An understanding of working memory, long term memory, space practice, and automaticity, gives us some principles we can apply to the teaching of writing.

Studying something once and moving on does not give a young writer the necessary exposure to be able to retain the learning in long term memory (spaced practice).
Each new skill should be introduced only once the skills beneath it are becoming automatic, so that there is enough space in working memory (automaticity).

In practical terms:

❌A young writer who encounters persuasive writing only once in Year 2 and never again until Year 3 is unlikely to retain what they learned.

✅A young writer who returns to persuasive writing across Terms 1, 2, 3, and 4, each time building on what they did before, is building something durable.

❌A young writer who learns persuasive writing in Year 2 and then a different method of persuasive writing in Year 3 is unlikely to show any improvement in their writing, as they are not able to lean on what they already know to make the new learning easier

✅A young writer who learns persuasive writing in Year 2 and recalls that knowledge in Year 3 has the working memory capacity to build deeper and more complex understandings, as they are not trying to learn absolutely everything new, but are focused on learning how to do something they can already do well, better.

In The Classroom

Studying something once and moving on does not give a young writer the necessary exposure to be able to retain the learning in long term memory (spaced practice).

Each new skill should be introduced only once the skills beneath it are becoming automatic, so that there is enough space in working memory (automaticity).