Doug Lemov's field notes

Stumbled upon this piece of TV Journalism this morning.  A tribute to Cornerstone Prep’s Brittany Ordu (also, by the way, a Memphis Teacher Residency grad) for her outstanding results with her second graders. It always makes me happy to see lights shining on a teacher for the power of the work she does and am happy and humbled that TLaC is useful to her.

Love the easy warm joyfulness evident in Brittany’s teaching even in the short clips in the story and even as she uses every minute on instruction and notes the importance of discipline. I’m seeing Format Matters, Positive Framing and Props among other techniques.

The newscaster’s reference to the “Doug Lemov method” makes me a bit uneasy.  I can do without that part since the idea of course is that it’s not mine at all–I just tried to describe what real teachers do– and that the power, always, lies in how people like Brittany implement and execute. In fact one thing a friend pointed out to me that’s “different” about Teach Like a Champion is that it’s not a ‘system’ or a ‘method’ but a box of tools that, ideally you and people like Brittany choose and use and adapt within whatever system you’re already using.  You do what you do and choose a tool here or there to make it a little better without having to start over. So in this case they ought to have called it the “Brittany Ordu method.”

Anyway, congrats to Brittany, the gang at Cornerstone Prep, and all of the great schools making a world of difference in Memphis

Brittany Ordu; Cornerstone Prep