Teach Like A Champion

By Doug Lemov

Book Study
Includes discussion questions for over 60 techniques
explained in the book.
 Chapter 1- Setting High Academic Expectations

TECHNIQUE 1: NO OPT OUT

Key Idea:
A sequence that begins with a student unable to answer a question should end with the student answering that
question as often as possible.

Activity:
As you read Technique 1, underline a phrase or sentence that stands out to you.

Discussion Questions:
1. What are the four basic “No Opt Out” formats? Which formats are you most likely to use?
2. What types of cues would be useful for students in your class to learn?

TECHNIQUE 2: RIGHT IS RIGHT

Key Idea:
Set and defend a high standard of correctness in your classroom.

Activity:
On pages 37-39, the author writes of four ways in which educators slip up and allow students to answer questions that
are only partially correct. Circle the category you would like to focus on improving.

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree or disagree with the statement, “The job of the teacher is to set a high standard for correctness:
100 percent.”
2. How do you set a high standard of correctness in your classroom? Where would you like to make
improvements?
TECHNIQUE 3: STRETCH IT
Key Idea:
The sequence of learning does not end with the right answer; reward right answers with follow-up questions that extend
knowledge and test for reliability. This technique is especially important for differentiating instruction.

Activity:
As you read Technique 3, underline a phrase or sentence that stands out to you.

Discussion Questions:
1. How do you use the technique of “Stretch It” in your classroom?
2. The author describes 6 types of “Stretch It” questions. Which ones do you plan to incorporate in your
classroom?

TECHNIQUE 4: FORMAT MATTERS

Key Idea:
It’s not just what students say that matters but how they communicate it. To succeed, students must take their
knowledge and express it in the language of opportunity.

Discussion Questions:
1. What is the “language of opportunity?” Do you believe this is an important skill for students to possess?
2. What do you say or do when a student uses incorrect grammar? What strategies (if any) would you like to
incorporate from Teach like a Champion?
TECHNIQUE 5: WITHOUT APOLOGY
Key Idea:
There is no such thing as boring content. Never apologize for what you teach.

Activity:
Try to imagine the most “boring content (to you) that you could teach. Now script the first couple minutes of your class
in which you find a way to make it exciting and engaging to students.

Discussion Questions:
1. How do you make learning accessible to your students?
2. Instead of apologizing, what alternatives can you/do you use in your classroom?
 Chapter 2- Planning That Ensures Academic Achievement

TECHNIQUE 6: BEGIN WITH THE END

Key Idea:
When planning, begin with the objective in mind- ask yourself, “what do I want students to know or be able to do by the
end of the lesson?”

Discussion Questions:
1. How do you normally develop lesson plans? What question(s) do you want to keep in mind as you prepare
lesson plans in the future?
2. The author writes about the importance of effective unit planning. How do you utilize unit planning as you
prepare lessons?

TECHNIQUE 7: 4 Ms

Key Idea:
A great lesson objective (and therefore a great lesson) should include the 4Ms: Manageable, Measurable, Made first,
and Most important on the path to college.

Activity:
Think of a recent lesson plan. Did it fit the criteria of being manageable, measurable, made first, and most important?

Discussion Questions:
1. What objective criteria- manageable, measurable, made first, most important- stands out most to you?
2. Which criteria is strength for you? A weakness?
TECHNIQUE 8: POST IT

Key Idea:
Post your objective in a visible place in the classroom.

Discussion Questions:
1. Where might you post objectives in your classroom? If you teach multiple subjects, how would you post
multiple objectives?
2. How might you reference the posted objective while teaching the lesson?

TECHNIQUE 9: SHORTEST PATH

Key Idea:
All other things being equal, the simplest explanation or strategy is the best.

Activity:
Think of a recent lesson objective. Did you utilize the shortest path in teaching this lesson?

Discussion Questions:
1. What are some of the proven and trustworthy methods you use when developing lesson plans?
2. How often do you switch between methods in order to keep students motivated?
TECHNIQUE 10: DOUBLE PLAN
Key Idea:
It’s as important to plan for what students will be doing during each phase of your lesson as it is to plan for what you’ll
be doing and saying.

