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The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading: Translating Research to Reignite Joy and Meaning in the Classroom
The most comprehensive and practical guide to understanding and applying the science of reading to improve literacy instruction.
After effectively teaching phonics in the early grades, what does the science of reading tell us should happen in literacy classes? The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading by Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, and Colleen Driggs, addresses the pressing challenges educators face in effectively incorporating the Science of Reading into their instruction once students already know how to decode. By offering actionable guidance grounded in seven evidence-based principles, this book helps teachers elevate their instructional practices and better prepare students to be lifelong readers and thinkers.
Grounded in proven classroom instruction, the book focuses on techniques that can allow teachers to use the science as effectively and actionably as possible. The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading is enhanced with more than 50 video clips from the classroom and covers ways to practically apply the Science of Reading. The book describes the often overlooked role of fluency in reading comprehension, even into the high school years; the profound importance of managing and socializing attention in an age of technology; the central role of background knowledge in understanding text; and the doubly important role of teaching vocabulary as a form of knowledge. It adds a discussion of how writing can make students better readers and how important it is that reading classes focus on reading actual books—great ones, ideally. And it closes with a discussion of close reading and the challenge of preparing students to rise to the challenge of complex text.
Inside the
An innovative approach to building and reinforcing background knowledge in reading Over 50 video demonstrations of effective teaching techniques Sample lesson plans and materials for immediate classroom application The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading is essential for educators, literacy coaches, and administrators who aim to foster rigorous literacy instruction in their classrooms and schools. This guide shows you how to implement techniques that ensure students find joy in reading and become better, wiser, more engaged and more motivated readers, both in their classrooms and in their lives beyond.
After effectively teaching phonics in the early grades, what does the science of reading tell us should happen in literacy classes? The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading by Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, and Colleen Driggs, addresses the pressing challenges educators face in effectively incorporating the Science of Reading into their instruction once students already know how to decode. By offering actionable guidance grounded in seven evidence-based principles, this book helps teachers elevate their instructional practices and better prepare students to be lifelong readers and thinkers.
Grounded in proven classroom instruction, the book focuses on techniques that can allow teachers to use the science as effectively and actionably as possible. The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading is enhanced with more than 50 video clips from the classroom and covers ways to practically apply the Science of Reading. The book describes the often overlooked role of fluency in reading comprehension, even into the high school years; the profound importance of managing and socializing attention in an age of technology; the central role of background knowledge in understanding text; and the doubly important role of teaching vocabulary as a form of knowledge. It adds a discussion of how writing can make students better readers and how important it is that reading classes focus on reading actual books—great ones, ideally. And it closes with a discussion of close reading and the challenge of preparing students to rise to the challenge of complex text.
Inside the
An innovative approach to building and reinforcing background knowledge in reading Over 50 video demonstrations of effective teaching techniques Sample lesson plans and materials for immediate classroom application The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading is essential for educators, literacy coaches, and administrators who aim to foster rigorous literacy instruction in their classrooms and schools. This guide shows you how to implement techniques that ensure students find joy in reading and become better, wiser, more engaged and more motivated readers, both in their classrooms and in their lives beyond.
- GenresNonfictionEducation
480 pages, Paperback
Published July 29, 2025
About the author
Doug Lemov
42 books113 followersDoug Lemov is an American educator and author. He is currently Managing Director of Uncommon Schools, a non-profit charter management organisation that manages 42 charter schools across New York, New Jersey and Boston.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 5, 2025
I found this wildly fascinating and incredibly pertinent as a homeschool mom.
December 31, 2025
8 chapters in 6 days - and an outstanding wealth of knowledge for me to apply when we are back at school next week!
I’ve been struggling to reconcile the research that A) independent reading time in the classroom isn’t always beneficial with B) the sad reality that students aren’t independently reading outside of the classroom either!
This book provides super powerful methods for bringing reading to life in the classroom, building fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, and attention, and providing lucky students with the inner resources to take the reins as the adults we hope to cultivate.
I’ve been struggling to reconcile the research that A) independent reading time in the classroom isn’t always beneficial with B) the sad reality that students aren’t independently reading outside of the classroom either!
