Tuesday, October 15, 2013

"Teach Like a Champion" Revisited

I had an interesting conversation recently regarding Doug Lemov's book "Teach Like a Champion." My colleague introduced me to a criticism on the book: it is too formulaic. My knee-jerk response was to be defensive, so I took a moment to think. My reply was fairly non-committal: New teachers need strategies to use in the classroom. This book provides strategies.

Then I started to really think. Was I defending the book because I liked it when I first read it and haven't taken a critical look at it since? Is it in fact, too formulaic? So I reflected and hoped to come up with a really complex provocative response. Instead, I ended up with this: Doug Lemov's book "Teach Like a Champion" provides teachers of all ability levels with tools to use organically as they work to create the classroom culture that empowers all students to succeed.

It's up to us, the teachers, to use these tools as we see fit and to remember to vary our approaches to increase student learning. That's a formula for success!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Setting Goals

Setting goals can be a difficult concept to grasp, but I have learned a lot about setting goals while clearing trees from a property this summer. I learned that I have two styles of goal setting when attempting to complete the minor steps that support a larger goal: Task and Time.

Task


We had several big trees that needed to have large branches removed. We knew it would take quite a bit of time to remove them all safely, but we could not estimate how much time it would take us. There were too many factors: Could we reach them safely? Would the branches drop where we wanted them to? Would the saw blade break? We also knew that the number of branches on the tree we focused on were limited. There were a finite number of branches, and we knew we could accomplish all the branches in one day. So, we set a Task Goal for ourselves: Remove all the undesirable branches from one tree.

Students and teachers can also benefit from setting a Task Goal. In writing an essay, it may help some students to focus on the task of writing just one paragraph at a time. For a long math homework assignment, some students may prefer to complete a predetermined number of problems then stretch their legs for five minutes. A long reading assignment can be broken down into reading chapters or to a natural break in the writing.

A Task Goal is a good way to approach jobs that have a quantifiable nature.