Beyond My Years

Host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross chatted with two classroom teachers about what it takes to create a classroom in which every student feels safe tasking risks as a reader and writer. Theresa Boyd is a teacher-leader coach and sixth grade social studies teacher at Mallard Creek STEM Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina; Ann Ingham is a third grade teacher from the Cedarsburg School District in Wisconsin and a 2025 Science of Reading Star Award winner. Theresa and Ann share what they're seeing in ELA classrooms today; students who are curious and collaborative, but also struggling with decreased reading stamina and fear of being wrong. After the roundtable, Ana and Eric reflect on key takeaways, including why sometimes you have to slow down teaching to speed up learning.

Show notes: 

• Learn more about Amplify CKLA.
• Learn more about Amplify ELA.
• Follow Theresa on TikTok: @CraftyTeacherTees.
• Join our Amplify learning community.
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes:

"Growth lives outside your comfort zone." —Theresa Boyd

"Mistakes are valuable. They literally grow our brains when we make them and see them and correct them." —Ann Ingham

"Curiosity is very important. I think we've fallen away from that." —Ana Torres

"Sometimes we have to step back from just teaching content and switch to teaching our students how to learn." —Eric Cross

On this episode of Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres is joined by Miguel Cardona, Ed.D., who served as the 12th U.S. secretary of education and is the founder and CEO of Cardona Solutions. A former fourth-grade teacher and an award-winning school principal who served as the Connecticut commissioner of education, Miguel explains why bilingualism is a cognitive and economic superpower—and why we should always view it as an asset. Miguel also shares why he believes we do students a disservice by assuming the only option for success is four-year college and describes what it could look like to reimagine high schools to include career pathways. Eric Cross, our Classroom Insider and a middle school science teacher, then joins Ana to reflect on why sympathy doesn't always translate into support, and why we should ask students about themselves rather than making assumptions.

Show notes:

• Learn more about Miguel Cardona and Cardona Solutions.
• Listen to our Beyond My Years episode with Luz Muñoz.
• Listen to our Beyond My Years episode with Pedro Noguera, Ph.D.
• Listen to our special episode in Spanish with Luz Muñoz.
• Listen to Amplify's Multilingual/English Learners (ML/ELs) podcast playlist
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes: 

"When you are thinking in different languages, your cognitive ability increases." —Miguel Cardona

"Sympathy isn't always support, so check your expectations underneath it." —Eric Cross

"I am a teacher at heart. I will have that teacher heart until the day I die." —Ana Torres

"Bilingualism is an economic superpower. It is a cognitive superpower." —Miguel Cardona

Host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross lead a discussion with two classroom teachers who have been making the shift from delivering math to facilitating it. Amy Siegmundt teaches third grade in Lockland School District in Ohio, and Jeffrey Mashbitz teaches seventh and eighth grade in the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania. Amy and Jeffrey share practical strategies for making facilitation work in any math classroom, including using sentence starters to help students talk about math and instructional routines that put students in the driver's seat. After the roundtable, Ana and Eric reflect on key takeaways, including why a great curriculum is less like a script and more like a recipe. 

Show notes: 

• Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
• Watch Student Centered Math Practices on YouTube.
• Listen to all Beyond My Years' math episodes.
• Follow up on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes: 

"You have to embrace the noise, because the noise and the conversation is the learning." —Amy Siegmundt 

"The conceptual part is more of the focus now. Being a facilitator, you're paying more attention to why the math works and not just how to do the math." —Jeffrey Mashbitz

"A noisy classroom was actually a joyful classroom. I realized that later." —Ana Torres

"We can't expect students to know how to collaborate if you we haven't taught them." —Eric Cross

Host Ana Torres is joined by Fawn Nguyen, Director of STEM Initiatives at Amplify, one of the show's most beloved returning guests. A 30-year middle school math teacher and K–8 math coach before she joined Amplify, Fawn shares practical strategies for teaching math in a way that values multiple solutions and makes every student feel like they belong. Fawn breaks down the routines that open math up to every learner and explains why stepping back to let students do the thinking is one of the most powerful moves a teacher can make. Our Classroom Insider, middle school science teacher Eric Cross, joins Ana to reflect on why "I'm not good at math" is usually a scar with a story behind it. He and Ana discuss why widening our definition of success is where healing begins.