Discussion Questions:
1. Are you currently using this technique in your classroom? If not, how might you want to begin planning for this?
2. What are some of the activities you have students engage during a lesson? (ex. note taking, call and response,
etc.)

TECHNIQUE 11: DRAW THE MAP

Key Idea:
Draw the Map refers to planning and controlling the physical environment, which should support the specific lesson
goals for the day.

Discussion Questions:
1. What do you want your default classroom layout to be and what would the most common other layouts look
like? Will you use them enough to justify having your students practice moving from one to another?
2. What are the 5 most useful and important things you could put on the walls to help students do their work? Are
they up?
3. What things are on your walls that don’t need to be? Nominate 5 to take down.
 Chapter 3- Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

TECHNIQUE 12: THE HOOK

Key Idea:
When necessary, use a short, engaging introduction to excite students about learning.

Activity:
Put a star next to the hook categories that you use/would like to use in your classroom

Discussion Questions:
1. What type of hooks do you currently use in your classroom?
2. Which new hooks would you like to incorporate in your classroom?

TECHNIQUE 13: NAME THE STEPS

Key Idea:
When possible, give students solution tools- specific steps by which to work or solve problems of the type you’re
presenting. This often involves breaking down a complex task into specific steps.

Activity:
Circle the four key components that are often part of Name the Steps classrooms.

Discussion Questions:
1. How do you scaffold new material in your classroom?
2. Are there certain step by step procedures/explanations you use in your classroom to help explain and clarify
lessons?
TECHNIQUE 14: BOARD=PAPER
Key Idea:
Model for students how to track the information they need to retain from your lessons; ensure that they have an exact
copy of what they need.

Discussion Questions:
1. Do students take notes in your classroom? What is the quality of their note taking?
2. How do you plan to incorporate this technique in your classroom?

TECHNIQUE 15: CIRCULATE

Key Idea:
Move around the classroom to engage and hold students accountable.

Activity:
Put a star next to the circulate strategy that you want to try using during the next week in your classroom.

Discussion Questions:
1. Is your classroom set up in such a way that you have full access to all students in the room? If not, how might
you want to rearrange your room?
2. What are ways you can or do engage with students when you circulate in the classroom?
TECHNIQUE 16: BREAK IT DOWN
Key Idea:
As soon as a student error occurs, go back and ask a question or present information that builds the part of the material
that they think was most likely to have caused the error, thus building the student’s knowledge back from a point of
partial understanding.

Activity:
As you read Technique 16, underline one of the six types of Break It Down techniques you will focus on using this week
in your class.

Discussion Questions:
1. Think about two or three places in your lesson where students are most likely to make an error or
misunderstand the lesson. Script a couple of Break It Down questions at varying levels of support for each of
these likely error points.

TECHNIQUE 17: RATIO

Key Idea:
A successful lesson is rarely marked by a teacher’s getting a good intellectual workout at the front of the room. Push
more and more of the cognitive work out to students as soon as they are ready, with the understanding that the
cognitive work must be on-task, focused, and productive.

Activity:
The author discusses a number of methods to apply during discussions. Put a star by the 2 you want to focus on.

Discussion Questions:
1. On a scale from 1-10 (with 10 being very high), how would you assess your current level of ratio?
2. How do you plan to increase your ratio?
3. How would you define “non-productive ratio?”
TECHNIQUE 18: CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

Key Idea:
Effective Check for Understanding equals gathering data constantly and acting on them immediately. The second part
(acting on the data quickly) is both harder to do and at least as important.

Discussion Questions:
1. How do you currently “check for understanding” in your classroom? What is one idea from the reading you
could incorporate into your classroom?
2. How do you currently respond to data in your classroom? What is one idea from the reading you could
incorporate into your classroom?

TECHNIQUE 19: AT BATS

Key Idea:
Students need lots and lots of practice, ten or twenty repetitions instead of two or three, to reach mastery.

Activity:
Think of a new activity or hobby you were trying to learn. How did you learn this activity and get better at it?

