TLN Teacher Voices

A Collection of Cohesive Teaching Techniques

Teach Like A Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students On The Path To College
by Doug Lemov
(Jossey Bass, 2010)

Reviewed by Patrick Vernon, NBCT
MS Social Studies & Language Arts (NC)
Teacher Leaders Network

The ‘art of teaching’ is a term that often makes the successes of teaching seem special or allusive to some. In Teach Like a Champion, Doug Lemov seeks to draw in the reader by sharing a collection of teaching tools available to the novice and veteran alike.

Lemov draws in the reader in the Introduction by explaining that the most valuable asset these techniques give to the classroom is one resource teachers are always longing for: time.  By employing techniques like Tight Transitions (#30), the teacher can more efficiently manage classroom procedures such as the passing out and collecting of classroom papers. These routine activities occur often and with increased precision can add time back to instruction in the form of several days over the course of the school year.

Other techniques emphasize classroom and student behavior management, like No Warnings (#38): If you're angry with your students, it usually means you should be angry with yourself. This technique shows how to effectively address misbehaviors in your classroom.

In addition to the numbered techniques, Lemov includes bonus chapters on improving pacing, getting students to think critically, and recognizing that all teachers have methods through which they can strengthen students reading, vocabulary development and comprehension.

Teach Like a Champion is well organized so that the reader will find it easy to pick up long after the first reading to gain more insight on the practices detailed in the text. The author’s style of writing succinctly presents the techniques for readers to follow, but an accompanying DVD provides readers the opportunity to see the method in action.

This reviewer found the text solid enough to stand on its own without the DVD, so the inclusion of the video clips only strengthens the tools shared by Lemov. The DVD’s sound quality sometimes makes it difficult to hear the students in various classrooms, but as the clips seek to show the teacher’s modeling of techniques, this can largely be overlooked.  The clips do continue in a ‘continuous play’ fashion, so readers should be prepared to pause the DVD if they are only planning to view clips as they are discussed in the text.

Doug Lemov, co-founder of the Uncommon Schools charter school network, has put together a collection of cohesive teaching techniques that will allow teachers to maximize instructional time in their classrooms. This maximized time will better prepare the students in that classroom for future academic endeavors.

Patrick Vernon is a sixth grade social studies and English/Language Arts teacher in the Alamance-Burlington (NC) School System.

For some other views of the book, see this blog post.

Excite Students about Organizing Their Stories

Get Graphic! Using Storyboards to Write and Draw Picture Books, Graphic Novels, or Comic Strips
by Mark Thurman and Emily Hearn
(Pembroke, 2010)

Reviewed by Laura Reasoner Jones, NBCT
Elementary Technology Specialist (VA)
Teacher Leaders Network

As a person who works with elementary students to both organize their written work and to use photography and video to create stories, I was eager to see this book, and I was not disappointed.
   
As most teachers and parents know, getting a child to sit down and plan before starting a project is usually more difficult than getting the project completed. This book, with its entertaining style and engaging graphics, can lead a student through the planning process easily and thoroughly. Each chapter opens with a short guide for adults, and then talks directly to the students.

Get Graphic! begins by encouraging the student to read and discover what she likes, so that her creation will be pleasing to the future reader. Most kids will skip over this, of course, but it is there for their perusal and for the adult working with them. Then the authors jump right into plot development and art, illustrating how to show emotion with stick figures and facial expressions. And then they recommend (shocker!) research, under the guise of making the characters and backgrounds more believable.

A great deal of time in spent on drawing—the part most kids want to do. And this book with its many clear explanatory drawings makes that part seem easy, which is great for our reluctant artists. Thurman and Hearn make drawing scenes from different points of view look easy, or at least easier, to this non-artist. I particularly like the manner in which they give the theory behind the different points of view for drawings. For example, close-up-views are the most emotional part of the story. They also help us understand how to portray action and perspective.

As they guide the student through the creation process, the authors emphasize organization and creating drafts, traits we all want to see in our kids. They provide storyboard examples and templates that made me want to get out some markers and start something—very tempting! In my experience, storyboarding is one of the hardest things for elementary students to do—they want to rush to the end and see the finished product, and they are invariably disappointed. This book can go a long way toward stemming those impulses as it encourages and rewards carefully planning and execution while keeping interest high.

Other chapters in the book include detailed instructions on how to assemble books, making and using collage illustrations, using collages of letters and finding and using patterned papers, styles of lettering and making covers. I also appreciated the vocabulary pages titled “The Way an Artist Speaks”—we always need this but seldom find it in books for both teachers and students.

Writing the story comes last, as it should in a well-planned student effort. By the time you and your students have worked your way to this point, writing is almost effortless—all the planning and preparation is done.

