The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

270: Eight Ways to Squeeze Writing Instruction Into a Few Minutes

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There's been no shortage of conversation about the science of reading over the past several years. But writing barely comes up, even though the two ar...

269: Bringing the Power of Debate to Math Class

15 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever watched students sit completely silent in math class, only to come alive the moment they're asked to share an opinion? That's what inspi...

268: What is a Warm Demander?

01 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When our students face challenges in the classroom, some teachers double down on control and rigor: tighter rules, firmer consequences, higher demands...

267: How Inquiry-Based Freewriting Can Deepen Student Writing

01 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Teaching students to write well has always been challenging, and newer developments have made it even more difficult: The internet offers unlimited te...

266: Six Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2026

04 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We're kicking off the year like we always do, with a round-up of six educational tech tools we think are worth a look. On the list this year: a site t...

265: Growth Discourse: A Framework for Discussing Hard Topics with Students

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We're living in a time when having a difference of opinion is a potential minefield of hurt feelings, emotional outbursts, and severed relationships. ...

264: How Schools Can Support Neurodivergent Teachers

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Neurodivergent educators, like those with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other forms of cognitive diversity, are essential voices in our schools. They br...

263: Five Skills that Get Students to Take Ownership of Their Learning

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If we're doing our jobs right as educators, students will gradually become independent, self-directed learners capable of monitoring, directing, and a...

262: Three Fresh Strategies That Get Students Engaged With Texts

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If your teaching requires students to read or work with texts, and things have gotten a little stale in the engagement department, this episode will g...

261: How and Why to Use Concept Maps

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Concept maps are graphic organizers or visual representations of knowledge. They're simple, they're low-tech, and they're incredibly powerful tools fo...

260: Seven Teaching Practices that Nurture Student Voice

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when test-driven reform has quieted student voices and marginalized perspectives are being pushed aside, we need student voice and agency mo...

259: Making Project-Based Learning Accessible for Everyone

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Project-based learning can be a powerful instructional framework, but it is often structured in ways that exclude students who need a different approa...

EduTip 33: Answer more questions with questions.

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Answering student questions is faster in the moment, but redirecting is better in the long run. The next time a student asks you a question, pause bef...

258: The Power of Centering Student Exemplars

31 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes the best instructional materials are sitting right in our classrooms. At a time when AI threatens to make human writing obsolete, using stud...

257: Bringing Joy into Our Schools: A Conversation with Gholdy Muhammad

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We're living in troubling times. When you're surrounded by so much chaos and confusion, it can be hard to figure out where to put your focus and energ...

256: Community Supplies in the Classroom: Clearing Up the Confusion

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The practice of collecting supplies and distributing them to all students over the school year has become a common practice in elementary schools. U...

255: Before You Decorate Your Classroom, Here's a Better Idea

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If the thought of decorating your classroom fills you with anxiety, or if you're just ready to try something different, I have good stuff for you. I...

254: Dusting Off an Old Practice to Make Reading Fun Again

22 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As a life-long reader, English teacher Dan Tricarico wanted to bring the love of reading to his high school students, but the constant, irresistible p...

EduTip 32: Don't put kids in Charlie Bucket situations.

15 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Although most teachers understand that not all students have the same home life, sometimes we forget how big those differences can really be, and how ...

253: Fully Seen and Fully Known: Teaching that Affirms Disability

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most special education efforts have focused on giving students with disabilities better access to the curriculum — but access alone isn't enough. In...

EduTip 31: Be the first dork.

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to have the kind of classroom where students do more than just sit and listen, it's likely that your plans may include activities that req...

252: Where Discipline Reform Has Gone Wrong (in Some Schools)

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While the shift to restorative practices should be improving student behavior, that's not happening in every school. Some teachers say the discipline ...

EduTip 30: Do something after formative assessments.

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If I give my students an exit slip to check their grasp of a particular skill, and a third of them don't do well, just moving forward with my original...

251: Holding Students Accountable in the Age of AI

11 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since ChatGPT's arrival in late 2022, the top concern I've heard from teachers is that students will stop doing their own writing and rely entirely on...

EduTip 29: Build relationships with a spreadsheet.

