Teacher Quizzing
With the technique Teacher Quizzing, you ask students a set of pre-planned closed questions, designed to promote specific knowledge retrieval. These might be:
Short response, using free recall.
Spotlight Assessment Activities, such as true or false, deliberate mistakes or multiple choice.
Why use this technique?
Teacher Quizzing should help students’ learning in at least three ways:
It will utilise the testing effect - retrieval strengthens memory.
It will utilise the spacing effect - a little forgetting is good for learning.
It will generate evidence of what students can and can’t do, which you can respond to, either in the moment or at some point in future.
Notes and tips
In The Hidden Lives of Learners, Graham Nuthall tells us that, typically, students need to think about something on at least three separate occasions before it is likely to be learned. Teacher Quizzing can help with this.
The questions you build into a teacher quiz can be guided by evidence of their performance in lessons and homework. For example, perhaps you discover that a number of students have answered a particular question poorly in homework. Following re-teaching, it would make sense to ask students this question again, for example, in a Daily Review, Weekly Review or Monthly Review quiz.
Focused reflection
How well do you currently use this technique?
Is it a technique you will focus on developing?
If so, what are the key features you will focus on (things to do, and not do)?