As a technology specialist and elementary teacher, I would highly recommend Get Graphic! for all ages—in content areas, art, and in supplemental programs using technology to create visual products.
   
And most of all, who could resist a book that has as its very first chapter title "Read, Read, Read!"

Laura Reasoner Jones is a National Board Certified Teacher in early childhood education and earned a master’s degree in library media in 2007. She teaches in a northern Virginia public elementary school and writes frequently about girls and STEM careers.

A Useful How-To Guide for K12 Teacher Leaders

Other Duties as Assigned: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Expert Teacher Leadership
By Jan Burgess with Donna Bates
(ASCD, 2009)

Reviewed by Ernie Rambo, NBCT
Middle School Teacher and Mentor (NV)

Teacher Leaders Network

The term “leadership” is often used when discussing a school’s administration. More often these days, we’re hearing about the “teacher leaders” in our schools, those who may or may not seek to be administrators but have an interest in more than standard classroom duties.

This book serves as a “how-to” guide for teacher leaders in K-12 schools. Providing possible scenarios of the challenges that teacher leaders might face as they complete their tasks, the book includes ready-to-use resources for organizing, goal-setting, and reflection. I found Other Duties as Assigned to be a useful reference for both novice and experienced leaders.

Teacher leaders can include department or grade level chairpersons, team leaders, and heads of committees. Teacher leaders might be the educators at your school who organize professional learning communities, write grant proposals, or develop action research projects. Whether you are asked to lead or volunteer to do so, teacher leadership can be rewarding -- but it can also be challenging depending on the faculty’s perception of the roles of teacher leaders in their building.

Other Duties as Assigned presents effective strategies to help a teacher lead effectively while still maintaining positive relationships with one’s colleagues. Jan Burgess and Donna Bates provide a framework for any leader, new or experienced, to take charge of a project or duty without being perceived as taking over the task.

The authors develop a bridge to connect current academic research about school leadership and realistic faculty relationships, maintaining both a collegial and professional voice. In each chapter, Burgess and Bates combine the examples of three fictional teacher leaders, using different metaphors to describe the work that might be required of leaders. In one chapter, leadership is compared to river-rafting, in another chapter it’s rubber bands or real estate. Each metaphor serves its purpose, demonstrating the importance of trusting in the leader, being flexible yet strong, or building relationships.

Questions provided in the book’s margins prompt the reader to reflect upon their own leadership characteristics. Each chapter also includes a “Dear Donna” section where Bates provides suggestions for handling typical situations that a teacher leader might confront.
   
Other Duties as Assigned does not offer groundbreaking information about leadership. That’s not its purpose. Instead, it serves as a conduit between established research and leadership applications and becomes a one-stop resource for learning, recalling, and applying strategies that will help every school leader keep focused on project goals. You’ll find protocols for getting a team organized and for making decisions, and the appendix includes a “Teacher Leader’s Toolkit” with exercises and templates for reflection, goal-setting, meeting agendas, and evaluations. The publisher also tells us how to access an interactive version of the toolkit at no extra charge through their website.
   
Other Duties as Assigned can be useful to all team leaders, novice or experienced, because the chapters examine how to develop team unity while strengthening the professional growth of the faculty. For the teacher who is not sure if leadership is the next step in their career, reading this book provides ample information to inform them of what skills and tasks are expected of a teacher leader. For more experienced teacher leaders, reading Other Duties as Assigned can serve as a reference for how to solve problems in situations when things are not going as smoothly as anticipated.

If a guiding reference book is needed for a book study on the topic of leadership, Other Duties as Assigned would be a useful choice. Each chapter invites teacher reflection and examines topics that easily lend themselves to discussion.

Should you say yes the next time your principal walks up to you and asks you if you can do “just one more thing,” you might want to add: “As soon as I’ve read this book….”

Ernie Rambo chairs the electives department at Walter Johnson Junior High in the Clark County (NV) School District, where she also serves as a new-teacher mentor. She’s active in the Southern Nevada Writing Project and a National Board Certified Teacher.

A Fast-Paced Guide to Teaching Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking and Formative Assessments: Increasing Rigor in Your Classroom
by Betsy Moore and Todd Stanley
(Eye on Education, 2010)

Reviewed by Vicky Gilpin
High School English and Drama (IL)
Teacher Leaders Network
   
A constant theme in education is the concept of critical thinking. Researchers extol the virtues of critical thinking skills while encouraging teachers to develop strategies to assess them. However, teaching critical thinking skills effectively can challenge educators. This 2010 book by Betsy Moore and Todd Stanley emphasizes methods to guide teachers in teaching students to become critical thinkers.
   
The introduction explains the importance of critical thinking beyond a mere commonly touted phrase of educational jargon. It creates a clear rationale for the investigation of teaching methods created to develop critical thinking skills as well as the creation of an environment in which those skills can be developed within the classroom. Teachers cannot expect students to walk into their classrooms with the capacity to access higher-level abilities; we have to guide them through the process and provide repeated opportunities for higher-level thinking.
   
