New Structure

TRANSITION
GUIDE HOME		 OVERVIEW NEW
STRUCTURE		 NEW AND
REVISED TECHNIQUES		 OUTTAKE
TECHNIQUES		 NEW
VIDEO CLIPS		 REFLECTION
QUESTIONS		 ADDITIONAL
FEATURES		 BEYOND
THE BOOK
PART 1: CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

In Teach Like a Champion, Check for Understanding (CFU) was a single technique. Teach Like a Champion 2.0  not only begins with CFU, it has a whole section devoted to assessing student understanding. The ten techniques in these two chapters are entirely new to the second edition. They outline how to gather data through questioning and observation and how to build a culture of error in your classroom.

CHAPTER 1 – Gathering Data on Student Mastery

  • Includes six (6) new techniques:
    1. REJECT SELF REPORT. Replace functionally rhetorical questions with more objective forms of impromptu assessment.
    2. TARGETED QUESTIONING. Get a thumbnail assessment via a quick series of carefully chosen questions directed at a strategic sample of the class and executed in a short time period.
    3. STANDARDIZE THE FORMAT. Streamline data collection and make observations more efficient by designing materials and space so that you’re looking in the same, consistent place every time for the data you need.
    4. TRACKING, NOT WATCHING. Be intentional about how you scan your classroom. Decide specifically what you’re looking for and remain disciplined about it in the face of a thousand distractions.
    5. SHOW ME. Flip the classroom dynamic in which the teacher gleans data from a passive group of students. Have students actively show evidence of their understanding.
    6. AFFIRMATIVE CHECKING. Insert specific points into your lesson when students must get confirmation that their work is correct, productive, or sufficiently rigorous before moving on to the next stage.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling the following techniques: Reject Self Report, Standardize the Format, Show Me, and Affirmative Checking.
CHAPTER 2 – Acting on the Data and the Culture of Error

  • Includes four (4) new techniques:
    1. PLAN FOR ERROR. Increase the likelihood that you’ll recognize and respond to errors by planning for common mistakes in advance.
    2. CULTURE OF ERROR. Create an environment where your students feel safe making and discussing mistakes, so you can spend less time hunting for errors and more time fixing them.
    3. EXCAVATE ERROR. Dig into errors, studying them efficiently and effectively, to better understand where students struggle and how you can best address those points.
    4. OWN AND TRACK. Have students correct or revise their own work, fostering an environment of accountability for the correct answer.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling Culture of Error.

 

PART 2: ACADEMIC ETHOS

Academic Ethos is about the importance of seeking the maximum level of academic rigor. It includes revised versions of four chapters from the first version of the book: “Setting High Academic Expectations,” “Planning for Success,” “Lesson Structure,” and “Pacing.” Of course, other key factors help determine the level of rigor in a lesson—the content you teach and how deep you go—but these four chapters examine concrete actions that build rigor in a variety of domains.

CHAPTER 3 – Setting High Academic Expectations

  • Previously Chapter 1 “Setting High Academic Expectations.”
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling the following techniques: No Opt Out, Right Is Right, Stretch It, and Format Matters.
CHAPTER 4 – Planning for Success

  • Previously Chapter 2 “Planning that Ensures Academic Achievement.”
  • Shortest Path and Draw the Map are not included as specific techniques in 2.0 but are discussed in side-bars instead.
CHAPTER 5 – Lesson Structure

  • Previously Chapter 3 “Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons.”
  • Includes one (1) new technique:
    1. CONTROL THE GAME. This technique was discussed in the first edition’s chapter on reading. It prompts teachers to ask students to read aloud frequently, while managing the process to ensure expressiveness, accountability, and engagement.
  • The Hook and Take a Stand were removed in 2.0.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling Control the Game and Circulate.
CHAPTER 6 – Pacing

  • Previously extra techniques in Chapter 8, the following techniques are now in Chapter 6: Change the Pace, Brighten the Lines, All Hands, Work the Clock, and Every Minute Matters.
  • Previously from Chapter 8, Look Forward is not included as a specific technique but is discussed within the text in 2.0.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling the following techniques: Change the Pace, Brighten Lines, All Hands, and Work the Clock.

 

PART 3: RATIO

The chapter “Engaging Students in Your Lessons,” is now renamed “Ratio” and divided into three chapters that explore ways teachers can build two types of Ratio—Participation Ratio (breadth and frequency of engagement) and Think Ratio (depth of engagement). The three chapters focus, respectively, on questioning, discussion, and writing and are preceded by an important “Content Prerequisite” in Chapter Seven. It argues that rigorous thinking requires a commitment to content knowledge.

