Progressively Incorrect

My guest today is literacy expert, Stephanie Stollar. Stephanie is one of my go-to sources for science of reading insights because of her ability to break down technical and complex topics and turn them into actionable steps for practitioners. I will be talking with Stephanie about the misconceptions that surround MTSS, or the multi-tiered system of supports framework, and how to problem solve as a school to ensure that all students receive the dosage of high-quality instruction that they need.

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Before we head over to Stephanie, I wanted to ask if you’d do me a favor. Are you a fan of this show and wish that more of your colleagues could access this sort of content? I provide training and consulting services to schools around the science of learning and explicit instruction. All you have to do is send your principal or PD person my training page, and we can plan professional development around cognitive load theory, retrieval practice, and all the rest of the ingredients of effective teaching. Please see the show notes for more information.

This podcast is brought to you by John Catt Educational, which publishes some of the best books in education. I am going to do one last plug, here, for their online Cognitive Science Conference on May 8th, 2024. I will be there presenting on “The Art and Science of Explaining Stuff”, so come say hi and listen to me rant in what might be the last chance to hear this popular presentation. Tickets are still available, so check out the show notes for more details.

Now, without further ado, let’s roll the tape of my interview with Dr. Stephanie Stollar.

Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect, I am your host, Dr. Zach Groshell, and this week I am excited to share with you my interview with Jean Stockard from the Direct Instruction podcast. There are plenty of introductions in the recording, so I’ll make this part quick.

First, I am looking to establish more long-term relationships with schools so that the effective methods that feature on this podcast are actually being embedded into classrooms. You can find a brief overview of the professional development that I provide in the show notes, and on my website, educationrickshaw.com. If you are ready for your school to take the plunge into the science of learning and effective teaching, consider having me over for training and consulting.

Second, Progressively Incorrect is sponsored by John Catt Educational, which is the publisher of my forthcoming book, and the purveyor of lots of great books on teaching and learning. This week I wanted to highlight The Retrieval Practice series by Kate Jones. As listeners of this podcast will know, retrieval practice is a simple but powerful strategy, in which bringing information to mind enhances learning. You can clicks the links in the show notes to choose between all four of Kate’s books on Retrieval Practice, including Retrieval Practice Primary: A guide for primary teachers and leaders.

Now, that’s enough from me, I hope you enjoy this fantastic episode about 5 decades of research on DI with the excellent, Jean Stockard.

Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect, my name is Dr. Zach Groshell, and today I am so excited to be releasing this special episode, which is all about researchED. We will begin with a full interview with Carl Hendrick, the keynote speaker of researchED Greenwich. Carl will talk to us about the researchED movement and the paradoxes of learning that he presented on at the conference. Then, we will go on over to the panel that we recorded live in Greenwich, and hear from Pedro De Bruyckere, Tom Sherrington, and Patrice Bain.

I want to thank Marshall Escamilla for helping me to enhance the sound quality of the panel interview at the end. (Note the audio is still hard to listen to, but hey, we tried!) Marshall is the co-host and composer for the Tumble Science Podcast for Kids, which is a great show aimed at enhancing science literacy in elementary-aged kids. Be sure to check out all of their resources at http://sciencepodcastforkids.com.

Progressively Incorrect is sponsored by John Catt Educational, which publishes fantastic books about teaching and learning. They were at a booth at researchED, and one day my book I’m writing for them will sit on those tables. This week I’d like to share a new book out by Josh Goodrich, titled, Responsive Coaching: Evidence-informed instructional coaching that works for every teacher in your school. Josh is changing the world of instructional coaching through a practical, efficient, and accountable approach that focuses on instruction… shocking, I know. This is such a refreshing book and it is much needed here in the United States.

In this episode of Progressively Incorrect, I have the great pleasure of interviewing Kimberly Berens, the author of Blind Spots: Why students fail and the science that can save them and the founder of Fit Learning, an organization that combines the science of learning, precision teaching, direct instruction, and curriculum-based measurement, into one comprehensive approach.

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Shortly after I recorded this podcast, Dr. Berens invited me to observe an online Fit Learning lesson so I could see how her system is able to obtain 1 year’s growth in about 40 hours of teaching. It was fast paced, highly reinforcing, and included more opportunities to respond in a single lesson than most kids get in an entire day with conventional instruction. Throughout this interview, I was struck by Kimberly’s passion for evidence-informed instruction, and I was honored she was able to come on the show to talk to us about some of the “blind spots” that exist in education that prevent these highly effective methods from spreading.

