My Amazon review of TEACH LIKE A CHAMPION: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College

5 stars for Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov! Here's the review I posted on Amazon.com:

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov is a gold mine for teachers and equally valuable for all classroom presenters.

As a presenter in middle- and high school classes teaching the Peace Through Fiction creative reading method, I definitely will focus on using these key techniques from the book: Threshold (#41), The J-Factor (#46), The Hook (#12), Everybody Writes (#26), Wait Time (#25), Strong Voice (#38), and Emotional Constancy (#47).

The book as a whole will better inform all my classroom visits and help me to more effectively support the teachers with whom I partner.

My interests in bibliotherapy and Peace Through Fiction give me a special interest in the sections on text connections. I agree with Mr. Lemov’s assertions that “Thoughtful connections can often be the jumping-off place for inferences about the text. . .Effective connections can also help students see the story from a character’s point of view by accessing their own analogous experience. . .It may also be that people naturally make connections, and so the skill doesn’t need to be taught so much as managed and guided. The skill is in making connections effective and focused.” (303-304). These perspectives are simpatico in letter and spirit with both bibliotherapy and Peace Through Fiction, thus benefiting my work specifically.

I look forward to sharing Teach Like a Champion with colleagues at the International Reading Association 2010 convention in Chicago!