Learning Something New

During a recent training session, I introduced educators to a new vocabulary word, interleave. When I asked if anyone had heard the word before, not a single hand went up. I invited them to join me in a learner stance. I didn’t want them thinking about pedagogy or their own practice just yet. I simply wanted them to experience what it feels like to learn something new.

To model a structured literacy vocabulary routine, we said the word together. We dissected and discussed the spelling and meaning of the word parts, connecting it to other words and instructional strategies the group was familiar with. Throughout the remainder of our time together, I kept bringing the word interleave into our conversations, revisiting its meaning, pronunciation, spelling, and word parts to demonstrate frequent, distributed practice.

By the end of the workshop, educators were not only familiar with the meaning of the word but also began using it as they reflected on their instructional practice. Their experience as learners that morning is what helped bring the idea of interleaving to life. 

What Interleaving Means

In the training, interleave wasn’t just a word we defined, used in a sentence, or drew a picture of, and then left behind. The word was woven throughout the day in a variety of ways. Educators engaged with the word by saying it, reading it, breaking it apart, analyzing its parts, and blending it back together. They spelled it aloud and wrote it down. Over the course of the day, they began connecting interleaving to other teaching practices and reflecting on how it might show up in their classrooms.

This is what interleaving looks like in practice. It is the intentional mixing and revisiting of ideas, skills, or concepts over time so that learners must retrieve what they have learned and apply it in different ways. This is not just good instruction. It aligns with how the brain actually stores and retrieves information.

One of the most important parts of the day was when we watched the Brain Dictionary video and saw how words are stored in networks across the brain. Words are not stored as isolated lists. Instead, they are connected to other words, ideas, categories, and experiences. When I introduced the word interleave and revisited it over the course of the day, educators had repeated opportunities to retrieve it. Each act of retrieval helped strengthen and grow those connections in the brain, making the word easier to access and use.

This is why simple exposure to a word or concept is not enough. Students need multiple, varied opportunities to engage with it, revisit it, and apply it over time. This kind of spiraled interleaving is what helps learning stick and last.

When Learning Doesn’t Stick

Have you ever taught a concept one day, only to have students act as if they had never heard of it the next?

If you are an educator, chances are you have experienced this. You taught a lesson, and by the end, students were able to practice the skill independently with accuracy. The next day, they are sitting in their seats, staring at the entry task, unsure what to do.

Students can perform well during practice when everything is predictable. When they are working within a single skill or pattern, they often feel confident because they know what is expected. But when those same skills show up in a new context or alongside other ideas, students may be confused. This happens because the brain was relying on repetition rather than decision-making.

Interleaving changes that.

When students encounter multiple concepts, skills, or ideas at once, they have to pause and decide how to proceed. That pause is where learning happens.

In instruction, interleaving is not a separate strategy. It is something educators can embed across content areas. Students benefit from opportunities to pause, retrieve what they know, and consider how to apply it in new situations. Instead of practicing one skill at a time, students can be presented with a variety of skills and ideas where they make sense of what they know, what they are learning, and how it fits in the moment.

Throughout a unit of study, skills and ideas can be spiraled so that students return to them again and again, each time encountering them in slightly different ways. These repeated opportunities to retrieve and apply knowledge help strengthen connections in the brain, making learning more flexible and durable.

A Final Reflection

As I reflect on that experience, I keep coming back to a simple shift in how we think about practice. As educators, we care deeply about meeting standards and helping students master skills. That work matters.

At the same time, if we want learning to endure into the next grade, high school, and beyond, students need to do more than get answers right. They need to be able to think critically, recognize when to use what they know, and apply their learning in new and varied situations.

When students are given opportunities to pause, retrieve, and apply their learning across a unit of study, they begin to build stronger and more flexible understanding. They are not just practicing a skill; they are learning how to use it. This kind of learning takes time, intention, and thoughtful design. It is what helps learning stick.