This week, my student teacher and I were discussing questioning techniques during reading of texts to guide student learning, and boy this was timely with some recent discussions about Common Core ELA. Thanks to Tom Hoffman, I’m learning more about Common Core standards than my district is sharing with me (even though a chunk of […]

Doug Lemov’s book, Teach Like a Champion, seems to be the hottest thing in teaching since the risograph. Some of the strategies can be problematic with EL students. The “no-opt out” strategy, in particular, is problematic with ELLs. “No opt-out” is essentially not allowing the student to give a non-response to a question you pose […]

From Building a Better Teacher – NYTimes.com Doug Lemov realized he had a problem. After a successful career as a teacher, a principal and a charter-school founder, he was working as a consultant, hired by troubled schools eager — desperate, in some cases — for Lemov to tell them what to do to get better… […]