The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Planning instructional units can be less than exciting when all you have to deal with is words and more words. Creating a vision board at the beginning of a unit can generate fresh enthusiasm and help you focus on what truly matters. In this episode, teachers Amanda Cardenas and Marie Morris share how vision boards work in their classrooms. ------------------- Thanks to CommonLit and fastIEP for s...

When we see students making a mistake, we may be tempted to stop them and offer a correction.  It might be best to resist that temptation, at least for a little while. You can find full written versions of these tips at cultofpedagogy.com/edutips . ------------------- Thanks to Microsoft Reading Progress in Teams for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

Teachers are saying this is the worst school year ever. In this episode, I'll explore the reasons why, offer some solutions, and also share a few other loosely related thoughts that may or may not help.  ------------------- Thanks to CommonLit and Brain Power Academy for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

This subtle little teaching move stops off-task behavior in a class session and gets things back on track without drama!  You can find full written versions of these tips at cultofpedagogy.com/edutips . ------------------- Thanks to Reading Progress in Teams for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

Many well-intended efforts to make schools more equitable often fail because we're trying to make them work inside a system that's a terrible fit for them. What's been missing is a whole-school approach that creates a path forward that is radically different from what we've done before. In this episode, I talk with the authors of the book Street Data—Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan—about their ground...

When you come in and rescue another teacher from a misbehaving class, you think you're being helpful, when really, you're just disempowering them. Try another approach! You can find full written versions of these tips at cultofpedagogy.com/edutips . ------------------- Thanks to Reading Progress in Teams for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

You want to know that your instructional decisions are supported by research, but you're not exactly sure where to find that research or how to read it correctly. In this episode, educational psychologist Kripa Sundar gives me a mini-course in how to dig up high-quality research, how to read and interpret it, and what we need to keep in mind about how academic research works. ------------------- T...

Welcome to EduTips, a side project of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast where I share one quick tidbit of educational research, teaching ideas, classroom management strategies, or sometimes just a quick story. This first EduTip is DON'T MAKE THEM READ AND LISTEN AT THE SAME TIME. This is a mistake I see so many teachers, speakers, and other presenters make, and it's so easy to fix! You can find full wr...

What factors are most likely to contribute to suicide in young people, and how can teachers recognize the signs? In this episode I talk with Anne Moss Rogers, mental health and suicide prevention speaker, about how teachers can help to prevent suicide in adolescents and children. ------------------- Thanks to Listenwise and ISTE for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

Most rubrics only tell students where they are right now, but a HyperRubric marks their progress as they go, then points them to tools that can help them improve. In this episode, I talk with ELA teachers Tyler Rablin and Jeff Frieden about how they developed this new format and how it works. ------------------- Thanks to Listenwise and ISTE for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

There's a good chance you're already sold on the value of podcasts. But have you brought this incredible medium into your classroom in a substantial or consistent way? The goal of this episode is to convince you to do just that. My guests—Lindsay Patterson, Marshall Escamilla, and Monica Brady-Myerov—are three major figures in the educational podcast world. We'll be talking about the research behi...

Writing is one of the most challenging academic tasks we ask of our students, and it can be especially difficult for students with learning differences. In this episode, special educator Sarah Riggs Johnson shares 11 key ingredients for optimizing the partnership between ELA teachers and learning specialists so that students with learning differences can become excellent writers. -----------------...

What we call "attention-seeking behavior" is a sign of a deficit need. In this episode, my guest Connie Hamilton shares specific strategies we can use to help students meet their esteem needs—the fourth tier of Maslow's Hierarchy—in healthy, productive ways. ------------------- Thanks to Today by Studyo and Scholastic Scope for sponsoring this episode. ------------------- Learn more about my mini-...

Literacy is arguably the most valuable asset we develop in our students, but many classrooms are missing some of the most effective literacy practices. In this episode, author and educator Angela Peery shares a set of tools any PK-12 teacher can use to evaluate what you're doing right, what you're missing, and how you can fill the gaps. ------------------- Thanks to Today by Studyo and Scholastic...

Now that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel of Covid-19, we have an opportunity for a fresh start in schools, and we can't waste it. Let's take the wisdom we've gained over the last year and use it. Let's not go back to the way things used to be. ------------------- Thanks to Today by Studyo and Parlay for sponsoring this episode. -------------------

Revolution School is a fantastic new high school in Philadelphia where students co-create their education around experiential learning, community partnerships, and personal development. In this episode I learn about how Revolution works from Henry Fairfax, Head of School, Jane Shore, Head of Research and Innovation, and Master Educator Mike Pardee. ------------------- Thanks to Today by Studyo and...

Wrong answers can be an incredible tool for learning and critical thinking. In this episode, Thinking Like a Lawyer author Colin Seale teaches us four easy ways to add mistake analysis into our regular teaching practices. This is a strategy that works in any content area and at any grade level! ------------------- Thanks to Hāpara and TGR EDU: Explore for sponsoring this episode. -----------------...

When we include students in the process of defining quality work, they are more likely to rise to those standards. In this episode, educator Starr Sackstein explains how she co-constructs success criteria with her students. ------------------- Thanks to Hāpara and TGR EDU: Explore for sponsoring this episode! ------------------- Looking for high-impact PD that won't take a lot of time? Check out m...

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that rejects one-size-fits-all teaching by offering students options for how to engage, what materials to use, and how to demonstrate learning, and it's a solid way to offer a more equitable education to all of our students. My guests Katie Novak and Mirko Chardin help us understand how it works and walk us through a sample lesson that's gotten th...

It's a terrible feeling when you know some of your students didn't really learn the content, but you move them on anyway. Mastery-based grading solves that problem by requiring students to actually master key concepts before progressing to the next stage. In this episode, Kareem Farah of the Modern Classrooms Project shows us how it's done.  This is the third and final episode of a three-part seri...

An argument for spending more time practicing subtlety and nuance and complication in our thinking. This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu  and  Kiddom . 

These fresh ideas for student jobs will invigorate your classroom and get you and your students excited about school again—even if you teach remotely. My guest Thom Gibson shows us how he does it. This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu  and  Kiddom . Check out the 2021 edition of the Teacher's Guide to Tech at teachersguidetotech.com and use the code LISTENER to get 10 percent off the new guide!

These fresh ideas for student jobs will invigorate your classroom and get you and your students excited about school again—even if you teach remotely. My guest Thom Gibson shows us how he does it. This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu  and  Kiddom . Check out the 2021 edition of the Teacher's Guide to Tech at teachersguidetotech.com and use the code LISTENER to get 10 percent off the new guide!

Students often struggle to make meaningful connections to literature and put those connections into words. The Up-Down-Both-Why technique, which starts with how the text makes a student feel, gets much better results. My guest, Sarah Levine, explains how it works.  This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu  and  National Geographic Education. And check out the Teacher's Guide to Tech 2021 at teachers...

The yearly roundup of tools includes an audio feedback tool, sites to combat racism and media bias, and an app that lets you Google things in mid-air. This episode is sponsored by Kialo Edu and National Geographic Education .