3ps In A Pod

In this final episode of our series with The Learning Scientists, Dr. Megan Sumeracki dives into more detail about the three teaching and learning strategies of elaboration, concrete examples, and dual coding. The Learning Scientists, a group of cognitive psychologists, have developed six main strategies to support your teaching and your students’ learning. In the previous episode, Dr. Sumeracki and Dr. Althea Need Kaminske talked about the strategies of spaced practice, interleaving, and retrieval practice. Today, Dr. Sumeracki talks in-depth about the remaining three strategies: Elaboration, connecting new learning to previous learning Concrete examples, providing supporting information Dual coding, using visuals  A synopsis of these strategies and resources to help use them is at this link and you can find the full research paper at this link. Learn more about The Learning Scientists at learningscientists.org and learn more about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

In the last three episodes, we’ve explored some different aspects of the cognitive psychology behind how we learn. Today, we’re taking that context and applying it to six strategies to support your teaching and your students’ learning. In this episode, Dr. Althea Need Kaminske and Dr. Megan Sumeracki, two of The Learning Scientists, begin talking about these six strategies: Spaced practice, repetition spaced out over time Interleaving, interspersing different topics in a lesson Retrieval practice, working at accessing memory Elaboration, connecting new learning to previous learning Concrete examples, providing supporting information Dual coding, using visuals  A synopsis of these strategies and resources to help use them is at this link and you can find the full research paper at this link. They dive in more deeply with hosts Josh and Paula about spaced practice, interleaving, and retrieval practice and will further explore elaboration, concrete examples, and dual coding in next week’s fina

We continue our series with The Learning Scientists on this episode of 3Ps in a Pod. Today, hosts Josh and Paula talk with Dr. Althea Need Kaminske and Dr. Megan Sumeracki about working memory and perception. Dr. Sumeracki and Dr. Kaminske give multiple examples demonstrating how background knowledge shapes your perception and what that means for how we communicate or give instructions to students or anyone else in our lives. The Learning Scientists also discuss the processes of moving from learning to applying concepts and what that looks like for both students and for pre-service teachers moving into the day-to-day of teaching. They then discuss what it is to pay attention, how that connects with short-term and long-term memory, and how mind wandering can actually be helpful in learning and creating memory. The group also begins to talk about strategies that truly support how cognition actually works. Dr. Kaminske talks specifically about note-taking and how quality note-taking that supports actual learning

We’re back with part two of our series with The Learning Scientists! Today, cognitive psychologists Dr. Megan Sumeracki and Dr. Cindy Nebel pick up where we left off in the first part of this series.  They jump into a demonstration with hosts Josh and Paula that illustrates some aspects of how our brains work. That leads into a discussion about why it’s cognitively so important to understand your students’ contexts in learning. Paula also asks Dr. Sumeracki and Dr. Nebel to discuss what it means to use research-based curriculum and why we need to depend on research rather than our intuition when it comes to teaching. They also discuss the benefits and uses of interleaving versus blocking content. Here are links to the resources mentioned in this episode: The Bransford and Johnson research on “Contextual Prerequisites for Understanding: Some Investigations of Comprehension and Recall” The Rohrer and Taylor research on “The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning” The Learning Scientists’ Downloada

We’re starting off a five-part series with The Learning Scientists, a group of cognitive psychological scientists focused on how we learn. Today, hosts Josh and Paula talk with Dr. Megan Sumeracki and Dr. Cindy Nebel about the science of learning. As cognitive psychological scientists, The Learning Scientists are a group interested in research on education, specifically on the science of learning. They aim to motivate students to study by increasing the use of effective study and teaching strategies backed by research and decreasing negative views of testing. Dr. Sumeracki and Dr. Nebel share more about what that means and the differences between their area of study and that of neuroscientists. They detail why it’s so important for educators to know some cognitive psychology to better understand students’ needs when learning. Hosts Josh and Paula then share some of the misconceptions that struck them when they read Understanding How We Learn, A Visual Guide and discuss them with The Learning Scientists. The L

