This School Year, Don't Teach Like a Champion

With the opening of the new school year, teachers are again faced with the challenge on how they can improve their strategies which will benefit the students. Some educators claim that they have different approaches on how to "teach like a champion" but there are also some who oppose these techniques.

Chicago English teacher Ray Salazar said in an article that the strategies presented by Doug Lemov in his book "Teach Like a Champion" are not applicable for all students. He said that concerns for each group of students are always different.

"This book perpetuates the culture of low expectations among low-income youth.  The book glorifies teachers who do the minimum," Salazar said. "In truth, these techniques are rudimentary classroom-management approaches-not championship teaching."

According to About Education, Lemov said in his book that a "champion" teacher sets high academic expectations for the students. One training method for this technique is to never accept the "I don't know" answer but rather encourage students to always give it a try.

The author also said it is important to engage students in lessons using various techniques. One highlight is Technique 27: Vegas which is described as the moment in class when students are awed with a new learning.

The Chicago teacher said that most of the techniques do not mirror good teaching. "Good teaching begins with effective classroom management.  Champion teachers transcend this with lessons that go beyond recall and identification," he added

For this school year, Salazar said that he figured it would be better to have "a token economy" approach for his classes. Explaining this method, the teacher said that he will be handing tickets which can be converted to rewards if they "show respect, have integrity, or demonstrate responsibility in impressive ways."

"The underlying belief of all these strategies is that our young people can make good choices, that they want to be productive, that they are capable of learning, and that they need to lead, not just follow," Salazar explained. "They also need to know that a bad decision can result in detention."