Two of the most important culture building techniques in Teach Like a Champion are Habits of Attention and Habits of Discussion. Habits of Attention is about teachers shaping the non-verbal signals students send to one another when they are talking. When the people in the room are looking at you–and looking a bit interested–you are…
One of the challenges of good classroom management is that it’s often practically invisible- it’s happening off stage or on the margins of the stage; it’s usually built into habits and expectations. When it works it’s hard to see the moves that make it possible. When you can see the behavior management moves, it’s sometimes…
A few weeks ago Luke Gromer of Cutting Edge Coaching and I ran an online workshop for coaches on the topic of using video to develop athletes. The rationale for the session was that video is a powerful tool for building tactical and technical understanding and–through shared discussion–mutual understanding of principles across a group of athletes….
Teaching writing well is one of the most important things we can do in the classroom as teachers. The ability to capture and idea with precision and nuance is deeply connected to the ability to generate ideas of precision and nuance. And as Judith Hochman wisely points out in The Writing Revolution, there’s a big difference…
How you ask students to answer a question is often as important as the question you ask. If you don’t get everyone to answer, if you don’t cause everyone to think deeply about the answer, even the best question will only be so useful. So great teaching relies on clarity about Means of Participation–that’s what…