STEM education can look very different across Arizona, which is why the Arizona STEM Acceleration Project came to be to help advance STEM in schools across the state. In this episode, hosts Donnie and Daniela talk with Mike Vargas and Amanda Whitehurst share how the Arizona STEM Acceleration Project (ASAP) works to transform how educators deliver STEM education.   The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project has three components for the program’s teacher fellows: overseeing a student- or community-facing project writing four STEM lesson plans taking part in research on teaching STEM in Arizona   ASAP has completed its first year and is embarking on its second. In it’s first year, 433 fellows in about 300 different schools completed the program, affecting almost 90,000 students. About 90% of fellows who started ASAP completed and were able to energize STEM education in their classroom. The fellows represented every county, every major city, and most reservations in Arizona.   Those fellows completed almost 15,000 h

The school year is back in session, so 3Ps is back too! Today, hosts Kathleen and Donnie chat with Jason Catanese, a middle school math teacher in the Isaac School District, about how he extended his support of his students far outside his classroom and began a comprehensive college prep program.   Jason, also known as “Mr. Cat,” teaches seventh- and eighth-grade math at Pueblo Del Sol Middle School in the Isaac School District, located in the Maryvale neighborhood of Phoenix. He is also the founder of Camp Catanese to support first-generation college students as they prepare for and transition into college.   A conversation with former students about the ACT led Jason to create Camp Catanese, a summer camp and additional programming to help prepare first-generation college students for their college journey. He shares about how the camp has grown beyond being for former students from his school to 230 students from multiple school districts across the Valley. He also details how this past summer was his firs

On this fourth and final episode of our series on Humanizing Pedagogy, Oscar Corrigan joins us to talk about classroom management. He shares how his own experiences as a teacher and working with other teachers caused him to realize the importance of classroom management and what works best to support students in being successful. Oscar explores routines, procedures, and expectations to help students better learn and engage and recommends educators considering if any rule is there for students or for the teacher. He also touches on the theme that carries throughout this series: creating an environment where students feel safe and ready to learn hinges on the teacher knowing and having strong relationships with those students. Oscar will be one of the breakout session speakers at this summer’s Beginning Teacher Institute. Learn more and register for this three-day event at azk12.org/BTI23. Learn more about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

In this third installment in our series on Humanizing Pedagogy, we welcome Johnathon Walker to 3Ps in a Pod to talk about his approach to character education and how educators can better get to know their students.  Jonathon begins the episode by sharing how working with students in athletics led him to become a classroom teacher before talking about the importance of educators to teach the whole child. He defines social-emotional learning as how we prepare students to navigate social structures and society and how teachers get to know students to best support their learning. Jonathon mentions research that says 46% of high school students don’t think their teachers know their names. He talks about strategies for teachers to better know their students and that help students know a teacher is there to support them. He also details the steps for students to recognize “blue thoughts,” those thoughts that are far too negative to be realistic, and how to process the situation to recognize the “true thoughts” a stu

We are back with part of our series on Humanizing Pedagogy. Today, we’ll be talking with Kristin Speck about how to create a classroom environment that fosters deeper engagement and concrete strategies to get us there. Kristin shares about how her degree in nutrition and dietetics and teaching at a San Diego cycling studio led to her career as a high school biology teacher. Noting that teachers need to “build slow to go fast” when it comes to classroom engagement, Kristin lists several concrete strategies to help students feel welcomed and comfortable in a classroom, which helps build an environment for deeper engagement. She shares standards and norms for setting that foundation for a variety of age groups. She also gives her advice for first year teachers and speaks to what more she’ll be doing with new teachers at this summer’s Beginning Teacher Institute. Learn more and register for this three-day event at azk12.org/BTI23. Learn more about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

