Episodes

In This Episode We Discuss Many teachers think they need better time management, more productivity hacks, or stronger self-care routines. But often the real issue isn't a lack of effort. It's a lack of systems. In this Summer...

In This Episode We Discuss Why student thinking—not compliance—became a central theme throughout Season 12 How read aloud, accountable talk, writing, and learning science all connect to helping learning stick The difference b...

Episode 137- Listen to this interview with Lanesha Tabb as we talk about: 1. Closing the gap between student thinking and student writing 2. Using grammar and sentence-level instruction to improve writing quality 3. Keeping ...

Episode 136- Listen to this interview with Dr. Shane Saeed as we talk about: 1.The role forgetting plays in learning. 2. Familiar vs Known and the role it plays in student learning. 3.What retrieval strategies to use now as y...

Listen to this interview with Naomi O’Brien as we talk about: 1.What high expectations are as it relates to your literacy classroom. 2. How maintaining high expectations saves your sanity and keeps end of the year chaos at ba...

In This Episode We Discuss Why end-of-year classroom routines often fall apart after testingHow to maintain high expectations in your upper elementary literacy classroom through the last day of schoolThe connection between te...

In This Episode We Discuss Why most end-of-year classroom plans fall apartHow to move from reacting to intentionally designing the end of the school yearThe three patterns that lead to behavior shifts and loss of structure af...

Listen to this interview with Dr. Pooja Agarwal as we talk about: 1.What’s actually happening when students aren’t holding on to what we have taught them from one day to the next. 2.How to think about retrieval strategies as ...

Episode 131 How to design read aloud lessons that build understanding—not just engagement The difference between read aloud that supplements vs. supplants your instruction Using read aloud to teach reading skills like charact...

Episode 130 Show Notes Accountable Talk During Read Aloud: How to Move Beyond Turn and Talk to Real Thinking Why student talk doesn’t always lead to deeper thinking How to structure read aloud conversations to move beyond par...

Episode 129 - Why Read Aloud Still Matters in Grades 3–5 Classrooms In this episode we talk about: Why read alouds still matter in your Upper Elementary literacy classrooms. How Read alouds support learning science, How Read ...

In this episode: Listen in as I interview Stacey Riedmiller of Literacy for Big Kids. We talk about the what, the why and the how of reading what your students are reading. We talk about: 1 .What- What does it mean to read wh...

Listen to this interview with Dr. Pooja Aragawal as we talk about: 1.What’s actually happening when students aren’t holding on to what we have taught them from one day to the next. 2.How to think about retrieval strategies as...

Episode 127 In This Episode We Discuss How to incorporate science of learning strategies into your literacy block Using retrieval practice in reading lessons Why spaced practice improves student learning Turning learning obje...

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...