CHAPTER 7 – Building Ratio Through Questioning

  • Lemov emphasizes the importance of reading “The Content Prerequisite” in Chapter 7 before reading the three chapters on ratio.
  • Vegas was removed in 2.0.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling the following techniques: Cold Call, Wait Time, Call and Response, and Pepper.
CHAPTER 8 – Building Ratio Through Writing

  • Includes four (4) new techniques:
    1. ART OF THE SENTENCE. Emphasize the fundamental building block of writing and help students elevate their syntax and word choice by asking them to synthesize a complex idea, summarize a reading, or distill a discussion in a single, well-crafted, written sentence.
    2. SHOW CALL. Create a strong incentive to complete writing with quality and thoughtfulness by publicly showcasing and revising student writing—regardless of who volunteers to share.
    3. BUILD STAMINA. Gradually increase writing time to develop in your students the habit of writing productively, and the ability to do it for sustained periods of time.
    4. FRONT THE WRITING. Arrange lessons so that writing comes earlier in the process to ensure that students think rigorously in writing.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling the following techniques: Everybody Writes and Show Call.
CHAPTER 9 – Building Ratio Through Discussion

  • Includes three (3) new techniques:
    1. HABITS OF DISCUSSION. Make your discussions more productive and enjoyable by normalizing a set of ground rules or “habits” that allow discussion to be more efficiently cohesive and connected.
    2. TURN AND TALK. Encourage students to better formulate their thoughts by including short, contained pair discussions that are engineered to maximize efficiency and accountability.
    3. BATCH PROCESS. Grant students more ownership and autonomy over classroom discussions by avoiding the impulse to mediate their comments for short periods of time or for longer, more formal sequences.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling Habits of Discussion and Turn and Talk.

 

PART 4: FIVE PRINCIPLES OF CLASSROOM CULTURE

Part Four of the book focuses on behavior and culture. If your classroom culture is not where you want it to be, assessing the effectiveness of discipline, control, management, engagement, and influence is a great first step. This section frames more clearly the two critical points teachers must understand in building classroom culture: first, that the purpose of order in the classroom is to promote academic learning; second, that great culture entails doing far more than just eliminating disruptions. Lemov explores the latter point in more depth in Chapter Twelve, where he discusses the power of relationships and the importance of joy.

CHAPTER 10 – Systems and Routines

  • Previously Technique 32, SLANT has been revised and renamed: STAR/SLANT. Teach students key baseline behaviors for learning, such as sitting up in class and tracking the speaker, by using a memorable acronym such as STAR or SLANT.
  • Includes three (3) new techniques:
    1. STRONG START. Design and establish an efficient routine for students to enter the classroom and begin class.
    2. ENGINEER EFFICIENCY. Teach students the simplest and fastest procedure for executing key classroom tasks, and then practice so that executing the procedure becomes a routine.
    3. STRATEGIC INVESTMENT: FROM PROCEDURE TO ROUTINE. Turn procedures into routines by beginning with a strong rollout and reinforcing until excellence becomes habitual. Prepare for the fact that routinizing a key procedure requires clear expectations, consistency, and, most important, patience. Even so, it’s almost always worth it.
  • Strong Start builds upon the ideas in two techniques from the first edition: Do Now and Entry Routine. Entry Routine was removed in 2.0, and Do Now is part of Chapter 5 on “Lesson Structure.”
  • Tight Transitions are now discussed as a part of the techniques Engineer Efficiency and Strategic Investment: From Procedure to Routine.
  • The technique Do It Again was moved from the original chapter “Setting and Maintaining High Behavioral Expectations” to this revised chapter on Systems and Routines.
  • Props is no longer its own technique, but is discussed within Strategic Investment: From Procedure to Routine.
  • Binder Control, On Your Mark, and Seat Signals were removed in 2.0. Doug still believes in the importance of these ideas, however, and has placed them on his website for teachers’ continued reference.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling Strategic Investment: From Procedure to Routine and Do It Again.
CHAPTER 11 – High Behavioral Expectations

  • Previously Technique 36, 100% is now five (5) new techniques:
    1. RADAR/BE SEEN LOOKING. Prevent nonproductive behavior by developing your ability to see it when it happens and by subtly reminding students that you are looking.
    2. MAKE COMPLIANCE VISIBLE. Ensure that students follow through on a request in an immediate and visible way by setting a standard that’s more demanding than marginal compliance.
    3. LEAST INVASIVE INTERVENTION. Maximize teaching time and minimize “drama” by using the subtlest and least invasive tactic possible to correct off-task students.
    4. FIRM CALM FINESSE. Take steps to get compliance without conflict by establishing an environment of purpose and respect and by maintaining your own poise.
    5. ART OF THE CONSEQUENCE. Ensure that consequences, when needed, are more effective by making them quick, incremental, consistent, and depersonalized. It also helps to make a bounce-back statement, showing students that they can quickly get back in the game.
  • No Warnings and Sweat the Details were removed in 2.0.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling the following techniques: Radar/Be Seen Looking, Make Compliance Visible, Least Invasive Intervention, Firm Calm Finesse, Art of the Consequence, and Strong Voice.
CHAPTER 12 – Building Character and Trust

  • Explain Everything was removed in 2.0.
  • Normalize Error is no longer its own technique, but it is discussed at length in Chapter 2 as part of Check For Understanding.
  • Watch new video clips of teachers modeling the following techniques: Positive Framing, Precise Praise, and Joy Factor.

 

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