This podcast is brought to you by John Catt Educational, which publishes some of the best books in education. This week I am excited to highlight the book, Direct Instruction: A Practitioner’s Handbook, by Kurt Engelmann. Kurt provided me with an early copy of the manuscript for my review, and I have to say, it is absolutely fantastic. You can listen to Kurt talk about this book on Season 3 Episode 7 of this podcast, and if you’re a fan of Big DI, I definitely recommend you get yourself a copy of this book.

Alright, that’s enough from me, if you like this show, be sure to share it with all your friends, and let’s go on over to my interview with Dr. Kimberly Berens.

Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. My name is Dr. Zach Groshell and this week I am excited to be bringing you the 2nd episode of my series on Direct Instruction, this time with Linda Carnine, Susie Andrist, and Jerry Silbert. They are going to be talking about what it was like to be on the ground, in their 20s, in the largest education study in the history of education, which, despite it being akin to education’s moon landing, is practically unknown amongst people who claim to be experts in education.

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This podcast is brought to you by John Catt Educational, which is hosting its online Cognitive Science conference on May 8th, 2024. I will be talking about what teachers need to know about how to explain stuff better, and since all John Catt conferences can be accessed online up to 6 months after the content is posted, I highly encourage you to register and gain access to my presentation, as well as all of the presentations that will be on offer from some of the best minds in education. You can access the registration information in these shownotes.

That’s enough from me, if you like this podcast, be sure to rate, subscribe, and share with your friends. I only do this to connect teachers to better ways of doing things, and your support is greatly appreciated. Let’s now go on over to this special episode of the DI podcast on Project Follow Through.

Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect, a show hosted by me, Dr. Zach Groshell. Today I am very excited to share with you this extra special panel interview on the Science of Math! You will hear from four legends of math, Sarah Powell, Amanda VanDerHeyden, Anna Stokke, and Nathaniel Hansford. Not counting that other super-secret podcast I do about Direct Instruction, this is probably going to be the best thing you listen to all week.

This podcast is brought to you by John Catt Educational, which just keeps coming out with better and better books for teachers. This week I wanted to highlight a new book by Oliver Caviglioli and Tom Sherrington, Learning WalkThrus, which is a book to help students and parents to improve the quality of their study and learning. I just received an early copy of Learning WalkThrus, and I’m looking forward to talking to Tom about it when Progressively Incorrect comes to researchED Greenwich next month.  

John Catt Educational is also holding the Cognitive Science in Education conference on May 8th, 2024. All John Catt conferences are online and accessible for 6 months, so no matter where you are in the world, you should join me and all of the other great speakers to talk about cognitive science and take the next step in your professional development. You can find more information about the conference by following the links in the show notes, and I hope to see you there!

Now for the main event, I have been looking forward to sharing this interview with you all for a long time. The panel you are about to listen in on has some of the most talented and respected math education experts in the world, and there is so much gold in this episode, it’s just fantastic. I should mention that Corey Peltier was not able to make the call after all, but don’t fret. I was able to interview Corey shortly after, so I encourage you to download his episode when it comes out on Progressively Incorrect in a few weeks. And that’s more than enough from me, let’s go over to this Sarah, Amanda, Anna, and Nate in this special panel interview on the Science of Math.

We’re going to be talking about educational policy today, specifically around the growing Science of Learning movement in Australia, with Trisha Jha.

But first, I have a few announcements for you. Progressively Incorrect is coming to researchED Greenwich (USA) for a live recording of this podcast! I will be interviewing a panel consisting of Pedro De Bruyckere, Tom Sherrington, and Patrice Bain in the keynote space. I hope to see you there!

I also wanted to announce that John Catt Educational, which sponsors this
podcast, is hosting its Cognitive Science in Education Conference in May of 2024. I will be presenting on the science of effective explanations, and several friends of Progressively Incorrect are confirmed to present, such as Adam Boxer and Jade Pearce. John Catt Educational publishes some of the best books in education, including Jade Pearce’s latest book she’s co-authored with Isaac Moore, Desirable Difficulties in Action.

So, lots of things coming your way, but let’s get to this episode. Today we are going to be diving into two important Science of Learning policy documents that are being passed around social media lately, and which were authored by the always excellent, Trisha Jha. Trisha and I will talk about how romantic education often stands in opposition to key concepts from the science of learning, and what a small group of evidence-informed educators, like you and me, are doing about it. Let’s get to it, shall we?  

Paper 1:

WHAT IS THE
SCIENCE OF LEARNING?

Paper 2:

IMPLEMENTING THE
SCIENCE OF LEARNING

Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. My name is Dr. Zach Groshell, and for this episode, I am excited to share with you the first episode of The Direct Instruction Podcast with Kurt Engelmann and Bryan Wickman. We will hear about the origins of Direct Instruction, how it differs from lowercase “di” and explicit instruction, and you even get to hear me using “Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” with my daughter, June.

