Episodes

This week on the podcast, we are joined by chief academic officer Samuel Nix who discusses his book - 6 Stepa to a Strong School Culture: A Leadership Cycle for Educational Success. Nix should know - having taken, as principal, his school to the top 30 in the nation. Too often, says Nix, school leaders go from crisis to crisis rather than developing a systemic approach to school improvement which lies at the heart of sustainable and strong school culture. Also, many school leaders maintain...

Brak Rosenshine first published his Principles of Instruction in 2010 through the International Academy of Education (IAE) as part of their Educational Practices Series (booklet No. 21). Taking his years of research, Rosenshine paired down what good teachers do to obtain good academic outcomes: review, chunk information, question, model, guide practice, check for understanding, allow student time for independent practice, and scaffold. In this episode, we speak with UK based educator, f...

Per our next guest on the podcast, MLL/STEM specialist Darlyne de Haan, there are over 900K high school MLL students in the USA - a large number of these students living in poverty (2014). While Algebra and other STEM classes can catapult students into lucrative STEM careers, still, only a very small percentage of MLL students take these courses. I hope you will listen in to my conversation with de Haan, author of the book STEM For All, as we discuss: -Why MLLS are dropped from...

Do You Know What the Superpower Understandings in Math Are? Recently, I wrote an article for ASCD about modeling Math through a gradual release framework. A common way through which to do this is to teach Math conceptually, representationally, and then abstractly (CRA Framework). However, there are other frameworks that help students understand Math as well. This week on the podcast, I speak with Patrick Sullivan about additional ways to help elementary students see Math holistically. S...

In this episode, we speak with Niles North High School Summer Reading Program leads ELA teacher Katie Gillies and librarian Beverly Zbinden. While summer reading may help reduce the potential student summer learning slide, Gillies and Zbinden discuss their true purpose in creating this ambitious project at North Niles High School - a large and diverse high school outside of Chicago: - help students see themselves reflected in the literature they read - expand student choice in the...

Earlier in the second season of this podcast, we had as a guest Bo Stjerne Thomsen of LEGO Education discussing the importance of play in creative learning. In this episode, we continue our look at creativity in learning by discussing how to infuse art in the four core -content areas. In this discussion, we are joined by Cheri Sterman, Director of Education, for Crayola as well as science teacher Elle LeBlanc who discusses her recent Edutopia article - Integrating the Arts in High Sc...

When students ask where are they EVER going to use the Math they are learning in middle and high school, there is usually something deeper going on; And that is a disconnect in, disinterest, and lack of curiosity in learning Math which manifests itself in misbehaving students. So says, Jenn Lenhardt - author of the book Common Denominators: Cultivating Engagement and Belonging in Secondary Mathematics 7-12 and former 7-12th grade Math interventionist. In this episode, we talk with Lenhardt...

The other day, I was speaking with a colleague with whom I co-moderated a LinkedIn Live event, a year or two ago, on supporting multilingual students. She told me that, recently, someone reached out to her from across the country for support. I was so excited by this. I also get excited when people reach out to discuss my occasional online posts pro or con. My next guest on the podcast and I - Douglas Fisher, Chair of Educational Leadership Programs at San Diego State University - di...

As one of our next guest on the podcast, Daniel Argentar says, students need to know something to learn something. Students need to be able to read and write to be able to internalize scientific information. In this episode, we are joined by the authors of the book Reading and Writing Strategies for the Secondary Science Classroom to discuss the most important literacy skills in science classrooms and how to help our students develop these skills. Without a doubt, students - in scien...

AI can really help teachers plan more engaging lessons in a time conscious manner. In this episode, we speak about how AI can help teachers to plan engaging lessons with North Carolina based science teacher Paul Cancellieri. Cancellieri is the author of the new book - 50 AI Prompts for Teachers. We discuss in particular: - Why it is important for teachers to use AI - Various AI platforms that teachers may want to explore - The four types of AI prompts that teachers ...

How to Teach Using Play Based Learning In this episode, we chat with Bo Stjerne Thomsen - Director of Education for LEGO Education and former VP with the LEGO Foundation - about how teachers can integrate physical objects (manipulatives) and play-based learning across all content areas. We also discuss: What Play Based Learning Is How it Helps Students Make Meaning and Retain Information The "Happy Medium" Between Unbounded and Scripted Learning How LEGO Supports Educa...

Parents should always have the right to decide what books their student can read. But school system wide book bans are bad for children. So says our next guest on the Have a Life Teaching Podcast, former ALA librarian of the year Amanda Jones. In this episode, Jones - author of the book "That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in the United States" - discusses how she became an activist, why book bans hurt children, how educators can respond to book bans as well as to harassment, an...

