Building a Better Teacher

NY Times Article by ELIZABETH GREEN

But what makes a good teacher? There have been many quests for the one essential trait, and they have all come up empty-handed. Among the factors that do not predict whether a teacher will succeed: a graduate-school degree, a high score on the SAT, an extroverted personality, politeness, confidence, warmth, enthusiasm and having passed the teacher-certification exam on the first try. When Bill Gates announced recently that his foundation was investing millions in a project to improve teaching quality in the United States, he added a rueful caveat. “Unfortunately, it seems the field doesn’t have a clear view of what characterizes good teaching,” Gates said. “I’m personally very curious.”

When Doug Lemov conducted his own search for those magical ingredients, he noticed something about most successful teachers that he hadn’t expected to find: what looked like natural-born genius was often deliberate technique in disguise. “Stand still when you’re giving directions,” a teacher at a Boston school told him. In other words, don’t do two things at once. Lemov tried it, and suddenly, he had to ask students to take out their homework only once.

It was the tiniest decision, but what was teaching if not a series of bite-size moves just like that?

Lemov thought about soccer, another passion. If his teammates wanted him to play better, they didn’t just say, “Get better.” They told him to “mark tighter” or “close the space.” Maybe the reason he and others were struggling so mightily to talk and even to think about teaching was that the right words didn’t exist — or at least, they hadn’t been collected. And so he set out to assemble the hidden wisdom of the best teachers in America.

~ Read the full article 

In these video clips from actual classrooms around the country, Doug Lemov, founder of the charter-school network Uncommon Schools, analyzes techniques that effective teachers use to get students to pay attention and follow instructions.

Teach Like a Champion: The 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College - By Doug Lemov (website includes excerpts from the book)

Technique 1. No Opt Out.

Technique 2. Right is Right.

Technique 3. Stretch It.

Technique 4. Format Matters.

Technique 5. Without Apology.

Technique 6. Begin With The End.

Technique 7. 4Ms.

Technique 8. Post It.

Technique 9. Shortest Path.

Technique 10. Double Plan.

Technique 11. Draw the Map.

Technique 12. Hook.

Technique 13. Name the Steps.

Technique 14. Board = Paper.

Technique 15. Circulate.

Technique 16. Break It Down.

Technique 17. Ratio

Technique 18. Check For Understanding.

Technique 19. At-Bats.

Technique 20. Exit Ticket.

Technique 21. Take a Stand.

Technique 22. Cold Call.

Technique 23. Call and Response.

Technique 24. Pepper.

Technique 25. Wait Time.

Technique 26. Everybody Writes.

Technique 27. Vegas.

Technique 28. Entry Routine.

Technique 29. Do Now.

Technique 30. Tight Transitions.

Technique 31. Binder Control.

Technique 32. SLANT.

Technique 33. On Your Mark.

Technique 34. Seat Signals.

Technique 35. Props.

Technique 36. 100%.

Technique 37. What To Do.

Technique 38. Strong Voice.

Technique 39. Do It Again.

Technique 40. Sweat the Details.

Technique 41. Threshold.

Technique 42. No Warnings.

Technique 43. Positive Framing.

Technique 44. Precise Praise.

Technique 45. Warm/Strict.

Technique 46. The J-Factor.

Technique 47. Emotional Constancy.

Technique 48. Explain Everything.

Technique 49. Normalize Error.