Discussion Questions:
1. How can you build in time during class to give students opportunity to practice skills?
2. What are some of the skills currently being taught in your class that students need regular opportunity to
practice?
TECHNIQUE 20: EXIT TICKET
Key Idea:
End your lesson with a single question or short sequence of problems to solve at the close of class.

Activity:
Design an exit ticket for a recent lesson. Does this ticket meet the criteria of being quick and designed to yield data?

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you currently use exit tickets in your classroom? What do these exit tickets typically look like?
2. Using exit tickets as a source of data, how will you ensure students understand the material being taught?

TECHNIQUE 21: TAKE A STAND

Key Idea:
This technique involves pushing students to actively engage in the ideas around them by making judgments about the
answers their peers provide. This allows you to increase the number of students who participate in and process a
particular part of your lesson.

Activity:
Underline a key phrase or sentence that stands out to you.

Discussion Questions:
1. How will you incorporate this technique in your classroom?
2. How can you transform a more passive type of Take a Stand (example- Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down) into a more
engaging, active form of the technique?
 Chapter 4-Engaging Students in Your Lessons

TECHNIQUE 22: COLD CALL

Key Idea:
In order to make engaged participation the expectation, call on students regardless of whether they have raised their
hands.

Activity:
Put a star next to each of the 4 key principles of the Cold Call technique?

Discussion Questions:
1. How can Cold Call help to increase student engagement in the classroom?
2. How will you ensure Cold Call is viewed as a positive strategy, not as a gotcha?
3. How do you plan on using this technique in your classroom?

TECHNIQUE 23: CALL AND RESPONSE

Key Idea:
Use group choral response—you ask; they answer in unison—to build a culture of energetic, positive engagement.

Discussion Questions:
1. What specific cue will you use in order for students to know to respond in unison to your questions?
2. Do you plan on using this technique in your classroom? Why or why not?
TECHNIQUE 24: PEPPER
Key Idea:
Use fast-paced, group-oriented activities to review familiar information and foundation skills.

Activity:
Think of a recent lesson. Design a Pepper game in order to reinforce the skills learned.

Discussion Questions:
1. When might you use Pepper in your classroom?
2. How would you ensure your students view Pepper as a game?

TECHNIQUE 25: WAIT TIME

Key Idea:
Wait Time refers to the technique of delaying a few strategic seconds after you finish asking a question and before you
ask a student to begin answering it.

Activity:
Jot down a couple of ideas for how you would narrate wait time in your class:

Discussion Questions:
1. How long do you wait before allowing students to answer a question?
2. How might you stretch this wait time briefly?
TECHNIQUE 26: EVERYBODY WRITES
Key Idea:
Set your students up for rigorous engagement by giving them the opportunity to reflect first in writing before discussing.

Activity:
Think of an upcoming lesson you will teach. Identify a place where all your students will write answers to your questions
before a discussion. Where will they write and what will the expectations be (Will you collect their work? Are complete
sentences required)?

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree or disagree with the statement by author Joan Didion, “I write to know what I think.”
2. What do you see are the primary benefits to the technique Everybody Writes?

TECHNIQUE 27: VEGAS

Key Idea:
Vegas is the sparkle, the moment during class when you might observe some production values: music, rhythm, dancing.

Activity:
Think of a recent lesson. How did you (or could you) add a little Vegas to it?

Discussion Questions:
1. How might Vegas take students off task and do as much harm as good? How will you prevent this from
happening?
 Chapter 5- Creating a Strong Classroom Culture

TECHNIQUE 28: ENTRY ROUTINE

Key Idea:
Entry Routine is about making a habit out of what’s efficient, productive, and scholarly after you greet students and as
students take their seats and class begins.

Activity:
Circle the entry routines you currently have in place in your classroom.

Where students sit Homework Do Now/Beginning Activity Materials Absent Day Before

Discussion Questions:
1. What entry routines are working well in your classroom?
2. What routines do you need to establish or want to work on?

TECHNIQUE 29: DO NOW

Key Idea:
The Do Now means that your students are hard at work even before you have fully entered the room. They are
productive during every minute and ready for instruction as soon as you start.

