Triple Planning Like A Champion
The widely popular teaching book, Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov of Uncommon Schools, has become a sort of how-to manual for many teachers and schools around the country. It describes “49 technique that put students on the path to college.” (Sounds simple, right? Only 49 techniques to be a champion teacher…)
Most of them are really fantastic. They’re probably things you already do, or at least learned to do at some point, in your regular classroom practice. Lemov gave them memorable names to provide a common language for talking about and demystifying what it is that great teachers do.
One of the techniques he describes is called “Double Plan.” The basic premise is that a teacher should plan for both what they will be doing during class (e.g., the questions they will ask, the activities they will lead students through, the key points they will deliver, etc.) as well as what students will be doing. (You can read more about Double Plan on Lemov’s TLaC blog.)
Double Plan is a very important technique when it comes to the PARTICIPATION Element. It requires teachers to think constantly about the tangible things that students will be doing at every point throughout a lesson.
However, Double Plan really stops short of what teachers must do to really push on the THINKING Element.
Teachers who consistently Require THINKING of their students Triple Plan. They don’t just think about what they and their students will be doing during their lessons. They add in a third “planning layer” of what students will be thinking about throughout a lesson.
When you Triple Plan, it will necessarily change the things you ask your students to do. You will make small adjustments to questions. Rearrange how you present ideas. Insert additional tasks, exercises, or processing opportunities. In short, you will ask your students to do better things that require them to think deeper about your lesson’s content.
If you stop at planning what you and they are doing, you’re leaving your students’ thinking to chance.
This week, take it one step further. Go through what you have planned for your students to do and add in a layer — Will they be thinking about what I want them to be thinking about? If the answer is “no,” make some adjustments to guide them to the THINKING that will lead to the learning that you want.
