Running head: TEACH LIKE A CHAMPION

Lauren Smith
Fall 2015
Dr. Patrick Huff
Educ 6331 Internship II
Book Review: Teach Like a Champion

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In the novel by Doug Lemov, Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students
on the Path to College there are 49 strategies that Lemov defines as getting students ready for the
college setting . Lemov developed these strategies after five years of observing and videotaping
classrooms of students living at the poverty level. Through these observations, specific
techniques were developed to help good teachers become great. I found many great ideas from
the book of different techniques to use in my own classroom. Lemovs research took place in
New York, where the common core curriculum is used. In Texas, we use s different set of
objectives called Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). This curriculum is used only by
the state of Texas. In this essay I will outline the benefits to the techniques of Lemovs Teach like
a Champion, as well as make some suggestions for a Texas Edition.
There are two parts to the book. The first part is Teach like a champion: The essential
Techniques. In this section, Lemov outlines all 49 of his techniques and provides real-world
examples, which is very helpful to the reader. The second portion of the book is titled, Helping
students get the most out of reading: Critical skills and Techniques. Out of the two parts of the
book, I found the essential techniques more beneficial than the critical skills and techniques. In
the primary grades, educators often have to try out different variations of the same idea, to ensure
that all of the students in a class understand the content. Having several proven techniques to
draw from helps immensely. Out of the 49 strategies that Lemov mentions in his book I find that
the most effective are:

The Five Principals of Classroom Culture, pages 145-151

SLANT, pages 158-159
On Your Mark, pages 159-161
Seat Signals, pages 161-163

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I chose these four because on my campus I feel as though they truly pertain to my particular
demographic in my classroom. On my campus, we have implemented a version of Lemovs
SLANT (Sit up, Listen, Ask and Answer questions, Nod your Head, Track the speaker.)
(Lemov, pp. 158-159). My campus has adopted STARS mode (Sit up, Track the speaker, Ask
and answer questions like a scholar, Respect those around you, and Smile). This is practiced
in every classroom in the entire school building. Before the STARS mode was established,
the management system for assemblies was a total disaster. No one could be heard over a
microphone because there were no expectations set for the assembly. Now, before each
assembly the STARS mode is reviewed, and if the student is not conforming to the STARS
mode their peers remind them. This makes the students accountable for each other.
The next area that set a light bulb off for me was the chapter titled The Five Principals
of Classroom Culture. The five principals are discipline, management, control influence,
and engagement. Discipline is the area where my campus struggles with the most. I believe
that adopting Lemovs view of discipline as discipline is teaching teaching students the
right and successful way to do things. (Lemov, p. 146.) would be a beneficial teaching
opportunity. You must teach step by step what successful learning behavior looks and sounds
like. This also requires planning on the teachers end as well. Knowing how to implement
procedure, and routines from the beginning of the year will ease with discipline and
management later on. Control and management work together to influence and engage the
students in your teaching. These five principals are essential to teaching like a champion.
Chapters On Your Mark and Seat Signals have worked wonders in my classroom. I can
sing the praises of Lemov for this, as can every other teacher who has implemented these in
the classroom. On your mark is to show students how to prepare before class begins every

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day, every class. It is a routine that happens daily and is reinforced by consequences. In my
classroom using the seat signals has carried into using hand signals while the teacher is in
small groups with others. These same signals for bathroom, water, etc. have cut down on the
time that I have to spend monitoring bathroom, and increased the time that I have in small
group instruction.
As for a Texas edition for Teach like a Champion. There should be a technique on how
to de-stress students from the anxiety of testing and the State Academic Assessment of
Readiness (STAAR). This would allow for actual teaching to happen instead of teaching to a
test. By the time students take the STAAR in April not all of the material has been covered,
which makes teachers rush through curriculum without having the chance to close gaps for
some students. I would like to have more staff development meetings on some valuable
techniques for reducing test anxiety, and how to implement them in our school campuses.
This would take the place of meaningless filler team building exercises, as something that
would benefit both teachers and students. My final suggestion for the Texas Edition is that
there needs to be a chapter or two on how to get parents, the community and the school all of
the same page for the sake of the students. Having a community and parents that support
what the school does makes a huge difference in the childs outlook on education. I would
like to see if in the new proposed edition Lemov could throw out some ideas that would be
beneficial since he has worked with students of poverty as well.
In conclusion, I enjoyed reading Teach Like a Champion I feel as though a lot of
teachers know how to implement these 49 techniques ;however, with the daily struggles that
each classroom presents the techniques go out the window and teachers return to whatever
routine will work the fastest, not the most appropriate. I know that working at a poverty level

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school presents itself with a separate set of issues, but good teaching is good teaching no
matter the location.

References
Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to college.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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