The organization of the book gently directs the reader from a careful reiteration and investigation of Bloom’s Taxonomy to an in-depth discussion of strategies that develop critical thinking skills. Early chapters create a foundation of information to provide a context for the information to follow. Concepts are developed through the lens of Bloom’s Taxonomy, with the goal of increasing rigor by developing activities and strategies that establish and amplify students’ critical thinking skills. At the end of each chapter, the authors highlight the “critical” aspect of each topic to reiterate the topic’s connection to the purpose of exploring critical thinking and helping students become critical thinkers. The topics of the chapters include

•Bloom’s Taxonomy 101
•Lower-Level Thinking and Higher-Level Thinking
•How Do Critical Thinking Skills Enhance Student Achievement?
•How to Write Lower-Level Questions
•How to Write Higher-Level Thinking Questions
•Writing Formative Assessments with Critical Thinking Questions
•Analyzing the Data from Critical Thinking Questions
•Instructional Strategies to Develop Critical Thinking Skills in the Classroom

Each chapter offers examples and anecdotes aimed toward teachers as leaders in their profession and teachers as lifelong learners, emphasizing the importance of teachers’ own critical thinking skills, higher-level questioning, and professional rigor. The authors stress that teachers have to use higher-level techniques of critical thinking in order to develop those skills within their students.
   
Two sections readers might find beneficial include the debunking of the belief that “rigor” has to equal “difficult” and the explanation of the correlation between critical thinking skills and student achievement.

Too often, teachers equate difficulty with rigor and are either reticent to increase the rigor in their classrooms or develop activities that go beyond their students’ current skill-set. To increase a course’s rigor, one must create steps from lower-level activities to higher-level ones. The authors remind readers that rigor and higher-level reasoning do not refer to difficulty but to complexity. The complexity involved in activities that encourage and develop higher-level thinking skills can increase student achievement in multiple areas, not just the subject area taught by the teacher focusing on building critical thinking skills.

Obviously, if more teachers decide to implement strategies that increase rigor and create opportunities for students to practice using critical thinking, the students will derive more benefit from the activities. However, student achievement on standardized tests, within the classroom, and in real-world application has been linked to critical thinking skills. The discussion of the link between critical thinking and student achievement gives encouragement and validation for teachers who must balance the often seemingly opposing requirements of NCLB and AYP with the desire to provide long-term benefits for students.
   
Multiple aspects of this fast-paced guide provide access points to developing students’ critical thinking skills. The work might remind one of an excellent conference session: user-friendly, well-organized, and composed of numerous “take-homes” for immediate use.

As well as the excellent “unpacking” of Bloom’s Taxonomy, suggestions for practical application in the classroom, and examples of application in multiple disciplines, the vast number of blueprints within the work (available for download) make this book a jewel for the experienced as well as novice teacher.

Vicky Gilpin is an English teacher at Cerro Gordo High School and Richland Community College, in Illinois, and was chosen as a Phi Delta Kappa national Emerging Leader in 2009. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership.

A Book for Any Teacher with ELL Students

Teaching English Language Learners Across the Content Areas
By Judie Haynes and Debbie Zacarian
(ASCD, 2010)

Reviewed by Julie Dermody, NBCT
Elementary ESL Teacher (NC)
Teacher Leaders Network

As an English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher, I felt like I was attending church services while reading this book as I wanted to shout out, “Amen” to the suggestions the authors make in supporting K-12 English Language Learners (ELLs) in the content areas. This is a book I want to put into the hands of teachers in my district as they work to ensure their lessons are comprehensible for the growing number of ELLs within our classrooms.

As they share real-life examples from elementary, middle and high school classrooms, readers get a sense of modifications (some small and some more extensive) that can make a big impact on ELLs’ learning and success. While the elementary teacher in me wanted this book to focus more on elementary classroom examples, it is easy to understand how the middle and high school scenarios would apply to elementary situations (and vice versa).

This book is organized around strategies for working with ELLs in the content areas. The strategies support teachers as they are: developing classroom learning environments, writing lesson plans, planning small group instruction, teaching vocabulary, designing reading and writing instruction, assigning homework and developing assessments, and communicating with the parents of our ELL students.

The authors start by sharing the stages of second-language acquisition. This is critical knowledge to have of ELLs since classroom lessons need to complement the stage of a student’s English.

Throughout the book, the authors remind readers that while some teachers may feel an ELL is competent in English because their listening and speaking skills are strong, the capacity to do ordinary classroom work in English includes the ability to “communicate appropriately in social and academic situations by listening, speaking, reading, and writing.”

