Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

10.23.18 Some Sensible TLAC Wisdom From MR WJ

I recently stumbled on a short video that a colleague in the UK, ‘MR WJ’ (aka, Lloyd Williams-Jones) made describing three TLAC techniques he uses: Cold Call, No Opt Out, and  Show Call. MR WJ TLAC from TLAC Blog on Vimeo. He’s very gracious with the praise… which I appreciate though I am also a bit…


12.05.17 What’s New for our New Orleans Workshop?

The TLAC team and I are heading to New Orleans after Winter Break, doing a two-day updated Engaging Academics workshop on January 11th and 12th. We’re excited to be presenting- it’s one of our best workshops–maybe the ideal ‘introduction to TLAC workshop–but this one should be especially interesting as it includes a few significant changes that…


05.31.17 Insights Into Teaching from Ziyanique and Ayianna

  Every week at TLAC Towers we watch and analyze video of teachers. This week, though, we did something that we’ve never done before.  We watched video with students–Ziyanique Wells and Ayianna Texidor, two inspiring scholars at North Star’s Washington Park High School in Newark. Ziyanique and Ayianna are interested in teaching so English teacher Ashling…


04.12.17 Clip of the Week: Courtney Betar’s Show Call

Show Call is one of my favorite teaching techniques.  It’s essentially a visible Cold Call.  You assign a written task and then, when it’s done, choose an example or two and project to the class. I love how it puts student work at the center of the classroom, making it visible and tangible so everyone can…