Doug Lemov - 2023 FULL WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS - Teach Like a Champion

thank you so much um I can't wait to get

started just while I'm getting ready do

you mind just if you're at a table can

you make yourself a little name 10 I

made mine it's just really nice if we

can all refer to each other by our names

and I can instead of just pointing to

you uh I just want to start by saying

thank you I really appreciate the

opportunity to work with all of you and

I want to start by just introducing you

to this tiny piece of

cognitive science that's in the lower

left hand corner of my slide here and

it's it's something called the Yorkies

Dotson curve and the Yorkies Dotson

curve tells you something that you

probably already understand about

students and how they learn it describes

the relationship between challenge or

stress and learning and this is

interesting because we're socialized in

society to think that stress is

dangerous I just read a really

fascinating uh book on stress it's

called the upside of stress by Kelly

McGonagall she's a stress researcher in

the US at Stanford University and she

says that most of the research that we

that we read that tells us that stress

is harmful and damaging is actually done

by doing things like throwing rats into

bats of water until they can until they

almost drown and then fishing them out

and then throwing the rats back in until

they almost drown again and then fishing

them out again and under those

circumstances that kind of stress is

definitely damaging right but as she

says that's more like The Hunger Games

for rats than it is the kind of stress

that we experience in our own lives

actually stress

is beneficial or can be beneficial in

small doses and just the right amount

like I'm feeling a little bit of stress

getting ready to come on and talk to a

large group of people and that little

amount of stress helps me to think

clearly and when we feel a tiny bit of

stress and challenge we connect more and

we're more interested and so when we

want to maximize learning the Yorkies

Dotson curve tells us when there's no

stress people don't learn

if they're not challenged if they're not

pushed if the environment doesn't push

them slightly outside their comfort zone

they will not learn yes we can go too

far and create a toxic environment where

people are anxious and they don't learn

but the ideal learning environment we're

learning is maximized is where there's a

little bit of Challenge and a little bit

of stress and I'm telling you that

because one I think it's useful to know

about students generally but two because

I'm going to try and do that for you

today because I take your learning uh

it's it's really important so I'm going

to try and create just the right amount

of beneficial loving challenge for you

in the room today that means that I'm

going to cold call you sometimes I'm

going to show you a video of classroom

teaching and I'll ask you your opinion

and I might just single you out and say

what do you think because you look like

you're having an interesting thought or

I want to hear from everyone in the room

and there'll be times when I ask you to

write because writing is more

challenging and it forces you to

coalesce your thoughts in precise words

and syntax and I'll ask you to talk to

each other quite a bit maybe the people

next to you maybe other people in the

room and that hopefully will create a

vibrant interesting environment so that

the two hours that you spend with me is

not brutal uh and also so that uh so you

learn a lot so I just want to give you a

heads up on that by the way how are you

doing at hearing me am I okay

it was better before with the Madonna

microphone on come come a little bit

closer because it seems like it's good

for everyone in the room it's good for

everyone in the room here uh and if it

really gets bad I will put on the

microphone uh okay so I'm going to start

by showing you a video

um oh wait oh sorry one so I'm going to

start by showing you a video and I think

the scene in the video is going to look

really really familiar to you

uh and then I'm going to ask you to

discuss it uh and uh hopefully you'll

have a really fascinating competition

this is you all jumping into a

fascinating conversation together of our

studying the craft of teaching that's

like that's that's us I don't know like

we're jumping into a lake or something

um it'll be fun and this over here is

this is the signal that I will make I'll

probably give you 30 or 45 seconds to

discuss in groups and then I'll put my

hand up like this and that's because

it's a really big room and if I'm

standing here saying like Okay guys uh

where we're done now please come it'll

take me forever to get the room back and

that won't honor your time so when you

see this gesture take three or four

seconds to finish whatever thought

you're talking about you don't have to

stop right then but please make this

gesture also I know that sounds crazy

but then everyone else in the room will

see it too and we'll be able to work

really quickly and I'll be able to honor

your time so please uh give do that

small favor for me

um so here is

my first scene from a life of a teacher

this teacher is Maggie Johnson she

teaches that um at a school in Troy New

York which is it's a really challenging

City 90 something percent of the kids in

her classroom are eligible for free

meals so uh so it's a really challenging

school but she's an English teacher

they're reading a real they're reading

uh To Kill a Mockingbird some of you

might know this book uh it's one of the

most challenging and important books in

the American Canon uh and she's a great

teacher so here is just a scene from her

life in the classroom

so our discussion is going to focus on

why

just out of curiosity show me how many

people have this student in their

classroom just like show of hands

great okay let's just call her Maria

she's lovely we love Maria we asked a

question and her hand shoots stuff in

the air every time police take 30

seconds with the person next to you

we're like the average teacher is going

to call on Maria here

why what are the things that incentivize

us to call on Maria 30 seconds to

discuss with the person next to you go

somebody else

um

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foreign

thanks everybody appreciate it uh Katrin

and ilsa you guys look like you're just

having a great warm conversation would

you mind starting us off you can fight

over who gets to go first and maybe uh

Johannes could just bring you a

microphone so we can all hear you what's

one of the right over here Johannes

what's one reason why we might be

tempted to call on behind you over there

what's one reason why we might be

tempted to call on Maria here

uh because it's easy and it saves time

uh yeah so it's easy right because like

who doesn't want to call on and just say

a little bit more about saves time

um sometimes you have a plan and you

want to go through it and when you don't

then you just think okay good she knows

it I'll take her I used to do this all

the time as a teacher I would ask a

question and then I would ask my class

and like Danielle she was my best

student would always answer right and

I'd be like great they've got it but of

course they didn't have it Danielle had

it and she was an outlier in the

classroom so that's a real challenge

great Point uh what else did you talk

about what are some other potential