Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

02.06.18 A Masterful No Opt Out by Denarius Frazier (Video)

Every once in a while, you come across an example of a teacher using a technique in the classroom that captures almost everything you wanted to say about it–Why a teacher would use it. How. It’s a case study in how to apply a tool to advance learning and it pushes your understanding of the idea…


01.23.18 They Were Skeptical But They Agreed to Try

  Got an email from a colleague this morning who’s using TLAC techniques in his school. He’d recently come to our “Ratio” training, which focuses on how to make more classrooms where students do the cognitive work and was now doing training and support for teachers back at his school. (If you’ve come to our workshops…


01.20.18 Utopia and Other Aristocracies

  There’s a guy named Mark Barnes who’s got a column in Ed Week. It’s all about imagining a world in which we did not grade students at all. Here’s the gist: If you’re interested in disrupting education far more than the 3-D printer or smartphone ever could, consider schools and colleges where there are no…


01.08.18 How Freedom Prep’s Jasmine Howard Checks for Understanding

  We’ve spent this past year working with Freedom Prep, a network of 4 high-performing schools in Memphis. The goal  for us is to help them take their program to the next level, and the journey has been a rich one–the team at Freedom Prep is dedicated, smart and insightful and their schools are bright, warm,…


01.05.18 Two Tales from Peace Corps Africa–But Useful for Teachers Everywhere

  This year I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with Dee Hertzberg and Audrey Spencer, who help direct teaching programs for the Peace Corps in Africa. They use Teach Like a Champion there and this has led to a series of amazingly useful conversations about education in Africa, sure, but also about teaching and learning more…