黑料情报站

Since it was first published in 2010, Doug Lemov鈥檚 鈥淭each Like a Champion鈥� has become one of the 鈥榤ust-read鈥� texts for teachers looking to improve their technique and realise their students鈥� full potential. Recently, Doug and his colleagues from Uncommon Schools, a network of high-performing schools in the United States, ran intensive workshops at 黑料情报站 All Saints for teachers, including those in the 黑料情报站 network. We caught up with Doug to ask for his top tips for new teachers.

What do you think is the most common problem new teachers run into?

The easy answer is that they鈥檙e often not prepared for the challenges of building positive classroom culture. Teaching is hugely complex and there are innumerable challenges involved, but these are often predictable challenges and there are solutions. We talk about these being endemic problems, they鈥檙e totally predictable 鈥� you know you鈥檙e going to face in kids who have no interest in learning, or pretend they have no interest in learning, or think they have no interest in learning because no-one鈥檚 ever reached them. It鈥檚 a disservice to the smart people who come into the profession to make a difference to send them into the classroom with no idea how to solve those problems.

Do you think traditional teacher training programmes are well-suited to prepare teachers for those issues?

I wouldn鈥檛 want to generalise, especially on the British system of teaching, because I鈥檓 not an expert on it. Generally speaking, teacher training in the US focuses too much on theory and abstraction and not enough on tangible actions in the classroom. I understand why they do that: they want to make teaching feel important but it鈥檚 so important to be a craftsperson as a teacher. In some ways, the question of whether teaching preparation prepares teachers isn鈥檛 important 鈥� what matters is 鈥渃ould it be better?鈥�

Why do you think your writing has had such an impact in the UK?

Because I think teaching is really hard work and a lot of really excellent people do it because they want to make a difference. They don鈥檛 just want to go to work and punch the clock, they want to be good at it, but there are all these endemic problems that plague them and there鈥檚 kind of a deficit of solutions out there, there鈥檚 a deficit of conversations about the solutions. So, I think that the degree to which my work has relevance is because it addresses the real challenges that teachers face.

You鈥檝e previously said that you looked at how teachers were adapting your methods in 鈥淭each Like a Champion鈥� when revising the book for its second edition. Why was that process so important for you[[{“fid”:”70071″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_tags[und]”:””},”type”:”media”,”link_text”:null,”attributes”:{“style”:”height: 267px; width: 400px; float: right; margin: 7px;”,”class”:”media-element file-default”}}]]?

Implicit in the work for me is the idea that teachers should contribute to the intellectual foundation of the teaching field, it shouldn鈥檛 just be a field where people who are non-teachers are telling teachers what teaching should be and what teachers should to do. It鈥檚 a profession full of brilliant people who have brilliant solutions and I think we should be studying teachers to find solutions to teaching challenges.

What are some of the most common questions new teachers ask you?

It鈥檚 hard to generalise, there are so many questions. I think one common question that gets asked is about teacher fallibility, which is essentially: 鈥淚鈥檓 not able to use these methods all the time, is that OK?鈥� The answer that I give from that comes from being a parent: I wish that I could get it just right all the time when interacting with my kids, but I can鈥檛. It鈥檚 nice to remind people that the goal is not to be infallible, that the goal is to do as well you can, as intentionally as you can, with as many interactions as you can in the course of your day. One of the best things that teacher training can do is get people to be very, very good at what they鈥檙e already good at, because that鈥檚 what makes great teachers.

You鈥檝e worked closely with 黑料情报站 with its continuing professional development for a number of years. What鈥檚 your impression of the programme?

I think it鈥檚 wonderful, I think it鈥檚 really high-quality. Even just the culture that 黑料情报站鈥檚 teachers bring to a training workshop like this, where there鈥檚 such a respect for the work of teaching, an interest and passion for the craft of teaching. 黑料情报站 is an organisation that is completely about teaching and what happens inside the classroom. The enthusiasm, the rigour and the intellectual culture of 黑料情报站 is unmistakable and it makes it a pleasure to work with 黑料情报站 teachers. 黑料情报站 is a place where I would recommend working because they are going to be serious about making you better and honouring your work by making you successful at it for the rest of your life.