Teach Like a Champion (Summer Reading Challenge Part Three)

Today I stumbled across another summer reading blog, this one the work of the librarian at a local elementary school.  Bulldog Readers Page is geared to kids and families, and they are encouraged to contribute by making comments.  Great idea!

This past spring the New York Times published a feature on the work of Doug Lemov, the director of Uncommon Schools, "...a nonprofit organization that starts and manages outstanding urban charter public schools that close the achievement gap and prepare low-income students to graduate from college."  I have mixed feelings about the charter school movement.  Although evidence suggests that some charter schools are helping formerly unsuccessful students to achieve success, I believe they are far from the panacea some might portray them as.  Too often, when charter and public schools are compared, it is really a comparison of apples to oranges.  

Although Lemov's Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College (2010) originated in his research into the techniques employed by successful charter and private school teachers, I believe that the majority of these techniques can certainly be applied in the public school classroom.  For the most part the techniques themselves will seem familiar to an experienced teacher.  For example, Technique 17 is "Ratio," which is the idea that students, rather than teachers, should be doing most of the cognitive work in a classroom.  From my perspective, what sets this book apart is the very practical strategies outlined for implementing each technique.  For the Ratio technique alone, Lemov presents ten different strategies for implementing this technique.  In many cases, he even outlines possible dialogues between teachers and students.  The book is also accompanied by a DVD with brief clips of teachers in actual classroom settings putting the techniques into action.  If I had to pick the one book I would want by my side as a first year teacher, this would be it.

Greg Tang's The Grapes of Math (2001)

Greg Tang's  Math Appeal (2003)

These books are so similar that I will write of them as one.  With the help of illustrator Harry Briggs, Tang presents a series of math "riddles" in each book.  Each two-page spread showcases one colorfully illustrated riddle designed to stimulate students' thinking about ways of totaling objects that go beyond merely counting.  For example, from Math Appeal:

"Boston  Tea Party"

A pea would find it rather odd, 

To be alone inside a pod.

They like to hang out with their friends,

For them the party never ends!

Can you count up all the peas"

With 11's it's a breeze!

In each case, a final clue directs the reader to a particular strategy, such as, in this case, grouping pea pods to form 11s before adding the 11s together.  If I were to use this book with middle or upper elementary students, I would challenge them to work with partners to find additional strategies.  It would be fun - and math-wise - to then allow students to share their various strategies.

Kathy Reichs' 206 Bones (2009) is the latest entry in the Temperance Brennan forensic anthropology series, which is the basis for the television series Bones.   Reichs is herself a forensic anthropologist, and her novels provide a bit of forensic education, along with telling a good story.  I would call this a good summer beach read, or a good curl up on the couch with a hot cup of tea on a stormy November afternoon novel.