Teach Like a Champion — Technique 13

This week we return to Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov with another technique in Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons.  This one is essential for success with learning disabled students, who in most case cannot see a whole problem or process without having it broken into discrete steps.

Technique 13 - Name the Steps.

Lemov notes that few gifted athletes make good coaches.  What they learn naturally does not come easily to the typical athlete, and they never have to break tasks down into discrete steps--they see the whole.   In fact, an important skill for children with more severe disabilities that for certain tasks, a "task analysis" is required.

Lemov wisely points out that as teachers we need to keep in mind the difference between a "Champion Performer" and a "Champion Teacher." A champion performer is good at a task, a champion teacher helps someone else succeed a that task.

There are four key components of Name the Steps:

1. Identify the steps: Be sure that the steps are clear and follow in logical order.  Be sure there are not too many, or it will overwhelm your students and make it difficult for them to succeed.
2. Make them stick. First name the steps so they will be easy to remember.  Then find a way to make them "stick" through a mnemonic or a story.  One example was a teacher who taught the steps of  finding the meaning of new words.  She found three steps:

• Context - use the words around it (the context) to find the meaning.
• Apposition--look for words in apposition which help rename the word. (i.e. She adjusted her tiara, the small crown of diamond encrusted gold.)
• Relational Words:  check for but (the word means the opposite) and or also (means the same thing.)

The teacher made the acronym CAR from the steps, and made frequent reference to "Drivitng the CAR."

1. Build the steps. You can use the process of discovering the steps to build the steps.  A strong and memorable lesson would be one where the students are challenged to discover the rules themselves.
2. Use Two Stairways.  There are often two parallel stairways rising in your class:  the steps for solving the particular problem you are dealing with.  The second staircase consists of the steps that rise to solving all problems of the same kind.

Take as an example regrouping for addition.

Teacher:  "John, add the numbers in the ones column. What do you get? "

John: "8 plus 5 is thirteen."

Teacher:  "Excellent.  Mark, what do we write here, under the 5?"

Mark: "A three.  You put the one over the 8 because it goes in the tens place."

Teacher: "Excellent.  I see you anticipated my next question.