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Session 3. Sequencing and Spiral Review
Objective. Order the lessons of a unit by dependency, and place spaced review and retrieval moments into a calendar so that key ideas return.
Most pupils forget a lot of what they learn within weeks, and a unit taught once in October is rarely still available in May. The reason is simple: ideas that are not used fade. Sequencing and review are how a teacher fights this inside the plan, not by shouting 'revise!' before exams. This lesson goes further than the key cards: how to find hidden dependencies, and how to build review that fits a 45-minute lesson and a real calendar.
Key ideas
Order by dependency
- For each lesson ask: what must pupils already know or be able to do? Draw an arrow from that earlier idea to this lesson.
- Typical orders: concrete before abstract, simple before complex, meaning before rule, and a worked example before independent work.
- The textbook order is a good starting point, not a rule. If it breaks a dependency, change it and note why.
The spiral: return with more depth
- In a spiral curriculum, a key idea is met several times: first simply, later with harder cases and new contexts.
- Choose the 3 to 5 key ideas of the year that everything else uses, such as place value, fractions or reading a graph. Plan where each returns.
- Check your year plan from Session 1: is any key idea taught once and never seen again?
Spaced review and retrieval
- Pupils forget what they do not use. Short returns after days and weeks help more than one long revision before the exam.
- Use retrieval: pupils answer from memory, with books closed, for example 3 questions in a 5-minute starter. Rosenshine describes weekly and monthly review as part of effective teaching.
- Mix topics in some practice (interleaving), so pupils must choose the method, not only repeat the last one.
Put review into the calendar
- Review that is not written in the plan usually does not happen. Add it as lines in the unit plan and the calendar.
- A simple pattern: a 5-minute starter, a 10-minute Friday review, and a monthly check of earlier units. Keep each part short.
- Review is not extra marking. Pupils can swap papers, use hands-up or a quick written quiz and you only look at what went wrong.
A spiral for one key idea
Finding hidden dependencies
Dependencies are not only between topics; they are also between skills and words. A word problem about scale on a map of Samarkand needs ratio, but also reading a map key and comfortable use of centimetres. When a lesson goes badly, ask which small prerequisite was missing. Often it is vocabulary, a notation or a unit of measure, not the main idea.
A practical method: write each lesson's last question on a card and ask 'what does a pupil need to answer this?'. Write the answers on new cards and place them earlier. You will usually find one or two cards that belong in a previous unit or in a quick starter. Add them to the plan as short refreshers rather than a full lesson.
Review that fits 45 minutes
Spaced review does not need a special lesson. Three small pieces are enough: a 5-minute starter with three questions from earlier units, a 10-minute review on one day each week, and a longer check once a month. Questions should require recall without notes, and a few should mix two topics so pupils must choose the method.
Keep a short list of 'return dates' on your unit plan: idea, first taught, returns in week X and week Y. Use the pupils' own answers to choose what to review next: if 40 percent miss a question, it returns sooner. No single schedule fits every class, so treat intervals as a starting guess that evidence from your class adjusts.
Examples from the classroom
The missing centimetres
Scene. Jasur teaches Grade 5 mathematics in Bukhara. In lesson 7 of a decimals unit pupils struggle with metres and centimetres. He asks 'what is needed?' and finds that many pupils never secured 100 cm = 1 m. He adds a 5-minute starter in lessons 4, 5 and 6 using a tape measure, and lesson 7 goes smoothly.
Insight. A small missing prerequisite can block a whole lesson, and a short starter can repair it.
Friday ten minutes
Scene. Malika in Tashkent teaches Grade 6 natural science. Every Friday she gives 10 minutes to six questions: two from this week, two from last month, two from the start of term. Pupils swap papers, she reads out answers, and she notes only the questions where more than 10 of 30 pupils erred. The next Monday starter returns to those.
Insight. Review is cheap when marking is shared and you only note what went wrong.
Reordering the textbook
Scene. Aziz in Fergana notices that the Grade 7 geography textbook puts the chapter on rainfall maps before the chapter on reading map scales. Pupils find rainfall maps confusing. He swaps the chapters, adds a 15-minute scale refresher and writes a line in his plan: 'moved on purpose: dependency, scale before rainfall'.
Insight. Changing the textbook order is fine when a dependency demands it and the reason is recorded.
Common pitfalls
- Following the textbook order even when a lesson needs an idea taught later.
- Planning review only for the week before the exam.
- Making review starters long, so that the new lesson is squeezed.
- Reviewing only the last unit and never earlier ones.
Re-order a Unit and Add Review
- Take the 8 lesson cards in the Kit (Grade 5 mathematics, decimals) in the mixed order of a textbook. Cut them out.
- Pairs (12 min): put the cards in dependency order. Draw arrows for at least four dependencies and write a reason on each.
- Pairs (13 min): use the 6-week calendar. The unit fills weeks 1 and 2. Add the review: starters, Friday reviews and one monthly check, with minutes and what returns (decimals AND earlier fractions).
- Groups (5 min): compare orders and calendars with another pair. Where did you differ, and which dependency made the difference?
- Alone (5 min): write your classroom action task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which two lessons did you move, and which dependency told you to move them?
- How much teaching time did your review plan take per week, and is that realistic?
- Which key idea of your own subject is taught once and never returns?
Reflect
- Where has a pupil been stuck because an earlier idea was missing?
- What do your pupils remember from last term's first unit?
- Which 5-minute starter could you use next week?
Try it tomorrow
- Pick one lesson that went badly this month and ask which small prerequisite was missing.
- Run two 5-minute starters with three questions from earlier units, books closed, and tally the correct answers.
- Write three 'return dates' on your calendar for one key idea.
Further reading and links
Order lessons by what depends on what, and write short, spaced returns of key ideas into the calendar.