Choral response

Hey 👋

Hope your week isn’t too tiring (it’s that time of year). Today, another snack on fostering thinking…

Big idea 🍉

Externalising thinking can boost learning, by focusing attention, strengthening encoding, and fostering clarity of thought. It can take two main forms: elaboration and repetition.

Elaboration is when we prompt students to expand upon ideas, integrate them with prior knowledge, or organise them in more meaningful ways. “Create a flowchart to show the steps of cellular respiration.”

Repetition is when we... well, get students to simply repeat something. “Say after me... RESPIRATION...”

If elaboration is about connecting ideas, then repetition is about consolidating ideas.

Sometimes we can find ourselves championing elaboration and deriding repetition (just think about the derogatory way that ‘rote’ learning is often used). But both are vital.

For example, repetition can help to consolidate ideas after we’ve elaborated them (eg. via retrieval), increasing our ability to recall and apply. But it can also help to consolidate key ideas before we elaborate, making it easier to bring those ideas to mind and freeing up cognitive capacity so we can focus even more on making connections.

Repetition is just as powerful as elaboration (as long as it’s not overused).

Choral response is one example of a technique for fostering repetition. This is where we get all students to repeat a key word or phrase in unison, using cues such as:

• “I say, you say... RESPIRATION...” (using a distinctive tone)

• “On 2, the process by which cells convert oxygen and nutrients into energy is called... 1, 2...” (opening hands to class)

When we embed choral response in our practice, not only do we help consolidate ideas and create the conditions for better elaboration, but it also enables us to: bolster our checking for understanding, boost student motivation through quick wins, build feelings of belonging through shared rituals, and reduce attentional drift. And (as per pretty much all effective teaching), it tends to benefit those with special needs the most.

🎓 For more, check out this paper on the optimal sequencing of elaboration and retrieval.

Summary

• There are 2 main goals when it comes to externalising thinking: elaboration for connecting ideas and repetition for consolidating ideas.

• Repetition gets a bad rap in some education circles, but it’s just as important as elaboration (as long as not overused).

• Choral response is an excellent technique for fostering repetition (and it can also help with assessment, belonging, and equity).

Little updates 🥕

• Paper on retrieval practice for children with Down syndrome → finds it enhances understanding and retention (adding to the evidence that pretty much everyone stands to benefit from a focus on effective teaching).

• Review of the state of children’s reading in 2024 → finds record lows in both enjoyment and daily reading amounts 😢

• Longitudinal study on political trust in children → suggests an open classroom climate significantly boosts political trust into adulthood, whereas curriculum content and volume show less long-term influence​.

• Plus: A review of 20 years of school reform in England.