It’s no secret. Clark County schools do very poorly, especially when compared to schools in other states. Many say that’s because state funding for schools is nearly the lowest in the country.
So what are schools and teachers to do if they think more adequate state funding, especially with a Republican controlled Legislature?
Doug Lemov has some ideas.
An expert on educational methods, Lemov says the best way to boost student performance is by improving teacher quality.
Easier said than done? Or easy?
This month, Lemov releases Teach Like a Champion 2.0 – an updated version of his 2010 book about teaching and classroom management tactics to get the best out of students.
"The first book was an effort to understand what great teachers do," Lemov says. "I tried to distill that into 49 techniques - concrete, actionable things that teachers could do to make themselves more effective."
Lemov observed teachers in action using the first book's tactics, which inspired a great deal of the second book's new content.
"As soon as I started watching teachers... I was struck by how they adapted and applied the techniques in ways that I hadn't thought about, but that were brilliant and more rigorous than what I'd originally described."
Teach Like a Champion 2.0 has 63 techniques, up from the previous version's 49. Lemov's follow-up includes edits to previous methods to make them more thorough as well as all-new material, such as a section about writing.
A new principle highlighted in the second edition is called Culture of Error. Lemov describes Culture of Error as a classroom atmosphere where "it's safe to get it wrong - in which the process of getting it wrong and learning from your mistakes and getting smarter is valorized."
Lemov also writes about teaching correct classroom behavior through practice so students always understand what's expected of them. Additionally, he highlights encouraging accountability during class by engaging all students - not just the ones who raise their hands during discussions.
Teach Like a Champion 2.0 comes out this month.
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