- Each student is given a blank sheet of paper.
- Students sketch an animal of their choice in the top right-hand corner of their paper to anonymously identify their paper.
- Everyone silently writes down one idea or concept they’ve learned over the semester or year – at least one full sentence.
- Papers are collected and the teacher explains the subsequent steps.
- Papers are randomly redistributed and students silently write on the paper they received one additional thing they learned in the class – different from their initial thought and different from what the student wrote on the paper they just received.
- As each student finishes writing another idea, they hold up their paper and the teacher collects it and gives it to another student. The activity is now self-paced.
- This continues for 5-6 rounds, becoming “a bit zany as you run around collecting and handing out papers,” says Agarwal, “but it’s a lot of fun, too.”
- The teacher collects all papers and, calling out the name of each animal sketch, hands them back to the original student.
- In an all-class discussion, students share one cool thing that someone else wrote on their paper, perhaps two thoughts if there’s time.
- Students can keep their papers as a vivid reminder of the many things that were learned in the class, or give them to the teacher for a self-assessment of what was learned – and what wasn’t.
This is an ungraded activity, Agarwal emphasizes. “Retrieval practice is a learning strategy, not an assessment strategy.” It also serves to boost long-term learning.
“Classroom Activity for: Leave One, Add One” by Pooja Agarwal in Retrieval Practice, May 2023; Agarwal can be reached at ask@retrievalpractice.org.
Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #987 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.
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