Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov - Chapter Three: I Techniques

Chapter Three:  Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

I/We/You - otherwise known as Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, and Independent Practice.  With I/We/You responsibility is gradually released from student to teacher.  A teacher must pay attention to both the manner in which work is released to students but also to the rate at which cognitive work is released.
This chapter is a long one so I'll break them down by techniques.

I Techniques

12.     The Hook – When necessary, use a short, engaging introduction to excite students about learning. (Pg 75)

·      Story – Tell a story that leads directly to the material

·      Analogy – Connect to students’ lives with an interesting and useful analogy

·      Prop

·      Media – Picture, music, video

·      Status – Describe something great

·      Challenge – Give the students a difficult task and let them try to accomplish it

Hooks are short, they give way to great teaching and they are energetic and optimistic.

13.     Name the Steps – Teach complex skills by breaking them down into manageable steps, giving each step a name so it can easily be recalled.

(Pg 77)

·      Identify the Steps – no more than 7

·      Make Them Sticky – Name the steps with a story or a mnemonic device

·      Build the Steps – Design well

·      Use 2 Stairways – relate to the current problem as well as any problem of the same nature as you are teaching.

14.     Board = Paper – Learning to take notes. (Pg 82)

·      Expect students to make exact replicas of what is on the board.  “Make your paper look just like mine.”

15.     Circulate – Moving strategically around the room during all parts of the lesson. (Pg 84)

·      Break the Plane – Do this within the first 5 minutes of every lesson.  The plane is the imaginary line that runs down the length of the classroom parallel to and about 5 feet in front of the board.

·      Full Access Required – In addition to breaking the plane you must have full access to the entire room otherwise students will quickly establish a “no fly zone” and ownership will be ceded to the students.  You should never say “excuse me” to one student in order to get to another student.

·      Move Without Interrupting Your Teaching

·      Engage When You Circulate – work the room, make frequent verbal and non-verbal interventions.

·      Move systematically but unpredictably as this exerts accountability.

·      Position for Power – Always face as much of the class as possible, power position is where you see students but they can’t see you.