Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

05.06.24 Matt Lawrey and the Effort to Help Athletes Learn to Watch Better

  A few weeks ago I spent a day at Atlanta United’s Academy with Matt Lawrey, one of my favorite coaches and talent developers. In the afternoon we joined Will Bates, who was coaching the U15s, to experiment with a few ideas we are both interested in. We’ve talked in the past about trying to socialize…


05.03.24 More Ace Footage from Scott Wells’ Classroom

Earlier this week I posted a clip of Scott Wells of Goldsmith Primary Academy as he Checked for Understanding with his students. Justifiably, the clip got rave reviews in a recent workshop and online as well.  No surprise that- you can see how sharp it is (and some of the highlights from my perspective at least)…


05.01.24 My England Travelogue Part 3: A Really Wonderful CFU Workshop in London

  Last week I shared two blog posts here and here about my week-long trip to England the week prior, in which I visited two really fascinating schools. The week ended with a two-day workshop in London on the topic of Checking for Understanding, co-sponsored by Ark Schools (thank you Victor Voutov, the king of workshop…


05.01.24 How Scott Wells Checks for Understanding as His Students Read (with Video)

  We recently shot an amazing round of video in Scott Wells’ classroom at Goldsmith Primary Academy in Walsall…. We generated clip after clip of masterful teaching several of which we’ve already begun sharing in workshops. In fact I had the pleasure of showing a clip of Scott Checking for Understanding to participants at a session…


04.25.24 My England Travelogue Part 2: Blaise High School, Bristol

A few days ago I started a blog travelogue about my week in England with a summary of my trip to Ark Soane Academy in London. The next day, Wednesday, I was in Bristol to visit Blaise High School which is a fascinating and impressive case study in turnaround. When the current leadership Greenshaw Learning Trust…