The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Connie Hamilton shares 17 strategies to improve effectiveness of group work in the classroom including structuring groups, assigning partners, and utilizing the Jigsaw method. They discuss the importance of students reading directions themselves, asking follow-up questions, and breaking down tasks. The value of collaboration as a 21st-century skill in education is explored, along with the benefits of group discussions in deepening understanding and developing soft skills. Effective scenarios for group work and the importance of giving feedback on soft skills are also discussed.

Alex Shevrin Venet, an expert in unconditional positive regard, discusses how this philosophy can transform difficult student-teacher relationships. She explores the application of unconditional positive regard in trauma-informed teaching, the importance of recognizing student worth, the challenges of maintaining unconditional positive regard, and the need to prioritize care and relationships in education.

In this podcast, Marcus Luther shares a simple and free system called 'Learning Story' for student reflection. It helps students develop an identity as learners and take ownership of their learning. The podcast also discusses the importance of having a centralized document for student work and the need to set up a system for student reflection.

Explore the controversy surrounding reading instruction and effective approaches with literacy experts. Understand the complexity of reading instruction, emphasizing the integration of word reading and language comprehension. Delve into the ongoing debate between skills and strategies in reading instruction, highlighting the importance of knowledge building. Connect online and access additional resources from the podcast.

Students who have learned enough English to do well socially may still need scaffolding to thrive academically. In this episode, I talk with Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton, authors of the book Long-Term Success for Experienced Multilinguals, about the specific strategies teachers can use to help these learners reach their full potential across the curriculum.  Thanks to Grammar Gap Fillers and Giant Steps for sponsoring this episode. You can read a full transcript of this podcast at cultofpedagogy.com/experienced-multilinguals.

Positive, accurate representations of Arab voices and contributions are largely missing from our classrooms. In this episode, four educators — Sawsan Jaber, Reem Fakhry, Fatma Elsamra, and Abeer Ramadan-Shinnawi — teach us how we can change that. This episode is sponsored by JumpStart. Read a full transcript of this episode and find a robust list of excellent resources for integrating Arab narratives into your curriculum at cultofpedagogy.com/arab-narratives.

Trauma-informed teaching has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, and my guest, Alex Shevrin Venet, is a wonderful guide to help us better understand how it works. Her book, Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education, offers a holistic, nuanced exploration of what this work looks like in practice, and it does so with equity at the center. In this episode, we talk about what trauma-informed teaching looks like in practice, how some approaches to this work miss the mark, and how teachers can start applying some basic principles of good trauma-informed teaching right away.  Thanks to EVERFI and Giant Steps for sponsoring this episode. Read a summary of this interview and a full transcript at cultofpedagogy.com/trauma-informed-education.

Do you ever feel like you're just marching through your content, trying to get it done? Like your students are just regurgitating it back, but not really learning it? Would you love to design deeper learning experiences in your classroom, but you're just not sure how? This episode may have some answers for you. I talk with Sarah Fine, co-author of the book In Search of Deeper Learning, about the specific elements found in classrooms that offer richer, more engaging learning experiences for students, and how you can apply those elements to your own teaching. Thanks to EVERFI and Giant Steps for sponsoring this episode.  

The core activity of this after-school program is boxing, but it offers so much more to students. In this episode, I talk with Jamyle Cannon, executive director of The Bloc Chicago, about why this program has been so wildly successful at helping students achieve personal and academic success, and how other educators can follow the same model by building engaging programs around student interests in their communities. Thanks to EVERFI and Giant Steps for sponsoring this episode.

When we ask a broad question to a large group — students, an audience, attendees at a meeting — we often get nothing in response. Plenty of the people probably have something to say; they just haven't been asked the right question. ------------------- You can find full written versions of these tips at cultofpedagogy.com/edutips. ------------------- Thanks to The Modern Classrooms Project for sponsoring this episode. -------------------