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This episode is brought to you by John Catt Educational, which publishes some of the best books in education. The book I wanted to highlight this week is The Classroom Management Handbook: A practical blueprint for engagement and behaviour in your classroom and beyond. In this book, Mark Dowley and Ollie Lovell address the shortfalls of teacher training by revealing 10 principles and 18 routines that will set you up for classroom management success. The Classroom Management Handbook aims to be the most concise, scaffolded, and unapologetically practical guide to classroom management available, and I can’t wait to check it out.

Alright, Zig fans, that’s enough from me, let’s head on over to Bryan Wickman and Kurt Engelmann in The Direct Instruction Podcast.

See: The National Institute For Direct Instruction.

Today we are going to be talking to Kent Johnson and Andrew Kieta, who run a very unique school that is just up the road from me called Morningside Academy. Morningside utilizes evidence-based strategies and programs, including Direct Instruction and Precision Teaching. They offer their teachers robust professional development and instructional coaching around their model, which is called The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction. At Morningside, students track their growth on this thing called a Standard Celeration Chart, and come home every day with a Daily Support Card that tracks the behaviors and skills they are working on. All of this works together towards the end of accelerating growth and improving the lives of young people, who are often arrive multiple years behind their potential. The school sounds fascinating to me, and I was extremely grateful that Kent and Andrew took the time to come on this podcast to share the work they’ve been doing.

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This episode is brought to you by John Catt Educational, which publishes some of the best books in Education. This week I wanted to spotlight a book that I think is absolutely essential for you to pick up: Teaching Secondary Science: A Complete Guide by Adam Boxer. This book actually makes me angry at how well it describes the ins and outs of effective explicit instruction. I was lucky to have Adam come on the show last season to talk about his book, and now that I’ve finally gotten to read it, I can say this is one of the best books out there on the art of breaking down complex material.

The generative instruction model, which also serves as a compendium of sorts on behavioral education. Here’s the link: The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: Building a Bridge Between Skills and Inquiry Teaching

Handbook for how to get started doing Precision Teaching: Response to Intervention & Precision Teaching: Creating Synergy in the Classroom

Here’s the link to the Morningside Summer Institute, which is definitely the best way to actually learn how to do explicit instruction, Precision Teaching, and much more.

The 2012 article, From the Laboratory to the Field and Back Again: Morningside Academy’s 32 Years of Improving Students’ Academic Performance, which is the best succinct description of the key features of MMGI and highlights some of the empirical data from implementations of the model in various public school systems.

Folks interested in training and advising on implementing this model at schools can go to: https://morningsideacademy.org/mta/ and those interested in Precision Teaching curriculum should check out: https://www.morningsidepress.org/

For research- and evidence-based practices in school, visit The Wing Institute at Morningside Academy.  It’s an incredible site that functions as a clearinghouse for the best research on what works in schools. The web architecture organizes that research into a series of “Education Drivers” necessary to create the school systems that we all desperately want to create! The founders of the Wing Institute recently retired and asked Morningside to continue their mission of disseminating best practices.

Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. My name is Dr. Zach Groshell and, in this episode, we’re going to be talking with one of my mentors of instructional coaching, Gene Tavernetti. Gene is the author of two John Catt Educational books, Teach Fast: Focused Adaptable Structured Teaching, and Maximizing the Impact of Coaching Cycles. He is one of those folks I go to for common sense instructional coaching advice because he’s developed something of a sixth sense for how to approach difficult conversations with teachers. Recently, he wrote a bit of a viral tweet on Twitter/X that went as follows:

Experienced teachers: Please do not opt-out of meeting with the instructional coach. Meeting with expert teachers allows the coach to learn from them. This makes the coach better, resulting in the entire school getting better.

As innocuous as that tweet might seem to you and I, this prompted enormous backlash from teachers and administrators alike, which just goes to show how contentious this whole instructional coaching thing tends to be. There are a lot of strong opinions about instructional coaching, fueled largely, it seems, by poor experiences with past instructional coaches. So, it was great to be able to sit down with Gene and talk about what he does – and what I can do as an instructional coach – to move learning forward.

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This episode is brought to you by John Catt Educational, which publishes some of the best books in education. Since I will be presenting at researchED Warrington and researchED Greenwich this spring, I thought I would highlight John Catt’s researchED series, which includes the researchED Guide to Explicit and Direct Instruction, and The researchED Guide to Education Myths. You can find the links to these books, as well as Gene Taverneti’s books, in the shownotes.

Alright that’s it from me, let’s head on over to chat with my friend and fellow instructional coach, Gene Tavernetti.