Better Known Doug Lemov
Oct 26, 2025
Doug Lemov, a former teacher and school principal, shares groundbreaking insights on effective teaching techniques. He emphasizes the importance of background knowledge, defining learning as a change in long-term memory. Doug passionately advocates for joyful vocabulary instruction and warns against the myth of learning styles. He discusses the declining engagement with classics like 'Lord of the Flies,' highlighting their value in building persistence and understanding. Through reading aloud, he stresses the social aspect of literature, fostering deeper connections with students.
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Knowledge Enables Thinking
- Deep thinking depends on background knowledge stored in long-term memory, not abstract 'transferable' skills.
- Teaching facts is necessary because they enable inference and meaningful analysis from texts.
Learning Is Memory Change
- Cognitive scientists define learning as a change in long-term memory; understanding alone isn't enough.
- Encoding and retrieval strength differ and require deliberate practice to secure memories.
Use Difficulty And Retrieval Practice
- Use desirable difficulty to encode knowledge by forcing students to think hard and connect new ideas to prior knowledge.
- Use frequent retrieval practice to strengthen access to stored knowledge over time.
