Having had the luck to attend two of his seminars, I eagerly read through the NYT article on Building a Better Teacher. At his presentations he had a list of simple behavioral choices that improved teachers’ effect. I walked away from both presentations with lots of ideas of concrete changes to make in class, and recommend the article, and forthcoming book on the strength of his presentations.
Update I just checked out Uncommon Schools and found they have a page devoted to Lemov’s Taxonomy. I noticed there are a few more videos than in the Times’ article. That might be a good place to start if you’re looking for info on it. Though they don’t offer access to all their 700 clips. Too bad for everybody else.
I am very interested in getting a copy of Lemov’s Taxonomy. Does anyone know where I can find it?
I also eagerly read through the NYT article on Building a Better Teacher. As mentor coordinator for the Mamaroneck School District in New York state, I look forward to reading Doug Lemov’s book due out in April, “Teach Like a Champion: The 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College”. I guess this is where we will find Doug Lemov’s Taxonomy. I am also a fan of Jon Saphier’s teachings and his book “The Skillful Teacher.”
Brooke Teach Like a Champion as Diane mentioned is the only way I’ve heard of to get a hold of Lemov’s Taxonomy.
@Brooke: It’s available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Like-Champion-Techniques-Students/dp/0470550473/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1.
@Diane: You can read a bit of it already, by going to that page and clicking on the Look Inside option.
I have been looking like minded educators. Any contact info for Doug?
I just pre-ordered the book on Amazon. Does anyone know where to get information about seminars with Doug?
That was indeed a cool article. Can you say anything specifically from those “Teach Like a Champion,” seminars that helped you the most?
I just ordered the book, as well. But I have to say that I’m curious about why Green relies solely on economists’ research on effective teachers, especially considering the Atlantic’s article last month that referenced so much really good classroom nit and gritty from Teach For America.
Ann As far as I know Doug is probably doing workshops within the Uncommon Schools network. When I attended I was working for Achievement First (AF) in Brooklyn, and AF had organized an inservice day for AF teachers. Your best bet is probably contacting someone at Uncommon Schools.
Jim It’s been a while, and I’ve actually found myself trying to think back quite a bit to some of the strategies I focused on after those talks. The strategy I’d say that I focused the most on for a while was one Doug named “100%.” You give a direction, for example “eyes on the speaker.” If anyone isn’t on board, you get them on board. Maybe something like “I need everyone’s eyes on the speaker” assertively with some subtle hints.
Another way teachers lose out on 100% is talking over a student. One of the things I do the most based on this strategy is every single time I want to speak to the class I ask for their attention then I wait, and look around the room, making eye contact with everyone. I may start to talk if it’s quiet, but if I hear a peep, or notice someone not looking, I immediately stop talking, and wait, calmly. This makes it clear to students that I expect everyone to listen, everyone, not just the majority.
Lemov’s info was the most specific, useful advice I’ve ever received on effective presence in the classroom. I really look forward to this book.
Andy, thanks for pointing out The Atlantic’s What Makes a Great Teacher. Definitely a good addition to the discussion.
As a teacher and Literacy Coach, I am very interested in following up on this discussion. In the classroom, I am confident of my ability to get my students to focus on the instruction; however, when I go into classrooms to help others, I am stymied about where best to start. I have worked through data, through curriculum, through technology, through pedagogy and through parent involvement and still see many disengaged students. Something’s not working. These approaches help in some classrooms but there are still other classrooms where the change only lasts as long as I am in the room making it happen. I, too, am frustrated by the difficulty in figuring out and addressing the root cause of the problem.
Esther, it sounds like you are saying that these techniques only work as long as you are using them. Do the teachers that you work with also use the techniques? If not, the onus may be on you to tell them, unless you are content to just complain that the only time the students listen is when you are around. Also, how would you know how the students act when you are not in the room?
Thanks for sharing this discussion. The advice I received from one of Lemov’s workshops had a far greater impact on the quality of my teaching than anything I learned in Education school. I can’t wait for the book to come out.
What do you think about the statement that “Lemov is almost single-mindedly focused on the mechanics of teaching…” (p. 44). Can you have good teaching without command of the content?
Anthony, thank you for your comments. I am very interested in learning more about Lemov’s work. The point I was attempting to make is that I’ve been trying many approaches and feel that a more direct look at and reflection about teaching will help me and my school. Everyone is working hard with the students; everyone is looking at data and attempting to implement the school curriculum but we are still having difficulty meeting AYP goals. And, while we realize that NCLB is flawed, we do think that student engagement and learning is not happening the way it should.
@ Nick, awsome reply man. I teach ESL in Korea, and classroom dicipline is something that many of use struggle with because of the language barrier. Thanks a lot for that “Eyes on the speaker,” I’ll try to make sure that is one sentence that every student in my school knows in English.
I’m also interested in both Lemov’s “classroom management” techniques and how to teach the subject, especially in an elementary classroom. Esther: As far as coaching which is what I did for the last 8 years of my career, it is a whole set of skills and strategies all by itself. 3 tips: be specific about the skills or strategies to look for on a visit–preferably that you and the teacher have agreed on; have a brief meeting before or after school to go over the successes and strategies to improve; write down an action plan between you and the teacher of steps to take to improve. Also don’t expect immediate change. It’s relentless work to change old habits and/or establish new ones.
I just checked out the Amazon page for Lemov’s book. The physical copy of the book isn’t out yet, but the Kindle version is available now! (I don’t have a Kindle, but I have the Kindle app for my iPhone and you can download the Kindle reader program for your computer for free.)
Much of Lemov’s Taxonomy is available on Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=1iWrvWJy5SwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=teach+like+a+champion&ei=nF-eS-zZFKKeygSwx6WjAw&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
AP Thanks for sharing the link.
I want to attend one of these workshops!!
where? when?
please help
thanks
Hope (a teacher)
Hi Hope – Good luck. The workshops I attended were not open to anyone a few years ago, but I wonder if that will change based on the response and publicity of his book. I imagine there is someone better to contact, and it’s probably not fair to contact him directly, but his email is easily found by some googling.
I am a recently graduated ESL teacher. I pre-ordered Lemov’s new book, which comes with a DVD, in March and it arrived from Amazon.ca a few days ago. I’m eating it up.
I have been reading Mr. Lemov’s book with so much enthusiasm! It is by far the most inspiring professional book I have ever read. A colleague of mine and I are planning to have a K-12 professional dialog about this book next year. This is life changing material.
I have to wonder why these ideas are new. Popcorn reading, cold call, and waiting quietly until all of the students refrain from speaking. Really, is this new? Eyes on the speaker, or Eyes of me is this new too! I hope since I purchased the book I find something new, because otherwise, if this is new it is just bringing back the old and calling it new.
Donna – I agree that many of the ideas in the book have been around for quite a while, but I’d give Lemov a lot of credit for his descriptions and explanations. A lot of what I’ve taken away from Lemov seems to be a more precise way of thinking about my options for managing classes. If the ideas are old, I’d be surprised if they’ve ever been communicated so coherently. I would absolutely have pre-service teachers read this book before entering the classroom.
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking
and checking back frequently!