04 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lots of teachers give students some kind of questionnaire at the beginning of a school year to get to know them, but what do you do with that informat...

250: Nine Easy Ways to Add Retrieval to Your Lessons

27 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Retrieval practice is the act of trying to recall something you learned from memory by doing things like taking a test or using flashcards instead of ...

249: A Close Look at Competency-Based Learning

13 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We talk a lot about differentiating instruction, measuring growth, and preparing students for the real world, but how do you actually do that in a sys...

248: Why grammar instruction stinks, and how we can change that

30 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Grammar has never been an especially popular area of study, and teaching it has frustrated many English teachers throughout time. It seems like no mat...

EduTip 28: Add gestures to strengthen learning.

23 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Research shows that adding physical or hand gestures to a learning experience, especially ones that have some meaning to them, can significantly boost...

247: Five Listening Skills That Will Improve All of Your Relationships

16 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is for everyone and anyone. In it, I'll share five techniques that will encourage any person you're talking to to go a little more in-dep...

EduTip 27: Get Better Participation with Icons

09 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you're doing an activity that requires students or participants to volunteer to participate, this is a fun way to choose them. ------------------- ...

246: How to Keep Teaching Well When DEI is Under Attack

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recent executive orders have launched an attack on teaching for diversity, equity, and inclusion. How do you teach at this precarious time in history ...

245: A System for Meeting Absent Students' Needs

02 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You can create the most spectacular lesson plans, but if all of your students aren't in the room when those plans are executed, catching them up can b...

EduTip 26: Give lots of quizzes.

23 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the best-kept secrets in teaching is that frequent quizzing leads to better learning. If you can incorporate more ungraded or low-stakes quizze...

244: Three Ways You May Be Cognitively Overloading Your Students

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When we make certain choices, often without even realizing it, we can turn a teaching moment from one that should be clear into one that's confusing. ...

EduTip 25: Use neutral language to keep things cool.

09 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a classroom that is emotionally "cool," no one is preoccupied with any kind of anger, hurt feelings, anxiety, or fear, and this frees them up to ...

243: Small Changes to Make Your Classroom More Neurodiversity-Affirming

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As our understanding of the human mind gets more sophisticated and nuanced, we're learning how to identify neurodivergence, how to appreciate it, and ...

EduTip 24: Use "I" statements to promote your teaching ideas.

26 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As you move through your career, you'll discover new ways of doing things that you're excited about — so excited that you want to share them with ...

242: How to Do a Close Reading Lesson in Any Subject Area

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To become skilled readers, our students need reading instruction in all of their classes, not just English language arts. But if other subject-area te...

EduTip 23: Calm an out-of-control class with a notebook.

12 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When student behavior starts driving you bananas, and you feel like you're going to yell, this simple notebook technique can regulate your nervous sys...

241: Six Tech Tools to Try in 2025

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's our annual round-up of tools for educators, and this time along with it, we're announcing the launch of the online version of our Teacher's Guid...

240: When Your Classroom Management Goes Off the Rails

08 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It can happen to the best of us — classroom management deteriorating over time. Don't despair! By figuring out where the problems are, you can turn ...

239: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Multitasking in School

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Multitasking isn't great for our brains, it compromises our mental health, and ultimately it doesn't even work, but that doesn't stop many of us from ...

238: How Teacher Language Can Build a More Democratic Classroom

10 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 wher...

237: Curating a More Inclusive Library

27 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 th...

236: Five Conditions for Getting Formative Assessment Right

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 te...

235: Making School Better for Gender-Expansive Kids

29 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 look...

234: Four Fun Classroom Games to Add to Your Toolbox

15 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Students learn better when movement is included in a lesson. In this episode, theater educator Jocelyn Greene teaches us four fun improv games that ca...

233: Meeting the Core Human Needs of a Teacher

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 b...

232: How Metacognition Can Optimize Learning

18 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

231: Teaching Executive Functions to All Students

04 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

All students can benefit from learning and practicing executive functions, the skills we use to control our attention, keep ourselves organized, initi...

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

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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.  Mor...

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

09 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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'...

