Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

05.08.17 Carry On My Son: The Signal and the Noise in Coaching

Anthony Fowler my colleague at Uncommon Schools sent me a note this morning to pass along this great moment between Steve Kerr and Steph Curry.   “There’s something about him sharing the evidence (stats), and giving the positive reinforcement for him to keep going, even when it seems like he’s not performing his best,” Anthony wrote….


05.03.17 To Parents Who Have Opted Out of State Testing

To Parents Who Have Opted Out of State Testing I’ve read about and heard the anger and frustration you feel towards a school system that requires your child to participate in state testing. You believe testing is invalid or unhealthy or that it distorts the purposes of schooling. In opting out you have chosen to do…


04.28.17 ‘Embedding Complex Fiction’

  My littlest daughter and I just started the 8th book in the Little House on the Prairie series.  She loves that series- just as her older sister did.  In fact their shared love of Little House led to a useful realization last week..  My mom was in town and had just finished telling us that…


04.26.17 On Teaching College: Interview with Norman Eng

Norman Eng is a doctor of education with an unusual background. As an advertising executive prior to his teaching career, he helped clients realize their communication goals and took away a major lesson—know your target audience. This informed his understanding of teaching as an elementary school teacher and then as an adjunct assistant professor of childhood…


04.25.17 Why Reading Aloud to Students is So Critical to Vocabulary

Last night, after reading aloud to my daughter and tucking her in, I was mopping up a bit of work from the day and came across this observation by Isabel Beck: “The source of later vocabulary learning shifts [as students get older] to written texts–what children read [as opposed to what they hear].  The problem is…