Zak's Weekly Musings (August 24, 2022)

Last week, I wrote that “clearly defined expectations and corresponding systems of accountability are the secret sauce that bring a progressive Mission to life.” As Erich Fromm writes, “Freedom is not the absence of structure, but rather a clear structure that enables people to work within established boundaries in an autonomous and creative way.” This is because cognitive liberty and functional autonomy are byproducts of constrained conditions more so than they are the lawlessness of Lord of the Flies. This brand of positive freedom enables students to play an active and independent role in their own learning because it affords them the security of the predictable. This week, I want to write a bit about why predictability matters. 

Let’s start with a 2021 study that found that when students interact with new information three times, it’s 80% more likely to be encoded in long-term memory. Of course, it doesn’t matter how many times you present students with opportunities to interact with new information if students aren’t attentive to it. Students can’t learn 80% more of anything if they are distracted. Studies show that with the exception of students who have a diagnosed learning difference, most student distraction can be attributed to an overburdened cognitive load. For students to adapt new information to their long-term memory, we need to start by unburdening their working memory. So, how do we unburden working memory? Well, we establish routines. 

Routine creates a culture of predictability, thus freeing students’ cognitive loads and opening up channels for deeper thinking.

Anything that’s become a memorized habit –brushing our teeth, loading the dishwasher – frees up working memory. As Doug Lemov writes, “Making common, everyday activities familiar enough that we can do them without having to think about them makes it easier for us to do them and means we can free our minds up to think more deeply while doing them…A familiar routine allows you to save your limited cognitive load for something else.” In short, routine allows our brains to save energy, hold attention, and swing into action when tasks require deeper cognition.

In classrooms, familiar routines are the key to unlock student potentialities. Spontaneity is a key feature of progressive education, but it should be constrained by a boundary of routine. Of course, routine in this sense shouldn’t be conflated with perfect syncopation – it’s not as though all students should be doing the same thing at 9:21am each day – rather, routine is about allowing students to focus on what they’re learning, not how to go about learning it. Next week, we’ll talk about how we can establish some basic routines in our classes in order to unburden students and galvanize deeper learning.