Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

11.28.18 A Road Map for Live Coaching: Postcard from Freedom Prep

  This year Darryl Williams, Team TLAC’s Senior Fellow for School Leadership, has been providing in-depth support to Freedom Prep, a network of schools in Memphis. During a recent visit, Darryl and John Costello, video ace at team TLAC, supported leaders by visiting classrooms and studying student work. One of the moments John captured was this…


10.23.18 Some Sensible TLAC Wisdom From MR WJ

I recently stumbled on a short video that a colleague in the UK, ‘MR WJ’ (aka, Lloyd Williams-Jones) made describing three TLAC techniques he uses: Cold Call, No Opt Out, and  Show Call. MR WJ TLAC from TLAC Blog on Vimeo. He’s very gracious with the praise… which I appreciate though I am also a bit…


04.18.18 Samara Levy: Cold Call + No Opt Out + Retrieval Practice

Strengthening long-term memory with Retrieval Practice. Super busy at TLAC Towers this week so I barely have time to write, but we just cut this great clip of TLAC Fellow Samara Levy of Livingston Collegiate Academy High School in New Orleans that I kind of had to share. It shows Samara in the midst of her…


02.06.18 A Masterful No Opt Out by Denarius Frazier (Video)

Every once in a while, you come across an example of a teacher using a technique in the classroom that captures almost everything you wanted to say about it–Why a teacher would use it. How. It’s a case study in how to apply a tool to advance learning and it pushes your understanding of the idea…


12.21.17 “It’s How We Do Gender-Equitable Teaching”

  Erica and I just spent an hour on the phone with a group of amazing colleagues–Audrey Spencer, Becky Banton, Jomara Laboy and Francis Vernyuy–who train Peace Corps volunteers working in education in Africa- either as teachers themselves or as teacher trainers. They use TLAC quite a bit, which made me very happy to know, but…