Discussion Questions:
1. Do your Do Now assignments conform to the 4 critical criteria mentioned in the book? If not, how would you
consider changing or modifying your assignments to ensure:
1. Students can complete assignment without direction from teacher or discussion with classmates
2. Activity takes 3-5 minutes to complete
3. Requires written product
4. Activity preview’s days lesson or review’s a recent lesson
TECHNIQUE 30: TIGHT TRANSITIONS
Key Idea:
A critical piece of any highly effective classroom is having quick and routine transitions that students can execute
without extensive narration by the teacher. Transitions include times when students move from place to place or
activity to activity.

Activity:
List some of the frequent transitions that occur in your classroom.

Discussion Questions:
1. What specific times during the day/during the class period do you lose valuable instructional time due to
transition problems? What would you like to do differently during these times?
2. What is your plan for teaching transitions?

TECHNIQUE 31: BINDER CONTROL

Key Idea:
Care enough about and demonstrate the importance of what you teach to build a system for the storage, organization,
and recall of what your students have learned.

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree or disagree with the key idea above?
2. Do you currently require students to keep a binder for notes? If yes, how has the system been working? What
problems have you encountered?
TECHNIQUE 32: SLANT
Key Idea:
The 5 key behaviors that maximize students’ ability to pay attention are included in the acronym SLANT- Sit up, Listen,
Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker.

Discussion Questions:
1. What acronyms or nonverbal cues do you use in your classroom to remind students of expectations?
2. If you are not currently using SLANT (or another acronym) and would like to incorporate this into your
classroom, how will you teach the expectations to your students? How will you remember to use this acronym
daily with your students?

TECHNIQUE 33: ON YOUR MARK

Key Idea:
Every student should be ready to start class with books and papers out and pen or pencil in hand.

Discussion Questions:
1. What do your students need to start class? How will you (or do you) teach this expectation to students?
2. What happens if a student does not bring pencils, paper, or other materials to class? Is this system working for
you?
3. What happens if a student is consistently not “on their mark?”
TECHNIQUE 34: SEAT SIGNALS
Key Idea:
Develop a system for common needs, including going to the bathroom and sharpening pencils. This system should
include signals a student can make from his/her seat, along with clear expectations for when and how these signals
should be used.

Activity:
List the seat signals you currently use in your class:

Discussion Questions:
1. How are your bathroom procedures currently working? If they aren’t working well, how might you consider
modifying or changing them?
2. What seat signals would you consider adding or changing in order to ensure a smoother classroom
environment?

TECHNIQUE 35: PROPS

Key Idea:
Props are public praise for students who demonstrate excellence or exemplify virtues.

Activity:
Brainstorm one prop (feet stomping, shout out, clap, etc.) you would like to actively teach and regularly use in your
classroom. Does your prop meet the criteria including being quick, visceral, universal enthusiastic, and evolving?

Discussion Questions:
1. The author lists a number of different ideas for Props. Which is your favorite?
2. How could using the technique Props create problems in your classroom? How would actively teaching Props
help to prevent these problems from occurring?
 Chapter 6- Setting and Maintaining High Behavioral Expectations

TECHNIQUE 36: 100 PERCENT

Key Idea:
There’s one acceptable percentage of students following a direction: 100 percent. Less, and your authority is subject to
interpretation, situation, and motivation.

Activity:
Watch Clip 15, noticing how the teacher corrects individual behavior as an exercise in purpose, not power.

Discussion Questions:
3. Why and how is 100% compliance necessary for student success?
4. What are the various components of the least invasive forms of intervention and when would you use each?
5. What are ways you can emphasize compliance and when would you incorporate these techniques in your class?

TECHNIQUE 37: WHAT TO DO

Key Idea:
One of our primary jobs is to tell students what to do and how to do it. Telling students what to do rather than what no
to do is not only far more efficient and effective, but it refocuses us, even in moments that are about behavior, on
teaching.

Activity:
As a group or individually, take the following vague phrases and flip them into positive and specific instructions: “Pay
attention.” “Don’t get distracted.” “Stop fooling around.”

