What is Incremental Rehearsal?
Incremental rehearsal (IR) is an intervention strategies teachers, family members, tutors, or volunteers can use to help increase students fluency. Incremental means increasing or adding on. With IR, a student is presented with flashcards with math facts on them, without the answer. In order to create the flashcards, the teacher will need to know and understand the students abilities. The teacher will create a pile of flashcards with math facts the student knows and can answer in 2 seconds. The teacher will also need to create a pile of flashcards the student does not know, and cannot answer within 2 seconds. Once the teacher is finished making the flashcards there will be two piles, a known pile and an unknown pile. According to Dr. Tillman (n.d., p.1), "presenting known information along with unknown allows for high rates of success and can increase retention of the newly learned items, behavioral momentum and resulting time on task." With that being said, IR can help students increase fluency through repetition.
According to Intervention Central, the following is a list of steps on how to implement this intervention in your classroom:
Materials:
flashcards, and a pen to create the flashcard
Step 1: Introduce math facts to the student at instructional level
Step 2: Identify at least 9 math facts that the student knows and can answer within 2 seconds (known pile)
Step 3: Also, identify 10 math facts that the student does not know and cannot answer within 2 seconds (unknown
pile)
Step 4: Take 9 cads from the known stack and 1 card from the unknown stack
Step 5: Lay the first unknown card down on the table and have the student attempt to read it. If the student answers
incorrect, tell them the correct answer
Step 6: Then, Lay a known card down on the table next to the unknown card and have the student answer
Step 7: Point back at the unknown card on the table, and have the student answer:
a) If student answers correctly then it becomes a known. The teacher will continue and point at the
known card (from step 6), and have the student answer. The teacher will then lay down the second
known card next to the first known card (so they form a line in order), and have the student answer.
The teacher will then go back and point back at the unknown card, and the two known cards, and have
the student answer each math fact as the teacher points at them. The teacher will then lay down
the third known card and repeat the process. Eventually, there will be 9 cards laid down on the table in
a line.
b) If the student answers one incorrectly, then the teacher will still continue the process by having them
say the known before they go back and reattempt the unknown.
Step 8: Repeat this process until all the unknown cards become known cards
According to Intervention Central, the following is a list of steps on how to implement this intervention in your classroom:
Materials:
flashcards, and a pen to create the flashcard
Step 1: Introduce math facts to the student at instructional level
Step 2: Identify at least 9 math facts that the student knows and can answer within 2 seconds (known pile)
Step 3: Also, identify 10 math facts that the student does not know and cannot answer within 2 seconds (unknown
pile)
Step 4: Take 9 cads from the known stack and 1 card from the unknown stack
Step 5: Lay the first unknown card down on the table and have the student attempt to read it. If the student answers
incorrect, tell them the correct answer
Step 6: Then, Lay a known card down on the table next to the unknown card and have the student answer
Step 7: Point back at the unknown card on the table, and have the student answer:
a) If student answers correctly then it becomes a known. The teacher will continue and point at the
known card (from step 6), and have the student answer. The teacher will then lay down the second
known card next to the first known card (so they form a line in order), and have the student answer.
The teacher will then go back and point back at the unknown card, and the two known cards, and have
the student answer each math fact as the teacher points at them. The teacher will then lay down
the third known card and repeat the process. Eventually, there will be 9 cards laid down on the table in
a line.
b) If the student answers one incorrectly, then the teacher will still continue the process by having them
say the known before they go back and reattempt the unknown.
Step 8: Repeat this process until all the unknown cards become known cards
Student Profile
In my field experience class, I am working with a group of 3rd graders. I have a particular student in mind that would greatly benefit from IR. She is very bright and loves math, however, she is very slow. It will take her 30 minutes to complete 2 problems. Through informal observation, I have come to the conclusion that the reason why it is taking her so long to complete her problems, is because she does not recognize simple math problems. If she is given the problem 5+4, she will need to count on her fingers in order to solve it. By using incremental rehearsal, this student will be able to practice unknown math facts by repeating them over and over. Through repetition, she will be able to recognize simple math facts. She will then be able to memorize that 5+4 equals 9, which will help her become more fluent in her learning and solve problems quicker.
Visual Representations
The video below shows a teacher demonstrating how to use RI with students. At the beginning of the video he explains the importance of RI and why this is a great intervention to use with students.
Content Area Examples
Reading- This intervention can be incorporated in a reading lesson by doing the same process only with Sight/ vocabulary words or letter names. The teacher can create flashcards with sight words the student known, and vocabulary words the student does not know.
History- This lesson can be incorporated in a history lesson by creating flashcards with states and capitol. The states will be written on the flashcard, and the capitol would be the answer.
History- This lesson can be incorporated in a history lesson by creating flashcards with states and capitol. The states will be written on the flashcard, and the capitol would be the answer.
