Practice
Carefully planned opportunities for practice enable our learners to progress from novice to expert across the curriculum. Schemes of learning provide students with guided practice at the early stages of learning, right through to independent practice as learners become more fluent in their understanding. Expert staff employ a range of strategies to support practice, such as those outlined below:
•Allow time for students to undertake quality practice
•Practise for fluency- commit ideas to long-term memory and make learning permanent
•Use practice to create healthy challenge- make students think!
•Guide practice but know when to remove the stabilisers!
•Use homework as an opportunity to drill and practise classroom learning
•Make use of low-stakes retrieval practice exercises
•Pause learning frequently to allow practice time
•Be responsive to learners’ needs based on outcomes of practice