Discussion Questions:
3. Describe the four primary components of making sure your students know what to do?
4. Review the activity you just finished, did your instructions include all four components of What to do?
5. How can practicing What to do in your classroom on a consistent basis assist in times of crisis behavior?
 TECHNIQUE 38: STRONG VOICE

The five components of Strong Voice provide five concrete techniques teachers can use to establish control, command,
and the benign authority that makes the use of excessive consequences unnecessary.

Activity:
Watch clip #17 and share your observations with the group. Do you practice any of the demonstrated tips in your
classroom? How well is it working?

Discussion Questions:
1. Describe each of the 5 components of Strong Voice. What does each mean in your own language?
2. How does the formal register assist with creating a strong voice? When would you use formal register and when
might you use more casual register with your students?
3. How might you practice using Strong Voice in your classroom?

TECHNIQUE 39: DO IT AGAIN

Key Idea:
Doing it again and doing it right, or better, or perfect is often the best consequence. The goal is not compliance, but
excellence, even in the little things.

Activity:
Watch clip #18 share your observations with the group. How does the teacher ensure her students will do it over until
it’s done correctly?

Discussion Questions:
1. What are some of the benefits of using Do it Again in with your students?
2. Why is it helpful to implement Do it Again the minute you realize the students are not going to meet the
standard instead of waiting until the end of the lesson/routine?
 TECHNIQUE 40: SWEAT THE
DETAILS
Key Idea:
The key to Sweat the Details is preparation. Planning for orderliness means putting systems in place in advance that
make accomplishing the goal of the lesson or activity quick and easy.

Activity:
Consider the policies and procedures you will need to put in place for your classroom to run smoothly during arrival,
dismissal, direct teach, independent work, partner/group work and to get your students’ attention.

Discussion Questions:
1. What needs to happen in your classroom to create the perception of order for your students?
2. How will you teach your students the expectations for policies about homework and attendance and procedures
such as when to sharpen pencils and turn in work?

TECHNIQUE 41: THRESHOLD

Key Idea:
The most important moment to set expectations in your classroom is the minute your students enter or, if they are
transitioning within the room, when they formally begin their lesson.

Activity:
Brainstorm rituals to use when you are not able to greet students at the door (such as transitioning in the classroom or if
you are not allowed to have students line up outside of your door). Share your ideas with the group.

Discussion Questions:
1. Why is greeting students at the door before they enter the classroom important?
2. How can you make Threshold fit your own personal style?
3. How might you use Threshold when transitioning from one activity to another?
 Warning! TECHNIQUE 42: NO WARNINGS
Key Idea:
Warnings tell students that a certain amount of disobedience will be not only tolerated, but is expected. Using minor
interventions and small consequences that you can administer fairly and without hesitation before the situation
becomes emotional is the key to maintaining control and earning students’ respect.

Activity:
1. For each of the common off-task behaviors listed below, write down and practice with a friend or in front of a mirror a
nonverbal intervention you could use to correct it while teaching:
• Student slouched in chair • Student with head down on desk, eyes hidden
• Student with head down on her desk, eyes up • Student gesturing distractingly to another student
• Student persistently looking under his desk for an unidentified something

2. For each of the off-task behaviors in question 1, script a positive group correction and an anonymous individual
correction to address them.
 Chapter 7- Building Character and Trust

TECHNIQUE 43: POSITIVE FRAMING

Key Idea:
Make corrections consistently and positively. Narrate the world you want your students to see even while you are
relentlessly improving it. Positive Framing means making interventions to correct student behavior in a positive and
constructive way. It does not mean avoiding interventions so you can’t talk instead only about the positive behavior you
see.
Activity:
Watch clip #19 and share your observations with the group. (Note that this clip concentrates the amount of Positive
Framing the teacher does – keep in mind that it is often better to sprinkle it in regularly but in small amounts
throughout the lesson.)

Discussion Questions:
1. What are the six rules for Positive Framing? Which
2. Which do you already do well?
3. Which of the six rules do you need to work on to incorporate into your classroom practice? What is your plan
for making this happen?

TECHNIQUE 44: PRECISE PRAISE

Key Idea:
Positive reinforcement is one of the most powerful tools in every classroom and should happen at least three times as
often as criticism and correction; however, it is important to implement this tool correctly so as not to undermine it.

