Better Routines=Better Learning

 

How often have you gone through a routine, like brushing your teeth, and then had no memory of how it happened? That's because by definition, "A routine is a sequence of actions that gets triggered by a 'cue' (aka prompt), all of which happens largely unconsciously and with minimal cognitive effort."

As new teachers, we often learn about the power of routines for efficient classroom and behavior management, saving time and creating order so that learning can occur.

However, fewer teachers know that routines can INCREASE how effectively students learn.

Peps Mcrea is an educator/author who puts out a weekly Evidence Snacks update about research in education. In his latest series, he's shared a lot about how routines support learning. (If you want to subscribe to the Evidence Snacks email, which sends you a summary of research once every week or so, click here.) He shares that routines are so powerful in school because:

1.      We can help students to achieve lots with little effort (both from them and us). 2.      Students don't have to expend their finite and precious attention on the process of learning, and so can focus more on the content of our teaching.

Not only do routines supercharge student learning, but they also create a sense of safety, which is particularly valued by students with special needs. And when a routine is in place, we teachers also must think less about what is happening, and so can spend more of our previous mental capacity on monitoring the classroom and responding to student needs as they arise.

In fact, it could be argued that reusing routines from year to year has even more benefit, because the effort needed to get students to a point of "automation" in a routine is lower. Routines are only valuable once they are automated, which can take 20-60 repetitions. That's a lot, but once the routine is in place, the payoff is HUGE!

And routines can do so much more than remove the executive functioning barriers to learning. 

Routines can encourage risk-taking, as evidenced by one first-grade teacher's use of the "kiss your brain" routine after students work through a hard problem. 

Routines don't have to be boring; they can actually support student choice and voice, as evidenced by examples like article of the week, meme Monday, and discussion protocols from this Edutopia post.

As you work with your teams, consider discussing what routines you want to see students carry from class to class, grade level to grade level, and school to school. How can we make the most of routines to lighten the cognitive load and focus on more learning?