The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

What is it like to be an instructional coach? To learn more about the challenges of instructional coaching, I asked two coaches to explain what they do, how they approach their work, and what they have learned about helping teachers improve. In this episode, I talk to Eric Sandberg, an instructional coach from Pennsylvania. 

What is it like to be an instructional coach? To learn more about the challenges of instructional coaching, I asked two coaches to explain what they do, how they approach their work, and what they have learned about helping teachers improve. In this episode, I talk to Gretchen Schultek Bridgers, an instructional coach from North Carolina.  

Despite our best intentions, sometimes teachers make decisions that alienate students beyond repair. In this episode, I share stories of mistakes I made that damaged my relationships with three different students, and what I learned from each one.

Are any of these ineffective teaching methods still part of your practice? I have done them all, but now I know better. In this episode, I'll explain what the research says about these methods and what you should do instead.

Every teacher has had students whose names are hard to pronounce. Some of us shrug this off, saying we're just no good with names, or we give our students nicknames instead. In this episode, I talk about the message we send to students when we continually say their names wrong, and I share some strategies and tools to help you get them right.

When we try to solve school problems with committee meetings, district-wide initiatives and new policies, change can be slow as molasses. But we are lucky enough to live in a new era, a time when teachers no longer have to wait for top-down solutions--you can hack so many problems yourself, using the resources that are already available to you. In this episode, I share three hacks that can solve big school problems, straight from my brand-new book, Hacking Education.

Are we taking the wrong approach to learning? The book "Make It Stick" presents new research that shows how some of our most common studying and teaching practices don't have any real research to support them. In this episode, I talk to one of the book's authors, Peter Brown, about some of the book's most important takeaways.

What is dogfooding, and why do teachers need it? In the Season 1 finale, we explore the essential practice of doing your own assignments -- to find and fix problems -- before giving them to students. 

The list of ways a teacher can improve is a mile long. Since you can't do it all at once, here are eight paths you might take toward professional growth.

A lot has changed in education over the last decade, and many teachers will tell you those changes have not been good for anyone, least of all students. But what can a teacher do about it? Is it possible for teachers to influence the policies that impact their work? Education activist and blogger Anthony Cody joins me for a discussion of the current problems in U.S. public education and how frustrated teachers can take action and make their voices heard.