Doug Lemov's field notes

About six months ago, we put out a call for nominations for the second cohort of our TLAC Fellowship. The program is designed to be an incentive for great teachers to become even better teachers.  We want to encourage very, very good teachers to focus on getting even better- to strive to become classroom artisans who love and are fascinated by the mastery of the craft. We want them to love deep study of teaching and importantly, to influence their peers though the excellence of their daily teaching and their passion for the craft- their growth mindset, if you will. And we want to find a way to let teachers be ambitious while remaining in the classroom!

During the first 18 months of the Fellowship, our first cohort of Fellows met with us monthly.  In those meetings, we watched video, shared lesson plans, role played teaching scenarios, shared feedback, etc. Then Fellows got to go out and apply what they were learning into their teaching, filming it and getting more feedback from their peers.  Now that our first cohort of Fellows are transitioning to the more independent second half of their fellowship, we are excited to start anew with a second group of great classroom practitioners.

After we received nominations from all over the country, we reviewed written and video application materials, hosted one-on-one video meetings, and lead a final in-person Immersion Day. We were fortunate to “get to know” almost 100 amazing teachers from district, charter, and parochial schools spanning multiple grade levels and content areas in more than 20 states.

For us the process was both joyous and heart wrenching—we had to say no to many exceptional teachers doing incredible work for their students and communities, but we were inspired by the insight and talent of all the teachers who applied.

Thus it is with great excitement that we share with you the nine Fellows we selected. In the coming months you’ll get to know them more through their videos and writing, but here’s a quick preview of where they’re from and what they teach.

• Alonte Johnson, 7^th Grade ELA, Kings Collegiate, Brooklyn, NY
• Ashley LaGrassa, 8^th Grade ELA, Rochester Prep West Middle School, Rochester, NY
• Carla Seeger, 8^th Grade Math, Amistad Academy, New Haven, CT
• Denarius Frazier, 11^th Grade/Pre-Calculus, Uncommon Collegiate Charter High School, Brooklyn, NY
• Jennifer Crucetti, 1^st Grade, Abram Lansing Elementary, Cohoes, NY
• John Burmeister, Music, Troy Prep Elementary School, Troy, NY
• Sadie McCleary, 10^th Grade Chemistry, Uncommon Collegiate Charter High School, Brooklyn, NY
• Samara Levy, 9^th Grade Algebra, Livingston Collegiate Academy,  New Orleans, LA
• Tamesha McGuire, Kindergarten, Kings Elementary School, Brooklyn, NY

TLaC Fellows