The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Nov 10 2024 261 ep. 37 mins 12.2k

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast artwork

Teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, educational technology -- if it has something to do with teaching, we're talking about it. Jennifer Gonzalez interviews educators, students, administrators and parents about the psychological and social dynamics of school, trade secrets, and other juicy things you'll never learn in a textbook. For more fantastic resources for teachers, visit http://www.cultofpedagogy.com.

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238: How Teacher Language Can Build a More Democratic Classroom

Nov 10 2024 50 mins

For many this week, the discomfort and pain of living side by side with people who see the world so differently from us has hit hard. But this is where we are right now, and we can either succumb to our current divide and let it get bigger, or keep trying to figure out how to close it. Though I didn't plan it this way, this week's podcast just happens to address one of the ways we

237: Curating a More Inclusive Library

Oct 27 2024 59 mins

Books are one of the most powerful ways to learn about others and about ourselves. But for that learning to happen, we need a wide range of stories that represent a whole spectrum of people and lives. In many schools and classrooms, however, the offerings are far too narrow. Curating the kind of library that truly reflects the diversity of human experience takes time, intention, mo

236: Five Conditions for Getting Formative Assessment Right

Oct 14 2024 47 mins

Any time we teach our students something, we need to check to see how well they learned it. If we only do this check at the very end, after all the teaching is done, and we find that our students haven't learned the material, it's too late to do anything about it. That's why we really need to do formative assessment — checking along the way — so if there are problems, we can fi

235: Making School Better for Gender-Expansive Kids

Sep 29 2024 56 mins

If our students are going to thrive, they all need to feel safe, accepted, and loved while under our care. This week, we're focusing on what that looks like when it comes to gender-expansive students — kids whose gender expression or identity is different from what they were assigned at birth. For these students, creating a school that feels safe and accepting isn't simply a matt

234: Four Fun Classroom Games to Add to Your Toolbox

Sep 15 2024 53 mins

Students learn better when movement is included in a lesson. In this episode, theater educator Jocelyn Greene teaches us four fun improv games that can work in most classrooms to get students actively engaged and make the learning really stick. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to EVERFI and The Wired Classroom for sponsorin

233: Meeting the Core Human Needs of a Teacher

Sep 02 2024 61 mins

Teaching is intense, vulnerable work that brings up a range of emotions all day, every day. If we really want to help teachers thrive, we need to go beyond the technical parts of the job and look at how our core human needs show up in this work. In this episode, author and instructional coach Elena Aguilar joins me to explore what it looks like when a teacher's needs for belonging,

232: How Metacognition Can Optimize Learning

Aug 18 2024 40 mins

The act of thinking about our own thinking, or metacognition, plays a huge role in how well our brain holds on to information. If we can get a better understanding of how metacognition works, we can tap into it to improve our learning and teach our students to do the same. In this episode, cognitive scientist Megan Sumeracki explains how we can make that happen. Thanks to EVERFI an

231: Teaching Executive Functions to All Students

Aug 04 2024 67 mins

All students can benefit from learning and practicing executive functions, the skills we use to control our attention, keep ourselves organized, initiate tasks, and manage time. But where do we find the time to teach them? In this episode, educator and author Mitch Weathers shares his proven 5-step system for integrating executive functions into regular class time without taking aw

Summer 2024 Update: What I'm Working On Over the Break

Jun 30 2024 11 mins

The podcast is on a break this summer because I'm working on a big project. I thought I'd take a few minutes and tell you a little bit about it. More on the project here. Be back soon!!

230: What is a Semantic Pulse Survey, and Why Should You Try it?

Jun 09 2024 49 mins

When teachers and students feel heard, the climate of a school just gets better, and semantic pulse surveys can make that happen. In this episode, we'll learn what about this fresh approach to surveying and how teachers and administrators can create their own to gain better insights about the students and teachers they serve. This episode is sponsored by Alpaca. School leaders ca