Retrieval practice starter pack

Twelve question frames that work in any subject, so writing a starter takes a minute rather than ten.

Download PDF

These are frames, not questions. Fill the blanks with whatever your class finished last week. Six to ten of them is a starter.

  1. 1 Name three things you know about ______.
  2. 2 What is the difference between ______ and ______?
  3. 3 Why does ______ happen? Give a reason, not a description.
  4. 4 Put these in order: ______, ______, ______. Then say why.
  5. 5 Define ______ without using the word ______ in your answer.
  6. 6 Give an example of ______ that we have NOT used in class.
  7. 7 What would happen if ______ were not true?
  8. 8 Correct this: "______". What is wrong and why?
  9. 9 Which of these does not belong: ______, ______, ______, ______?
  10. 10 Explain ______ to someone two years younger.
  11. 11 What is the most common mistake people make with ______?
  12. 12 Link ______ to something we studied last term.

Three things that make these work

Closed book. If the answer is on the page in front of them they are reading, not remembering.

Nothing recorded. The memory effect does not need the mark to count, and once it counts students behave differently about being wrong.

Corrected in the same lesson. The recall does the work; the correction is what stops a wrong answer settling in.