229: Not Just for Math: A Tiered System of Learning Supports for Any Subject

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You can never have too many ideas for helping struggling students, right? In this episode, you'll get a few more that you may not have tried. My guest...

228: A Conversation About School Choice

12 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The rights of parents to choose the best school for their children — also known as school choice — may seem simple on the surface, but it's anythi...

227: Two Effective Ways to Teach Annotation

28 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Annotation can be a powerful way to improve comprehension and increase engagement, but its effectiveness can vary depending on how it's taught. In thi...

226: Yes, Your School Librarian Can Do That (and More)

14 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If your school is lucky enough to have a full-time certified librarian, it's likely they are not being utilized to their full capacity. In fact, yours...

225: Two Programs with Fresh Solutions to the Teacher Shortage

02 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many states are seeing record high numbers of teacher turnovers and vacancies. While the problems that caused this shortage have not gone away, there ...

224: Some Thoughts on Teachers Crying in the Classroom

17 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Crying in front of your students can be a humiliating experience. Not the kind that happens when you're moved to tears by a poignant story or you re...

223: Why Students Give You the Blank Stare, and What to Do About It

03 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's happened to so many teachers: You teach your heart out. Really just knock it out of the park. Then you ask a question all students should know th...

222: Building Better Collaboration Between Families and Schools

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As our student population grows ever more diverse, many schools haven't been quite as successful as they'd like to be when trying to connect with stud...

221: The Photography Project That Showed Teachers Through a New Lens

04 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When high school English teacher Dan Tricarico started taking photos of his colleagues, he didn't expect them to create new bonds among his staff. Tea...

220: What do we do about standardized tests?

21 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Standardized testing has, without a doubt, created a lot of problems in education, and far too often, our conversations about these problems end in st...

219: Eight Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2024

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's a brand-new year, and to celebrate the launch of the 10th edition of our Teacher's Guide to Tech, we're exploring 8 tech tools that are worth a l...

218: How to Help Students Without Being a Savior

10 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a teacher, you probably find yourself in situations pretty often where you're made aware of a student having needs or challenges that exceed what ...

217: How to Talk about Race in Your Classroom

12 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our classrooms have the potential to be spaces where we learn how to have conversations about challenging topics with respect, curiosity, and kindness...

216: Your Teachers Need a Win

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I have no new strategies or tools or books to share with you this week. Nothing new to implement. Just a simple call to action for administrators to s...

215: Seventeen Tweaks That Make a Big Difference in Group Work

01 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Cooperative learning can be a powerful learning strategy, but only if it works well. In this episode Connie Hamilton, author of Hacking Group Work, re...

214: Nothing's Going to Change My Mind: How Unconditional Positive Regard Transforms Classrooms

18 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when student behaviors and attitudes seem more troubling than ever before, we may need to approach their behavior in a different way, too. I...

213: Using Learning Stories for Student Reflection

03 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Giving students time for reflection on their learning is so good for them: It builds their metacognitive capacity, it teaches them to take agency for ...

212: Untangling the Debate Over Reading Instruction

20 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to teaching kids how to read, what is the big debate about? And what does research say we should be doing? In this episode, literacy exp...

211: Supporting Intermediate English Learners in Every Subject

21 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Students who have learned enough English to do well socially may still need scaffolding to thrive academically. In this episode, I talk with Tan Huynh...

210: Integrating Arab Narratives Across the Curriculum

03 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Positive, accurate representations of Arab voices and contributions are largely missing from our classrooms. In this episode, four educators — Sawsa...

209: Unpacking Trauma-Informed Teaching

18 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Trauma-informed teaching has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, and my guest, Alex Shevrin Venet, is a wonderful guide to help us better under...

208: What Is the Secret Sauce for Deeper Learning?

03 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do you ever feel like you're just marching through your content, trying to get it done? Like your students are just regurgitating it back, but not rea...

207: The Youth Boxing Club That Is Changing Lives: Jamyle Cannon and The Bloc

19 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The core activity of this after-school program is boxing, but it offers so much more to students. In this episode, I talk with Jamyle Cannon, executiv...

EduTip 22: Stop asking questions to the whole room.

