Repetition is DEAD, or is it?

After teaching for several years, I realized the importance of a strategy the last two years of my profession that completely altered my view of teaching and learning. My experiences have primarily been in a large-urban school district where teaching can be a challenge. But after finding how to repurpose an age- old teaching strategy, helping my students to learn new and complex information became less of a struggle. I learned the power of repetition.

I always thought that repetition equated to boredom. The key to repetition is presenting the information in various forms, which will reduce the likelihood of the students becoming apathetic toward the lesson. It is an unrealistic expectation to teach students a particular skill or concept one time and expect most of the information will be retained.  Teaching a lesson on subjects and predicates on Monday doesn’t mean the students will remember the skill on Wednesday. General principles of effective instructional design state there are two methods known to enhance memory- organization and repetition (Alessi & Trollip,  2001). As one Chris Jocham suggested, learning occurs with active and purposeful encoding, thus making repetition extremely beneficial for learners.

Incorporating repetition in my classroom proved to be an effective strategy for the students I taught. For example, enhancing students’ vocabulary was an essential for their reading growth. In addition to assigning specific words for homework, the students were exposed to the words EACH day in class. During class students were able to view a timed PowerPoint presentation that displayed their vocabulary words on a large TV monitor. Throughout the week, my students were able to see the same words used in context, multiple meanings were provided, and visual images were used to help the students make connections with their new words.  I have also found that infusing repetition into my professional development sessions has been beneficial for adult learners, too. Incorporating mini-quizzes and games during critical junctures in the sessions have enabled me to improve the learning experience for the participants.

According to Jensen (2009) the research is clear about the significance of providing learners with key information multiple times within one lesson, or returning to the information in later lessons. Also, according to Jensen (2009), repetition informs the brain that certain information is more important than a random bit of data. Repeating the content or concept several times within an hour is an effective technique to utilize in the classroom, then following up with learning the next day and up to seven days thereafter have proven to increase learners’ ability to remember essential concepts and content and allowing them to incorporate information into their existing knowledge structure. This process is known in the Instructional Design world as Information Processing Theory. Instructional Designers have recognized the importance of the developing instruction that involves three memory systems in the learner (sensory, short term, and long term memory) (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007). The premise behind the information processing theory is developing and designing instruction that will allow learners to store information in their short term memory and make connections with the information, so the transfer to their long-term memory can occur. Once the information is in long-term memory, it has been remembered and can be retrieved and applied when required. Repetition is a process that educators can use to increases the probability of information being stored in a learner’s long-term memory, which improves learning.

Most people equate repetition to rote memorization, and thus many scholars reject the idea of infusing repetition in the classroom. Scientists are becoming more knowledgeable about the positive effects repetition can have on learning. When incorporating repetition, it should be done to increase the transfer of knowledge from short-term memory to long-term memory and not incite boredom! This requires educators to be innovative when deciding “how” to incorporate repetition into their repertoire of teaching strategies. The teacher who understands the art of teaching and the science of learning knows repetition is ALIVE, and when used properly can assist learners with processing new information that will drastically improve students’ performance and motivation in the classroom.

Guest blogger: Terica Butler is a former middle school reading/language arts teacher. She taught in an urban school setting for six years. After teaching, she transitioned into the role of an Implementation Consultant for Scholastic. She now has the opportunity to serve teachers and students in Memphis, Tennessee and other large urban districts.  Terica is presently pursing a doctoral degree from the University of Memphis. Her interest in education include: urban education, professional development for teachers, instructional design embedded in technology.  After completing her degree, Terica plans to continue improving the lives of teachers and students in school districts across the country!

References
Jensen, E. (2010). Jensen learning . Retrieved January 25, 2010, from Jensen Learning website: http://www.jensenlearning.com/​news/.

Jensen, E. (2009). Super teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Jocham, C. (2010). Rewired learning. Retrieved January 24, 201,  from Rewired Learning : http://chrisjocham.typepad.com/​rewired-learning-blog/​2009/​11/ ​memory-while-moving-showing-students-repititon-is-needed.html.

Alessi, S., & Trollip , S. (2001). Multimedia for learning: Methods and Development. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Reiser, R., & Dempsey, J. (2007). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Image courtesy of Pictures by Ann at http://www.flickr.com/photos/picturesbyann/2572204267/