Episodes

Episode 126 — Designing for Transfer in Reading Instruction Goal: The goal of this episode is to understand what you can do to help support student transfer of information through the application of knowledge in your upper el...

Episode 125 — What Really Drives Student Motivation? Goal: The goal of this episode is to understand what fuels student motivation in your upper elementary literacy classroom. We talk about: 1.What really fuels student motiva...

Episode 124 — Teaching Students How to Take Charge of their Learning Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with the what, the why and the how of getting your students to take charge of their learning. We tal...

Episode 123 :Designing Reading Lessons That Outlast the Pacing Guide Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you design literacy lessons that promote transfer and long-term learning — even when that means making intentional...

Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with tangible tools for helping students build connected meaning within and across texts. We talk about: 1.Concept Mapping 2. Recap of chapter 6 of Smart Teaching Strong...

Episode 121 — Why- How Your Students Learn and Practice Matters in your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom? Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with tangible tools for choosing how to teach and practice ...

Episode 120 — Why Learning That Lasts Often Feels Hard Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you understand why learning that lasts requires productive struggle and how retrieval and spacing routines help learning stick ...

Episode 119: What Does It Mean for Learning to Stick? The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with an understanding of what retrieval practices are and how they help support student learning, in other words how to m...

In this episode: We talk about what it means to be a self-led teacher and how being a self-led teacher can help shape your practice and improve student outcomes as an upper elementary literacy teacher. We also reveal our anch...

In this episode: Listen in as I wrap up the top 5 most listened to episodes in 2025. We talk about: The top 5 most listened to episodes of the podcast for 2025 and what you can look forward to from the podcast in quarter 1. L...

We talk about: How to conduct a mid-year check in and what to do with the information you gather during your check in meeting. Links to resources mentioned in the podcast: Mid Year Check In Grab my free guide for keeping your...

We talk about: The what and the why of taking time to reflect on your literacy block and how you are uniquely positioned to do that. Links to resources mentioned in the podcast: Mid Year Check In Grab my free guide for keepin...

In this episode: Listen to the final episode in our Motivation Matters Mini Series. We talk about: Reflecting on the three basic psychological needs that your students have and thinking about how they show up in your literacy...

In this episode: Listen to the fourth episode in our Motivation Matters Mini Series. We talk about: We continue our conversation about motivation and why it matters in your upper elementary literacy classroom. We also talk ab...

In this episode: Listen to the third episode in our Motivation Matters Mini Series. We talk about: We continue our conversation about motivation and why it matters in your upper elementary literacy classroom. We also talk abo...

In this episode: Listen to the second episode in our Motivation Matters Mini Series. We talk about: We continue our conversation about motivation and why it matters in your upper elementary literacy classroom. We also talk ab...

In this episode: Listen to the first episode in our Motivation Matters Mini Series. We talk about: That ever illusive thing that we want students to have when it comes to our literacy classrooms. That thing that if they had i...

In this episode: I talk about the what, why and how of maintaining the community that you’ve worked hard to cultivate all year long. We talk about: 1.What it means to cultivate community. 2. Why cultivating community during o...

In this episode: I talk about the what, why and how of keeping literacy learning front and center at the end of the school year. We talk about: 1.What does it mean to keep learning front and center. 2. Why keeping learning f...

In this episode: I talk about the what, why and how of leveraging the behind the scenes of being an upper elementary reading teacher to help you end the year strong-ish. We talk about: 1.What is the behind the scenes of teach...

In this episode: I talk about the what, why and how of casting a vision that will help you finish the year strong-ish We talk about: 1.What it means to cast a realistic vision for the end of the school year in your upper elem...

In this episode: Listen in as we talk about what the research says about the What, the Why and the How that finding similarities and differences across texts plays in their reading lives. We talk about: Listen to the final ep...

In this episode: Listen in as we talk about what the research says about the What, the Why and the How of making comparisons in your upper elementary literacy classroom We talk about: Listen to the first episode in our compar...

In this episode: Listen in as we talk about what the research says about the role modeling plays in increasing a student’s self-efficacy and self-regulation. This is a sneak peek at a workshop all about teaching students how ...