An avid New York Times reader, I routinely pour over the content and subsequently spew information on unsuspecting folks typically with the phrase, "So I read in the Times.." I am sure I have annoyed several of my nearest and dearest with my unsolicited opinions and information, but I can gladly say that at this point, they at least tolerate me.
On that fateful Tuesday, when the article graced my screen, I nearly spat my coffee clear across my office. "Wait. That Doug Lemov, that my school has been reading about in Teach Like a Champion, is the same Doug Lemov that Elizabeth Green is writing?" I was flabbergasted. My school administration had doled out Teach Like a Champion books to the entire faculty months prior and told us to "read and understand it." Admittedly, I rolled my eyes at this "academic reform" book and wondered the kickback my principal was getting for making us read it. That book had been patiently waiting on my shelf for months; I defiantly looked at it every so often as to acknowledge its existence but to spite its value. Occasionally, I would hear terms such as "cold-call" buzzed around my school, but I still wasn't interested enough to crack open the book.
After reading Green's article about Lemov, I ran over to the book, peeled the cover back, and read it cover-to-cover. To this day, I attribute Elizabeth Green for my conversion to Lemovian.
In my opinion, Teach Like a Champion is an assertion that teachers need not be born with the innate ability to be Champion teachers. Rather, Champion teachers are born with the innate desire to be champions through practice and feedback on specific skills.
This blog will document the practice and feedback that I embark on with my teachers. It will chronicle the academic zeitgeist, the trials and tribulations of "Teaching Like a Champion", and the collisions of world that we all inevitably face as educators.
My name is Ashley Squires, and I am a Champion for teachers.