12 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we ask a broad question to a large group — students, an audience, attendees at a meeting — we often get nothing in response. Plenty of the pe...

206: The Thinking Classroom: An Interview with Peter Liljedahl

05 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In too many classrooms, our students aren't really thinking. What they're doing instead is more like mimicking, and my guest Peter Liljedahl is determ...

EduTip 21: Bring some drama with an anticipatory set.

26 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Anticipatory sets — quick preludes to your lessons — are a creative way to get students interested in what's to come. They are not an absolute nec...

205: How to Use ChatGPT as an Example Machine

20 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To learn any concept well, students need to experience multiple, varied examples of that concept, and coming up with those examples can be a time-cons...

EduTip 20: Don't give out your slides.

12 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many teachers give out copies of their slides as a supplement to a lecture or presentation, but this practice leads to terrible slides and ultimately,...

204: Authentic Group Discussions with the Real Talk Strategy

05 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After years of listening to shallow, perfunctory student discussions, ELA teacher Jessica Cannata found a way to make those conversations more natural...

203: What Happens When Two Schools Experience the Street Data Process?

29 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In episode 178, we learned about an approach to school change called Street Data. I believed so strongly in this methodology that I asked the two auth...

EduTip 19: Help students learn each other's names.

15 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The time students spend in your classroom may be the only opportunity they have all day to engage with other humans in any meaningful way. And it's su...

202: Six Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2023

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A messaging platform that translates messages into any language, a daily curation of current events, the one everyone's talking about that writes essa...

201: How to Build Psychological Safety in Professional Development

17 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Learning requires us to be vulnerable, and in order to do that, we need to feel safe. In this episode, I talk with Elena Aguilar, author of The PD Boo...

200: Ten Ways to Give a Better Lecture

16 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Two factors have given lectures a bad name: overuse and poor execution. In this episode we'll deal with both of these issues, considering when a lectu...

199: How to Personalize Instruction with Seminars

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Offering small group mini-lessons that students only sign up for if they are interested is another great way to offer personalized instruction. Author...

198: Where to Find Real History in the Anti-CRT Era

04 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We are living in a time where a segment of the population is working as hard as it can to keep our students ignorant of history. Dozens of states are ...

EduTip 18: Avoid assignments that are TOO open-ended.

25 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

While it's true that student choice has a lot of value, it's possible to give so much choice in an assignment that it kind of backfires. When a task h...

197: How to Leverage Multisensory Learning in Your Classroom

18 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our sensory systems have a HUGE influence on how we learn, serving as building blocks for regulation, engagement, exploration, safety, movement, socia...

EduTip 17: Repeat audience questions.

11 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When a student or audience member has a question, repeating it before you answer allows everyone else to hear it and gives you a chance to clarify the...

196: Four Models for Doing Blended Learning in Your Classroom

06 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Even though many of us are back in physical classrooms this year, blended learning offers a way to weave together online and offline learning to posit...

195: Five Fantastic Ideas for Collaboration Projects

13 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Collaboration is great as long as you have high-quality projects for students to work on. In this episode, we'll explore five unique ideas for collabo...

EduTip 16: Do a smooth first read.

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Stopping while you read a text out loud might be necessary in order to explain, dissect, or analyze something, but those interruptions can really mess...

194: Finding the Funk: 3 Ways to Add Culturally Responsive Critical Thinking to Your Lessons

24 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Critical thinking is something usually reserved only for advanced classes, but if we want our students to receive an equitable education, they all nee...

EduTip 15: Set aside time to set norms.

17 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If too many of your classroom plans go off the rails, you might need to add more norm-setting, where you clarify expectations in detail before startin...

193: Creating Language-Affirming Classrooms for Code-Switching Students

10 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Language shapes so much of who we are, but not all students feel they can bring their whole selves into the classroom. Even the most well-meaning teac...

EduTip 14: Find teachable moments in the downtime.

26 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We spend a LOT of time with students, and quite a bit of that time is not used for direct instruction. This "downtime" offers plenty of tiny opportuni...

192: How to Use Backward Chaining to Differentiate Instruction

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We've covered a lot of differentiation strategies over the years, and here's one you may not have heard of: backward chaining. It allows students to s...