Check for Understanding

I am a huge fan of Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College.  My experience has been that when Lemov’s techniques are used well, all students achieve more and at higher levels than previously.

One really great thing about Teach Like a Champion is that you don’t need to read it cover-to-cover.  If you are struggling with a particular issue, having difficulty with a group of students, or looking to add to your instructional toolbox, turn to the Table of Contents.  You can read for five minutes, walk into class the next period, and put the strategy into use.  When you buy Lemov’s book, he even provides a CD with video clips of teachers using some of the techniques, so you can see them in action.  We may spend some professional development time this year looking at some of these.

They aren’t long.  They aren’t rocket science.  They do work.  They improve both your instruction and student learning.   Below is an abbreviated list of some of the techniques Lemov advocates.  Read through these and then read the indicators for Competency 2.4 below.  I think you will see the connection.

Lemov on Asking Questions and Checking for Understanding:

·         No Opt Out: How often are you faced with the response of “I don’t know” when you ask a question of a student?  If you move on, the student learns that this response gives him or her a free pass.  “No Opt Out” teaches what to do with this response and how to help a student get to the right answer if he or she really doesn’t know.

·         Right is Right: Be honest: How often do you take a partially right answer from a student, say “right,” and then expand to make the answer correct?  This technique reminds the teacher that partial answers or partially correct answers really aren’t “right.”  Lemov gives four ways to use this technique.  He calls these “Hold Out for All the Way,” “Answer the Question,” “Right Answer/Right Time,” and “Use Technical Vocabulary.” This is one of my personal favorites.  It changes how you listen to student answers to your questions. 

·         Stretch It: Instead of stopping the questioning when a student gives a correct answer, Lemov advocates following the question up with another question that extends and checks for depth of understanding.  For example, a teacher might ask how the student got to the answer or if there are other correct answers.

·         Format Matters: Answers are not just about what the students say.  They are also about how they say it. The answer should be in complete thoughts/sentences and correctly stated.  If applicable, it should include units and/or part of the question in the answer.  Think about how much more thoughtful answers have to be to meet these criteria.

·         Cold Call: When the teacher asks the question first and then calls on a student, it is “Cold Call.”  Simple as it seems, Lemov says this is the single most effective technique in the book.  There are many advantages to this order of questioning.  It allows you to hear from all students, not just the volunteers, and it keeps students engaged because they know they will be called on some time soon.

·         Wait Time: Three to five seconds is a long time to wait.  Try it.  It seems like an eternity until you get used to it.  This is the wait time you should give before you speak again after asking a student a question.  Students process at different rates, and you do a disservice by bailing them out too soon.  Avoid the temptation to fill the silence.  There are lots of other ways to make sure you are intentional with wait time as well.  For example, you can ask for hands to go up when students have an answer.  When you get enough hands, use “Cold Call.”  There is even the wait time between an answer from the student and your response.  Give students time to think!

·         Stock Questions: Develop a toolbox of stock questions that you use regularly.  These often are sequence questions that push students to higher-level thinking and require that they defend their answers.  Examples: Why? How do you know?  Can you add to that?  What has he missed?  What will that mean for….?

·         Simple to Complex: This is in the same category as “Stock Questions.”  Start with the simple questions and move to the more difficult.  Have in mind before you start key questions that you want to make sure all students can answer.

·         Hit Rate: Too few correct answers and too many correct answers are both problems.  If you are getting 100% of your questions answered correctly, you might need to ask harder questions.  If students are really struggling to answer questions, they might need more instruction or scaffolding.  Monitor the “hit rate” to adjust instruction.

·         Check for Understanding—And Do Something About It: Lemov says good drivers check their mirrors every five seconds.  You don’t wait for an accident before you adjust your driving.  Teachers must constantly gather information formally and informally to see how students are doing.  The hard part: If the data you gather shows lack of understanding by some students, you need to do something about it, or you are bound to be witness to an accident when you give the summative assessment.

·         Exit Ticket: Collect answers to one or two important questions at the end of each class.  It will tell you the percentage of students who are on track and the common misunderstandings, incomplete understandings, or misperceptions.  It will help you plan the beginning of the next day’s lesson.

·         Everybody Writes: If you have a key question, one you want to everyone to answer, having everyone do so in writing makes sense.  You don’t have to “grade” it if you don’t want.  Ask the question.  Give students a few minutes to write, and then have them share with a partner or with the class.  This technique can be used in every class.  Lemov lists six reasons this is effective.  You won’t use it for every question, but when you do, students will learn and retain the material at a much higher level.

All of the techniques listed above would be “evidence” for the Competency 2.4.  Look at the indicators below and watch the connections between Lemov’s techniques and the rubric jump out at you.

2.4 Check for Understanding

Effective (3)

·         Teacher checks for understanding at almost all key moments (when checking is necessary to inform instruction going forward).

·         Teacher uses a variety of methods to check for understanding that are successful in capturing an accurate “pulse” of the class’s understanding.

·         Teacher uses wait time effectively both after posing a question and before helping students think through a response.

·         Teacher uses leading questions or other strategies to prohibit student from “opting out” of checks of understanding and cycles back to these students.

·         Teachers systematically assesses student’ mastery of the objective(s) by the end of each lesson through formal and informal assessments.

Highly Effective (4): Much of the Level 3 evidence is observed during the year, as well as some of the following.

·         Teacher checks for understanding at higher levels by asking pertinent, scaffolding questions that push thinking; accepts only high quality student responses (those that reveal understanding or lack thereof).

·         Teacher uses open-ended questions to surface common misunderstandings and assess student mastery of material at a range of both lower- and higher-order thinking.

Let me know if you want to borrow my copy of Teach Like a Champion.  It is a great read and easy to use in the classroom immediately.

Have a great week.

Phil