This book provides super powerful methods for bringing reading to life in the classroom, building fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, and attention, and providing lucky students with the inner resources to take the reins as the adults we hope to cultivate.
November 5, 2025
5* because it promotes reading, but tbh it was a bit of a slog towards the end (possibly because later chapters are geared more towards classroom teachers than librarians!)
States the blindingly obvious to those already invested ... READ BOOKS or be really, really stupid forever and ever, amen. Hopefully very inspiring to those half my age with twice my energy, but a sad indictment of society that most of its points even need saying.
READ BOOKS. Delay gratification. Realise worthwhile things take time. Learn about the world, don't just believe the slop you get fed on social media. People who read regularly are more intelligent, empathetic, able to see others perspectives, and way more funny/sexy/good looking (I may have made that last bit up).
READ BOOKS. (please)
States the blindingly obvious to those already invested ... READ BOOKS or be really, really stupid forever and ever, amen. Hopefully very inspiring to those half my age with twice my energy, but a sad indictment of society that most of its points even need saying.
READ BOOKS. Delay gratification. Realise worthwhile things take time. Learn about the world, don't just believe the slop you get fed on social media. People who read regularly are more intelligent, empathetic, able to see others perspectives, and way more funny/sexy/good looking (I may have made that last bit up).
READ BOOKS. (please)
May 17, 2026
It's rich that the administrators who led the disaster of Lucy Calkins, whole language, three-cueing, and all related "progressive" models of teaching how to read, are finally buying this book for their teachers in an abrupt about-face, as there is finally a return to some common sense. In these pages, there are a lot of practical tips on returning to the basics: class-wide texts, rigor, close-reading strategies, the cognitive privilege of stories, the cultural capital of canonical books, the importance of knowledge vs skills application, the expert role of the teacher and the importance teacher-modeled reading - all of this just reaffirming what teachers who know what their students need already knew all along. Teaching reading, yes, even on the high school level, can be fun, if not even joyful, and nothing is more moving in a classroom than when an entire class is enmeshed, together, with a good story. Bring back this kind of teaching, and in particular, hand it to every new teacher, in every subject, as effective literacy skills should be embedded across curriculum.
On a related note, not necessarily addressed in the book, but one that certainly loomed large in the discussion of a return to phonics-based reading instruction, all school administrators should be PRACTICING teachers, if even for just a single period a day - and not with Honors or AP kids, but with your run-of the-mill clientele, maybe even struggling students, so that they can understand their pie-in-the-sky, highfalutin pedagogical theories and academy-derived ideas, despite how good they may sound on paper, not only do not work, but *actively hurt* students, especially those who are most high-risk and from high-needs backgrounds. Teachers knew what worked all along, and teachers were literally instructed not to provide background knowledge, not to give explicit vocabulary instruction, not to assign established works from the English canon, and as has been proven over and over again, the "experts" were wrong. Credit is most certainly due to Emily Hanford's work on "Sold a Story" - kudos to her and to all the teachers who, despite the tide, did right by their students and followed their own gut and expertise on teaching kids how to read. They are the everyday heroes.
On a related note, not necessarily addressed in the book, but one that certainly loomed large in the discussion of a return to phonics-based reading instruction, all school administrators should be PRACTICING teachers, if even for just a single period a day - and not with Honors or AP kids, but with your run-of the-mill clientele, maybe even struggling students, so that they can understand their pie-in-the-sky, highfalutin pedagogical theories and academy-derived ideas, despite how good they may sound on paper, not only do not work, but *actively hurt* students, especially those who are most high-risk and from high-needs backgrounds. Teachers knew what worked all along, and teachers were literally instructed not to provide background knowledge, not to give explicit vocabulary instruction, not to assign established works from the English canon, and as has been proven over and over again, the "experts" were wrong. Credit is most certainly due to Emily Hanford's work on "Sold a Story" - kudos to her and to all the teachers who, despite the tide, did right by their students and followed their own gut and expertise on teaching kids how to read. They are the everyday heroes.
Read
November 7, 2025DNF. Seems good but I'm more intersted in emergent literacy. This is for after that.
May 2, 2026
A must-read for all educators.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews