Episodes

Why Students Forget What You Teach and How to Design Lessons That Stick
April 28, 2026

Why Students Forget What You Teach and How to Design Lessons That Stick

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 ...
Accountable Talk During Read Aloud: How to Move Beyond Turn and Talk to Real Thinking
April 14, 2026

Accountable Talk During Read Aloud: How to Move Beyond Turn and Talk to Real Thinking

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...
Why Read Aloud Still Matters in Grades 3-5
April 7, 2026

Why Read Aloud Still Matters in Grades 3-5

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 ...
Revisiting a Conversation: Why You Should Read What Your Upper Elementary Students Are Reading
March 31, 2026

Revisiting a Conversation: Why You Should Read What Your Upper Elementary Students Are Reading

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...
Why Students Forget What You Teach and How to Design Lessons That Stick
March 28, 2026

Why Students Forget What You Teach and How to Design Lessons That Stick

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...
How to Fit Science of Learning Strategies Into Your Upper Elementary Literacy Mini Lesson
March 24, 2026

How to Fit Science of Learning Strategies Into Your Upper Elementary Literacy Mini Lesson

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...
Designing for Transfer in Reading Instruction
March 17, 2026

Designing for Transfer in Reading Instruction

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...
What Really Drives Student Motivation?
March 10, 2026

What Really Drives Student Motivation?

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...
Teaching Students How to Take Charge of their Learning
March 3, 2026

Teaching Students How to Take Charge of their Learning

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...
Designing Reading Lessons That Outlast the Pacing Guide
Feb. 25, 2026

Designing Reading Lessons That Outlast the Pacing Guide

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...
Helping Students Build Connected Meaning in Your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom
Feb. 17, 2026

Helping Students Build Connected Meaning in Your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom

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...
Why- How Your Students Learn and Practice Matters in your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom?
Feb. 10, 2026

Why- How Your Students Learn and Practice Matters in your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom?

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 ...
Why Learning That Lasts Often Feels Hard
Feb. 3, 2026

Why Learning That Lasts Often Feels Hard

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 ...
What Does it Mean for Learning to Stick in Your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom?
Jan. 27, 2026

What Does it Mean for Learning to Stick in Your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom?

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...
Leading Yourself When the System Falls Short
Jan. 20, 2026

Leading Yourself When the System Falls Short

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...