Boosting Engagement and Retention with Fast and Curious

Speaker: Selena Shepherd & Jennifer Armstrong of Central Region Educational Cooperative

Preparation: At the beginning of the session, participants will need access to their laptops to actively engage in the learning activities.

Description:

In this session, participants will explore Fast and Curious, a high-impact EduProtocol that increases student engagement, retention, and confidence across content areas. This short, repetition-based routine uses quick formative cycles with immediate feedback to help students internalize key concepts in just 15 minutes a day. Teachers gain real-time data to guide instruction, while students benefit from a fast, fun, and confidence-building learning experience. Participants will experience the protocol firsthand and leave with practical strategies, templates, and tips to implement Fast and Curious for inclusive, student-centered learning.

Participants will also learn how to incorporate the Frayer Model to deepen understanding of academic vocabulary and key concepts. This research-based strategy guides students to define terms, identify characteristics, and generate examples and non-examples, promoting critical thinking and stronger conceptual clarity. When paired with Fast and Curious, the Frayer Model supports multiple learning modalities, reinforces academic language, and helps all learners build meaningful, lasting understanding.

Objectives:

After this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Describe the purpose and key components of the Fast and Curious EduProtocol.

• Experience and facilitate a Fast and Curious learning cycle to increase student engagement and retention.

• Use formative data from Fast and Curious to provide timely feedback and adjust instruction.

• Integrate the Frayer Model to deepen student understanding of vocabulary and key concepts.

• Apply inclusive, student-centered strategies that support diverse learners across content areas.

Resources:

2:30 pm