Two Pint PLC

Afleveringen

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  114 Season 9 in Review 12.08.2026 44min

  Our year in review looks back to find the most noteworthy learning from the past season. We always search for concrete “should’s” in our classroom - like encouraging students before tests or interleaving your skill practice. However, our top prizes go to big picture ideas about the very structure of our education system. Later, we reflect on our personal teaching journey and what we’ve learned about saisons this year.
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  113 Control States & Interleaved Grammar 13.07.2026 43min

  Research has already shown that human attempts to multitask come with heavy costs. New research suggests other cognitive control activities also come with costs. In a classroom with many sources of potential distraction, how should practitioners help students put brain energy toward learning? Later, we read about classroom experiments that dispel the myth that interleaved practice can’t work in language learning contexts. It seems well-designed interleaving is a nearly categorical good.
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  112 Grammar Study & Grading Policies 13.06.2026 44min

  Pressure to improve reading and writing performance is bringing fresh scrutiny to language instruction. Author Patty McGee joins us to discuss a curiosity-focused curriculum that eschews rules and correction to foster literacy growth. How can literary structure unlock new layers of meaning for readers? Later, we discuss the lack of adequate research on grading policies. What are grades for and how can our policies help us meet those goals?
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  111 School Reform & Reward Spacing 13.05.2026 44min

  Many school reform efforts are seeking new ways to structure the teaching profession. Dr. Mary Laski joins us to discuss a program that integrates pay-for-performance as a key element. Their results show definitively positive effects in both near- and long-term outcomes, and we ponder how monetary incentives may be received at scale. Later, we read how the rate limit for simple learning in lab mice makes rapid practice functionally identical to spaced practice. We consider the implications for interleaved teaching.
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  110 Class Structure & Positive Relationships 13.04.2026 43min

  Classroom management is a frequent topic in teacher preparation and professional development, but what kinds of classroom structures really have an impact? We look at balancing support with avoiding being controlling and the importance of clarity of goals and purpose. Later, we discuss themes in building positive student relationships. Students notice teacher enthusiasm, authenticity, and a healthy sense of authority. How can we each approach these elements in a way that works for us?
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  109 Dual Enrollment & Multilingual Discourse 12.03.2026 43min

  Participation in dual enrollment programs has skyrocketed in recent years, but how many college credits in high school is the right amount? We see that getting the first dual credit course is good for most students, and that additional courses have diminishing returns or overwhelm students. Later, we read multilingual dialogue examples from a science class that fosters a safe classroom environment where they use discussion to help students learn the English language and science content simultaneously.
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  108 Personalize or Differentiate and Inquiry Classrooms 12.02.2026 44min

  How should we approach making adjustments in the classroom to ensure we meet the needs of every learner? Dr. Ling Zhang joins us to discuss how US law and policy frame individualization and other requirements for tailoring instruction to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Focus on pacing toward common goals shows the most promise for legal compliance and learning gains. Later, we discuss an example course fully committed to student growth through interlocking systems of active, collaborative learning and minimizing grade-based motivation.
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  107 Disruption Gaze & Assessment Encouragement 12.01.2026 44min

  How do experienced teachers effectively monitor a classroom? We read an eye-tracking study comparing pre-service teachers with expert teachers that revealed more systematic patterns that were more resilient following disruptions. We discuss how teachers can make space to practice this element of classroom management. Later, we discuss how teacher encouragement shapes student motivation on major assessments. Our words of encouragement promote class engagement that itself boosts success.
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  106 Professional Development & Student Perseverance 12.12.2025 44min

  Professional learning should be improving teaching, which ultimately should benefit students. We read a meta-analysis showing that effective teaching methods within professional development is far more likely to impact learning than the learning topic or time spent in the program. Later, we read a study of student perseverance that underscores the importance of establishing mastery goals with students, while avoiding extrinsic rewards, to increase their perseverance and improve academic performance.
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  105 Technology Applications & Feedback Structure 12.11.2025 43min

  A listener request led us to a paper on eye-tracking technology for emerging multilingual learners. However, our conversation will focus on problems related to AI use and disconnects between the use of technology in the classroom and the real needs of teachers. Later, we learn about how a person’s fear of evaluation influences their response - both positive and negative - to different kinds of feedback. We reflect on what this means for differentiation within feedback strategies and if our classroom culture can help move students away from fear of feedback.
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  104 Dopamine Motivation & Emotion to Memory 12.10.2025 44min

