Teach Like a Champion — Technique 11

Technique 11 from Doug Lemov's great resource, Teach Like a Champion, is once again a planning technique.  This is not a day to day or week to week technique, but potentially longer.  Of course, I need to keep in mind that it is potentially but not necessarily longer.

Technique 11:  Draw the Map

Drawing the map is basically planning the environment.  Or, more simply put, it is the seating chart.  Of course I wrote potentially longer, because the seating chart and the classroom environment, like everything else, needs to be evaluated constantly and changed when needed.  Lemov notes that all too many teachers make a seating chart at the beginning of the year and don't change it according to the changing needs of a class.

When you draw the map, you need to ask some important questions:

• When should students interact in school?
• How should students interact in school?
• What should the way student's sit signal and incentivize about the various kinds of interactions?
• Which kinds of interactions support which kinds of lesson objectives?

Clustering groups of four may be a popular way to encourage collaboration, but it also encourages talking and means that during whole group instruction, at least two people in each group have to turn to face the teacher. Lemov does not recommend this set up.  (Ironic, because we were told that was how our students should sit when I taught in Philadelphia. )

Lemov's preferred formation is paired columns of rows:  three paired columns, of six across, and 4 to 5 rows.  It makes it possible for the teacher to be able to move among students, and always be able to lean over and whisper in a student's ear.  It means students will face the teacher in the front of the room.  Pairs also encourages two students to collaborate.  For larger groups, the teacher may make another map and establish a routine to get into groups.

Drawing the map also refers to what is on the walls.  Lemov warns against too much or unimportant things on the walls.  This is especially true for special education students, who are often distracted by two much visual information.  He also recommends student work, but suggests that what is written on it is more specific than "Good," or "Outstanding."  He suggests that teachers comments on work that is posted is specific to model what the teacher values as good work--so the comments might be "Excellent use of adjectives to describe," or "Your neat work on this paper helped you do an accurate job."