Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

02.01.17 Tucking In and Tucking Out

I am going to to use this post to share a parenting idea: something that enriches my daughter’s life and our relationship. I thought some others might want to steal it. I do not purport to be a parenting expert. This is recreational advice. Context: Tuck-in time at night is often the best time of the day…


01.17.17 How Dani Quinn Uses Show Me to Check for Understanding

Dani Quinn is a math teacher at the Michaela School in London. We recently video-taped her lesson and, in watching, I was struck right away by her Check for Understanding. She constantly used Show Me (technique #5 in TLaC) to assess students as she taught and she used that data to guide her lesson. And she…


01.16.17 A Martin Luther King Day Reflection on Courage

For the past few years I’ve tried to spend the morning of MLK day studying the details of his life, usually by re-reading sections of my favorite books on the subject, Taylor Branch’s America in the King Years trilogy. Last year I started writing about my annual reflection on King’s life and work. This morning I…


01.06.17 Building Academic Vocabulary: A Postcard from Jo Facer’s Classroom

A few weeks ago we shot video at the Michaela School in London- truly a thought-provoking and inspirational place. I’ve just started in watching the footage, beginning with Jo Facer’s English class, and have already found a dozen moments I’m going to cut video of. But for now I just want to share a photo of…