Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

05.14.26 Explicit & Implicit Vocabulary: Mastering the Two-Part Approach

TLAC is excited to share our newest Plug and Plays that were authored, along with this blog post, by our colleague Alonte Johnson-James. The biggest barrier to students’ comprehension is often word knowledge or vocabulary. The biggest barrier to teachers’ abilities to support students is often understanding the best approach(es) to use in helping students to…


10.24.18 De-Silo-Fication And How To Do It

    I had a great conversation this week with a group of colleagues from TNTP about a concept I only have a not-very-helpful, made-up word to describe: de-silo-fication. The word refers to structuring training so that connected and separate topics don’t seem disconnected, especially when one of them requires urgent and intense focus in the…


01.14.13 Writing in Math Class

My colleague Paul Powell has been working on a training for teachers on writing in math class—how to include more of it and how to use it to deepen understanding and rigor.  He’s done some great work in laying out and thinking about all the different types of writing that can happen in a math class…