Activity:
Consider the three most frequent off-task behaviors that occur in your classroom. Now flip each behavior to a positive
statement to help make sure you’re giving clear and specific expectations to your students.

Discussion Questions:
1. What is the difference between acknowledgement and praise?
2. Why should praise be “loud” and corrections or fixes be soft?
3. What can you do to ensure your praise is genuine?
TECHNIQUE 45: WARM/STRICT

Key Idea:
You should seek to be both warm and strict and often at the same time. When you are clear, consistent, firm, and
unrelenting at the same time positive, enthusiastic, caring and thoughtful, you start to send the message to students
that having high expectations is part of caring for and respecting someone. This is powerful.

Activity:
You may want to answer the discussion questions before completing the following activity: Practice using one of the
four strategies for Warm/Strict with a colleague.

Discussion Questions:
1. What are the four techniques you should use to make Warm/Strict effective?
2. Describe the “tyranny of the ‘or’” and how using Warm/Strict can counteract this belief.

TECHNIQUE 46: THE J-FACTOR

Key Idea:
The finest teachers offer up the work with generous servings of energy, passion, enthusiasm, fun, and humor – not
necessarily as the antidote to hard work but because those are some of the primary ways that hard work gets done.
Finding the joy in learning – the J-Factor- is a key driver not just of a happy classroom, but a high-achieving classroom.

Activity:
Watch either clip #20 or clip #21 and share your thoughts with the group.

Discussion Questions:
1. Describe the five categories of J-Factor in your own words.
2. Thinking about your grade level and/or content, what could you do to boost the J-Factor in your class(es)?
TECHNIQUE 47: EMOTIONAL
CONSTANCY
Key Idea:
Modulate your emotions and be careful about the language used in class. Success is in the long run about a student’s
consistent relationship with productive behaviors.

Activity:
Think about a time when a student’s behavior has angered or upset you. Now practice taking your emotion out of the
conversation when you talk with the student about the concern. You may write your response out if you find it helpful.

TECHNIQUE 48: EXPLAIN EVERYTHING

Key Idea:
Students in high-performing classrooms understand the dynamics of personal and group accountability.

Discussion Questions:
1. Why is it important to explain rationale for the rule or procedure in a calm moment, before any misbehavior
occurs?
2. What can you do to make sure your thinking and rationale for how you run the classroom is clear to your
students?
TECHNIQUE 49: NORMALIZE ERROR
Key Idea:
Getting it wrong and then getting it right is one of the fundamental processes for schooling. Respond to both parts of
this sequence, the wrong and the right, as completely normal.

Discussion Questions:
1. Why is it important to not over-praise right answers?
2. How can you differentiate praise for hard work and praise for getting the right answer?
 Chapter 8- Improving Your Pacing

Pacing Techniques: CHANGE THE

PACE
Key Idea:
Using a variety of activities to accomplish your objective and moving from one to another throughout the course of the
lesson is using Change the Pace since research indicates that many people’s attention span is only 10 minutes. With that
being said, one of the greatest gifts a school can give a student is to increase his or her capacity to concentrate for
extended periods of time.

Activity:
Think about a lesson you will be teaching soon. Plan for a variety of activities that are tied together, to increase student
engagement.

Discussion Questions:
1. Using the age plus 2 rule, how long should you stay on one activity during class?
2. How can teachers respond to limited attention spans and gradually and persistently extend them?
3. How might using a variety of activities assist all students in your class?

Pacing Techniques: BRIGHTEN LINES

Key Idea:
Making activities begin and end crisply and clearly rather than melding together in an undifferentiated stew can have a
positive effect on pacing.

Discussion Questions:
1. How will you change how you transition from activity to activity to brighten the lines and give the illusion of
speed to your lessons?
 Pacing Techniques: ALL HANDS

Key Idea:
You can create the illusion of speed by shifting rapidly among and involving a wide array of participants by using All
Hands.

Activity:
Plan how you will teach your students to answer questions in one or two sentences. What phrase or cue will you use to
remind your students to keep it succinct if they begin to give long-winded or meandering answers to your questions?

