Topic 5 Implementing Independent Practice

Study the Technique Week #4

Providing independent practice increases comprehension by guiding students as they process information. As they grapple with the content, they can see patterns, make connections between ideas, and highlight patterns. Representing content through practice maximizes generalization and transfer of the learning.

"One of our most important goals as teachers is to cause students to do as much of the cognitive work- the writing, the thinking, the analyzing, the talking - as possible.”

~Doug Lemov, Teach Like a Champion~

In classrooms where daily routines build opportunities for students to practice independently, students do the cognitive work and stay engaged.

Below are three opportunities for independent practice that can be included in your daily routine. Please click the headings to learn more about each activity.

Write First, Talk Second

Write first, talk second: give students writing tasks to complete prior to class discussion, so that every student answers independently before hearing his or her peers’ contributions. This fosters collaboration and community within the classroom which increases engagement. Watch the following videos on write first, talk second:

Example 1

Example 2

Do Now

Do Now: Implement a daily entry prompt to either introduce the day’s objective or review material from the previous day. This ensures that we heighten the salience of goals and objectives. An effective Do Now meets the following criteria:

The Do Now should be consistently in the same place every day.
Students should be able to complete the Do Now without any direction from the teacher.
The activity should take about 5 minutes to complete and should be on paper.

Exit Ticket

Exit Ticket: Implement and review a longer independent practice and/or a daily Exit Ticket (brief final mini-assessment aligned to your objective) to see how many students mastered the concept. Here are some characteristics of effective exit tickets:

Quick - two or three questions that you can review in a few minutes.
Designed to yield data - ask each question to focus on one specific part of the lesson rather than asking several questions that summarize the whole lesson.
Make great Do Nows- let students look at the data by starting the next day's lesson by redoing questions or studying wrong answers from the exit ticket.
Predictable - questions should reflect the work students did in the lesson and should not introduce new concepts or skills.

Click each button below to see Exit Ticket Examples and a Stamp

Example 1: Romeo and Juliet

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Example 2: The Giver

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Example 3: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

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Stamp: Lord of the Flies

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Teaching students how to think critically is an abstract concept. Carving out time and space in each lesson to shift the cognitive heavy lifting onto students helps them build and flex their critical thinking muscles. The well-planned independent practice allows teachers the time and space to increase mastery-oriented feedback.