add a smaller pocket of prep to your weekly
schedule.
Heidi: So when I was teaching second grade, the 30 minutes
before lunch on Fridays was officially phonics review time.
Emily: And what did they do for phonics review, Heidi?
Heidi: Well, my students watched a Between the Lines video while
I planned the week ahead.
Emily: I love it, Between the Lines is awesome.
Heidi: It holds up. But that way, when my Friday afternoon
prep time rolled around, I already knew exactly what to
work on because my list was ready, it made me so much more
productive.
Emily: So the tip is to look at your schedule and find one block
of time in your week where you're normally teaching in
front of students, and find a way to turn that time into
independent learning time instead.
Heidi: Now, you do not need to announce this to your principal,
and I know we have some principals who listen to this
podcast. So if that's you, maybe stop listening now, so you have
some plausible deniability. But like I said, on my official
schedule, before lunch on Friday, was phonics review, and
if anyone had walked in, they would have seen my students
fully engaged in reviewing phonics with an educational
video. It's not like we were watching Charlie Brown.
Emily: Yeah, right. It's not like you're just putting any
sort of filler up, you chose with intention.
Heidi: Yes, it was academic, educational content, but it
freed me up to claim those 30 minutes, and that completely
reshaped my teaching life, I'm not exaggerating. For the first
time, I broke free from that day to day planning hamster wheel,
and I started preparing more strategically. And yes, I could
have done this planning after school, but by Friday afternoon,
or really any afternoon, by any afternoon, I was just toast, and
I wanted to get home. I didn't have the brainpower for
strategic planning. I had brain power to run copies. So I needed
to split those work tasks into a time when I had the energy and
focus for managing it. Doing it in the morning meant that I
could deal with all of the details. It gave me a better
shot at being the kind of teacher I wanted to be, instead
of the overwhelmed one I was a lot of the time.
Emily: And this bonus prep does not need to be long. Even 20
extra minutes a week can have a huge impact on your productivity
and your happiness as a teacher, if you're intentional about how
you use those minutes. It might be a video. It might be a review
game that they can do without you. It might be silent reading
or a listening center, whatever works for your class.
Heidi: All right, to wrap up the show, we are showing what we're
giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your
extra credit?
Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the new old Muppet Show. It's
so fun to have it back again, and I love that they did an
almost exact recreation of one of the old openings for the new
one. It was just, oh, it's so nostalgic, but also like feels
fresh at the same time. I don't know if it's just a limited run
of episodes, or if it's gonna stick around, but definitely
check it out. It's a super fun watch for the whole fam. I think
those of us in our generation have the love and nostalgia of
growing up with the Muppets, but kids these days love it just as
much. So we all enjoyed it.
Heidi: Oh, that's so fun. I've been seeing so much stuff online
about it. I'll have to check it out.
Emily: Yeah, it was on Disney Plus, but I think it was also
just like on ABC.
Heidi: Oh, okay, good.
Emily: What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
Heidi: Well, my extra credit goes to the potted bowl garden
subscription I got for Christmas. It has been such a
joy. I am not a plant person, because the long term care of a
plant is more than I can face. You have to prune it and repot
it and manage the light. And I'm barely keeping myself alive. But
this little bulb garden is so fun because it is a short term
commitment. Everything arrives potted. Just take off like the
little straw packaging on top. You water it when it's dry,
watch it grow, and then it's done.
Emily: I love it.
Heidi: And I did buy a little clip on grow light. I guess I'm
a gardener now, because my house doesn't get much sunlight, but
that is all the work I put into it. But it's just so fun to wake
up in the morning and see the new blooms that have bloomed.
Blossomed?
Emily: Popped up.
Heidi: There we go. It makes me so happy. I can finally be a
plant lady without having to be a plant lady. The bulbs are from
Holland bulb farm, and I will put a link to them in the show
notes, as well as a link to the grow light.
Emily: Well, I am so jealous of your bulbs. So now I really,
really want these. I should have asked for them for Christmas
too.
Heidi: Start your list.
Emily: I guess so.
Heidi: That is it for today's episode. Remember, test prep
doesn't have to mean packets and stress. Small, consistent
practice starting now will serve your students so much better
than cramming later.
Emily: Try a brain dump or two things question this week and
see how it goes. And if you want the full system for making this
easy, check out Power Questions inside the Teacher Approved
Club. We will have a link to that in the show notes. Thanks
for listening, and we'll see you next week.
Heidi: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm
Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
episode.
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
Bye for now.
Emily: Bye.