Doug Lemov's field notes

Reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.

06.20.16 Omaha: A Guest Post by Peter D. Ford on Audibles and Flexibility in Teaching

Peter Ford is finishing his 21st year as a teacher.  He’s taught at a variety of district and charter schools in Los Angeles — enough to have “at least 5 former students who claim me as ‘dad’ and 3 others as ‘grandad.’ He currently teaches 8th grade mathematics (and Algebra 1) at Century Community Charter School in…


04.07.16 Watch Carefully: Prevention Beats Cure

“Students say I’m strict, but I don’t write referrals. How is that?” Peter D. Ford, a teacher I admire, recently tweeted. There’s something deeply important to reflect on in his words. In the classroom, as in medicine, prevention always beats cure. What you want is not so much the ability to fix it when students are…