Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

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…


04.27.18 A Perfect Start to the Day in Tamesha McGuire’s Kindergarten

This week I sat down to watch footage of Tamesha McGuire’s Kindergarten at Uncommon’s Kings Elementary in Brooklyn. Now, technically I’m supposed to give Tamesha feedback first before I post anything–she’s a TLAC Fellow and that’s part of the program–but, honestly, I loved this clip so much I couldn’t wait. So with apologies to Tamesha, here’s…