Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

04.07.15 Guest Post: Kim Frusciante on Training Rookie Teachers

Kim Frusciante is the Director of Rookie Teacher Development at Collegiate Academies, a charter organization that supports three high schools in New Orleans, Louisiana (Sci Academy, Carver Collegiate, and Carver Prep). In the past four years, Sci Academy has consistently achieved the highest statewide exam scores in the Recovery School District, and the highest among non-selective high schools…


07.31.14 Wait Time and Post-Its

Erica, Colleen, and I are halfway through a two-day workshop for Uncommon teachers from Boston, Rochester and Troy–two days talking about the best job in the world with great people and hopefully help get them better at it. Hard to beat. The other ‘best thing’ about the work we do is getting to be part of…


04.23.13 Slowly, With Precision, With the Brain

GREAT piece in the April 8 New Yorker by pianist Jeremy Denk… a retrospective on the role of practice in his development. Deeply reflective and insightful. Definitely worth the read though this video gives you a really good sense for a couple of the key sections, especially his first serious teacher’s use of feedback in his practice…


04.22.13 Reading Up on Wooden

My colleague Joaquin Hernandez has been reading back through some studies on John Wooden’s coaching. Here are four interesting points from Joaquin’s notes. The last one is my favorite: When Correcting, Sandwich the Model (M+, M-, M+): When you spot an error, stop the player and model how to perform the move correctly (M+), show them how…