Pacing Techniques: EVERY MINUTE

MATTERS
Key Idea:
Time is a teacher’s most precious resource, one that must carefully be guarded so it is not wasted.

Activity:
Plan several short activities and always keep them handy so you’re prepared when a two-minute opportunity emerges:
the end of class, in the hallway, while waiting for a bus, etc…

Discussion Questions:
1. How can you ensure that every minute in your classroom is utilized for instruction?
2. What are some ways you can turn reviews into a fun exercise to reward students for their hard work and
continue instruction at the same time?
 Pacing Techniques: LOOK
FORWARD
Key Idea:
Create excitement and anticipation in your class by utilizing even mild suspense about activities or learning that will
happen during the lesson or the day.

Discussion Questions:
1. Why is it important to give your students something to look forward to?
2. In what ways will you create excitement and anticipation about your class?

Pacing Techniques: WORK THE

CLOCK
Key Idea:
Using frequent countdowns creates a sense of urgency and emphasizes the importance of each second.

Discussion Questions:
1. How might using a countdown allow you to continually set goals for your class’s speed in meeting expectations?
2. How does identifying students who are ready during the countdown help reinforce expectations in the
classroom? What is the potential danger of identifying students who met your expectation without the use of a
countdown?
 Critical Thinking Techniques: ONE AT A
TIME
Key Idea:
Disciplining yourself to use the One at a Time technique, particularly when you’re most engaged and enthused, helps
focus students on developing one idea at a time and focuses you on questioning with a specific goal or purpose in mind.
In scholastic questioning, offering a menu of questions is likely to cause confusion and inefficiency.

Activity:
Interview someone in the group and practice asking this person only one question at a time. What made the task easy
or difficult? What can you learn that you can apply to teaching?

Discussion Questions:
1. How does asking one question at a time assist you with planning follow-up questions to ensure your students
have a full understanding of the lesson concept?
2. What steps can you take to ensure you ask only one question at a time, even when excited about the material?

Critical Thinking Techniques: SIMPLE TO

COMPLEX
Key Idea:
Effective questions initially engage students’ thinking about a topic in contained and concrete ways and then push them
to think more deeply and broadly.

Activity:
Using a lesson you plan to teach, practice writing questions that move from the simple to the more complex.

Discussion Questions:
1. Why might more complex questions yield more value if asked after you’ve established and affirmed your
students’ fact base and logical building blocks with simpler questions?
 Critical Thinking Techniques: VERBATIM
(No Bait and
Switch)
Key Idea:
You want your questions to matter and you want students to hear them and participate in thoughtful reflection.
Keeping your questions constant makes this easier for your students to do and helps you avoid an unintentional “bait
and switch” on the students.

Activity:
Practice asking a question and then, after utilizing wait time, asking the same question again, verbatim.

Critical Thinking Techniques: CLEAR AND

CONCISE
Key Idea:
Make sure your questions are clear and concise so your students know what it is you are asking them and are able to
answer correctly.

Activity:
Familiarize yourself with the 5 elements of Clear and Concise and practice writing questions that use some or all of the
following elements:

• Start with a question word

• Limit them to two clauses
• Write them in advance, when they matter
• Ask an actual question
• Assume the answer
 Critical Thinking Techniques: STOCK
QUESTIONS
Key Idea:
Creating stock questions, based on theme and variation, allows you to ask similar sequences of questions over and over
in different settings.

Activity:
Consider a lesson you’re teaching. What are the main concepts you want your students to learn? Practice creating
stock questions for this concept that can be used in a variety of settings to ensure students are learning.

Critical Thinking Techniques: HIT RATE

Key Idea:
The Hit Rate is the rate at which students answer your questions correctly or adequately. While it is okay to start out
with 100% accuracy at the beginning of a lesson or during review, when you begin to approach 100% this is often an
indication that you need to ask harder questions. If your hit rate is below two out of three, you either have a problem
with how you presented the material you taught or how aligned your questions are to the material.

Activity:
During your next questioning session, keep track of the Hit Rate and adjust your questions accordingly.