The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Traditional feedback looks back on a past that can't be changed, and that's one reason it isn't always well-received. But when we shift to a practice called feedforward, where our focus is on the future, we can have a much more powerful and positive impact on our students, peers, and other people in our lives. In this episode, I interview Joe Hirsch, author of The Feedback Fix, about how the feedforward approach works.

One of them is super trendy. One takes you into the past. Three can be used in a dozen different ways. And one you're going to want to try right away. Come listen.

In schools, where our work demands constant interaction with other people, conflicts are always waiting to happen. By practicing validation with our students, their parents, our co-workers and administrators, you'll find that some of your most difficult conversations get a whole lot easier. In this episode, I'll share three simple steps to practice validation in any conversations.

In an effort to boost test scores and close gaps, too many schools are using more reading "activities and programs" and cutting back on time for actual reading. In this episode, teacher and author Pernille Ripp tells me about how she completely changed her approach to reading instruction to help students become life-long readers, and how other teachers can do the same.

Most of us recognize that schools need to change to meet the demands of the information age, but we don't have many models to follow for making that change happen. In this episode, I interview Don Wettrick, who launched an innovation elective in his high school six years ago. He tells me how the program works, why all schools need an innovation class, and how you can start one in your school.

Discrimination and harassment are still a daily reality for many LGBTQ students. In this episode, I share 9 specific things teachers can do to help these students feel safer and more accepted in the classroom and within the wider school culture.

Graphic organizers can pack a strong instructional punch if you know how to use them. In this episode I review the research on why graphic organizers work so well, list 10 creative classroom uses for them, and offer a few tips so you can implement them effectively.

One thing they don't teach in our education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down. To tackle this problem I went to Michael Linsin, the creator of Smart Classroom Management. In this episode, we look at the reasons students talk when they shouldn't and what you can do about it.

The research is clear: Retrieval practice is one of the most powerful ways to learn. In this episode, I talk to Pooja Agarwal about what retrieval practice is and how teachers can start incorporating it into their teaching tomorrow.

Some teachers think they're practicing culturally responsive teaching, when in fact, they're kind of not. In this episode, I interview Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, to identify and correct four common misconceptions teachers have about how to best help our diverse students thrive in school.