Great Teachers, according to Doug Lemov Interesting NYTimes article about what makes a good teacher and a guy

named Doug Lemov, who s trying to find out. Lemov stresses classroom management as an import ant part of teaching. All Lemov s techniques depend on his close reading of the students point of view, w hich he is constantly imagining. In Boston, he declared himself on a personal qu est to eliminate the saying of shh in classrooms, citing what he called the fundame ntal ambiguity of shh. Are you asking the kids not to talk, or are you asking kids to talk more quietly? A teacher s control, he said repeatedly, should be an exercis e in purpose, not in power. So there is Warm/Strict, technique No. 45, in which a correction comes with a smile and an explanation for its cause Sweetheart, we do n t do that in this classroom because it keeps us from making the most of our lear ning time. The J-Factor, No. 46, is a list of ways to inject a classroom with joy, from giv ing students nicknames to handing out vocabulary words in sealed envelopes to bu ild suspense. In Cold Call, No. 22, stolen from Harvard Business School, which L emov attended, the students don t raise their hands the teacher picks the one who will answer the question. Lemov s favorite variety has the teacher ask the questio n first, and then say the student s name, forcing every single student to do the w ork of figuring out an answer. Here are some short video clips of teachers Lemov admires, in action. I showed t hese to a teacher friend, who argues that this kind of classroom management is t oo behaviour-focussed, and while getting kids to sit quietly and listen does hel p them learn facts, the kids aren t challenged to construct knowledge from their o wn observations and experience when learning this way. Which I thought was also good food for thought. This whole thing is very complicated. I wish someone woul d just teach me how to think. Via MeFi.