Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College
By Doug Lemov
Jossey-Bass, 2010, 352 pp.
Teacher Book Club Dates: April 12-14, 2011 | Go to discussion
Doug Lemov relates that as a young teacher, he received plenty of advice. People told him to 鈥渉ave high expectations鈥� and 鈥渢each kids, not content,鈥� but those words meant little once he was standing in front of a group of students. Then a peer gave him a concrete tip that helped more than any before: Stand still when giving directions. Lemov began using it right away鈥攁nd students responded.
In Teach Like a Champion, Lemov鈥攏ow the Managing Director of the charter school network Uncommon Schools鈥攐ffers 49 such 鈥渃oncrete, specific, and actionable鈥� techniques that teachers can implement immediately. The techniques are not ones Lemov invented, but rather ones he has seen time and again in his observations of highly effective teachers. Some of the methods described may seem 鈥渕undane鈥� or 鈥渦nremarkable,鈥� or even 鈥渇ail to march in step with educational theory,鈥� writes Lemov. 鈥淏ut they work.鈥�
So what kinds of things does he prescribe? Here are a few snapshots from the book.
For more on Lemov, see this widely dispersed about his research and work as managing director of the charter school network.
Technique #2: Right is Right.
Teachers should insist on answers being 100 percent correct. 鈥淭he likelihood is strong that students will stop striving when they hear the word right (or yes or some other proxy), so there鈥檚 a real risk to naming as right that which is not truly and completely right. ... In holding out for right, you set the expectation that the questions you ask and their answers truly matter.鈥�
Technique #10: Double Plan.
In planning lessons, account for what both the teacher and the students will be doing at any one time. 鈥淲hat will they be doing while you鈥檙e reviewing the primary causes of the Civil War? Will they be taking notes? If so, where?鈥�
Technique #22: Cold Call
During class, call on students regardless of whether they raise their hands. 鈥淚f students see you frequently and reliably calling on classmates who don鈥檛 have their hand raised, they will come to expect it and prepare for it.鈥�
In addition to the 49 techniques, Lemov includes strategies for pacing and questioning, and a few chapters on the fundamentals of teaching reading鈥攆rom decoding to fluency to comprehension.
The task of soaking it all in and implementing dozens of new techniques can be daunting for any teacher. So Lemov suggests teachers focus on their strengths. 鈥淵ou might be tempted to skip a chapter because you are already good at the topic it discusses, but I encourage you to study that chapter with special attentiveness specifically because you are good at it,鈥� says Lemov. Investing in your strengths, he writes, 鈥渃an be as or more powerful than eliminating all of your weaknesses.鈥�
For as much praise as its gotten, Teach Like a Champion has also been the subject of controversy, with detractors saying great teaching is much more than a routine set of discrete instructional tools. The book is sure to spark an animated discussion that you won鈥檛 want to miss.
Watch an Uncommon Schools teacher demonstrate the 鈥淐old Call鈥� technique.
Author Doug Lemov will be joining us for an online discussion of his book from April 12-14, 2011.