What does it mean to humanize pedagogy? Why is it crucial to our work as educators? And how do beginning teachers do that in the midst of other demands and expectations? That’s what we are diving into in our next four episodes of 3Ps in a Pod, starting today by hearing from Dr. Dominique Smith about how the language we use shapes how we view and interact with learners and others. Dr. Smith begins the episode by sharing about his passion for education and how teaching needs to begin at the understanding that each student is a unique, individual human. He then talks with 3Ps host Josh Meibos about how the labels we use to refer to people, whether positive or negative, frames how we view and treat those people. At the beginning of the book Removing Labels, which Dr. Smith wrote with Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, is a poem by Jiovanni Gutierrez Montano. Dr. Smith shares how Jiovanni, a student at his school, wrote and shared that poem with him out of his experiences of being labeled. (You can see a video of Jio

Meet the Arizona K12 Center’s new executive director, Daniela Robles, in today’s episode of 3Ps in a Pod. Daniela has been in education for more than 27 years, including working as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and a variety of administrative roles at the school and district level. In today’s episode, hosts Marlys and Kathleen talk with Daniela about what first brought her into teaching and about her continued passion for Arizona education. She shares about the highlights of her career, including National Board Certification, and how the Arizona K12 Center helped elevate her practice and leadership over the years. She also speaks to her vision for the work of the Arizona K12 Center. Learn more about Robles at azk12.org/Homeroom-RoblesAnnouncement and about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

In this final episode of our series on Leading with Inquiry, Jessica Vance and host Paula Watkins continue their learning and discussions from past episodes, this time focused on the power of using questions in learning.  Jessica and Paula discuss the need to be flexible when prioritizing questions in learning and how to stay in that flexible mindset. They dive into how to get comfortable responding to learners with questions, the importance of tone and understanding in questioning, and how to be intentional in both using questions and setting up structures for learners’ questions. They relate their conversation to both the classroom and working with adult learners, continuing the coaching conversation from last episode to do with Paula’s work with the Arizona TeacherSolutions® Team. Early on in the episode, Jessica recommends Warren Berger’s books for sparking inspiration around questions. Learn more about his books and work at warrenberger.com. Learn more about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

We’re taking the learning we’ve done with Jessica Vance in the last two episodes on Leading with Inquiry in a new direction. In this and our next episode, you’ll hear a vulnerable coaching conversation between Jessica and 3Ps in a Pod host and teacher leadership program director Paula Watkins. Jessica and Paula take what they’ve talked about in the first two episodes of this series and apply it to Paula’s work, as an example of how others can use a lens of inquiry in their coaching and leading. Paula’s work includes facilitating the Arizona TeacherSolutions Team. She begins her coaching session with Jessica by sharing about how she approaches her meetings and facilitation with the Arizona TeacherSolutions Team. Jessica shares ideas with Paula about how to combine her goals for an upcoming meeting with the desire to create an inquiry-driven space. While Paula’s work is primarily with adult learners, Jessica shares examples of what adding agency and inquiry can look like in Paula’s work with teacher leaders and

We’re continuing our series with Jessica Vance on leading with inquiry, this time focused on provocations. In the last episode of 3Ps in a Pod, Jessica set the stage for what inquiry in leadership is. Today, Jessica and host Paula Watkins dive into a discussion about provocations, what they are, how to use them, and why they’re important. Jessica and Paula also touch on some of the misconceptions about provocations. They discuss how provocations are not the same as anticipatory sets, how teachers are not the only ones to introduce provocations, and the idea that using provocations takes too much time. Jessica gives several examples of provocations and ideas on how to find your own. She also shares a variety of examples of how to integrate provocations into the classroom as well as in situations with other adults. In our next episode, Jessica and Paula take what they’ve talked about in the first two episodes of this series and apply it to Paula’s work, as an example of how others can use a lens of inquiry in t

