Technique 13: Name the Steps

(Part of Chapter 3: Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons)

"Name the Steps" means breaking down complex skills into manageable (and learnable) parts.  Naming each part helps students understand and learn the parts, and keep them in order.

Lemov breaks this technique into 4 subtechniques:

1. Identify the steps: when you teach the complex skill, teach the steps to learning the complex skill.  I.e., don't hide the fact that you are using steps.
2. Make them "sticky": you need to find a way for students to memorize the steps.  Thus, naming them helps.  If the names form an acronym, that makes remember the steps and their order even easier.
3. Build the steps: if you can derive the steps with the students' help, in class, that makes the lesson even more interesting and memorable.
4. Use two stairways: I think this means narrating the steps and doing an example problem at the same time.

My response:

I think this is a great idea, but I haven't been able to think of examples where I could/should use this technique.  Maybe when I teach debugging techniques in CS106...  Perhaps when I teach building formulas in Excel...?  Hmmm... I have some thinking to do on this one.