Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

09.11.23 Rebecca Sloots: Building Ratio…and Great Writers in Queensland

  The newest clip in the TLAC library is one that’s really worth watching. It’s of Rebecca Sloots’ grade 4 class at Fernbrooke State School in Redbank Plains, Queensland, Australia. That makes it some of our very first classroom video from Australia. But more importantly it’s an outstanding example of how to build a high ratio…


08.20.20 Whaaat??? Susie Kim Brings Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle’ to Life

Just wanted to take a minute to share some fantastic video of Susie Kim’s 7th grade Social Studies class at Achievement First’s East New York Middle School. It’s a great example of a lot of good teaching things, not least strong Ratio and Checking for Understanding Susie and her students are reading a passage from teaching…


01.04.19 Building Mental Engagement Among Athletes Through Questioning

Coaches love to ask questions to help their athletes understand the decisions they must make during performance. This is especially true in group invasion games like soccer (football), rugby, basketball and hockey–games that require an especially high degree of coordination and shared decision-making. One potential problem with asking questions of athletes is making sure that the…


01.23.18 They Were Skeptical But They Agreed to Try

  Got an email from a colleague this morning who’s using TLAC techniques in his school. He’d recently come to our “Ratio” training, which focuses on how to make more classrooms where students do the cognitive work and was now doing training and support for teachers back at his school. (If you’ve come to our workshops…