Say why yesterday's lesson matters for today's
Students can ace the retrieval starter and still not see what it was for. The bridge between lessons has to be said out loud.
Oct 19, 2026 · 1 min read
Most lessons now open with review; far fewer open with the bridge. A student can answer every starter question and still meet the new content as a stranger, because the connection that is obvious to you is invisible to them. Rosenshine (2012) puts a short review of prior learning first among his principles, but the review only pays off when you spend one more minute saying, explicitly, how it unlocks today: last week we found the area of one triangle, today that is the tool for compound shapes. (Manning's lesson-opening-designer skill scripts this bridge as its own step between the starter and the new material.)
In practice
- Aim the starter at the specific prerequisites today's lesson leans on, not general revision; the bridge writes itself when the review was aimed.
- Say the connection yourself in one or two sentences; asking "can anyone see the link?" outsources the most important sentence of the lesson to chance.
- Then frame what they will learn, not what they will do; "you will be able to explain why" beats "we are doing a worksheet on".
Quick takeaway: review earns its minutes only when the bridge gets its own sentence.