What does it mean to lead with inquiry? And what does that actually look like in a classroom or when working with other adults? Today, we begin a four-part series exploring those questions and more about leading with inquiry. 3Ps host Paula Watkins and Jessica Vance, the author of Leading With a Lens of Inquiry, will lead us through this exploration, setting the stage in our first episodes about what inquiry is and how to integrate it into leadership. In the final two episodes, you’ll hear Jessica and Paula engage in an inquiry-focused coaching conversation as an example of how others can use a lens of inquiry in their coaching and leading. In this first episode of this series, Jessica shares about her background and current work as an inquiry leader. She makes clear that being an inquiry leader is not exclusionary of being a managerial leader but that leaders can use both approaches in tandem and when most appropriate. Jessica details the need for inquiry leaders to understand their values and for a critical

Today we welcome Danielle Brown, NBCT, a former host of 3Ps in a Pod, and now the senior manager of candidate experience at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She and host Donnie Dicus discuss the changing landscape of education and how the National Board is approaching some of that change.  Brown first shares how her role at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards combines her passion for National Board Certification with what her work had been at the Arizona K12 Center supporting new teachers before talking about how early career educators can now pursue National Board Certification. The National Board has updated its policy as the teacher landscape has changed, Brown explains. Allowing new teachers to pursue National Board Certification provides an opportunity for those teachers to reflect on their practice earlier than they may have, rather than getting set in routines that may need to be shifted. Brown talks about the importance of supporting newer teachers in pursuing

3Ps in a Pod is back, and we’re kicking off our 13th season by exploring the Arizona Education Progress Meter. Connected with that progress meter is the Achieve 60 AZ Action Plan, which sets the goal of having 60 percent educational attainment in Arizona by 2030. That means 60% of the state’s population of working adults will have a certificate, license, or degree.  Host Paula Watkins welcomes Rich Nickel, president of Education Forward Arizona, and Donna Davis, CEO of Education Forward Arizona. Nickel and Davis share how multiple Arizona stakeholders came together to create the Progress Meter and Action Plan. The Progress Meter includes eight indicators to assess the state of Arizona education: Quality early learning Third grade reading Eighth grade math High school graduation Opportunity youth Post-high school enrollment Attainment Teacher pay Nickel and Davis share about where Arizona stands on several of these metrics and the progress made recently, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a

Today, we welcome author and Minnesota’s 2014 Teacher of the Year Tom Rademacher to the podcast.  Hosts Donnie and Kathleen talk with Rademacher about his two loves of teaching and writing. His books, It Won’t Be Easy, An Exceedingly Honest (and Slightly Unprofessional) Love Letter to Teaching and Raising Ollie: How My Nonbinary Art-Nerd Kid Changed (Nearly) Everything I Know, combine both those aspects of Rademacher’s work. Rademacher shares his reflections about the teacher shortage and what has and hasn’t changed for today’s new teachers compared to when he entered the classroom.   He also discusses how he approaches diversity, equity, and inclusion in his practice as a white male and the need to continue learning. That learning often comes directly from students, he notes. He also mentions how he has learned to give space for others’ sharing and to recognize the amount of time he is the one speaking. In closing today’s episode, Rademacher talks about how diverse great teachers are and how they don’t all

This week of Veterans Day, we’re revisiting an episode from November 11, 2020, when hosts Angelia and Danielle welcomed Dr. Nancy Pratt to 3Ps in a Pod to share about her military experience and how that has carried into her education career. Then the Director of Instruction and Innovation at Cave Creek Unified School District, Pratt is now the Director of Instruction at Buckeye Elementary School District. But before realizing her interest in teaching, Pratt was a young woman in a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) military briefing class at Arizona State University, realizing she had something special to offer. Pratt became a transportation officer stationed at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. She shares in this episode about the direction she received from her experiences in the military, how her military experience has shaped her education career, and the direct connections between training military officers and working in education with both students and adult learners. Enjoy this episode on the i