Craft & Draft

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring to you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. “Jacob, are you doing any summer PD?’ Jacob and Pam discuss summer PD and share what they are doing professional development this summer.  In this episode Jacob shares how he learns new concepts during the summer. P...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam address the issues of student cheating and AI.  Jacob poses the question of whether cheating is a greater problem today than in the past.   Pam shares how she has seen cheating throughou...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Allowing students to discover reading needs to be at the forefront of reading instruction! In this episode,  Jacob and Pam discuss how reading changes lives.  Jacob shares how the written word contains the power to im...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Everyone gets overwhelmed, but what should we do about it… In this episode, Jacob expresses a few of the frustrations that he and teachers are going through during this season. Pam shares some of the frustrations that...

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in an episode. Pam’s new schedule and Jacob’s have conflicted more than normal! We will be back to the regular schedule soon! In the meantime, here is one of our favorites from the early days of the show. In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss the impact of the writing workshop on the culture of the classroom as well as the culture of the school. Teach...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss Reading Instruction, “Should teachers focus on skills or comprehension in their lessons?” Jacob explains how teachers through the Science of Reading or other such programs tend t...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Pam rewinds her retirement and returns to school.  Jacob and Pam discuss Pam’s day as she decides to take up substituting.  Her first day on the job was where Jacob and Pam began the Craft & Draft...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Far too often educators give up teaching the love of reading and writing during instruction.  They feel pressure from the curriculum developed due a need to perform on high stakes testing. In this episode, Jacob and P...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Jacob listened to an educational podcast episode this past weekend. The topic that caught attention was whether or not objectives should be posted in the class for the students.   In this episode, Jacob and Pam offer...

This episode was previously published Sep. 18th, 2020 — right as we were getting back into our classrooms from the Covid shutdowns. We cover A LOT in this episode, and it holds strong for then as much as I does now. Enjoy! —————————— Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring to you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and re...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Teachers are told to make sure to implement standard based learning and assessment.  Easier said than done!   In this episode, Jacob and Pam answer a listener’s question regarding student based learning and grading. ...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. Jacob and Pam answer two questions from our patrons: How can Gifted and Talented (GT) students stay passionate and not apathetic about literacy? How can I keep students from hating writing during STAAR prep time? In th...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam welcome everybody back.  They each took some personal time, so thank you for staying with us! They both share their thoughts about where schools are headed for 2025, but they landed on s...

Hey everyone! We just wanted to make this quick post. All will be well. Just lots of changes coming and Jacob needs some time, and Pam is on vacation for a few weeks. Stay tuned! The post A Christmas Break appeared first on Craft & Draft .

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam explain what they’ve been doing and why they did not post last week’s podcast. They are back and ready to go!  Pam offers some insight regarding the Abydos Learning International Teacher...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  The Holiday Season is in full swing and much too often our workshops begin to slump.  The students’ minds are on everything but school.  Teachers need to stay strong! In this episode, Jacob and Pam discuss the slump t...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam talk about ‘Direct Instruction.’   Pam shares how direct instruction was the main strategy used while she attended school, especially in secondary schools.  She shared how it was accepte...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. Jacob and Pam discuss how they use direct and indirect instruction in their workshops. But before they begin, Jacob shares how each interview from the Teach Me Teacher podcast contributes to his development as a worksh...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Jacob and Pam begin the episode with a segment regarding the best way to communicate in order to have difficult conversations.  This leads into a conversation about how communication styles impact education. Pam share...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  In this episode, Jacob and Pam answer a listener’s question regarding how to advocate for a workshop model in a culture of high stakes test prep demands. Jacob and Pam begin the episode with a segment about giving and...

Hello everyone! Bonus episode 2 is here for you to enjoy! It’s a full hour of workshop talk + we addressed a few questions you submitted. Below are the questions we tackle in this one. Thank you for supporting the show! Alisha’s Question I’d love to hear about how you start your 6 weeks units. Do they typically follow your curriculum? I teach 5th grade and so we cover narrative, inform...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  Many curriculum documents do not include time for low-stakes writing, but it is through such writing that students become comfortable with the blank page and become more fluid writers. In this episode, Jacob and Pam d...

In this episode of Craft & Draft, we dive into the delicate balance teachers face when navigating political discussions in the classroom. How can educators remain neutral while still encouraging students to explore diverse ideas? We’ll discuss the importance of fostering an environment where students can debate concepts openly, without fear of backlash or repercussions. Join us as we unpack th...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching.  The concept of a school library is changing under the pressure of current technology trends in the schools and the current perception of how schools should meet the needs of the community.  Jacob and Pam discuss how w...

Welcome everyone to the Craft & Draft podcast! We are so excited to bring you what we love, talking with you about workshop, literacy, writing, reading, and real world teaching. We are trying something new: an episode that targets a specific strategy.  This (previous) bonus episode will focus on Quickwrites and how we use them during our writing workshops. Pam shares how Linda Reif presented t...