The authors address these four abilities across content areas. For example, through a middle school math lesson we see how teachers can help ELLs develop all four skills by writing and reviewing lesson objectives; writing and exploring key vocabulary; modeling expectations; providing practice opportunities; using pairs of students to support each other; drawing from students’ lives to create activities; making sure to ask questions that match levels of English proficiency; observing students during each task; having the students provide feedback as a way to check for understanding; and assigning homework that relates directly to the day’s lesson, engages family members, and includes sentence frames for academic vocabulary support.

Communicating with parents of ELLs is often difficult when translators need to be contacted for every note and newsletter teachers want to send — or for notes received from parents. The chapter in this book dealing with parent communication offers many excellent suggestions, especially when working with a translator. For example, they suggest doubling the length of the conference time to account for the extra time translation takes, speaking in uncomplicated sentences, and speaking directly to the parents, not the translator.

A home language survey is included at the end of this book. I do wish the authors provided this form in Spanish also.

Recently, USA Today published some revealing facts about the American kindergarten class of 2010-11. They report that about 25% of 5-year-olds are Hispanic, a big jump from 19% in 2000. They also report that schools face “linguistic challenges” as the number of 5-year-olds who speak English at home slipped from 81% in 2000 to about 78%, and the share of Spanish speakers in the U.S. grew from 14% to 16%.

Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative at the non-profit New American Foundation, told USAToday that, “we really have a long way to go before we understand what the best methods are” for supporting second language learners. One place to start would be to provide a copy of this book to educators across the country.

Julie Dermody teaches English Language Learners at McDougle Elementary in the Chapel Hill (NC) Public Schools. She recently renewed her National Board Certification (Middle Childhood/Generalist). She reviewed an earlier book by Judie Haynes here.

Inside NBC's Teacher Town Hall

Elizabeth Stein, a special education teacher from Long Island NY, was invited to attend NBC’s Teacher Town Hall on Sept. 26. Stein, who is also National Board certified in literacy, shared this report with colleagues in the Teacher Leaders Network. (For another TLN account, see this blog post by Ariel Sacks.)

I consider myself lucky to have been one of the teachers in the crowd yesterday at the Teacher Town Hall. I’m still trying to make sense of the experience.

I actually experienced a full range of emotions. It was exciting to be around so many educators with a mission. It was exciting to speak with many teachers and get involved in some meaningful discussions. And I have to say, the energy in the place was riveting. However, frustration wins as my emotional theme for the day. I went in energized…and left even more so…
 
Interested and curious, I entered the makeshift studio of the NBC Teacher Town Hall (on the spot of the actual skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza). I had no idea what to expect.  According to the invitation, the Education Nation website, and all of the advertising leading up to the moment, there was that hint of hope that teachers would have a chance to make their voices heard.  

To register, participants were asked to think about and be ready to “brainstorm” what works in the classroom and what are the challenges in education today. In addition, teachers who registered for the online chat were asked to submit a brief (about 100-200 word) response to identify “one change you think could help to transform education in America.” I still was not sure how the actual experience would pan out. But I was ready. I was in the moment.

Just to be in a room with fellow educators was really a gratifying experience. And as Brian Williams came out five minutes before we were to go on air, I was still hopeful that we would have a chance to have our voices heard. And many did. Yet, as it unfolded I found, too often, that my hope got swept up in the messy swirl of frustration. What I thought would be a coming together of the minds turned into teachers sharing the challenges—with no opportunities for brainstorming and seeking solutions. (Ok, so I tend to be a tad idealistic at times.)

The best part was when Brian Williams introduced the “lightning” mode. He tried to allow the long line of teachers who stood waiting for their turn at the microphone,the opportunity to fit in whatever they could say in 15 seconds or less. I couldn’t help but wonder, what was the purpose? It seemed to be just to appease the teachers as if to say, "see you had your chance for your voice to be heard." Yet, I couldn't help but think, "sure these teachers are being heard...but who's really listening?"

It also seemed to me that the teachers who were able to share just validated points that we are all aware of. Or they shared personal stories that served to make them feel better for the moment. That's fine, but I continue to wonder, what about some real solutions?
 
Brian Williams definitely had a pre-determined list of topics that he was determined to mention. These topics included teaching with passion (teaching as a calling), recruitment and retention, low income schools, summer school, STEM, and teacher evaluations. Yet that’s all it seemed to be — fragmented mentions. Each teacher who was able to find his or her way to the microphone had a chance to mention whatever was on his or her mind. It was all just so fragmented. From where I sat, it felt like a venting session… some valid thoughts, but with no solutions in sight. And no one to really listen anyway.
 
I'd love to return to what the registration form claimed we'd discuss, but never really did.
 
What is one major change you think could help to transform education in America?
 
I'm still ready to discuss...and dare I say, hopeful?