Teach+Like+a+Champion

=** Welcome to the Discussion and Reflection Area for Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov. **= = = =Chapter 1:= 1. The chapter presented five techniques for raising academic expectations in your classroom: //No Opt Out, Right is Right, Stretch It, Format Matters,// and //Without Apology.// Which of these will be the most intuitive for you to implement in your classroom? Which will be the toughest, and what will make it difficult?

2. There are a variety of reasons that a student might opt out of answering a question you asked - for example: See how many possible reasons for a //No Opt Out// you can add to this list. How should the breadth of possible reasons listed cause you to consider or adapt the tone with which you engage students when you use //No Opt Out// ?
 * A student is actively testing or defying you.
 * A student is trying not to stand out in the classroom.
 * A student genuinely does not know the answer.
 * A student is embarrassed to not know the answer.
 * A student didn't hear you when you asked.
 * A student didn't understand what you asked.

3. One of the keys to responding effectively to "almost right" answers - reinforcing effort but holding out for top-quality answers - is having a list of phrases you think of in advance. After reflecting on which of the following phrases most match your style as a teacher, try to write four or five of your own.
 * "I like what you've done. Can you get us the rest of the way?"
 * "We're almost there. Can you find the last piece?"
 * "I like most of that."
 * "Can you develop that further?"
 * "Okay, but there's a bit more to it than that."
 * "Satish just knocked a base hit. Who can bring him home?"

4. Here's a list of questions you might hear asked in a classroom and the objective for the lesson in which they were asked: Try to think of ten //Stretch It// questions you might ask for the one that's closest to what you teach. (This is a great activity to do with other teachers).
 * 6+5=? //Objective//: Students will be able to master simple computations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
 * Who can use the word //achieve// in a sentence? //Objective//: Students will be able to increase their vocabulary through drills that explore the use of synonyms, antonyms, and different parts of speech.
 * What do you think is the lesson of "The Three Little Pigs"? //Objective//: Students will be able to explore the moral of the story and the genre of fables in general.
 * What is one branch of the U.S. government? //Objective:// Students will be able to understand the three branches of the U.S. government and how they relate to each other and current events.

5. //Format Matters//: Next time you're observing a peer's class, guess how many times you will hear answers that are given: Then count how many times they actually occur during your observation. Was the number more or less than you expected? Why?
 * In a single word or with a sentence fragment
 * In ungrammatical syntax
 * Inaudibly

6. //Without Apology:// Try to imagine the most "boring" content (to you) that you could teach. Now script the first five minutes of your class in which you find a way to make it exciting and engaging to students.

=**Chapter 2:**= The following activities should help you think about and practice the techniques in this chapter.

1. Choose an especially large learning standard from the state in which you teach. Try to guess before you analyze it how many objectives you'd need to truly master it. Now break it up into a series of manageable, measurable objectives that flow in a logical sequence from introduction of the idea to full mastery. Next, try to increase or decrease the number of days you have available by 20 percent. How does this change your objectives?

2. Make a building tour of your school, writing down the objectives. Score them as to whether they meet //4Ms// criteria. Fix the ones you can, and then ask yourself where as a school you need to improve objective writing.

3. Think of a recent lesson you taught, and write out all of the actions from a student's perspective, starting in each case with an action verb: "Listened to" and "Wrote," for example. If you feel daring, ask your students if they think your agenda is accurate. Even more daring is to ask your students to make a list of what they were doing during your class.

4. Make an action plan for your classroom setup: a. What should your default layout be, and what would the most common other layouts look like? Will you use them enough to justify having your student practice moving from one to another? b. What are the five most useful and important things you could put on the walls to help students do their work? Are they up? c. What things are on your walls that don't need to be? Nominate five to take down. include component="comments" page="Teach Like a Champion" limit="100"