Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

02.15.23 “Polling” As a Prelude to Cold Call

  Been thinking a lot lately about how much what a teacher does before a Cold Call shapes its success. Watch for example how in this clip BreOnna Tindall has her students write a response to a key question, then Turn and Talk to discuss their thoughts. When she Cold Calls the first student to share–he’s…


09.20.22 Combining Cold Call and Wait Time- A Video to Go with the Great illustration

My colleague Bradley Busch and his colleagues at Inner Drive recently posted this outstanding illustration of the way combining Cold Call with Wait Time and “timing the name”–that is, not identifying whom you are calling on until after the question is asked and students have had time to think–can boost the amount of student thinking. (Bradley’s…


09.10.21 The First Days (of Cold Call) with Bradi Bair

About a week ago I posted a clip of Bradi Bair Cold Calling with her math students at Memphis Rise Academy in Memphis, TN.  I wrote about how she observed which students had the best answers and used that to make her Cold Call an honor. This was a great way to build a positive culture…


08.31.21 Bradi Bair’s Cold Calling Models Positivity and Rigor

I’ve spent much of this week watching the first batch of video from school year 2021-22 classrooms. Watching classrooms with everyone masked is a bit disconcerting at first but it’s remarkable how quickly things feel closer to normal. Familiar interactions and relationships don’t take long to seem… well… familiar. And already there’s so much to learn….