Show notes:

• Listen to Fawn Nguyen's first appearance on Beyond My Years.
• Learn more about Amplify Desmos Math.
• Watch Student Centered Math Practices on YouTube. 
• Listen to all of Beyond My Years’ math episodes.
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes:

"We can all be mathematicians—not just the fast ones." —Fawn Nguyen

"You're not the answer key. What you say instead is: 'You tell me.'" —Fawn Nguyen

"When you immerse children in critical thinking and problem-solving daily, they show up to problems they've never seen before and they're already in their problem-solving mode." —Fawn Nguyen

"Who wants to teach anything if you know the kids are going to dread it?" —Fawn Nguyen

"Teach in a way that makes you look forward to going back the next day." —Fawn Nguyen

"When success is widened, more students are gonna be able to walk through it." —Eric Cross

"Our anxieties are contagious—so it's important to include adults in the intervention, not just students." —Eric Cross

"We make time for what's important. And if it's valuable, we will create those five minutes." —Ana Torres 

Host Ana Torres is joined by Kelly Serpa, Ed.D., STEM product specialist at Amplify and passionate advocate for inclusive math instruction. Together, they explore what it takes to develop students' conceptual understanding in math and why an asset-based approach makes all the difference. Kelly shares the "aha moment" that transformed her teaching practice and breaks down practical strategies for developing deeper math thinkers—from hooking every student in the first five minutes with routines like Notice and Wonder to building fluency in an asset-based way, without the pressure of a timer. Classroom Insider and middle school science teacher Eric Cross joins Ana to share why these strategies for developing deeper thinkers are just as powerful in other content areas—including in his own science classroom—as they are in math.

Show notes:

• Connect with Kelly Serpa on LinkedIn.
• Explore Amplify's Advice for the Math Classroom on YouTube.
• Check out Amplify's Fluency Practice. 
• Watch Student-Centered Math Practices on YouTube.
• Listen to the Beyond My Years' math playlist. 
• Learn more about math that motivates your K–5 students.
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross. 

Quotes:

"Engagement in the first five minutes of your math class is the most important thing." —Kelly Serpa

"Every single kid needs fluency practice every single day." —Kelly Serpa

"Build conceptual understanding first. Don't look at those lessons as fluffy, optional, or unnecessary." —Kelly Serpa

"Kids know stuff. They don't come to us as an empty slate." —Ana Torres

"Going from telling to questioning, that's really the engine of problem-based learning." —Eric Cross

Host Ana Torres is joined by Pedro Noguera, Ph.D., dean and distinguished professor of education at USC Rossier School of Education, one of the national's leading scholars on inequality and public policy in education. Together, they explore how to create a student-centered classroom in which every learner is encouraged to bring their full selves. Pedro then breaks down how to build authentic relationships with students, co-create classroom norms, and foster a culture in which mistakes are part of learning. He also shares powerful advice for supporting multilingual/English learners. Classroom Insider Eric Cross then joins Ana to reinforce why building relationships with students is every educator's professional responsibility.

Show notes: 

• Learn more about Pedro Noguera, Ph.D.
• Connect with Pedro Noguera.
• Take your learning further with these episodes:
  • The science behind a joyful classroom, starring Tracey Severns, Ed.D.
  • Learning alongside your multilingual learners, starring Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, Ed.D.
• Give your multilingual/English learners the strongest writing instruction with these free ebooks.
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes:

"It's less about control; it's more about relationships. And if you build a good, positive relationship, then kids will listen." —Pedro Noguera

"The hardest thing to teach a teacher is how to build relationships with kids." —Pedro Noguera

"The real teaching is not in grading; it's in feedback." —Pedro Noguera

"As educators, we're more than just the content that we teach." —Ana Torres

"The most important teaching often happens after the first attempt." —Eric Cross

"When we give feedback early and often, it improves learning." —Eric Cross

Beyond My Years host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross give you the first look at Season 3, launching July 22, 2026. This trailer highlights what's coming this season, including roundtable conversations with educators from across the country and candid conversations with Amplify's own experts in literacy and math. Season 3 focuses on the art and science of great teaching, drawing the knowledge of researchers and educators, including Pedro Noguera, Ph.D., Miguel Cardona, Ed.D., and Dan Meyer, Ph.D. We'll dig into topics from building relationships with students and teaching strategies for reaching every learner to student engagement in the math classroom, and more!

