Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

12.08.15 Dept. of Game-Changing Ideas: Feedback Before the Lesson

Imagine for a minute a school that provides lots of useful feedback to teachers.  Perhaps this describes your own school.  Trusted colleagues and peers frequently see you teach. They have a shared vision of successful teaching that aligns to your own in large part and they take time to give you concrete practical advice to help…


12.07.15 An Update on Coaching to Develop Players vs. Coaching to Win

UPDATE 12.7.15: Earlier this year I posted about some of the tensions between coaching for the long term development of players and coaching for the short term (i.e. to get wins now).  You can read that original post below. Last week I got to spend two days talking teaching on the soccer field with 20 Academy…


11.06.15 A Tiny Little Thought-Post on Growth Mindset for Grownups

Look, we know we want the kids to have a growth mindset and to embrace a “Culture of Error“– in which kids like struggle and challenge and in which getting it wrong is a key tool for getting it right. We know we want the kids to think, “Oh, good. This is going to be hard!”…


11.05.15 For Coaches: The Hidden Value of Steve Covino’s Start and Stop Routines

I’ve been working with US Soccer to develop some training tools on principles of teaching for coaches.  As part of this work I’ve been developing short videos of an outstanding young coach, Steve Covino, working with a group of U8 players. In the next week or so I’m going to share two especially useful videos of…


10.21.15 Harry Fletcher-Wood’s Checklist for Practice Sessions

Teach First’s Harry Fletcher-Wood has a new book coming out: Ticked Off: Checklists for teachers, students, and school leaders. Imagine Atul Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto applied to the world of schools.  Our team has been all giddy with anticipation since long before we found out that one of his checklists is for designing effective practice activities for…