Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

09.02.20 Online Learning: The First Step is Transparency

Online learning is brand new- for teachers and for students. That means figuring out and communicating consistent expectations for how things are work. The more transparent we can be the better. That’s why we love this video produced by teachers at Kea’au Elementary School in Keaau, Hawaii. It’s fun and playful but it makes it really clear…


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…


09.07.18 The First Days of School: Installing a Procedure While Teaching Content

  Jen Rugani is the newest member of Team TLAC. She’s a former Principal at Leadership Prep Canarsie Elementary in Brooklyn and a former TLAC teaching fellow. As a teacher and school leader she felt pretty strongly about what the start to a good school year looked like so a recent video really caght her eye….


05.23.18 Narrating Positive Behavior: Talking To Students vs Talking About Students

  Recently I visited a school that used a lot of Narrate the Positive. Class would start. At the beginning of class a typical teacher would say, “Please take two minutes to answer question #1 in writing. Go!”  As kids started working the teacher would say something like. “Charles has pencil to paper. Anjulina is getting…