: Schwartz provides specific strategies for adjusting minilessons, conferences, and mid-workshop teaching points to make them more memorable.
The forgetting curve was first described by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist who studied memory in the late 19th century. Ebbinghaus found that when we learn new information, our brains initially retain it well, but over time, we tend to forget a significant portion of it. This forgetting curve is especially steep in the first few hours and days after learning. This forgetting curve is especially steep in the
Students retain more when they are active participants. Schwartz recommends using storytelling , physical gestures , and role-playing during minilessons to deepen engagement. Enter Shanna Schwartz’s concise but powerful volume, A
Enter Shanna Schwartz’s concise but powerful volume, A Quick Guide to Making Your Teaching Stick: K-5 , part of the revered Workshop Help Desk series published by FirstHand in 2008. While the book is lean (true to the “quick guide” promise), its impact is anything but. Schwartz tackles the core paradox of primary education: Why does so much high-quality instruction fail to transfer into long-term student habit? our brains initially retain it well
(Workshop Help Desk series) by Shanna Schwartz Published by FirstHand, 2008
Schwartz criticizes the “anchor chart graveyard”—walls filled with charts students no longer see. Her solution:
Consistency of language is the mother of memory.