  In a neuroscience-focused episode, we start with a new model of how having agency influences how much our brains are learning from moment to moment. Building classroom routines that emphasize student choice, from tiny procedural choices to major learning decisions, can boost the positive impacts of dopamine on their brain’s learning pathways. Later, we read an experimental study of the impacts of emotional events on long-term memory. How can we leverage the benefits of positive emotional experiences in authentic, sustainable ways all year long?
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  103 Peer Tutoring & Collaborative Creativity 12.09.2025 44min

  Student collaboration is a powerful tool for learning in many contexts, and we read a meta-analysis that highlights the benefits to both the givers and receivers of help in peer tutoring situations. It seems to be almost categorically good… but the details of successful programs remain elusive. Later, we read about how group structure predicts student creativity. How do we teach processes that prepare students to be ready to be independent when creativity matters most?
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  102 Season 8 Finale 12.08.2025 44min

  Our season finale again reviews the most noteworthy papers from the past year. We reflect on hosting student data talks, the use of errors in the classroom, and more. We also spend time thinking about our goals for the types of papers we read and what kinds of “shoulds” (or “shouldn’ts”) we hope to get from them. Later, we share the results of a follow-up analysis of our past most noteworthy papers. Where are they now, and what do we hope to see from the papers we highlight each year in the field more broadly?
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  101 Ed Tech & Opportunity Makers 12.07.2025 44min

  Education research, from technology to instruction to design, too often uses an instrumentalist approach that assumes the right tool or trick will simply solve a problem. Jason McDonald joins to talk about the need for entangled research that actually changes both the researcher and the system for the better. Later, we read The Opportunity Makers and reflect on how some important flaws put key findings at odds with most other educational research.
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  100 Data Talks with Imogen Herrick 12.06.2025 57min

  In this extra length episode, we talk with Dr. Imogen Herrick about her work developing Community Science Data Talks. These talks help students engage the local consequences of climate change to develop their STEM knowledge while navigating their emotional experiences with the data. Our ranging conversation touches on the need for local data sources, fostering student agency, and cultivating civic empathy and hope.
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  099 Synthesis of PD & Classroom Technology 12.05.2025 44min

  All professional learning occurs when teachers try things in their classroom and iterate to make it better. We reflect on the importance of articulating aspirational goals and supporting teachers as they iterate toward their goals as on-going professional development. Later, we grapple with how research on the impact of educational technology cannot exist outside of the instructional context. What problem does any given technology help teachers solve, and how effectively does it help teachers solve it?
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  098 Racial Literacies & Multilingual Content 12.04.2025 44min

  Dual language programs provide a local opportunity for students to get closer to an immersive experience learning a language directly within their school community. However, we read research on the barriers to providing multilingual instruction that fosters racial literacy within a similarly multilingual context. Later, we look at the positive impact of high quality instructional materials for English-language learners that improves their test performance while substantially increasing their ability to engage in effective argumentation.
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  097 Team Teaching & Epistemic Empathy 12.03.2025 44min

  Team teaching is increasing in popularity among schools to help educators work together in their daily practice. We read about different models for team teaching and think about how it maps to our past experiences in a wide variety of teaming approaches from our own careers. Later, we reflect on how to develop epistemic empathy. Our ability to take the perspective of students who don’t yet know our content helps us be better guides in their learning journeys, but relies on our hard won experience in the classroom.
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  096 PLC Outcomes & Early Numeracy 12.02.2025 41min

  Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs, provide a collegial network for educators to reflect on and improve their practice. We look at an evaluation of a pre-packaged PLC program that did not improve PLCs in schools, and wonder how we can support educators at the building level instead. Later, we look at how very early math is learned by children. They experience the snowball effect, meaning it is far more important that learners have experiences with math regardless of the specific types of math they may experience. Math is good, m’kay.
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  095 Error Climate & Remembered Success 10.01.2025 44min

  Edutopia did another review of the best research of 2024, and we are here to talk about it. First, discussion of student errors can lead to big gains in student learning. However, those gains only come in an interactive, collaborative class culture. Later, the remembered success effect shows that ending challenging learning experiences with clear victories on more attainable problems improves student perceptions of their learning in ways that can sustain their motivation long-term.