Session 5: Retention and Engagement – How Master Educators Make Learning Stick

​Welcome to Flight 5 in the Mockingbird onboarding series. In this session, we’ll move beyond grabbing attention—we’re focusing on what helps learning stick.  We’re not just keeping students awake—we’re helping them remember, connect, and apply what they learn.

​This flight explores how master educators design lessons that align with how the brain actually works. Using a combination of high-engagement strategies and cognitive-based design, we’ll explore how to help learners not just stay engaged, but build memory, make meaning, and apply what they’ve learned.

​In this flight session, we’ll explore:

• ​How working memory limits impact engagement, comprehension, and behavior

• ​How to design lessons that work with (not against) the limits of working memory

• ​Why schema and patterning help learners retain and retrieve information (hint: it is about being fat and dense...in the brain)

• ​How strategic repetition and activity shifts reduce overload and increase retention

• ​10 practical strategies to keep learners engaged and encoding information from start to finish
  
  

​You’ll leave this session with a renewed lens on what engagement really means—and how the small, intentional  strategies can lead to lasting impact.

​As always, your post-flight resources and optional practice tools will be waiting in Echo after landing.  This flight is about more than holding attention. It’s about helping learners hold on to what matters.