While oral language development is a process that occurs naturally, over time, the written word is a complex human produced system that, therefore, requires a systematic approach to decipher - or read. So says this week's guest on the podcast, Steve Underwood. In this episode, Underwood, former senior director of professional development with NWEA and founder/CEO of Veritas Educational Consulting, chats with us about how to teach reading systematically through "the science of reading". ...

Effective coteaching has so many benefits for students, particularly in terms of inclusion for students with special needs and for bilingual learners. So say today's guests on the podcast - Belinda Karge and Matt Rhoads - who are the authors of the book "Co-Teaching Evolved". Listen here to our conversation with Karge and Rhoads as we discuss several strategies for effective co-teaching, actions that might help co-teaching pairs effectively plan for and monitor student progress, and solutions...

Too often, at best, students are compliant with school directives and, at worst, actively defiant much like inmates in a minimum security prison. So says, today's guest, Aaron Hansen - author of the book "Heroes Within" - on this episode of the Have a Life Teaching Podcast. In this episode, we speak with Hansen about ways through which teachers can better engage students to take ownership of their own learning journeys such as by posting and discussing learning objectives with them, having st...

In some schools, curriculum is prescribed. In other places, teachers put together their own learning materials. In either case, how do we know that what we are providing students, in terms of materials and content, will promote learning acquisition, extend thinking, and foster creativity? How do we know that it aligns with the science of learning? In this episode, my guest Nathanial Swain, professor of teaching at La Trobe University and author of the book "Harnassing the Science of Learni...

Too often, we think of early primary learners as empty recepticles to be filled. However, this is when creativity and ingenuity is most unfettered and/or non self-conscious. How then can we draw out what early primary students already know and think about Math? How might we get students to make conjectures and extend their thinking? I hope you will listen in to our recent conversation with Chepina Rumsey, professor at the University of Northern Iowa, and Jody Guarino, professor at UC Irvin...

How and Why Still Teach the Holocaust? After all, it has been 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camps and end of WWII. Unfortunately, the answer to this question is very simple. Look at the world around us where hate and prejudice continue to thrive. As such, I hope you will listen in to this special episode where we ask several people making a difference in Holocaust education about how they would answer this question and about how teachers, across content areas, might teach...

Knowing research can help us to determine if what others may be telling us to do in our teaching is in the best interest of us and our students. So says, Nathaniel Hansford, a teacher in Canada and author of the book "The Scientific Principles of Teaching", In this episode, Hansford talks about the importance of aligning our teaching practices to what research indicates is effective in increasing student growth and achievement. Hansford, in particular, discusses what the research says work...

In this episode, we chat with John Arthur, former Utah teacher of the year, current 6th grade teacher in Salt Lake City, and author of the new book "The Digital Projects Playbook." Join us here as we discuss not only the benefits of project based learning, a topic we also have discussed in earlier episodes, but also how and why to turn projects into digital learning opportunities such as blogs, podcasts, and interactive presentations that are equally evergreen and promote ongoing conversation...

Leadership within 21st Century schools should be different from what those of us in Generation X or before experienced of our school leaders says my next podcast guest, David Gaston. Gaston is founder and CEO of Gaston Educational Consulting LLC and a former district superintendent in Charles City, Virginia. He also partners with Commonwealth Learning Partnership, Shaffer Evaluation Group LLC, and Upbeat in his consulting work. Often, we teach (or lead) the way we were taught (or led). How...

Urban schools are vitially important for ensuring the strength of our overall economy as well as the growth of democracy says Michael Casserly, former executive director and current senior consultant of the Council of Great City Schools, on this week's podcast. On this episode, Casserly discusses his new book - The Enduring Promise of America's Great City Schools (Forward by Arne Duncan) - and how we can ensure that the urban schools we manage today are high quality learning centers for all. ...

In this episode, we are joined by Leslie Hayes, Vice-President of Education at the New York Historical Society. Hayes discusses how even the simplest item - a Dunkin Doughnuts Coffee Cup for example - can unleash deep and engaging student conversation on what everyday items tell us about the cultures we currently live in as well as about past times. Hayes also tells us about the work of her department at the museum in training educators and teaching students and also walks listeners throug...

For too long, schools have been designed using either a top down or bottom up approach; top down where administration makes all system decisions or bottom up where leadership is responsive to parent needs and wishes. However, in each model, important stakeholders are missing from the decision making table - students, families, leadership, teachers, and other community partners. What if, instead, says Wood - Chief Learning Officer at Transcend Education, we implemented a community informed scho...