Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

05.13.20 Means of Participation Online with Ben Esser

As you know we’ve been watching and posting a ton of video of great online teaching. We posted this great clip of Alonzo Hall and Linda Fraser’s A+ procedures and routines. We posted this great clip of Ben Esser ‘dissolving the screen.’ Today I want to share another clip of Ben, here taking a page from…


12.19.19 How Sadie McCleary Manages Student Participation (Video)

Happy Holidays, friends. I give you the gift of outstanding video to send you off into your winter break. This clip is of Sadie McCleary’s class. She’s a Chemistry teacher at Western Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. Generally this clip will inspire you- it’s such a beautiful example of how careful attention to building…


10.06.17 Cold Call for Coaches: Atlanta United’s Mike Lynch Dials It In

  The benefits of using Cold Call in the classroom are pretty clear. It helps ensure that students are always mentally ‘on’ during a lesson and it allows teachers to question quickly and efficiently, especially to make sure that students know what they need to know—to Check for Understanding. These ideas are critical in a coaching…


06.09.17 For Coaches: Notes on ‘Means of Participation’

      A topic I’ve been thinking about as I’ve watched coaches over the past couple of months is something I call ‘means of participation.’ It’s relevant during questioning. I’ve written about if for classroom teachers here.  But it’s relevant for coaches too- questioning is important in building decision-making and reinforcing knowledge through recall practice…