Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works

Faith Howard knew something had to change. As a Literacy Specialist, in her school district she wasn’t making the impact she knew was possible. With the support of her administration, Faith reimagined her role and launched a “Literacy Lab” — a space designed to emphasize the SOR principles in targeted literacy intervention and instruction. In this episode, Faith shares how the Literacy Lab came to life and offers practical strategies teachers can use to strengthen Tier 1 instruction in their own classrooms. 

Facebook: Literacy Lab with Faith

Substack: Faith Howard | Substack

YouTube Channel: Science of Reading Classroom

Email: [email protected]

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

Al Borges has coached football at the highest levels of the college game. In this episode, he talks about how great coaching is really just great teaching. You’ll hear familiar ideas—like managing cognitive load, respecting the learning hierarchy, and using retrieval practice to make learning stick. Al even shares how he adjusted his teaching for players with different skill levels.

X: (1) Al_Borges_Burner (@freddyteee83) / X

Books:

Deny of the Tiger The story behind the undefeated SEC Champion Auburn Tigers, who were denied the opportunity to play for the BCS National Championship.

Coaching the West Coast Quarterback

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

After recently retiring from Frederick County Public Schools, where she played a key role in advancing evidence-based instruction, Meg Lee has joined forces with her longtime friend and colleague, Dr. Jim Heal, to launch Learning Science Partners. Their organization is dedicated to supporting school districts committed to implementing evidence-informed practices that enhance teaching and learning.

In this episode Meg shares organizational insights into making it all happen.

Episode Links:
X: Meg Lee (@megvertebrae) / X

LinkedIn: (1) Meg Lee | LinkedIn

Website: LSP

Edutopia: Solidifying Core Concepts With Examples and Non-Examples | Edutopia

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

Kent Wetzel and I dive into some of the nitty-gritty of implementing the Science of Learning in a large school district.

The district made deliberate choices to avoid the pitfalls that had undermined past initiatives. Thanks to proactive steps taken earlier, it was also able to leverage state legislation to strengthen and sustain its efforts to embed evidence-based practices.

Twitter: (2) Kent Wetzel (@kentwetzelfcps) / X

LinkedIn: Kent Wetzel | LinkedIn

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

Vida John is a math coach who helps students prepare for math competitions. I was excited to chat with Vida because the entire world of math competitions is new to me.

Vida discusses how math competitions can benefit all students regardless of grade level.

Contact and follow Vida at:

LinkedIn: @VidaJohn

YouTube: Math Problem Solving Skills

Website: Vida John Tutoring

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

Dr. Sarah Oberle discusses her research on the wider implementation of the Science of Learning and its influence on her classroom and teaching methods.

Links:
X: @‌S_Oberle

BlueSky: [email protected]

LinkedIn: Sarah Oberle, Ed.D.

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, Zach and I dive into what he’s learned during his first full year of consulting.

Whether you’re a teacher, administrator, instructional coach, or independent consultant, Zach’s reflections — and the successes he’s experienced — offer a thought-provoking framework for building stronger collaboration and driving better student outcomes at your schools.

Links:
Just Tell Them: The Power of Explanations and Explicit Teaching

Maximizing the Impact of Coaching Cycles

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

Over the course of his 38-year career as a high school social studies teacher, Ed Cabrera has led passionate student discussions through 10 presidential elections, impeachments, 9/11, controversial wars, presidential assassination attempts, all while maintaining political neutrality.

In this episode Ed discusses his guidelines for leading passionate classroom discussions on controversial topics.

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

Dr. Sachdeva and I have a wide-ranging conversation about the Science of Learning and how that information might be disseminated to all educators more quickly.

Links:
Substack: The Science of Learning | Jim Hewitt | Substack

X: Nidhi Sachdeva, PhD (@nsachdeva2019) on X

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nidhi-sachdeva-toronto/

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here. 

Dr. David Griffith is the Associate Director of Research at the Thomas B Fordham Institute. In this episode we discuss the results of a recent study he conducted and reported on about “Equitable” Grading Through the Eyes of the Teacher.”

21:46.9

This podcast sponsored by:

The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.