In the second part of our special Beyond My Years two-part math series, Ana is joined by Ian Brown, second-grade teacher at Mukilteo School District in Washington and author of the comic book I Hate Math, for a conversation focused on reducing math anxiety and creating positive math experiences. Ian shares his approach to helping students who genuinely dislike math, describing how he helps them get to a place where math success feels manageable and achievable. Together, Ian and Ana explore the power of honoring students' real feelings; creating classroom environments where mistakes don't carry shame; and using storytelling, humor, and metaphors to make abstract concepts concrete. Finally, Ana is joined by Classroom Insider Eric Cross to discuss making math feel safe, ways to give students both story and stage, and how the foundational work of differentiation and meeting students where they are is critical to the work of educators.

Show notes:

• Read I Hate Math by Ian Brown.
• Subscribe to Advice for the Math Classroom on Amplify’s YouTube channel: amplify.com/mathclassroomadvice .
• Subscribe to Advice for the Literacy Classroom on Amplify’s YouTube channel: amplify.com/literacyclassroomadvice.
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross.

Quotes: 

"You can't force someone to love something or to like something. But you can kind of talk them into not hating something." —Ian Brown

"I hate shaming children. I hate shaming anyone. I think shame is the most insidious thing in the world." —Ian Brown

"Math is just a description of the world around us. We live in the world, we can do it." —Ian Brown

"I don't attach any value to success or failure. I only attach value to hard work and kindness." —Ian Brown

"It's gonna be a grind. We're gonna be here for 180 some days. Well, let's have fun doing it." —Ian Brown

"You have to feel your feelings so you can think your thoughts." —Eric Cross

"The boring work is the real work." —Eric Cross

"You need both culture and rigor. If you have culture without rigor, then learning is hollow. If you have rigor without culture, that's what made students hate the subject." —Eric Cross

In the first episode of a special Beyond My Year two-part math series, Ana chats with Matt Cash, director of elementary curriculum and instruction for Lake Elsinore Unified School District, in California, about math leadership and change management. Matt shares his experience helping move his district from a localized approach to a unified system to provide centralized resources, professional development, and assessment. Together, Matt and Ana discuss the importance of listening to educators during adoption processes, the power of creating systems that support teachers, and the best ways to build unity around instructional approaches. Matt also shares practical advice for educators navigating curriculum reviews and pilots. Before the episode's end, Ana is joined by Classroom Insider Eric Cross, who reflects on how teachers can use their voices early in adoption processes, pilot with fidelity, and give themselves grace during implementation.

Show notes:

• Check out the full change management bundle — including the change management playbook— at amplify.com/MathChangeManagement
• Subscribe to Advice for the Math Classroom on Amplify's YouTube channel: amplify.com/mathclassroomadvice. 
  • Check out our new math change management playlist!
  • Check out our new student-centered math practices playlist!
• Subscribe to Advice for the Literacy Classroom on Amplify's YouTube channel: amplify.com/literacyclassroomadvice.
• Follow us on Instagram.
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years.
• Connect with Ana Torres.
• Connect with Eric Cross. 

Quotes:

"When you're removing variability out of your system, quality is going up." —Matt Cash

"Professionals are obsessed with the idea of getting better." —Matt Cash

"Advocate for your kids." —Matt Cash

"Give yourself grace in year one, but stay engaged and keep asking for support." —Eric Cross

"Instead of quietly struggling and going back to old materials, put that energy into requests and make your voice heard." —Eric Cross

"Sometimes the buy-in comes when we understand things better." —Eric Cross

Host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross recently recorded a video with their six takeaways from Season 2 of the Beyond My Years podcast. Listen right here, or watch the takeaways video on our new YouTube channels, linked below.

• Watch: Beyond My Years season two wrap-up
• Catch videos of host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross on our new YouTube Channels:
  • @AdviceForTheMathClassroom
  • @AdviceForTheLiteracyClassroom