How to Build Review Activities Into Daily Lessons
When teachers revisit earlier lessons in small, structured ways, students feel more confident on assessments—and retain the content better.
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Go to My Saved Content.With testing season on the horizon, it’s important for students to be able to recall information not just from the current unit but from the entirety of the semester. Consistent, scaffolded review helps to ensure that material is reinforced over time and easily available when a student needs it. Luckily, review activities don’t need to be laborious. In fact, they work best when they’re quick, targeted, and fun.
A bell ringer is the perfect opportunity to use a review activity as a bridge between earlier lessons and today’s. It gets students thinking about the way in which different units might be related, leading to a broader, deeper understanding of the curriculum.
Formative assessments are another way to regularly integrate review of past material. By consistently adding review questions to low-stakes quizzes or exit slips, teachers are able to get a snapshot of the class’ progress, inclusive of earlier units.
Review activities that are short, simple, and hands-on are often highly effective. Dependable strategies like classic flash cards or individual mini-whiteboards remain potent tools for helping students recall vocabulary and key terms. For something different, a hexagonal thinking activity can help students map out connections between concepts.
It’s important to let students know when past lessons will be part of today’s activities, no matter if it’s a quick bell ringer or an exam. This transparency keeps students from feeling caught off-guard or “tricked” by review questions. It’s even more helpful to be clear about which sections from previous chapters they’ll be asked about. That way students are able to target their study of past units, rather than feeling as though they have to constantly be reviewing material from the entire semester.
Test preparation doesn’t have to involve cramming. With consistent, comprehensive review, a semester’s worth of information will remain at students’ fingertips.
This video was adapted from Benjamin Barbour’s article for Edutopia, “Easy Ways to Have Students Review Material Frequently,” check it out for more review activities.