"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!

Managing 3 Middle School Classroom Interruptions

Working in a middle school classroom is a unique experience. Students are not quite little and not quite big ... although sometimes they are impressively either - or both!

I have a few strategies for managing a classroom for this age group. They are listed below under the type of situation in which I use them.

However, before I get into how I manage these amazing and unpredictable creatures, I have to share an important piece of information: I have worked very hard to nurture a classroom culture in which every person in the room is assumed to be doing their best at every given moment. The best a student (or a teacher) can do today may not be the same as tomorrow. Whatever the best may be, that is what we expect from ourselves and from each other.