All of us are in the education field because we want to help children learn! We spend time introducing new concepts, reviewing old ones, and testing everything that should be mastered. Reviewing is key no matter what age. Brent Vasicek posted a blog for Scholastic this week that said, "When a student is learning something new, I follow the 10/24/7+ Rule. After I teach a concept, I review it ten minutes later, 24 hours later, 7 days later, and periodically after that." I think this is a fantastic rule to follow in our classrooms. All children need to hear information over and over again. When I think about the various grades I have taught--first, second, and third--I know that I spend a lot of time reviewing things I taught the year before, especially in areas like math and phonics.
With that being said, I want to know about your views on reviewing! I have some parents who are very critical of the fact that we spend the first quarter reviewing and taking our standardized assessment. They complain that their students' grades for the first quarter are "too high" or "too good" for their beginning quarter of 3rd grade. Isn't it our job to help our students prepare themselves for what to expect in this new grade? Aren't we supposed to take some time to review in case there is a need for reteaching? Are we wrong because our desire to help our students? Any thoughts?
I think it is critical to review with out students as well. We always are teaching and re-teaching in math to make sure students understand the concepts. So when they return to school in the fall there is always a review period and yes parents do complain sometimes, but the review is essential in order to find out where students may have struggled before. You need to build on those skills and help them understand because the foundation of important skills is what is going to allow them to be successful with the new material they will be learning that year in class. Therefore, throwing a few review questions in throughout the year to make sure students are retaining what they are being taught is a great idea. We want our students to be successful and we need to know if they struggling or not. Hence, review is allowing us to assess whether they are progressing okay or not.
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